Untouchables and America in the 1920's

                                    The Untouchables and America in the 1920s

The movie The Untouchables is about the mob and its police involvement and corruption in 1920’s Chicago. The film shows the effect of organized crime upon American society. The two extremes between good and evil in this move are mob boss Al Capone and justice-seeking investigator Elliot Ness. Throughout the film The Untouchables it is shown that organized crime serves as a service to society. Organized crime units simply look for something that is not available to the society legally and offer it to them for their own financial gain. In this movie, Capone’s mob was offering alcohol during prohibition to a society who desired it. The mob found their own “niche” market and jumped into it. The mob makes sure that they do not have any competition by instilling an element of fear with everyone that they deal with. Additionally, fear, intimidation, and bribery can be used in the mob in order to control law enforcement and other public officials.

Initially, law enforcement agencies were unproductive in dealing with organized crime in The Untouchables because so much of the police force was in the mob’s pocket. Through bribery, Capone’s mob was able to create an environment where there would be virtually no trouble from law enforcement officers. Additionally, when and if there was any trouble with law enforcement officers, the organized crime units would also pay off public officials, such as judges, in order to remain above the law. All of this changed when one law enforcement officer attacked the case that he was assigned to (prohibition) and never backed down. He refused to take any bribes and did not stop in spite of the fear that the mob had generated toward him through threats to his family as well as the violent deaths of several other members of his police force. This detective, Elliot Ness, was able to get around the corruption throughout his workplace by forming his own group...