yup. it doesnt show us how they met up obv, but from lansky's book he says benny was a hothead and heavy into the women. (prior to them both getting married) its been a while since ive read it, but i dont remember anything about them dealing drugs. they were into whore houses and gambling rooms.

His character is just way too over-the-top. I can accept that gangsters in TV shows aren't realistic, but his character makes no sense - just killing indiscriminately at any random slight. I don't see how anyone would ever work for him or do business with him, knowing that the slightest mistatement and he might kill you.

IRL guys like this either end up in prison or get killed. In organized crime dead bodies lead to heat from the authorities and hurt business. In the long run, someone who manages their anger and makes the other bad guy vanish after a week or longer is preferable to the hothead who just beats people to death for any perceived insult. That guy is a huge liability and doesn't get promoted.

did you read Bugsy's wikipedia?

I haven't , but will check it out. was just a guess.

Idk what you guys are watching but Cannavalle is stealing the show right now and I'm loving it.

this

I like the actor and think he could be a great character, if they were a bit more subtle about him. I'm fine with the whole getting upset over small slights, but its way overdone with him killing the random guy with the flat and then torching the sherriff.

I do like a lot of his lines (Big for tuna was great), they just need to dial him back a bit with his random killings.

Loved the non Gyp stuff as much as I hated the Gyp stuff. Just so cartoonish and obvious. I don't know that having the characters talk about makes it any better.

Didn't mind Emo Nucky- but I hope that's about the last of that.

Love manipulative Margaret. Also love every time she has her hair down.

Richard is just the best.

You have got to be ****ing kidding me.

Season's off to a pretty good start, though we need more Chicago/NYC, less Tabor Heights.

Gyp is there to liven things up, otherwise what's the conflict this season? His paranoia is pretty awesome. This show has never not been cartoonish and obvious, might as well run with it.

I don't mind Gyp, sometimes you need random death.

I'm with the Gyp sucks crowd. Just so unrealistic and over the top.

Yea, just like this Al Capone character. Way to over the top and crazy. No one like him would ever exist.

From my understanding, stupid but ruthless sociopaths exist in the gangster world.


I get that he behaves ridiculously, but history is absolutely full of people who behave in such a manner.


The thing that annoys me about him is that he doesn't really have much depth. But I don't really find him cartoonish or really unbelievable.

I still watch and like this show a lot but I have never loved it. It just hasn't ever sunk its hooks into me the way other top tier cable series have. After watching it and Homeland back to back yesterday there was no contest. I couldn't even remember what happened in BE

I just think the show is more interesting and complex than needing to rely on not terribly authentic rage monster/ unused late season Paulie Walnuts plotline to drive the main conflict. It would be one thing if this was a two ep blip- but it feels like we're going to get way more of it for way longer than I'd like.

I typed that as I was watching. Occurred to me shortly after. Also shows that I don't pay nearly as much attention to this show as I used to.

I thought this was the worst episode of the season so far, but I still like Cannavale's character and plot.

To each their own. I still really enjoy the show and most of its' characters.

Many of these mobsters were somewhat psychopathic and had huge tempers. While many of those loose cannons were more seen at lower levels (and not at the top of his own crew, like Gyp), it's not unrealistic to think that a few of these guys made it to the top of their gang.

ITT People are surprised that mass murderers are murdering people.

More like ITT people who aren't that funny attempt to reduce complaints to puchlines and fail.

Nobody's expressed "surprise". They've just been critical.

No.

It would seem like someone like Gyp would have to be a terrific earner to get away with that type of brash, reckless behavior. As someone said earlier, that type of stuff is bad for business and attracts unneeded(& unwanted) attention. Maybe back in those days it was different? Maybe publicly killing a sheriff was not that big of a deal?

Ralphie got away with some ****, but I specifically remember Tony saying at least once that he wished Ralph wasnt such a good earner so he could kill him. However, it doesnt look like Gyp is a top earner, especially now that his booze connection has dried up. Maybe before he was, maybe not.

I find him somewhat entertaining, but his character is definitely way over the top. Almost cartoonish.

I believe that during the time period of this show, the mob was not as well known by the police and FBI. While it is true that someone who was a loose cannon would draw up more unwanted attention, the times were different- Italian enclaves did not speak to cops and the mob had a much lower profile than it does today. In the context of this show, the Valachi hearings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valachi_hearings) would not even happen for another few decades.

I'm guessing that it was just a different time period. Murders were probably more likely to go unchecked, etc.