The Departed Criminality Quotes

Costello has his own way of looking at things, especially criminality. For him, the world is just full of a bunch of people with guns trying to take control of that world. There's not much difference for him between cops and criminals—it's just different people with different guns.

Captain Ellerby has a fun sense of humor, which he needs to have to do his job well. Like many cops, he knows he'll never fully stamp out crime in his city. All he can really do is disrupt it a little.

Ellerby doesn't bother telling people what they already know. Everyone in the police department knows that Frank Costello is the head of organized crime in Boston. The funny thing is that everyone can know this, and Costello can still be out on the street running his gang. But that's just because Costello knows how to play the system to stay out of jail.

Dignam knows Billy Costigan's family pretty well. He especially knows that Billy's Uncle Jackie was one of the top Irish mob guys in all of Boston before the mafia had him killed. But for some reason, Billy's father never wanted anything to do with a life of crime.

Captain Queenan knows that Billy is a valuable asset because of his family connections to crime in the Southie neighborhood. But that means that he'll have to establish Billy's street cred by sending him to jail for a while. That's quite a lot to ask from some kid you're not even giving a full-time job to.

Madolyn knows that cops and criminals need mental therapy. But she's also a human being who sometimes wishes people would just get over themselves and do their jobs regardless of which side of the law they're on. As she reminds Colin, he wouldn't have a job if the criminals didn't exist.

As a mobster who has a lot of people killed, Frank Costello needs himself a steady supply of dudes to take the fall. And that's where Jimmy Pappas comes in. Chances are that the guy already did something to tick Costello off, so this is a win-win as far as Costello is concerned. Get rid of a guy you hate and pin a murder on him at the same time. What's not to love?

Well, it looks like Jimmy Pappas isn't going to be around to argue that he didn't commit any murders. You see, Frank Costello has a way of pinning crimes on guys he knows and then having those people killed so that they won't be able to say too much to the cops about what they have on Costello.

Billy tries to explain to Madolyn what it's like to work in the mob next to a mass murderer. As he puts it, the inside of your body totally falls apart. But on the outside, you never show any fear. Not even a little bit.

When Costello accuses him of being a rat, Billy knows that he'll have to double down if he's going to throw Frank off the scent. So he risks his life by threatening Frank right back and telling him he'll kill him. This is a risky move, because Frank could just kill Billy at this moment. But the move works, and Frank believes him.