"The Irish have always been victims of negative stereotyping. I mean people think we're all drunks and brawlers. And sometimes that gets you so mad all you wanna do is get drunk and punch somebody."
-Joey Ice Cream
Joey "Ice Cream" is the jailhouse narrator and a lifelong friend of the brothers. He is typically willing to help them out in their times of need. Something of a Scheherezade figure, he is a classic example of an unreliable narrator, revising his story frequently when called on iffy details. In early drafts, the show was originally titled "The Truth According To Joey Ice Cream."
Quotes[]
[narrating]
Joey Ice Cream: Now, Kevin had always thought of himself as a gambler. He always believed he was lucky. The fact that he'd never won a bet in his life somehow never dissuaded him of this notion.
Tommy Donnelly: Really, Kevin? $2,000? How could you lose $2,000 on jai alai? You don't even know what jai alai is, do you you? Why don't you show me? Show me how you play, Kevin.
[narrating] Joey Ice Cream: Tommy had a knack for two things: drawing and getting his brothers out of trouble. What he didn't seem to understand is that he'd never go anywhere with the first if he couldn't let go of the second.
Young Joey: [after somebody stole his ice cream] Hey that's mine, I stole that!
[last lines] Joey Ice Cream: And that's where he left the bodies; right where they lay. Now, what the Italians did with them, I mean I can't say.
Detective Sunny: Those aren't the bodies we were asking about.
Joey Ice Cream: Oh. [gets knocked out]
Joey Ice Cream: I was the only one who saw him, the only one who knew that it was Tommy driving the car. And to this day, it's the one thing I never told anybody. I'm ashamed to be telling you now. Tommy never stole a car again, never did nothing, turned his whole life around. I mean, he could have made it out, only he was never going to let his brother be hurt again. And this was the day that changed Jimmy's life forever. 'Cause Jimmy went to rehab, and Tommy... Tommy became everything he never wanted. And whether he realized it or not, with Huey dead, Tommy had just taken over the neighborhood. And he was going to have to defend it.