FAQ

Many innocent people have been killed by mobsters. Either by accident or on purpose. Whether the scene is based upon a specific incident or just to showcase how ruthless the mob was; it's an extremely effective scene.

It's a key given to every "beat" (foot patrol) cop on the force that gives them access to phones that were installed around the city. Each one was kept in a metal box. They were used by beat cops if they saw a crime happening that they knew they couldn't stop themselves -- if they needed backup to help them out, they could find one of the boxes and reach headquarters and request that more officers be sent to their location. It could also be used to call emergency services if someone needed medical attention or if there was a fire.

It was a time from early 1920 to late 1933 when alcohol was declared forbidden to buy or sell in the United States. In 1919 the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution was passed and made the sale or purchase of alcohol illegal across the country. The Volstead Act, mentioned a few times in the film, was the impetus for the Congressional decision to pass the Amendment. Various groups -- moral and religious being the largest segment among them -- were dedicated to outlawing alcohol and lobbied heavily for passage of the act. They believed that consumption of alcohol had many severe consequences such as violence, poor health, addiction, negative effects on families and many other undue results and needed to be eliminated from society.

However, in banning alcohol, Prohibition gave rise to the violence and debauchery of the 1920s, which were later commonly called The "Roaring Twenties." Many businesses became fronts for backroom parlors -- "speakeasies" -- where people could drink in secret and be entertained. Another ill effect was the type of business Capone was the head of: organized crime groups that would smuggle illegal liquor across US borders and distribute to the public through speakeasies. When the number of gangs increased, especially in major cities like Chicago and New York, they quickly became rivals for territory in which to distribute their product. In order to enforce the boundaries of their territory, or even gain more territory from a rival gang, they would use violence with Thompson automatic machine guns -- that could fire many shots per minute -- hand grenades and bombs.

When gangs began to obtain Thompson machine guns, they had a weapon that could make a single man a more effective killer: one man with a "Tommy" gun could face down several enemies who might only be armed with pistols or shotguns. The violence began to rise exponentially and the 1920s became a period of increased murder and increased wealth for a guy like Capone, who built his crime organization from the remains of one left behind by Johnny Torrio, another boss who was nearly killed by his enemies and decided to retire. Under Capone, the crime family grew even bigger and made Capone a very rich and powerful man.

Prohibition was eventually repealed with the passage of the 21st Amendment late in 1933. Legislators, having seen how the outlawing of alcohol created an even worse problem, decided to stop Prohibition but keep a certain amount of government regulation in place.

Stone wanted to join the police force but knew he couldn't if he gave his Italian name -- Giuseppe Petrie. There was a lot of prejudice leveled against Italians during that part of the 20th Century. So Stone changed his name -- he may have just given a false name instead of going through the legal process to change it since services like that weren't always available to poor people. In any case, it got him into the academy and once there he proved he could be a tough cop (to Jimmy and Ness) but even more importantly, he was an excellent marksman which proves to be beneficial to the team as well.

Either it was a miscommunication or possibly because the Captain of the Mounties seemed to be rather pompous, he may have jumped the gun to seize the glory for himself and his men.

The aria "Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's opera "Pagliacci"

The original British police force was the Constabulary of Ireland founded in 1822 (later given the royal appointment and renamed the Royal Irish Constabulary). It formed the basis for all other British police forces in the UK and across the British Empire including London's Metropolitan Police (formed in 1829) whose first 2 commissioners were both Irishmen with the necessary prior experience, Palestine Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police etc. This established a long tradition of law enforcement running in Irish families worldwide, especially as many RIC officers emigrated to America after the violence surrounding Ireland's partition in 1922 and joined police forces there. In addition during the 19th century many corrupt, Irish dominated local governments such as New York's infamous Tammany Hall would reward their supporters with lucrative civil service jobs in the police force and fire department, often using the former as an instrument of political power.