Top Mob, Maffia, Gangster Movies Ever

#20. The Killers (1946)

In the small town of Brentwood, New Jersey lives an unassuming man known as Pete Lund (Burt Lancaster), nicknamed the Swede (Burt Lancaster). Only having lived in Brentwood for a year, not many in town know his background. Two thugs arrive in town stating openly that they are going to kill the Swede (Burt Lancaster). Upon hearing the news, the Swede (Burt Lancaster) gives up, saying that he can no longer keep running. Following the murder of the Swede (Burt Lancaster), John Reardon investigates on behalf of the insurance company in which the Swede (Burt Lancaster) had a small life insurance policy. In finding and speaking to people connected to the Swede's (Burt Lancaster) past, Reardon learns that he was an ex-boxer really named Ole Andersen (Burt Lancaster). His murder seems to be connected to a woman by the name of Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner), who the Swede (Burt Lancaster) loved and would do anything for and who had criminal associates. When Reardon connects the Swede (Burt Lancaster) to an unsolved robbery from six years earlier which in turn is connected to the Swede's (Burt Lancaster) murder, Reardon, against the wishes of his superior, decides to try and retrieve the moneys from the robbery and in turn catch the killers. He has the assistance of Lieutenant Sam Lubinsky, an old friend of the Swede's (Burt Lancaster). To find the money, Reardon has to find Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner), who seems to be the person in the middle of everything.

#19. Miller's Crossing (1990)

A highly styled 'genre' film which can perhaps be seen as a pastiche of all gangster movies. Tom Reagan is the laconic anti-hero of this amoral tale which is also, paradoxically, a look at morals within the criminal underworld of the 1930s. Two rival gangs vie for control of a city where the police are pawns, and the periodic busts of illicit drinking establishments are no more than a way for one gang to get back at the other. Black humour and shocking violence compete for screen time as we question whether or not Tom, right-hand man of the Irish mob leader, really has a heart.

Young Treasury Agent Elliot Ness arrives in Chicago and is deternimed to take down Al Capone (Robert De Niro) but he learns that it's not going to be easy, because Capone (Robert De Niro) has the police in his pocket. But Ness meets Jimmy Malone a veteran patrolman and probably the most honorable one in the force. He asks Malone to help him get Capone (Robert De Niro) but Malone warns him that if he goes after Capone (Robert De Niro), he is going to war. They recruit academy cadet, George Stone and Treasury agent Oscar Wallace, who is also an accountant, who wants to prosecute Capone (Robert De Niro) for tax evasion. When they make headway, Capone (Robert De Niro) tries to get them but they are untouchable.

#17. Casino (1995)

This Martin Scorsese film depicts the Janus-like quality of Las Vegas--it has a glittering, glamorous face, as well as a brutal, cruel one. Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) and Nicky Santoro, mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their mark, live and work in this paradoxical world. Seen through their eyes, each as a foil to the other, the details of mob involvement in the casinos of the 1970's and '80's are revealed. Ace (Robert De Niro) is the smooth operator of the Tangiers casino, while Nicky is his boyhood friend and tough strongman, robbing and shaking down the locals. However, they each have a tragic flaw--Ace (Robert De Niro) falls in love with a hustler, Ginger, and Nicky falls into an ever-deepening spiral of drugs and violence.

#16. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Four Jack-the-lads find themselves heavily - seriously heavily - in debt to an East End hard man and his enforcers after a crooked card game. Overhearing their neighbours in the next flat plotting to hold up a group of out-of-their-depth drug growers, our heros decide to stitch up the robbers in turn. In a way the confusion really starts when a pair of antique double-barrelled shotguns go missing in a completely different scam.

#15. Scarface (1983)

When Fidel Castro opens the harbor at Mariel, Cuba, he sends 125,000 Cuban refugees to reunite with their relatives in the United States. Among all the refugees, there is one who wants it all, his name is Tony Montana. Tony and his friend Manny when they arrive in the United States and start in small time jobs, soon they are hired by Omar Suarez to pay money to a group of Colombians. When the deal goes wrong, Tony and Manny leave with the money and succeed in their job. Soon Tony meets with drug kingpin Frank Lopez and falls for his boss's girl Elvira. Pretty soon Tony will know that those who want it all, do not last forever and that is the price of power. The world will know Montana by one name....SCARFACE.

#14. White Heat (1949)

Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) is the sadistic leader of a ruthless gang of thieves. Afflicted by terrible headaches and fiercely devoted to his 'Ma,' Cody (James Cagney) is a volatile, violent, and eccentric leader. Cody's (James Cagney) top henchman wants to lead the gang and attempts to have an 'accident' happen to Cody (James Cagney), while he is running the gang from in jail. But Cody (James Cagney) is saved by an undercover cop, who thereby befriends him and infiltrates the gang. Finally, the stage is set for Cody's (James Cagney) ultimate betrayal and downfall, during a big heist at a chemical plant.

#.13 Du rififi chez les hommes (Rififi) (1955)

After five years in prison, Tony le Stéphanois meets his dearest friends Jo and the Italian Mario Ferrati and they invite Tony to steal a couple of jewels from the show-window of the famous jewelry Mappin & Webb Ltd, but he declines. Tony finds his former girlfriend Mado, who became the lover of the gangster owner of the night-club L' Âge d' Or Louis Grutter, and he humiliates her, beating on her back and taking her jewels. Then he calls Jo and Mario and proposes a burglary of the safe of the jewelry. They invite the Italian specialist in safes and elegant wolf Cesar to join their team and they plot a perfect heist. They are successful in their plan, but the D. Juan Cesar makes things go wrong when he gives a valuable ring to his mistress.

#12. Heat (1995)

Hunters and their prey--Neil (Robert De Niro) and his professional criminal crew hunt to score big money targets (banks, vaults, armored cars) and are, in turn, hunted by Lt. Vincent Hanna and his team of cops in the Robbery/Homicide police division. A botched job puts Hanna onto their trail while they regroup and try to put together one last big 'retirement' score. Neil (Robert De Niro) and Vincent are similar in many ways, including their troubled personal lives. At a crucial moment in his life, Neil (Robert De Niro) disobeys the dictum taught to him long ago by his criminal mentor--'Never have anything in your life that you can't walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you spot the heat coming around the corner'--as he falls in love. Thus the stage is set for the suspenseful ending....

#11. Snatch (2000)

Turkish and his close friend/accomplice Tommy get pulled into the world of match fixing by the notorious Brick Top. Things get complicated when the boxer they had lined up gets the shit kicked out of him by Pitt, a 'pikey' ( slang for an Irish Gypsy)- who comes into the equation after Turkish, an unlicensed boxing promoter wants to buy a caravan off the Irish Gypsies. They then try to convince Pitt not only to fight for them, but to lose for them too. Whilst all this is going on, a huge diamond heist takes place, and a fistful of motley characters enter the story, including 'Cousin Avi', 'Boris The Blade', 'Franky Four Fingers' and 'Bullet Tooth Tony'. Things go from bad to worse as it all becomes about the money, the guns, and the damned dog!