Katherine Unterman. Uncle Sam’s Policemen

The old adage “Crime does not pay” has circulated in comic books, radio, and film. The phrase is a contradiction. It emerged because the rich and powerful recognized that crime did indeed pay. And it paid very well for those who were willing to take the risks and run across international borders or sail to far-off lands. Dastardly boodlers embezzled the hard-earned dollars of the wealthy, then absconded with the loot to exotic locales, first to Canada, and later to Mexico, Europe, Central America, and Latin America. The wealthy were appalled by the positive foreign press coverage, thieves in coats and top hats, former trusted clerks and employees. Rather than portraying these men as criminals who stole from the benevolent wealthy men who provided them with their livelihood, foreign journalists, politicians, and businessmen welcomed them as potential investors or even as celebrated figures. The successes of boodlers, embezzlers, and all-round financial scoundrels made for good press for a fascinated reading public dreaming of a better life in the midst of the American boom-and-bust economy. Something had to be done. As many scholars who work on crime have noted, for the rich and powerful, crimes are committed by others, never by them.

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