He was accused of seeing prostitutes and the known “Sheriff of Wall Street” fell quickly. The documentary explores the hidden profile of learning pride, arrogance, sex, and especially power. Spitzer’s acts of wrongdoing and dishonesty run counter to his career commitment to fighting corruption, however, the actions of Spitzer and the prostitutes parallel what they surround themselves with and learn in the context of their training. Eliot Spitzer, son of a rich father determined to make him America's first Jewish president, Princeton grad, husband, father, made himself a regular patron of an escort service in his suit and tie that adjusted to its clients self-delusions. Spitzer was born in New York, graduated from Princeton University and attended law school at Harvard.
The next example was in the Washington post it says “Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon all considered sacking him, Hoover. Even in the 1960s, he had a strong public image as an honest, competent law enforcement technocrat.” (Ackerman Washington post). He was such a powerful public figure and the public were amazed over the FBI that if a president fired him it would be more devastating for the presidents than it would for Hoover. Presidents such as Kennedy and Nixon knew that Hoover would have something on them and if he were let go than whatever he had on them would not only become public but the headline. “In 1936 Roosevelt instructed Hoover to keep him informed on fascist and Communist activities in the U.S. Hoover took the opportunity to increase his d... ... middle of paper ... ...ing organized crime and foreign threats posed during wartime and other foreign spy agencies.
Big time Mobsters began setting up some big ideas for big business. Mob bosses, gangs, small time thugs, smugglers and just about anyone who did not mind sneaking around the law had their hands dipped into the moonshine business. The moonshine business was a basic manufacture, sell and repeat business Prohibition had people thinking about making a pretty good profit from doing it. While this was happening big time mobsters began digging into deeper ways of making money. Labor racketeering, selling of drugs and even prostitution really come in to play during this time (Hales).
On another occasion, Gatsby was pulled over for speeding; he flashed the police officer a card and was let off. “Taking a white card from his wallet he waved it before the man’s eyes…Know you next time Mr. Gatsby” (The Great Gatsby 72). Although Fitzgerald does not specificall... ... middle of paper ... ...he prohibition era served as a catalyst, fueling the lucrative bootlegging industry, churning out multi-millionaires (like Gatsby) every other day. Coming from a lower class background, Gatsby could not resist blowing his new money on parties, clothing, and cars, let alone pursue the love of his life. He fell into a delusional state in which he believed that his money could buy anything.
They were on the streets mingling with the crowd, looking for their next perverted customer. The bosses often used prostitutes to "sweeten" deal between rival leaders or crooked politicians. They were as dangerous as the trained killers were, because they possessed something more powerful than guns. They were just as ruthless as the men that put holes in people's heads; they only came in a nicer package. The Mafia men of the 1920's and 1930's were some of the most influential men in American history.
Respectable working families looked up to these rough riders as the ultimate success story demonstrating the survival of the fittest and the ingenuity of the American man. Men such as Al Capone and “Bugs” Moran led lavish lives and were looked upon with jealousy by business men, even while they swindled the working class out of their paycheck.What was it about the Roaring Twenties that gave the American gangster his appeal? How could America romanticize the man behind the Valentines’ Day Massacre? The facts were certainly shocking, yet this nation still idealizes the jazz-filled speakeasies and sharply dressed ladies men. Why is this?
In the chart topping single, "Money, Power, Respect", Yonkers based rapper DMX raps "hit him up/ split him up/ shut him up/ then watch him come/ get him up…CLICK, step back like I did work", portraying a beating, then murder, the "CLICK" being the sound made by the trigger of a gun. The chorus then goes on to proclaim "Money, Power, Respect,... ... middle of paper ... ... quickly swept up in the corruption going on around him. In this book, nearly every character uses corruption as a tool for getting what they want and the only person who doesn't, Wilson, is left behind with nothing, as his wife who he is devoted to is struck down and killed just after he finds out she has been having an affair. A passage from page 180 describing Tom and Daisy reads "They were careless, Tom and Daisy, they smashed up things and creatures then retreated back into their money or vast carelessness, or whatever it is that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made." This quote in essence describes the entire book and our culture.
Al Capone is the single greatest symbol of collapse of law and order in the United States during the Prohibition Era. The act of Prohibition brought power to Al Capone, which he used to expand his organized crime activities into a stranglehold over the city of Chicago. Liquor trade became very profitable during Prohibition, and the struggle for control over the bootleg empire erupted into a full-scale war between rival gangs in Chicago. Capone gradually came to symbolize all the criminal evils of prohibition; to many throughout the world, he became the symbol of a lawless nation#. Publicity grew around the actions of Capone, with accounts of his sordid activities published in newspapers along with his image of power, money, and wickedness#.
People would flock to see the gangsters go from rags to riches with their glitzy lifestyle and beautiful women. As Shadoian puts it, “The gangster’s fizzy spirits, classy lifestyle, and amoral daring were something like Alka-Seltzer for the headaches of the depression” (Shadoin 29). Not all this came easily for the gangsters though, bloodshed is defined as a part of business with guns a constant motif. Despite these negative outcomes, it’s easy to see how this genre was such a great elusion from the everyday where the American Dream seemed like it might not even exist anymore. The Public Enemy and American Gangster both follow the classic gangster film plot convention of rags to riches, a lust to achieve the Ame... ... middle of paper ... ...e and every changing history.
They lied, cheat, and stole to get to the top, they didn’t care who they threw under the bus all that was important was fulfilling there extravagant lifestyles of wealth and power. In the end the bosses will do whatever it takes to keep the tradition of old school mobsters alive, eventually these members enjoy the lifestyle too much that they allow all the power and money to get into there heads. Deception and corruption plays a huge role through the movie since no one can trust each other and holes in the dessert hung against their heads. The film did a well job of showing the corruption with in the inner workings of Las Vegas and exposes the crime and punishment that follows.