classicsoncall Review of Rob the Mob

Rob the Mob (2014)

"You want to take down the king, you got to sacrifice a couple of pawns."

[7/10 · 30 April 2019]

What would you call it - chutzpah? Arrogance? Lack of foresight? Plain stupidity? To think that these two young punks could get away with robbing the Mafia in their own social club environment was nothing less than a death wish. Which is the only way this could have ended, so you pretty much know where this is going right from the start. But the fun I guess, is in seeing how genuinely crazed and motivated Tommy Uva (Michael Pitt) gets when he barges into one of the mob dens and strips them of their valuables, not to mention their clothes during one particular escapade. Unintended consequences abound in the story, as with 'The List' and the wiretap team taking notes and setting up the trap that would take down twenty members of the Mafia following the arrest, trial and incarceration of John Gotti, Boss of All Bosses. I had my eye on the front pages of the New York Daily News and The New York Post during the Mob's heyday, and plenty of those featured the latest hit, but I don't recall anything about this pair of youthful hotshots trying to score on their gangster elders. For their effort, they got whacked on Christmas Eve, 1992 and never saw it coming. They should have used those Mexico tickets.