When he's first introduced, he seems like an amazing person: he's very generous, tips everybody, spreads his wealth around, he's loved by everyone, but then he suddenly starts to whack people to keep the money from various jobs to himself. What exactly happened?
shareI guess for the same reason the guy did in real life? Money changes people and the mob life I think eventually gets people paranoid anyway.
shareBut he had money before too and didn't seem that greedy.
He'd walk in the door and everybody who worked the room went wild. He'd give the doorman a hundred just for opening the door. He shoved hundreds in the pockets of the dealers and who ran the games. The bartender got a hundred just for keeping the ice cubes cold.share
True. I guess it was the paranoia then. The lifestyle pretty much seemed like anyone could die just bu knowing, seeing, or saying the wrong things. I guess that weighs on people after a long time.
shareThe higher he rose the more he had to lose. Paranoia crept in and he trusted people less and less.
shareI imagine many mob guys do/did this in real life, basically not trusting anyone when it comes to the cash.
shareGreed
shareAs others have said, greed and paranoia.
But also consider everything that happened to him in the 25 years this movie covers. Not only had he committed multiple murders, but has seen countless others come and go, including friends. He had several years in prison, and was probably desperate to avoid ever going back, especially on account of someone on his crew doing something really stupid, like driving a new Cadillac a week after Lufthansa. Then Tommy getting whacked was the last straw for him. Aside from losing one of the few people he really trusted, the way it was done, with Tommy being tricked into thinking he was getting made was too much for him. Tommy being made would have been a huge opportunity for all of them to make huge money. But instead of that happening, he got a sharp reminder that his life was always in the hands of much more powerful men, and he was only a good as his last envelope to Paulie.
Then Tommy getting whacked was the last straw for him. Aside from losing one of the few people he really trusted, the way it was done, with Tommy being tricked into thinking he was getting made was too much for him.
He’d probably made a big score just before Hendry met him. So he was throwing around hundreds for keeping the ice cubes cold.
In the end he’d been to jail and he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in jail. A lot on the line. So you send Hendry down to Flarida to talk to that guy about that thing down there.
Money from hijacking a truck is not the same as the money he got in the Lufthansa heist. That much money will change anybody.
shareIt may have been more about not wanting to go down for Lufthansa due to other people's carelessness, rather than about wanting to keep all the money for himself.
I think it's said in the narration that he'd been in and out of prison most of his life so I'm not sure if the couple of years he did for the Tampa thing would have changed him, especially if he had a cushy time like Henry and Paulie did.
I'd also say he was never a great guy. At the point he's introduced, he "loved to steal" and had been committing murders for money since he was 16 - the fact that he tips bar staff excessively hardly makes him a good person.
You are not understanding the movie. Most of the money these guys make is not legit so there are only so many ways to spend it. If Jimmy could find more ways to launder it he would not be throwing so much money around at underground card games. Read up about the real James Burke. Since he was a teen he had a real deep violent streak. It would be real easy to run afoul of Jimmy and one reason most people did not frequent the same clubs, restaurants, etc. as the wiseguys. Wiseguys could get pissed to the point of being violent if you took them for a few hundred dollars in an honest card game. In general the pleasantries are on the surface and most sit downs involving made men and associates are because these guys were anything but nice. I don't know how a nice guy could begin to function in that life.
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