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Enthusiastic corruption of the public good

posted 9 years ago by BulletHeadedSaxonMothersSon
1 reply | jump to latest

When Boss Tweed gets Bill to have those criminals hanged for crimes that they may or may not have committed, just for the sake of appearing to be tough on crime, the judge accuses one of the guys of "enthusiastic corruption of the public good."

What is that?

[–] mikeyg24 9 years ago

I'm not sure but my take on it is that a lot of people in the Five Points did what they had to in order to survive. While it wasn't tolerated I think what the judge was saying is that this particular guy delighted in crimes against the community. In other words his crimes were of desire not desperation.

24/04/1916