A new mini-documentary series answering the question “how to become a mob boss?” is now available on Netflix. I was not expecting such an interesting perspective on being a mob boss; but the series was one of the most entertaining self-help guides to success that I have watched in a long time.
The series discusses big names in the underworld: Pablo Escobar, Al Capone, Johnny Torrio and Frankie Yale. It talks a little bit about their life and gives a brief introduction. It feels like they are doing this just to peak the viewer’s interest; then, they bring in people who were somehow related to the mobs. Finally, right when you are captivated by their presence, they actually insert a manual — basically a guide book for you to follow if you want to become a mob boss in a similar way.
This guidebook could help you become a mob boss or any other kind of successful person. For example, the first given “rule” says that to be a mob boss, you need to be a leader of organized crime. That alone is not very helpful, but when they go into detail to explain what it takes to be an organized crime leader and how many mob bosses in the past had those qualities it raises interesting points. A good mob boss must be driven, ambitious, resourceful, loyal, intelligent, work with others and have someone to point you in the right direction — all things that anyone needs in any profession.
The series talks about how a young Escobar sold fake diplomas and graduated school by faking his report card. In addition, it shows how Capone started his mobster career as a child by recruiting his cousins to help him rough up the competition, aka other children that clean people’s shoes in the street for a living.
Next, the show brings up the question of mentorship — it was mentioned that Capone had two mentors: two top mobsters, Torrio and Yale, both very well known in organized crime. Torrio taught Capone to dress for success, keep his mouth shut and understand that money is power. While Yale taught Capone to always show he means business, carry a gun and let his reputation precede himself.
To be honest, these lessons can be applied to anything and everything; if you want to be a successful doctor, lawyer, professor, physiologist, military officer, zoologist or anything else. Using this advice will get you far. Dressing in a certain way and showing you always mean business will lead people to treat you a certain way — allowing you to establish better connections.
When talking about money: If you have more money, you have more access to things most don’t, making you harder to reach. That power — fortunately or unfortunately — makes you have more power over the majority of people. Keeping your mouth shut and always letting your reputation precede you goes hand-in-hand, don’t glorify yourself. Your actions, morals, values and work ethics will speak for themselves.
Maybe having a gun in hand is not exactly needed for people who are not mobsters, but we can replace the word gun for resources or knowledge. You never know when you will have to use something you learned in the past to resolve a problem.
Seeing the resemblance between the show and the self-help books I have is a bit odd to say the least — maybe even worrisome. Since I thought the books were supposed to be for non-mob bosses, it was hard to see how anyone could learn from the criminals in the series; but now I see that to get anywhere in life you need to have the same key traits as a mob boss.
Overall, I definitely recommend this series to anyone who wants to learn the key traits required to become successful, likes history and fun facts, loves documentaries or would like to become a mob leader. Maybe this documentary will lead you to success! Who knows, maybe it’ll make you the world’s most well known and most successful mob boss.
Rating: 4/5