The Desire for Noble Criminals

In an episode of Decoy, Beverly Garland's character Patrick Casey has to bring a crime home to a small-time gangster. 

She convinces his subordinate to rag on him. Afterwards she admits to the piano player that she didn't think her tactic would work; she didn't think the one man would give up the other. 

"Don't you know these guys are all out for themselves?" he says. 

The scene reminds me of Detective Sanchez in The Closer--his deep resentment of Italian mobsters being romanticized. Sanchez despises all gangs and that's what the mafia is: a gang. 

Detective Sanchez's assessments reminds me of research that suggests that criminals who work for gangsters don't make much more than minimum wage and that gangsters don't kill each other over complicated drug deals gone bad but, rather, over being "dissed." 

And yet American literature and film really loves the romantic image. I think the reason is not just the desire for a decent narrative. I think, referring back to the first example, humans prefer to believe that something noble or good or, at least, humane: gangsters being loyal. Rather than gangsters merely being short-sighted, petty, shallow and immature. 

What we want criminals to be says more about our moral compasses than theirs.