What Going to School or Going to College Means in a Gangster Movie

Both are synonymous with “went to prison.” I Heard You Paint Houses can be a little confusing because sometimes Frank Sheeran is talking about going to school, and sometimes he’s talking about going to school.

He mentions that one character “went to school in 1967,” and a paragraph later says another character “came out of college and went straight to work for the union.” Does he mean college, or college? It isn’t clear.

Of course, as Henry and his friends learn when they cook sumptuous prison meals in Goodfellas (above), going to school doesn’t have to be so bad.