Top 7 Gangster Movies

Gangster movies have always had a hold over me and as long as I can remember they have been my favorite kind of movie. Something about the mafia is so intriguing that I just can’t get enough. Below are the official Tasty Booze Top 7 Gangster Movies. Do yourself a favor and rent them if you haven’t seen all of these.

7 - Donnie Brasco - This is the true story of the life of FBI agent Joseph Pistone. Pistone infiltrated the New York mob in the 70’s and befreinded gangster Lefty Ruggiero. Pistone (who is known to the mobsters as Donnie Brasco) joins a crew led by Sonny Black, who is eventually made a ‘boss’. Things go badly for Pistone as his marriage falls apart and the heat truns up as the mafia suspects there is a mole. The real dilemna for Pistone is leaving the mob, as he knows his freind Lefty will be punished.

6 - The Untouchables - Set during the 1920’s prohibition. Chicago is corrupt from the judges downward. Treasury agent Eliot Ness picks two cops to help him and his colleague bring Al Capone to justice. One is an Italian sharp-shooter rookie, the other an Irish beat cop. The 4 men use unconventional means to bring Capone down.

5 - Casino - The film is about Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro, two mobsters who move to Las Vegas to work. The uncredited character in this film is Vegas itself, at times both a glittering wonderland, and a brutal wasteland. Ace is a smooth operator and boss of the Tangiers casino, while Nicky is his longtime friend and strongman. Each of the two have tragic flaws, that result in their downfall. Ace falls for a no-good hustler, and Nicky falls into a deadly spiral of violence and drugs. Casino is a great film, and a testament to the vision of Martin Scorsese.

4 - The Departed - In South Boston, the state police force is waging war on Irish-American organized crime. Young undercover cop Billy Costigan is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by gangland chief Frank Costello. While Billy quickly gains Costello’s confidence, Colin Sullivan, a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the state police as an informer for the syndicate, is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, but when it becomes clear to both the mob and the police that there’s a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy

3 - The Godfather: Part II - This film parallels the young Vito Corleone’s rise with his son Michael’s spiritual fall, deepening The Godfather’s depiction of the dark side of the American dream. In the early 1900s, the child Vito flees his Sicilian village for America after the local Mafia kills his family. Vito struggles to make a living, legally or illegally, for his wife and growing brood in Little Italy, killing the local Black Hand Fanucci after he demands his customary cut of the tyro’s business. With Fanucci gone, Vito’s communal stature grows, but it is his family (past and present) who matters most to him — a familial legacy then upended by Michael’s business expansion in the 1950s.

2 - Goodfellas - This film is everything you could want in a gangster movie; violent, profane, fast paced, stylish - full of both mesmerizing and miserable moments. The film focuses on the lives of three pivotal figures in the 60’s and 70’s New York mob. Liotta plays Henry Hill, an American-Italian gangster. The story begins with his childhood in the toughest neighbourhoods in New York, and progresses as he moves his way up through the organization. Pesci plays Tommy Devito, a true Italian gangster, and Henry’s best friend. De Niro plays Jimmy Conway, the man who puts the two of them together, an old-time gangster. The three run some of the biggest hijacks and burglaries New York has ever seen.

1 -The Godfather - From the direction, to acting, writing, to the score, The Godfather has ‘classic’ written all over it. It is considered by many to be one of the greatest films of all time. The Godfather defined the genre more than almost any film ever made. Brando in top form. Don Vito Corleone is the head of the New York Mafia. The story begins when a gangster supported by another Mafia family, announces his plan to sell drugs across New York. Don Vito despises drugs, and is happy with the gambling, protection and established rackets, and so an attempt is made on Don Corleone’s life. Things go badly when Don Corleone survives the attempt…