More on Scarface

I read a little on Al Capone after my last post, and it's true:  despite being connected with dozens, perhaps hundreds of murders, not to mention other crimes, they finally got Capone on tax evasion.  Oh the usefulness of the IRS!

But, if it weren't for prohibition, guys like Capone would have never gone into business.  It was the prospect of huge profits from dealing in an illegal substance (that nonetheless was used by the majority of the population for thousands of years) that brought the mob into it.  Sure, they could've done the numbers racket or other penny-ante stuff, but organized crime would have never reached the scale that it did without prohibition.

So--create the problem through government stupidity, and solve it with government power.  Works for me.

Frankly, I'll take Capone.