Tony Thurmond: “America is a nation that has a fascination with pop culture, especially the movies and television, and individuals often…”

“America is a nation that has a fascination with pop culture, especially the movies and television, and individuals often form their opinions about issues based on what they see on screens in their living room or in a theater. Unfortunately, this practice often leads to misimpressions about the facts of life. Take for example organized crime. So often in movies and television shows, those who are involved in organized crime are depicted as sharp dressed and honorable men who simply choose to make their money and live their lives outside the law. One cannot help but have a romanticized and idealized notion of what it is like to be a wiseguy. To those of us who understand and study such issues, we know that nothing could be further from the truth. The real faces of organized crime are the heartless killers and goons who put a stranglehold on trucking, rackets, and unions, they are not manicured, honorable men; they are the outlaw bikers who peddle methamphetamines and dabble in white slavery, they are not fun loving rebels who just want to ride motorcycles; they are the gangs from our cities' ghettos who wholesale crack and terrorize neighborhoods with their indiscriminate violence, they are not misunderstood youths; and, they are the ``new mafias'' from places such as Russia, Mexico, and Vietnam, men and women who prefer intimidation and criminal enterprise to hard work, unlike their honest immigrant peers who are fighting to realize the American dream.”