Sigmund
Freud had his own views on what makes a criminal.
Freud proposed that
much deviance resulted from an excessive sense of guilt as a result of
an overdeveloped superego.
Persons with overdeveloped superegos feel
guilty for no reason and
wish to be punished in order to relieve this
guilt they are feeling and committing crimes
is a method of obtaining
such desired punishment and relieving guilt.
Do I believe that? Not so much.
I lived on the rough streets of Detroit as a six year old and
as an adult on the lawless streets of New Orleans after Katrina.
As my best friend, Sandra, says:
"Most people are only as good as their chances to do bad with impunity."
August
Aichorn is probably the best known neo-Freudian in criminology.
Aichorn felt that there were three predisposing traits that had to be
present
before the emergence of a life of crime:
the desire for
immediate gratification,
placing greater desire on one’s personal
desires over the ability to have good relationships with other people
and a lack of guilt over one’s actions.
A QUESTION I ASK IN
THE NOT-SO-INNOCENTS AT LARGE:
WHAT IF TO DO GOOD,
YOU DECIDED TO BE BAD?
SAMUEL McCORD: TEXAS RANGER ... PIMP?
{The Infamous Barbary Coast Madam, Ah Toy}
(The Barbary Coast 1851)
Accompanied by 16 year old Sammy Clemens in the haunted saloon, Casa,
McCord approaches the table of the second most dangerous man he knows: the Green Dragon.
McCord is younger and ah, a bit more feisty.
I walked to his table certain he would try to kill me if he could. It must have shown on my face. He smiled in enjoyment.
“Ah, Běnguān,” he smiled wider. “I
should be surprised that you are still alive, but I am not. Cockroaches are irritatingly hard to kill.”
I sighed bored,
“When we shared
common goals I never played you false.
When our goals differed, I never betrayed you to your enemies.”
His green eyes twinkled.
“A most
naïve attitude to take which is why I should be surprised you are still alive.”
His lips pulled up in what he must have felt looked like a smile; he was
wrong.
“You never cease to amaze me, Běnguān. You write me you wish to control all the prostitution
here in this cesspool. How the mighty
have fallen.”
I motioned for Sammy to sit down beside me which the boy did, though his
face was drawn and pale.
I nodded to the
petite woman to my enemy’s side, taking off my Stetson and placing it on the
table. She raised an eyebrow.
I said, “I always take my hat off in the presence of a lady.”
Her tiny face darkened, and she spoke in stiff, hard-fought English. “Now you mock me!”
“Not at all, Ma’am. I know you poisoned
your husband on the voyage from Hong Kong and seduced the Captain who became
your lover and showered you with gifts and gold, enabling you to land in San
Francisco with your own personal fortune.”
The woman nodded, “So you know of Ah Toy, do you?”
“No man will ever truly know you, Ma’am … or turn their back on you if
they are wise. I was taking my hat off
in respect to the young girl sitting beside you.”
The young girl mentioned possessed an exquisite beauty that seemed almost
ethereal as if she were visiting from a higher plane of existence.
She was taller than Ah Toy and exuded
innocence like a campfire casts off heat. And speaking of heat, Sammy’s face
was reddening by the heartbeat. I
smiled. First love can hit hard like
that.
I turned to my enemy. “I asked you
to introduce me to Ah Toy here, for I have a business opportunity to talk over
with her.”
Ah Toy laughed like a crow. “You
want my body?”
“And the head that goes with it, as well,” I said in perfect Cantonese.
She started, and I nodded, continuing in English for Sammy’s sake. “You are clever, strong, resilient, and you
have invested your fortune wisely. I
wish to make you even richer.”
“How?”
“I want you to run my ‘boarding houses’ (which was the euphemism for
brothels).”
“Your?”
“Yes, I have influence with the police and the mayor. Enough money can work miracles. I want you to look after the ladies in your
employ with all the ingenuity and care as if they were you yourself.”
Sammy, being Sammy, just couldn’t keep from interrupting. “Ingenuity, Captain Sam? How did she show that?”
I smiled at the young colt of a boy and said,
“When Ah Toy first arrived,
she was one of the only Chinese ladies ... (Ah Toy snorted in derision at my
use of the word) … and she used that to her advantage.”
The young girl leaned forward as if eager to learn more about the woman
who owned her as I continued,
“She knew how starved Chinese men were to just be
in the presence of a woman from home. So
she charged them an ounce of pure gold just for a look at her. The price, of course, was higher if they
wanted to get, ah, more frisky.”
Sammy smiled at that, and then blushed when he noticed the young girl was
looking at him as if studying him to paint a portrait.
I turned in my chair to look at her and smiled, “What is your name,
little miss?”
Ah Toy snapped, “That will be an ounce of gold, lawman.”
I tossed her a gold double eagle and said, “The next time you interrupt
me I’ll kill you, murderer.”
She looked into my eyes and was wise enough to believe me. Sammy swallowed hard. I knew he believed me. We had ridden the river together more than
once.
The Green Dragon edged a bit away
from her in his chair. He had seen me
mad more than once. He believed me, too.
I turned to the very pale young girl and smiled as warmly as I could
muster.
“So, darling, just what is your
name? You know if you don’t tell me,
I’ll just call you Rachel.”
“Which is a big honor, Miss,” blurted Sammy. “It was the name of his dearly loved sister
who’s been long dead.”
She cleared her throat, looking fearfully at Ah Toy who was testing the
double eagle with her teeth at the moment.
She turned to me with a timid dip of a slender shoulder.
“Since you would honor me with the name of your beloved sister, I will
tell you my name. It is Bai Chun.”
I smiled wider. “Person of purity
born in the spring. How fitting.”
My enemy spoke to Ah Toy. “She is
a virgin as you promised?”
I glared at him, but he waved lazily at me. “Do not look at me so, Běnguān. I bought her from Ah Toy before you got
here.”
Sammy looked gut-shot. Bai Chun
didn’t look much better. Low thunder
rumbled overhead as it only did when I was just about to unleash Hell.
“I’ll kill you where you sit, you lay one finger on her.”
***
Ah Toy rose gracefully. “I accept
your gracious invitation to run your boarding houses, Běnguān. Just a question: what if the Tong or the
police intrude into our affairs?”
“I’ll kill them.”
She nodded. “Just so. I believe you.”
I reached into the inside pocket of my black broadcloth jacket and handed
her a bank draft.
“For ten thousand
dollars. Consider it an Ernest for my
intentions to do right by you.”
Ah Toy shook her head at me. “I have never respected a white man before. Never.
But I believe I do now.”
She turned to Bai Chun. “I foresee
an interesting life for you. I do not
believe it will be a long one.”
30 SECONDS BEFORE
BLURB:
Blake Herro is a cop in the Cleveland Police Force.
Ever since he was a child he wanted to do right by the city he loved
by cleaning up the streets and protecting its
citizens. Red, a notorious mobster, has other plans.
On a bitter December night, ten police officers are drawn into a trap and killed by Red’s followers.
Blake wants to bring down the Mob to avenge his fallen brothers and to prevent other cops from being murdered.
Except the only way he can do that is by
infiltrating the Mob.
Every minute he’s with these mobsters he’s in danger.
Around every corner lies the threat of coming face to face with a gun.
Will he make it out of the Mob alive or will he
be their next victim?
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