Britain and St. Paul in the 1930s

Submitted by John Pepple (United Kingdom), Jul 13, 2005 at 04:37

During the 1930s, the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, had a curious policy towards gangsters. Gangsters were allowed to live safely in St. Paul so long as they refrained from robbing St. Paul banks. The result was that St. Paul became the home of a large number of famous gangsters. Eventually, these gangsters showed they couldn't be trusted as they began robbing banks closer and closer to St. Paul, as well as engaging in other nefarious activities. Sanity returned, and the gangsters were booted out. Maybe after 7/7, sanity will return to Britain, too.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".