Stop Snitching! 10 Movie Characters Who Taught Us Not To Rat

Snitched on: Corrupt police officers. Sick of watching his fellow cops steal, take bribes, and physically abuse suspects, principled police Serpico (Al Pacino) goes to higher-ups and, when they refuse to do anything, the press.

Punishment for snitching: His backup officers provide little help when Serpico takes a (possibly pre-arranged) bullet to the face on a narcotics sting. After surviving and testifying in front of the Knapp Commission on corruption, he flees to the safety of Switzerland. You see, the police take this no snitching shit as serious as crooks. Fucking hypocrites.

Snitched on: His younger brother, the Godfather, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino). Sick at being passed over for the top spot in favor of his more competent sibling, Fredo (John Cazale) decides he wants his own piece of the mafia pie. To get it, he provides vital information about his brother to business-associate-turned-enemy Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), who uses it in an assassination attempt on Michael's life. Needless to say, this just breaks Michael’s poor little heart.

Punishment for snitching: Michael disowns his brother but agrees to spare his life. That is, until their mother dies, at which point he has his bodyguard turn Fredo's brains into chum while they're out fishing.

Snitched on: Mob boss Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino) and longtime partner Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro). After Cicero tells him to stop selling cocaine, Hill (Ray Liotta) continues to, and eventually the Feds nab him. When he realizes that Conway intends to whack him so he can't turn snitch, Hill takes it as a convenient excuse to flip on everyone he knows and save his own sorry ass.

Punishment for snitching: Has to spend the rest of his life in the Witness Protection Program as an "average nobody" eating Middle American pasta sauce that resembles ketchup.

Snitched on: Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) and the Cash Money Brothers. Recruited by police officer Scotty Appleton (Ice-T), recovering crackhead Pookie (Chris Rock) goes undercover bagging up rocks for CMB, reporting back to the cops. Unfortunately, the hard keeps calling Pookie, and eventually he starts smoking again, which leads to him blowing his cover.

Punishment for snitching: The CMB kills him on the spot, then straps a bomb to his body. Scotty manages to deactivate it before it obliterates Pookie, so at least there's that.

Snitched on: Caine (Tyrin Turner) and O-Dog (Larenz Tate). After Cain pistol whips him for getting too frisky with Ronnie (Jada Pinkett Smith), Chauncy (Clifton Powell) gets revenge by giving police a surveillance video of Cain and O-Dog robbing and killing convenience store owners.

Punishment for snitching: We’re not sure. However, in the real world, for a while, the word Chauncy was slang for “mark-ass-bitch-ass-snitch-ass-hoe-ass-punk-ass-buster.”

Snitched on: Criminal client and pal Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino). A lawyer who gets too involved in the criminal world that provides him his clients, Kleinfeld (Sean Penn), who is the object of a federal investigation, decides to sell out his old friend by making false accusations about the retired gangster.

Punishment for snitching: Rather than simply kill his double-crossing lawyer, Carlito secretly empties his revolver, leaving Kleinfeld defenseless when the son of a mafia boss he's stolen from and killed comes to whack him. It's much easier to sleep at night that way.

Snitched on: His robbery crew. After successfully pulling off the robbery of an armored car, false-preaching Cleon (Bokeem Woodbine) opts not to lay low, instead buying a new Cadillac and handing out 100 dollar bills to his congregation, claiming he got it from the Lord. The police eventually catch up to his bullshit and he rats out the surviving members of his crew.

Punishment for snitching: We never find out, but we're sure there's a circle of hell reserved for he who rats out his boys.

Snitched on: Humanity. Sick of eating cold gruel in the real world that Morpheus has opened his eyes to, Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) decides that he would rather have his mind wiped and live ignorantly and blissfully inside a fake computer generated world. He strikes a deal with Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), selling out his crew so he can go back into the Matrix and enjoy eating juicy steaks that don't actually exist.

Punishment for snitching: Dude gets zapped by Tank (Marcus Chong) with some kind of futuristic electricity gun. By far the worst death for a snitch yet.

Snitched on: Drug supplier Carlos Ayala (Steven Bauer). When Eduardo Ruiz (Miguel Ferrer) gets nabbed by the DEA, he decides to testify against his connect so he can get immunity.

Punishment for snitching: On the day he is supposed to testify, his breakfast is poisoned—a deed that is made possible by the real gangster here, Carlos’s wife Helena (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

Snitched on: Boston gangsterdom. For years Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) stays one step ahead of the Boston police. How is this possible? Dude is an informant for the FBI, throwing other gangsters under the bus to save his own ass. Cold, man. Just cold.

Punishment for snitching: He gets gunned down by his pupil and staff sergeant, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), after he thinks Costello might have mentioned him to the Feds.