Tagged: Criminal
The Sopranos: Paulie Walnuts’ Mint Shirt at Sea
Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” on The Sopranos, Episode 6.15: “Remember When”
Vitals
Tony Sirico as “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri, mob captain and Army veteran
Miami Beach, Fall 2007
Series: The Sopranos
Episode: “Remember When” (Episode 6.15)
Air Date: April 22, 2007
Director: Phil Abraham
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
For some reason, TikTok users in 2021 decided that May 24 was National Rigatoni Day. Leave it to me to five years behind on the trends, but rigatoni is my favorite pasta so I may as well find this tenuous connection to again post about my favorite show—specifically the episode of The Sopranos where Paulie whips up some “rigatoni alla Paulie” or “rigatoni alla Tony, heh heh heh,” while silently—or not so silently—fretting about his fate. Continue reading
Sterling Hayden’s Four-Pocket Sport Jackets in The Killing
Sterling Hayden in The Killing (1956)
Vitals
Sterling Hayden as Johnny Clay, professional armed robber and ex-convict
Los Angeles, Fall 1955
Film: The Killing
Release Date: May 19, 1956
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Wardrobe Credit: Jack Masters
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Stanley Kubrick’s third directorial feature The Killing arrived in select theaters 70 years ago today on May 19, 1956. The limited release hurt its box office, though it was well-received by critics and even received a BAFTA nomination for Best Film. In addition to establishing Kubrick as a more mainstream talent, it remains a quintessential example of heist film noir, influencing filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino who described his own debut Reservoir Dogs as his own take on The Killing.
Kubrick collaborated with pulp novelist Jim Thompson on the hard-boiled screenplay, adapted from Lionel White’s novel Clean Break. The action centers around recently paroled Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden), who is already planning his next heist: the two-million-dollar robbery of a thoroughbred racetrack. Johnny’s scrappy gang includes two track employees, a crooked cop, a self-destructive former associate, and a sharpshooter whose job will be to shoot the favored horse and create chaos that distracts from the robbery. Continue reading
Bonnie and Clyde: Michael J. Pollard’s Type I Denim Jacket as C.W. Moss
Michael J. Pollard as C.W. Moss in Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
Vitals
Michael J. Pollard as C.W. Moss, slow-witted mechanic-turned-bank robber
Texas to Missouri, Spring 1933
Film: Bonnie & Clyde
Release Date: August 13, 1967
Director: Arthur Penn
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
My last post centered around one of the many quick-and-dirty Depression-set crime films released in the wake of Bonnie & Clyde‘s popularity, so let’s refocus today’s sartorial attention back on the groundbreaking 1967 drama that started it all. Starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty (who also produced the film), Bonnie & Clyde fictionalized the exploits of real-life Texas outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, whose two-year crime spree of mostly unprofitable robberies left a trail of at least twelve dead lawmen and civilians until they were ultimately killed by law enforcement in May 1934.
Robert Benton and David Newman’s Academy Award-nominated screenplay emphasized the twenty-something couple’s youth, capitalizing on the prevailing countercultural sentiment of the late 1960s in the stylized spirit of French New Wave cinema. Presumably even younger than Bonnie or Clyde is their first on-screen accomplice: small-town gas station attendant C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard), whose simplicity often suggests excessive exposure to fuel fumes. Moss served as a composite for several real-life associates of the gang, specifically eventual turncoat Henry Methvin and Dallas teenager W.D. “Deacon” Jones.
Born 110 years ago today on May 12, 1916, Jones was only 16 years old when the 23-year-old Clyde and 22-year-old Bonnie recruited him into their scrappy band on Christmas Eve 1932. After a car theft gone wrong resulted in the murder of Temple, Texas family man Doyle Johnson the next day, Jones became inextricably linked with the Barrow gang for more than a year until his eventual arrest in November 1933, six months before his more famous friends were gunned down in Louisiana. Continue reading
Al Lettieri in The Getaway: From Chalk-striped Suit to Corduroy and Chambray
Al Lettieri in The Getaway (1972)
Vitals
Al Lettieri as Rudy Butler, menacing and duplicitous armed robber
Texas, Spring 1972
Film: The Getaway
Release Date: December 13, 1972
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Men’s Costumer: Kent James
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
From The Godfather and The Getaway to McQ and Mr. Majestyk, if you needed a swarthy, mean, and snakishly charming son-of-a-bitch in the early ’70s, chances are you would call Al Lettieri. A bona fide tough guy who channeled his real-life connections to less reputable characters into his dynamic performances, Lettieri was only 47 years old when he died of a heart attack fifty years ago today on October 18, 1975.
Adapted from pulp author Jim Thompson’s 1958 crime novel of the same name, The Getaway was released in the final weeks of 1972—Lettieri’s breakthrough year, following the release of The Godfather in March. Continue reading
Sinners: Michael B. Jordan’s Suits as the Smokestack Twins
Michael B. Jordan as Elias and Elijah Moore in Sinners (2025)
Vitals
Michael B. Jordan as the Smokestack Twins: Elias “Stack” Moore and Elijah “Smoke” Moore
Clarksdale, Mississippi, October 1932
Film: Sinners
Release Date: April 18, 2025
Director: Ryan Coogler
Costume Designer: Ruth E. Carter
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Sinners has been one of the biggest movies of 2025, with the highest opening weekend box office for an original film since Nope in 2022 and, as of January 2026, the most-nominated film in Academy Awards history with 16 nominations, including Best Picture.
