Tear Jerker / A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

• Nerf's ultimate fate. In his thirties and still living with his mother, clearly hating his life. He tells Dito a story about how his mother tries to hide from him on the street.
• There's something very subtly tragic at Laurie still being on the same corner fifteen years later. She claims she waited for a whole year hoping Dito would come back for her. The real Laurie's fate was even sadder - dying of AIDS two years before Dito returned to New York. He claims the film is partially a Fix Fic just so he could see her again.
• Mike being shot. An innocent kid who didn't take part in any kind of gang related business, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's telling that this is what convinces Dito to finally leave town.
• During the "Trouble" sequence, Antonio breaks the fourth wall to say this, which is delivered so unbelievably tragically.
  "I'm a fucking piece of shit. And that's all I am."
  • You really should hate Antonio because of all the violent things he does. But at the same time you can't help but feel sorry for him - beaten up by his father all the time and with an unflinching respect for Monti (who he clearly sees as a substitute father). He even really just feels abandoned by his best friend (even if the friend would like to not get into fights with gang members).