STREET CRIME

I MISS THE MAFIA

There was a time, not so long ago, when most suburban neighborhoods were safe from the Mafia. Back then, bad guys of one “family” murdered bad guys of other “families,” and if you weren't in “the game” you were pretty safe. Now no one is safe because crime has moved from the streets of Chicago to Wall Street. If you don't believe me, check out Academy Award winner Charles Ferguson's eye opening documentary “Inside Job.”

The “numbers racket” and loan sharking are now exclusively the business of the big banks, “investment” firms, and hedge funds. And they haul in vastly more money than the Mafia dons ever dreamed possible, money that comes out of your pocket and mine. The question is, Where are the G-Men now that we really need them?

The reason most of the crooks of today get away with stealing from us is that Congress has made their crimes “business as usual.” It's perfectly legal to put a bunch of totally bad debts (sub-prime mortgages) into a box and sell the box to somebody for a high price, which they can because they pay the “rating” agencies like Moody's and S&P to swear on a stack of old phone books that the box is really, really valuable. S&P, as you recall, was the agency that was paid to downgrade our country's credit rating because the people who paid them thought it would hurt Obama's chances of getting reelected.

There is today a glimmer of hope. Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley has filed suit against Bank of America, JPMorgan-Chase, and others charging them with real honest to God crimes. She's not a G-Man but she's one ballsy G-Lady!