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"To me being a wiseguy was better than being president of the United States. It meant power among people who had no power. It meant perks in a working-class neighborhood that had no privileges. To be a wiseguy was to own the world. I dreamed about being a wiseguy the way other kids dreamed about being movie stars or firemen or ballplayers.

...

We walked in a room and the place stopped. Everyone knew who we were, and we were treated like movie stars with muscle. We had it all and it was all free."

-- Henry Hill

This seems to support both sides of the argument, particularly the central part:

> It meant power among people who had no power. It meant perks in a working-class neighborhood that had no privileges. To be a wiseguy was to own the world. I dreamed about being a wiseguy the way other kids dreamed about being movie stars or firemen or ballplayers

do you extend this line of reasoning to all criminals whose forebears did not arrive on the Mayflower?

Money.