It’s a harsh truth, for sure, but what’s worth noting here is Nicky’s overall sense of pragmatism, despite the fact that he’s known as such a violent, volatile guy. Something that both Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) and Nicky mention early on are the “problems” in Las Vegas, and how so many of them end up buried in the desert that surrounds the city.

Otherwise, you’re talking about a half-hour to forty-five minutes worth of digging.” I mean, you gotta have the hole already dug before you show up with a package in the trunk. For those moments when you can barely keep your temper in check, let these Nicky Santoro quotes inspire you to bite your tongue and swallow your rage. Sure, Nicky could still fly off the handle, but he could also keep it together when he had to, even if he didn’t necessarily want to.

While they were both hot-headed gangsters prone to impulsive acts of violence (and both based on real-life criminals), Nicky had a kind of method to his madness, whereas Tommy was really just an overgrown id squeezed into a gangster’s suit. In a lot of ways, Joe Pesci’s character in Casino, Nicky Santoro, is the flipside of his Goodfellas character, Tommy DeVito.

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