Parallels in interrogation and Mafia

"As I sat alone at the table I reviewed all the mistakes I had made over the last several hours. I had asked unnecessary questions, let Raphie see where I was going before I got there, Lost my temper when I should have stayed calm, and vice-versa. I now had first hand experience in some of the ways to screw up an interrogation. I couldn't tell myself that I wouldn't make the same mistakes twice but at least I knew what the mistakes were. Slowly I was beginning to learn how to keep the details straight. How to close off the paths of evasion and how not to let a prisoner see the traps I had laid for him. I was beginning to understand not just how to ask questions but why I was asking the questions. Raw information was less important than what the information told me about the prisoner I was questioning. What he was thinking, what he was afraid of, and what he had to hide. The point was not to just catch him in a lie. I quickly learned most of what my prisoners would tell me were lies. It was the reason they were lying that was important."

This is a quote by Eric Maddox, who is pretty much the interrogator who located Saddam Hussein. Over the years I have been more and more fascinated with interrogation. Not the kind where you pour water down someones throat but the kind where you ask questions to divine hidden information. I bring this quote up because it not only shows a few solid truths that were exercised at the highest level of practice at what we strive to do but it also details the progression that the individual went through as he came to understand how to interrogate.

My question would be what other parallels can we draw from real life interrogation to Mafia and how can we apply these basic truths expressed by one of the greatest minds in the professional application of our field of study?

Spoiler : more :

"It was one thing to make a prisoner think you knew every detail of his life. It was another to tell him what you knew. That would enable him to anticipate what areas he could or could not lie to you about."

"It did not surprise or concern me to find that prisoners lied to me. Finding out the information they were trying to conceal behind the lie was what mattered."

I tend to see those as separate (but related) "fields of study". Perhaps that's why I'm bad.

But really, real life interrogations, even without pouring water down one's throat, have many differences with FM. For example, you don't see the other person. Also, you nearly always know what the other person is hiding if he's hiding anything: his alignment (exceptions being in some cases of interactions).

The ticking of a clock.
The cool air of an AC.
A man bearing down upon you with a quizical look on his face.
The feeling of the cool hard metal table.

The biggest difference between asking questions in FM and interrogation is environment, and control.
People can be in literally any place on earth (with internet access) in basically any state of mind and play FM. Contrast that with what one would imagine interrogation to be like, in an unfamiliar environment, clear of any other stressors or distractions.

So there is a SF branch of the military that is female only and took a page out of the Russian cold war play book of "Guys talk to hot chicks." This is a style of interrogation used by the US government that involves a hot chick buying you alcohol while she asks you questions.

Asking questions in an FM is the practice of the art of interrogation. If it feels better we can redefine the word but as its practiced professionally thats what we attempt to do when we scum hunt (minus mechanical methods.)

I'd never heard of Eric Maddox. He sounds like a fascinating character.

I think the parallel between RL interrogation and FM does hold some genuine merit. Not just for the psychology of the interrogated, but also the psychology of the interrogator. This may be more relevant to the "pour water down someone's throat" kind of interrogation, but I think an amateur interrogator often ends up just finding the information they want to find and focusing on pointing out superficial lies/contradictions/slips and stuff. There's a strong parallel between that and bad tunnels in FM.