Mobbed Up Judiciary:

"It's an onion, dearie. You just keep peeling away the layers, and sooner or later you arrive at the core, if your eyes can stand it."

Surprise, surprise! There's corruption in the courts of Luzerne County Pennsylvania, the place that provided Mario Puzo with the inspiration for his 1969 novel, The Godfather (see also the movies, parts I, II, and III). (See today's New York Times for the continuing saga of the corruption being uncovered in the region. The question now is will authorities dig deep enough to root out all of the corruption and mob activities. Somehow, it seems doubtful.)

This is the same county, America, that's home to Hazleton, PA, with its mayor who tried to tell you that what we all must fear most are illegal aliens. Less than 100 miles due west of New York city on Interstate 80, the area has long been a main tributary in the drug trade and a safe haven for mobsters wanting to avoid the sharp eyes of ambitious big city prosecutors and politicians. Generally speaking, it has also been a relatively safe area.

Organized crime, it has been asserted, helped keep a lid on activities that might bring scrutiny to the area. It is an area of contrasts, containing spectacular natural beauty in the Pocono Mountains and some of the worst mining and industrial environmental damage in the country. It is the home of a number of fine institutions of higher education where important research is conducted and a place known for remaining almost willfully ignorant to the point of being functionally illiterate. In other words, it is about as American as apple pie, or should we say, pierogies.