Mickey Bricks - Background

Background

Mickey has a strong dislike of being told what to do or having a job. These feelings appear to stem from his childhood. In series one, he revealed that his father was an ordinary, law-abiding citizen whose only dream was to retire at age 60, a dream of which he was robbed when he dropped dead of natural causes three days before his 60th birthday. He watched his father doing exactly what society told him to and then had to watch as that same sense of duty crushed him. This left him with a strong hatred of people who simply use the system to make themselves rich regardless of the cost to anyone else, which is the main reason Mickey always selects marks whom he has reason to dislike; by making it personal when attempting to outwit them, he stops himself from ever making the con about the money. The gang states that their first rule is, "You can't cheat an honest man," not because they should not but because those being conned are greedy and dishonest people, who are thus less likely to over-analyse anything that would make them rich. In that sense, Mickey is not hypocritical because he doesn't steal from "old ladies", with all his marks being people who are either blatantly dishonest or simply coldly dismissive of others- such as when he stole a man's credit card after hearing him attempt to convince his staff over the phone to only pay Eastern Europeans £2.50 an hour to work for them-; indeed, on at least two occasions he has masterminded cons where innocent people gain more from the cons than the gang themselves (Although the gang still made a profit from their actions). At the same time however Mickey has no qualms with drinking in Eddie's bar without paying his tab or staying in hotels without paying his bill.