The reason it's so difficult to characterize, for Mr. Lankford, among others, is that we're all quite unused to hearing what a mafia boss sounds like.  Intimidation and demands for loyalty:  it's the way gangsters talk.  It's the way Al Capone would have talked if he had been elected President.

"I hope you'll drop the investigation into income taxes, Mr. Ness."

What could be simpler?