Nothing to me in recent times has truly captured the fix we are in the

[KlatooBNikto]

way a scene in Godfather told it.In that scene, Michael Corleone tells the Senator from Nevada " Senator, there is no difference between you and me. I am just more open about the way my family does its business.You hide behind laws and conduct your business the same way I do. You are a hypocrite". Ring a bell?

[leveymg]

1. One big happy family. Meyer Lansky guided the mob into the Republican

Party. Lansky was the money man and guiding spirit behind the Bay of Pigs, alliances with the CIA, and the Mob's infiltration of the southwestern states GOP machine. The other Dons -- Bush, Frisk and Hastert -- have a lot to thank him for.

A real wise guy, that one.

[Cerridwen]

2. Fortunately (maybe), Harry Reid has much experience taking

on "the mob"...and "winning".

<snip>

"Lefty's last stand came in December 1978, when he came before Reid's five-member Gaming Commission, which unanimously voted to deny Rosenthal's application.
Rosenthal pitched an impressive tantrum. He accused Reid of having a complimentary lunch with Las Vegas Sun executive Brian Greenspun at the Stardust. Reid recalled the lunch, but pointed out that he wasn't on the Gaming Commission at the time.

"Of all the jobs I've held, that was the most educational," says Reid. "Before that, the words `organized crime' were nothing but words. When I took over the Gaming Commission, they still didn't mean anything. But that changed when they divulged all the FBI tapes, and we found hidden interests in the Aladdin and at all the Argent properties. They put bombs on my car, there were threatening phone calls at night, people tried to bribe me and went to jail." (The car bombs were simple devices designed to light a spark in the gas tank. They failed to work.)

Wiseguy Joe Agosto, masquerading as "entertainment director" at the Tropicana, was heard on an FBI wiretap bragging to his bosses in Kansas City that "I've gotta Cleanface in my pocket," which the feds believed to be a reference to Reid. A five-month investigation concluded that Agosto's boast was nothing more than an attempt to show his superiors that he was "connected," and vindicated Reid. "

<snip>

http://www.1st100.com/part3/reid.html


edit to fix paragraph formatting

[truth2power]

4. I can see why Meyer Lansky was really pissed

about Castro coming to power in Cuba. Cuba was nothing but a playground for wealthy Americans under Batista and Lansky was big in the casino 'bidness'. Guess the Revolution really chapped his ass!

[LibDemAlways]

3. There's another scene in which Kay and

Michael are talking about the family business and she comments that political figures don't have men killed. His response "Who is being naive, Kay?"

Political power players and mafia dons. These days who can tell the difference.