A too familiar tale of graft, corruption

A too familiar tale of graft, corruption: "But one must never forget that the land of Abraham Lincoln was also the land of Al Capone and at this juncture it would be difficult to determine which machine has been more insidiously corrupt, the political kind or the gun kind. One can only note that with the vicious, murderous beer barons of prohibition there was no public trust betrayed if one doesn't count the Big Bill Thompsons of the state who allowed them to operate."