Elias' safe combination, 10 30 74 alludes to October 30, 1974, the day of the boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. Foreman, at that time undefeated world heavyweight champion was defeated by Ali just before the end of the eighth round, with Ali employing his "rope-a-dope" strategy (which Reese references) . The event became known as The Rumble in the Jungle. Earlier in the episode, a photograph of the fight between George Foreman and Michael Moorer is shown hanging on the wall at the restaurant where Elias meets Gino.
Fusco refers to Root and Shaw as "Lucy and Ethel". Lucille Ricardo and Ethel Mertz, a pair of housewives inclined to find themselves in the middle of comic adventures, are the two main female characters in the 1950s CBS sitcom "I Love Lucy".
Elias's quote, "Sun Tzu would be impressed." acknowledging Dominic's strategy of studying his enemy and finding out their greatest weakness refers to Sun Tzu, a 5th-century BC Chinese general and strategist, and author of "The Art of War". Considered one of the seminal studies of military tactics and strategy, it has influenced western military procedures into contemporary times. First translated into English in 1905, it has been translated multiple times and studied widely by both military and non-military strategists. Both Sun Tzu and "The Art of War" were heavily referenced in "Wolf and Cub".
Elias and Anthony demonstrate a knowledge of some Latin. They are both Italian; Latin is very similar to Italian which derived from it.