The inexplicable attractiveness of bad men

kw: book reviews, nonfiction, law enforcement, undercover, organized crime

In Redneck territory, there is the phenomenon of "good old boys", men who never really grow up, who mainly hold blue-collar jobs, drink away all of their earnings, and relentlessly seek women in bars whether they are married or not. A sadly funny old country song states, "There wouldn't be one single good 0ld boy if it wasn't for the good old girls." Point one.

A girl we got to know well, from the age of thirteen was drawn to "bad boys". She had no interest in boys who didn't take serious risks with the laws (including the law of gravity). She isn't someone "from the wrong side of the tracks." The oldest daughter of professional people, very smart (in some ways), very pretty, she could not make a healthy choice for a boyfriend to save her life. She almost lost it. Point two.

I can think of a few other points, but they sum up to this: Human society doesn't just tolerate the existence of a certain number of criminals, it positively fosters them while fawning all over them. Organized criminals get the best treatment, and not just because of fear, but largely of adulation.

Jack Garcia lived in all parts of the underworld as an undercover FBI agent for 26 years. He details one segment of this in his book Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family, written with Michael Levin. While he tells us of his work with the Mafia—and gives us side lights of a few other cases he worked on—he carries on a secondary dialogue with the reader, on the subject, Why are so many people drawn to these evil guys?

Organized criminals, whether the Mafia or another group (there are many), demonstrate the epitome of the Biblical statement, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." For the mafiosi, money is everything. You gain status by making money that you "kick up" to the organization over you. Make no mistake, "making money" is quite the opposite of "earning money". A few mobsters may run legitimate businesses, but even there, they find ways to squeeze extra money out of the system.

It is a fascinating story, how Garcia went to "mob school" to learn how to behave like a Wiseguy and earn the confidence of certain Made Men and their Capos and Underbosses. But I find it more fascinating, sadly, how many people were falling all over themselves to curry Mob favor. It really is true, "Power is the best aphrodisiac", and that attracting power is more general than just getting pretty women to spent one's time with. Garcia comments on this time and again.

Jack Garcia, as Jack Falcone, was on the verge of "being Made", inducted into the Mafia as a power in his own right, when the FBI management pulled the plug, shut down the undercover case, and began indicting more than thirty major players in the Gambino "family". A worthy haul, true, but one wonders what the FBI could have accomplished with one of their members as a Mafia Made Man, with the power to vouch for others…a much greater "hit" against the whole Mafia organization would have become possible. Can it be that both organized crime and organized law enforcement need one another, and feed off one another?

I could have stated as point three, the unusual popularity of "The Sopranos." I find it sad, this evidence of how far the human race has to go, to become an ethically mature species.