Last night I went to the premiere of the great new William Kennedy Prohibition story documentary. The main focus of the documentary is Legs Diamond, a prohibition era gangster who happened to be killed in a house a few blocks from mine. If you live around these parts you have inevitably heard stories about "Legs". In the trailer to the film(linked above), William Kennedy talks about how America has always had a fondness and fascination with killers and gangsters.
I'm sure you've all seen the Godfather and know what he is talking about. After the film there was a Q & A with Kennedy and the film maker. There was only time for about 5 questions. Kennedy gave lengthy answers. The gentleman in front of me got up and asked about the line about us always being fascinated by gangsters and killers and asked Kennedy if he thought this still applied. Kennedy gave a long response but essentially said, "yes, that hasn't changed". The man in front of me had one final comment and he said, "Except that now all the gangsters are on Wall Street". Many applause followed. There was another question and then they said that they only had time for one more question. A guy who looked to be around eighty years got up and took the microphone. He didn't have a question. He just simply stated, "Today all the gangsters are on Wall Street". And then he sat down while people applauded.
The message is getting out there if on a Friday night in Troy NY at a movie premiere this is what people are talking about.
Let's keep the pressure on.