My father had this mythological sense of the old New York, and he used to tell me stories about these old gangs, particularly the Forty Thieves in the Fourth Ward.

I did 'Gangs of New York' with Martin Scorsese, and they used to call me 'Little Joe Pesci' on the set.

One of the things is that the good intentions of Prohibition, from reading over the years and from becoming obsessed with the research of gangs in New York City, seems to have allowed crime figures at the time, like Luciano, Capone, Torrio and Rothstein, to organize to become more powerful, which pulled all the way through until the '70s.

My grandparents used to tell me stories about their trip to Ellis Island from Russia and life on the Lower East Side of New York.

It couldn't have happened anywhere but in little old New York.

For me, fashion begins in New York.