I have killed no men that in the first place didn’t deserve killing...By the standards of our way of life.
Mickey Cohen
It’s been said that you are what you call yourself and after that it’s just a matter of the degree to which that’s true. Standards, an agreed upon way of doing things and determining how well they are done, help us to parse those degrees in any given profession. Patti Smith once observed that in the arts nothing is a hobby and that each discipline is its own world with its own high standards. Cohen’s world definitely had its own standards.
Mickey Cohen was heir to Bugsy Siegel's criminal empire in mid-century Los Angeles. Addicted to cash, cashmere and ice cream, he was notorious for escorting eponymous starlets, such as Candy Barr and Beverly Hills, through LA’s nightlife. Known for holding cordial conversations with the likes of Billy Graham and Ben Hecht, Cohen could also dispatch guys with names like Itchy, Hooky and Little Jimmy to do his bidding.
The late Helen Thomas, a doyen of the White House press corps, held that standards helped the profession and the public distinguish between a real journalist and just another joker with a laptop. While the recipients of his rough justice would probably disagree, Cohen, as indicated by his comments to journalist Mike Wallace, also saw himself as member of a profession that had certain standards that guided what he could and could not do.
Standards can inform judgement, help to rein in our emotions and keep us from regrets. They alone, however, weren’t able to keep Cohen from becoming a resident of Alcatraz.
Wiseguy Wisdom is a guide to personal growth based on books, movies and government tapes.
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