“We Were PATRIOTS” - Sammy Gravano Explains the Mafia’s AMERICAN Identity

Patrick Bet-David (0:00)

With the Italian mob, like all the families, would you all consider yourself patriots? Like, love America?

Assimilate that's the greatest country in the world? Is that, was that the mantra for Italian mob?

Sammy Gravano (0:12)

I think so, yeah. Yeah, I think so. There was a lot, a lot of people I know, including myself, was in the military, was willing to fight for the country.

A lot of guys. Guys were older than me, back in World War II and stuff like that. Oh, tons of guys.

My father was an immigrant. He was a patriot. He loved the country. He loved the flag. He loved what he did.

You know, they were innocent people, trying to make a living, trying to grow.

So, yeah, I think the mafia is patriotic about things. You know, not to a tremendous degree that they're going to go crazy fighting over it. But, you know, I think in one way, they believe in everything, the flag. You see, the ma—with holidays and stuff like that, they're good. They care about the country. My father—first thing I spoke was Italian. I never even knew how to speak English when I was a kid, because they were all Italians. They were all Italians, and that's all I learned. My father had said, we got to stop doing this. Look, he can't even speak English. We came to this country. We got to believe their laws, their flag, their country, and their language. And all my grandmothers and everybody started talking English more. Every once in a while, they talk in Italian, but they did it because they wanted to be part of this country. You're not here to divide the country. You're here to make it bigger and stronger and better. And if you left from some place, that was fucked up. This is more of a reason that you're going to come here and say, I'm going to make this better. I'm not going to make this through that.

Patrick Bet-David (1:55)

It's not happening with everybody, though.

Sammy Gravano (1:56)

No, I know. It doesn't happen with everybody because people have personal greed and selfishness. But you have to understand that, you know, when people make a move, like, like, let's say Donald Trump, he makes a move. He may benefit 80% of the people.

20% are going to suffer a little bit. And they're going to be so loud and crazy about it, and that's the way it is. You can't fix everything. You're always going to hurt somebody. You do something one way, a lot of people are going to like it, and a lot of people are not going to like it. That's just the way it is. Kennedy once said, don't ask what the country could do for you. Ask what you could do for the country. But people don't have that mentality.

They don't, they're always worried about what can it do for me.

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SPEAKER_4 (3:34)

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Patrick Bet-David (4:10)

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SPEAKER_4 (4:20)

Did you know that mosquitoes have killed almost half of all people who have ever lived? Today, people are fighting back. With support from the Gates Foundation, American scientists and partners around the world have developed a new generation of bed nets that can kill up to 90 percent of mosquitoes exposed to them, helping cut malaria rates in half. The result? A safer, healthier future for everyone. The Gates Foundation, partners of human potential. Search gatesfoundation.org. mosquito to learn more.