Luis Garcia Sociology 101 Professor Gomez 10/26/2017 Midterm Pop Culture Critique: Narcos One of the most famous American gangsters of all-time, Al Capone, also known as "Scarface," was a highly-recognized Mafioso (a member of a …show more content…
Narcos is a gritty gangster drama series based on the true story of Colombia’s infamously violent and powerful drug cartels during the 1980’s and 1990’s. “Good people and bad people” are terms interchangeably used in this TV show and when deviance is depicted in the Narcos show, it is not only the criminals departing from the usual or accepted standards from society but also political and government officials are as much deviant as the Narcos themselves. I will also argue that this show uplifts toxic masculinity which is socially-constructed attitudes that describe the masculine gender role as violent, unemotional, sexually aggressive, and how toxic masculinity ruins society and men through the examples displayed from the show. Pablo Escobar, when speaking on deviance once said, “[A]ll empires are created of blood and fire”. I agree with what Escobar said, because all empires have their positives, but at the same time many, if not all are built upon bloodshed and do we critique when great empires take over another country and the way they go about that with raping, torture or other means of submission? Deviance plays a big role in everything that has to do with building a great nation or a world-wide cartel. When deviance is depicted on the Narcos show, some of the deviance is noted by government officials. The Narcos show demonstrates how many officials of the Colombian police department deviated and departed
Al Capone is arguably one of the most notorious and popular gangsters in American crime history. However, Capone is more than the classical gangster stereotype he is so often associated with. Capone was an intelligent criminal that used the environment of America at the time in order to rise to the peak of leadership and power amongst his community of Chicago. Capone’s criminal activities during his reign made impacts on American culture and the United State’s legal system that have lasted to this day.
When we think of the mafia and gangs, one name comes to mind, Al Capone. Al Capone, also known as Scarface, was an infamous mafia leader who was active in Chicago during the Prohibition era. Having committed numerous criminal deeds and being the man behind countless murders, Capone was finally arrested for tax evasion . Now, you might ask, “How was he able to commit all these violent deeds without being imprisoned?” Well, we first have to go to the beginning of Capone’s life.
During the period of prohibition, from 1920 to 1933, the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol was made illegal, through the Volstead act of 1919, leading to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. Throughout this time in American history gangsters were common and were constantly increasing in every city but one in particular stood out from all the others making a significant impact on American history. Scarface, Alphonse Capone or more commonly known as Al Capone; who was the most infamous gangster, taking advantage of the era of Prohibition, ran an organized crime association in Chicago during the 1920s. He was responsible for over 500 murders; he had 700 men under his control and earned $60 million a year for bootlegging. Capone, who was glamorised in media and shown as charitable to the helpless was also controlling and violent and became an iconic figure of the successful American gangster who insisted he was just ‘supplying the public demand’.
Prohibition led to the bootlegging of liquor and the gang wars of the 1920’s. The most notorious gangster of all time, known as Al Capone, was the most powerful mob leader of his era. He dominated organized crime in the Chicago area from 1925 until 1931. Capone grew up during the roaring 20s in Chicago. He joined the James Street gang, lead by Johnny Torrio. In 1920, Torrio asked Capone to move to Chicago and work with his uncle who controlled the city’s largest prostitution and gambling ring at the time. Capone had liked that idea. Later that year the Prohibition act came into affect and Capone became interested in selling illegal whiskey and other alcoholic beverages. Al Capone was America's best known gangster and greatest
Narco corrido librettos refer to specific proceedings and take account of factual dates as well as places. Too, the lyrics have a tendency to speak appreciatively of prohibited actions such as drug smuggling, murder, racketeering, torture, extortion, illegal immigration, and occasionally political objections owing to government dishonesty (García 200).