Produced, written, and directed by Ryan Coogler, Sinners is set 93 years ago tonight from October 15 to 16, 1932 as the snappily dressed twin Moore brothers—recently returned from Chicago, where they were gunmen for the mob—have returned to their Mississippi Delta hometown to open a juke joint.
Smoke: Chicago ain’t shit but Mississippi with tall buildings instead of plantations.
Stack: And that’s why we came back home. Figure we might as well deal with the devil we know.
Goodfellas: De Niro’s Windowpane Sport Jacket as Jimmy Conway
Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas (1990)
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway, feared mob associate
Queens, New York, Spring 1980
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today marks 35 years since the release of Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese’s kinetic crime epic chronicling three decades of Mafia life through the eyes of real-life Lucchese family associate-turned-informant Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). Though Henry was the ostensible protagonist, top billing went to Robert De Niro as one of Henry’s mentors-in-crime, Jimmy Conway. Continue reading
Bonnie and Clyde: Michael J. Pollard’s Herringbone Jacket and Jeans as C.W.
Michael J. Pollard as C.W. Moss in Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
Vitals
Michael J. Pollard as C.W. Moss, slow-witted mechanic-turned-bank robber
Iowa, Summer 1933
Film: Bonnie & Clyde
Release Date: August 13, 1967
Director: Arthur Penn
Costume Designer: Theadora Van Runkle
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
W.D. “Deacon” Jones may not be as famous as Bonnie Parker or Clyde Barrow, but the Dallas teenager was once among their closest companions in the notorious Barrow gang.
At only 16 years old, Jones was running jobs and riding shotgun on robberies, a role later blended with the gang’s informant Henry Methvin to create the fictionalized composite character C.W. Moss in Arthur Penn’s landmark 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde. Jones lived long enough to see the movie and admitted in a Playboy interview that “Moss was a dumb kid who run errands and done what Clyde told him… that was me, all right.”
Having survived countless shootouts during nearly a year riding with the Barrow gang, Jones ultimately couldn’t escape the fate that had claimed his contemporaries. Fifty-one years ago today in Houston during the early morning hours of August 20, 1974, the 58-year-old Jones was shot three times with a 12-gauge shotgun during an altercation outside a friend’s house. Continue reading
Dillinger (1973): Geoffrey Lewis’ Striped Suit as Harry Pierpont
Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont in Dillinger (1973)
Vitals
Geoffrey Lewis as Harry Pierpont, even-tempered bank robber
Across the Midwest, Fall 1933 to Spring 1934
Film: Dillinger
Release Date: July 20, 1973
Director: John Milius
Costume Designer: James M. George
Background
Today would have been the 90th birthday of character actor Geoffrey Lewis, born July 31, 1935. A familiar face across decades of movies and television, Lewis had one of his earliest prominent screen roles among the supporting cast of John Milius’ bullet-riddled 1973 directorial debut Dillinger, chronicling the life and crimes of the titular Depression-era bank robber.
Lewis co-starred as Harry Pierpont, a real-life associate of Dillinger’s known for his loyalty, cool head, and quiet leadership within the gang. Born in Muncie in 1902, the real “Pete” Pierpont first made a name for himself with Indiana law enforcement during the early 1920s through a spree of escalating crimes and bank heists. He was eventually captured and sentenced to both the Indiana State Reformatory and Indiana State Prison, where he crossed paths with a younger inmate named John Dillinger, then serving a 10–20 year stretch for mugging a grocer. Pierpont took the eager Dillinger under his wing, teaching him the tricks of the trade. Continue reading
One Way Passage: William Powell’s Shipboard Flannel Suit
William Powell in One Way Passage (1932)
Vitals
William Powell as Dan Hardesty, recaptured death row fugitive
Hong Kong to San Francisco, via Honolulu, Fall 1932
Film: One Way Passage
Release Date: October 22, 1932
Director: Tay Garnett
Costume Designer: Orry-Kelly (gowns)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On the anniversary of William Powell’s July 29, 1892, birthday, let’s look at how the dashing actor brought his marvelous sense of style to the screen in the last of his six major films opposite Kay Francis, the pre-Code drama One Way Passage.
Crafted from a story by Robert Lord, who won the Academy Award for Best Story, One Way Passage stars Powell and Francis as Dan Hardesty and Joan Ames, star-crossed lovers who meet over Paradise cocktails at the International Bar in Hong Kong. Shortly after, they reconnect aboard the S.S. Maloa steaming across the Pacific to San Francisco. Continue reading
Scarface: Paul Shenar’s Subdued Style as Sosa
Paul Shenar as Alejandro Sosa in Scarface (1983)
Vitals
Paul Shenar as Alejandro Sosa, Bolivian cartel kingpin
Cochabamba, Bolivia, Fall 1981
Film: Scarface
Release Date: December 9, 1983
Director: Brian De Palma
Costume Designer: Patricia Norris
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
In response to a paid request from a BAMF Style reader (thanks for the tip, Alexander!), today’s post follows Tony Montana (Al Pacino) and Omar Suarez (F. Murray Abraham) deep into the Andes for their meeting with the urbane Bolivian cartel kingpin Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar), who welcomes them to work out a cocaine distribution deal—though Omar receives a less warm welcome than he may have anticipated. Continue reading
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