Chapter 3 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 3 dissects the culture of the Brownsville-East New York area, an area that eventually gave rise to organized crime in America as it is known today. The author depicts the insularity of the neighborhood in an attempt to explain the allure of the "everyone's doing it" attitude. Indeed, in Brownsville-East New York, it certainly did seem as if everyone was involved in crime, from the man on the street to the politicians and judges representing the law. Through this cultural depiction, the author builds on his thesis that Henry Hill is a product of his culture. Pileggi hopes to inform and also entertain the reader by showing how integral to the American culture the mafia really was. Pileggi's unstated premise is that something cannot be stopped if it is not understood, and his search for the roots of organized crime reveals...