Chemistry on Blue Bloods: Danny and Mobsters

In The Closer, Sanchez makes a furious comment about how police--and citizens--tend to romanticize the Italian mobster: Al Capone et al. 

He has a point. 

Having conceded to Sachez's point, I do enjoy Danny's relationships with various mobsters on Blue Bloods. The relationships are not exactly romanticized. Rather, they emphasize that Danny, more than any of the Reagans, could have gone "the other way." 

If he had, he would have ended up more like Lou Delgado, played by Lou Diamond Phillips, than, say, a serial killer or a gambling con-artist.

That is, the mobsters act as mirrors to Danny. Both Danny and the mobsters embed themselves into larger organizations, yet within those organizations, they create a highly individualized ethical system that depends, to a degree, on honor. Like Danny, the mobsters have a code:

Keep one's word. Stay loyal. 

In both cases, family rises above all else. And in both cases, rather like Dean from Supernatural, Danny and the gangsters operate based on a sense of the ideal. That is, they are well-aware of where they fall short. Their standards are high. Their pragmatism is endless. Consequently, they prove more flexible than their colleagues. 

Danny, of course, did not go the "other way." His family and the law keep him on the side of the righteous. The gangsters are the shadow. Like all good shadows or foils, they highlight the protagonist's character.