William Donati is an English professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) and author of the just-released book: “Lucky Luciano: The Rise and Fall of a Mob Boss”

By William Donati

LAS VEGAS –– Hollywood was criticized in the thirties for films like Public Enemy and Little Caesar: Gangsters were portrayed too sympathetically complained citizens.

In modern times, we have the Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface, and the Sopranos offered as popular entertainment. Motion pictures reflect cultural values. The recent film Dillinger was criticized for its moral ambiguity. The cops are just as rotten as the crooks. Is that true?

Do citizens believe that? If so, society is in deep trouble.

Of course, the real heroes are the police and prosecutors. Film audiences do not feel the actual pain criminals inflict as killers, extortionists, thieves, and drug dealers.

jfk airport

Two New Jersey men were arrested late Saturday at JFK Airport as they prepared to head to Somalia to join up with the radical Islamic group Al Shabaab and  kill American troops overseas, the FBI announced Sunday.

Mahmood Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, N.J. and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park, N.J. had gone to JFK to take take separate flights to Egypt, with the final destination being Somalia,  the FBI said.

Authorities said a law enforcement team was at the airport, armed with arrest warrants, and waiting for the men. The arrest warrants were issued by a U.S. District Court judge in Newark.

The men, according to the FBI, listened to recordings of Anwar al-Awlaki, the spiritual Islamic leader who has reportedly has had many followers including the officer responsible for the Ft. Hood shootings.

Patrick Meehan/doj photo

WASHINGTON — Politics can be a little tricky, and tricky it may be for three ex-Bush-appointed U.S. Attorney’s who are running as Republicans for Congress.

The Washington Post’s Paul Kane reports that the three U.S. Attorneys are “running in districts held by Democrats, the GOP candidates are betting that their prosecutions in cases ranging from illegal immigration to local corruption will trump questions about their connections to the Bush White House.”

“You’re wearing the white hat, protecting people and seeing justice done,” Patrick Meehan, a former U.S. attorney for southeastern Pennsylvania, told the Post in explaining the appeal of ex-federal prosecutors.

Besides, Meehan, the other two candidates are Thomas Marino, an ex-U.S. attorney for northeastern Pennsylvania, and Timothy Griffin, an ex-interim U.S. attorney in Little Rock.

The Democrats are calling them “Bush retreads”, the Post reported.

“Middle-class families will reject these Washington-insider Republican candidates for representing a return to the failed Bush agenda, and they won’t be able to hide from their dirty records,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Ryan Rudominer told the Post.

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