Goodfellas : When Tommy's mom wished him luck - SPOILER

Before he was getting made / smoked, his mom said "Be careful. Congratulations I wish you lots of luck"

Did she know it might have been a set-up as she said 'be careful' and also - what exactly was she congratulating him for, hana!?

Somebody correct me if I am wrong but I think that the real Tommy's father was involved with the mafia as well as a couple of cousins. In light of that it would not surprise me that in the movie the mother meant "be careful" as a warning. She knew enough that to her Tommy being made did not pass the smell test. She also knew enough about the mafia not to make a point of Tommy's involvement at every turn such as at the midnight supper where Tommy spreads the bull dung about working nights as though he was some sort of factory worker. Given Tommy's age at the time even if Tommy did not ever formally tell his mother that he was involved with the mafia his mother could put 2 plus 2 together without any difficulty.

I will go a little further in that Sorcese gives us the view of Vinny and Tuddy waiting by the car before Tommy departs from the house so the mother if she is not privy to this point can look out the door and get the impression of what is going on with Tommy by looking out at the street. It is probably seldom or never that those two guys ever stopped by Tommy's mother's house up to that day. Upper level mafia guys make the news so it is a good bet that Tommy's mother knows them from watching the local news if she never saw them otherwise.

It's not his father that was involved with the mob but him (Tommy) and his brothers. The eldest one had already been whacked for being an informant, so Tommy acting like a violent psychopath was to prove to others that he isn't like his brothers. In the movie, Pauly even makes a reference to this when he talks to Henry. He says something along the lines of "...he's wild with something to prove."
Just a fun fact.

I really wonder if she knew what he did and that he was going to a "Getting made" ceremony?
He could have been lying to her about his life just as he did at the dinner table.
Of course he isn't going to tell his mom that he has a dead guy in the trunk out back but just how honest was he with her about everything else?

Humans are not the only species on earth.
We just act like it.

For all we know, he told his mom that he got a new job and that's why she's congratulating him, but considering his father was part of the same lifestyle, chances are so is his mom in one way or another. So I do believe his Mom knew what was going on.

If you're not taking any steps forward, you're not moving at all.

Organized crime is an odd and somewhat fascinating culture.

Everyone knows about it and is proud of it but nobody talks about it. The Bensonhurst area for example, was at one point a hotbed of gangsters but if you went there and asked around you would get a lot of non responses.

Moms know about it. Wives definitely know about it to an extent. But nobody has all the information. Did Tommy's mom know? Absolutely she did. And she was proud of it.

Of course she knew about the mafia and her son's connection to it. Tommy had been sent away to prison as referenced by his line to Henry : Say hello to the hacks for me. There would be no covering that up with Tommy's mother. Any trial would have been covered by the media along with a verdict and the neighbors would no doubt be asking about it. Those guys made the newspapers quite a bit back in those days and no doubt the mother got a glimpse of that whether she wanted to or not. After a certain point there is no avoiding it even if it personally pains you.

I always got the impression that she knew he was becoming a made man, and she was also a little afraid of what might happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24MZcKtps1w