Al Capone was the most influential force on prohibition-era Chicago’s socioeconomic and political landscapes, and thus, the most powerful man in Chicago. Capone was a psychologically complex man, both a social force to be reckoned with and a hardened, unfeeling gangster. The demand for alcohol during the prohibition meant that his control of the bootlegging industry in Chicago, and beyond, made him not only extremely wealthy, but extremely powerful. Eventually, he ran Chicago outside of the law, through means of terror, but also by appealing to the citizens and controlling the government. Although his time on top was brief--he was jailed in 1932, less than ten years after he took over the Chicago
Al Capone, who was born in New York in 1899, was one of the most prominent gangsters in America in the 1920s. He was the son of Italian immigrants, and after leaving school at a young age, became a small-time criminal. Known as ‘Scarface,’ he had links to the leader of the Five Points Gang, Johnny Torrio, and moved to Chicago in 1920, where he gradually rose through the ranks as a partner in saloons, gambling and brothels. They moved their operations to Illinois after an offer to work with Jim Colosimo, a central figure in Chicago’s brothel business. Gang rivalry heated up after a dispute between Torrio and Colosimo over whether to begin in the bootlegging business, and in 1920, Colosimo was murdered allegedly by Al Capone. After this, Torrio’s criminal empire expanded massively throughout Chicago, before leaving in 1925 and handing over operations to Capone. After taking over, Capone expanded operations even further, and was able to control Chicago’s Mayor, ‘Big Bill’ Thompson and fix his elections. A local newspaper from the time reported
The Mexican Mafia was founded by Luis “Huero Buff” Flores in 1957 at Deuel Vocational Institution in California. The territory of the Mexican Mafia includes the US federal prison system and Southern California. The Mexican Mafia is involved in extortion, drug trafficking and murder in the prison system. The purpose of the Mexican Mafia was to show their Maya and Aztec heritage as well as protect its members from prison guards and other inmates. Now they focus on primary ethnic solidarity and control of drug trafficking. Federal
What’s more these cartels’ will also use the kidnaped women and girls for their own personal use. Nevertheless, the spread of human trafficking in Mexico has declined, yet the biggest problem has moved into the Mexican mountains, where remote areas have little or no authority at all. These areas are where the cartel usually pays off the authorities. But, in the case
One of the most notorious gangsters/bootlegger in American history was Al Capone. Iorizzo explains how Al Capone got his infamous name “Scarface.” The incident occurred one night when he insulted a patron’s sister at the bar he worked at. A customer unhappy with Al Capone’s remark used a bottle opener to leave Al Capone with three scars on his face. As Al Capone grew older, he was accused of many crimes including murder. No evidence was ever found or any witnesses that could ever tie them to accuse Al Capone of murder. One case was the death of Bill McSwiggin however, Al Capone stated that he nothing to do with the crime. Another piece of history from Al Capone was The St. Valentine’s Day massacre in which Al Capone ordered multiple hits on gang members, providing a serious threat to civilian safety in Chicago.
The ultimate symbol of a gangster rule, is a guy by the name of Al Capone, who dominated the Chicago underworld by committing many crimes: such as illegal gambling, extortion, prostitution, and alcohol distribution during prohibition. Capone's life of gang activity started at a very young age. He created a multi-million dollar empire of crime in Chicago. He has been referred to as one of the most ruthless men of all time (Stockdale 45). He was a smart businessman, good family man, and a generous person, that lived a life full of murders and other crimes.
Alphonse Capone is perhaps one of the most notorious gangsters of all time being remembered in infamy as a very successful businessman and a stone cold killer. Before Capone would become a mob boss he lived in a run down part of New York city. Capone went to a Catholic school, where he showed academic promise, but due to the violent nature of Catholic school Capone was expelled from school at the age of fourteen for assaulting a female teacher (A&E Television Networks). After that incident the young Capone picked up odd jobs until he met the gangster Johnny Torrio. Torrio had a huge impact on Capone 's life, giving him a look at how organized crime were transforming from gangs, into empires. Capone bounced around from different gangs and ended up in a
Drug cartels, in reality, are just as bad as they appear on film. Authorities estimate that between eighteen and thirty-nine billion dollars are brought in from drug sales to the United States each year (Keefe). It is also estimated that the war on drugs has caused over 50,000 deaths in Mexico alone since 2006 (Keefe). Deaths are often overlooked because they are not compiled by thousands at once, but gradually over a large area. Other illegal activity such as kidnapping and oil theft have came about from the cartel (Mexico’s Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Violence). All three films, Miss Bala, Maria Full of Grace, and Traffic give similar accounts to the way the cartel takes people’s lives, only in different areas of the drug moving process.
I like this series because this type of series I found it a good entertainment and educational source. I get the curiosity to watch a series that would be based on a real life story. Even though, for some people the series may not look very educational, but getting to know the story, will have a different perspective on someone, because we can find an educational message, despite that the Narcos series is based on crime, drama, and suspense. For some people TV shows, movies, and series may not be considered a good source of entertainment or educational and it would be considered a waste of time for them. I don’t consider TV sources as a waste of time, it depends on how the person use the information gained from the TV. Some TV shows and movies
Let’s start from the beginning in the story about “El Pablo Escobar”, who became the king of coke. First of all, Pablo Escobar was from Colombia, Antioquia and born in 1949. Before his time as a drug lord and a murderous criminal, who organized one of the biggest drug trades in the world. He was a boy like any other regular child, who would spend his time cutting people grass to make money. Going camping on the weekends with the boy scouts, learning how to live in the wild. But he was raised up in the harsh time of economy, where people protested, and fought with one another. Escobar seen many deaths growing up, people beating each other up, protesting for better future for Colombia, and riots where hundreds of people who would fight. Where it all began to create a person like