James Ellroy Quotes

Any distraction tends to get in the way of being an effective gangster.

Who knows what is really going on within a criminal enterprise? Criminals

Jacare is a gangster. He's been in the game for a long time.

In Paris there are two dens, one for thieves, the other for murderers. The den of thieves is the Stock Exchange; the den of murderers is the Courthouse.

Let me tell you, Alex. He's a crook. He's based here in Miami. He's a nasty piece of work." "He's mexican" Troy added.

The world of crime is a last refuge of the authentic, uncorrupted, spontaneous event.

So if one, or two, or a handful of guys sells drugs for their own personal gain and profit who just so happens to be a member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, we want that same consideration.

It takes all sorts of people to make the underworld.

She tells enough white lies to ice a wedding cake.

I've made upwards of a million bucks in the cops-and-robbers business.

What is a lie? It is to say what is real is not real. It is to deny the existence of what exists.

I try to tell one lie in every interview. It keeps people I know amused when they read the article.

There are many people who think I'm actually a gangster or a mafioso, largely because of 'Goodfella.'

If you're lying, you're lying.

Crime, money, power, drugs - are all linked.

Some of your worst gangsters are guys who were very low-key.

We got into all the trouble you could ever imagine. We figured that if the Jones boys and all the gangsters ran Chicago, we had our own territory now. All the stores, all the crime, we were in charge of everything, my stepbrother and my brother.

One crime has to be concealed by another.

I think we have always had a fascination for gangs and gangsters, and I think we always will.

Grow your tree of falsehood from a small grain of truth. Do not follow those who lie in contempt of reality. Let your lie be even more logical than the truth itself, so the weary travelers may find repose.

Well, I'm used to rubbing shoulders with crooks and criminals.

Most major criminals operating in this country do so because of relationships they have with politicians who allow them to operate.

I think crime pays. The hours are good, you travel a lot.

Bookmaking is the most menacing racket in the entire field of organized crime.

The Boston Mob, raised first by the Instigation of Many of the Principle Inhabitants, Allured by Plunder, rose shortly after of their own accord.