https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Falcone#Death
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_D%27Amelio_bombing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Di_Matteo#Killing_of_son
Killing police officers, wives of judges, priests who speak up agains the Mafia, torturing the 11-year old son of a pentito for two years... Charming. This romanticized view really does make me angry. The Mafia are scum, they are lowlife despicable murderers. They're unreservedly wretchedly scum. They haven't a a moral code, they bring misery to others for their own benefit, and as such they aren't above any other scumbag criminal (like the 14-yo gangbanger you deride).