Museum showcases America's gangsters

Museum showcases America's gangsters

More 1920s gangster-related news now, featuring two films made about a year apart - the latest from B.B.C. America and an older one I dug up on Youtube as an addition.

I'm not so sure about the B.B.C.'s assertion that '20s and '30s organised crime doesn't make it into the history books - I've certainly read and own a good few that cover that period in American history - but this is certainly the first I've heard of a museum dedicated to early 20th Century gangdom.

Yet it makes sense that there should be something like this - after all we have museums of warfare and other [sometimes unsavoury] periods of cultural significance, so why not a mob museum?  It's just as important for future generations to know about and appreciate what went on during that time and the social and political influences responsible for the rise of gangsterism.  It's also useful for tourists and foreign visitors such as myself, should I ever visit New York(!), to whom the concept of gangsters and speakeasies is interesting yet at the same time alien.

From what these clips show a museum about gangsters seems a worthy and fascinating addition to the ranks of historical institutions; I applaud Mr Otway and wish him and his museum every success.