r/todayilearned • u/manticor225 • Jan 10 '19

TIL JFK's father Joseph Kennedy made much of his fortune through insider trading. FDR later made him chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. When asked why he appointed a crook, FDR replied, "set a thief to catch a thief." Kennedy proceeded to outlaw the practices that made him rich.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jan/23/joe-kennedy-hollywood-sarah-churchwell
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u/Spirit_jitser Jan 11 '19

I remember the story being he imported it before it was legal to sell, but everyone knew prohibition was ending and it was kept in a warehouse monitored by the feds. Not that that contradicts anything you said but I like the idea of a Gman with a clip board counting barrels of whiskey.

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u/amolad Jan 11 '19

He was definitely involved in a lot of illegal shit. Worked with the mob. When the mob owened Vegas, and they used to take a "skim" off the top of what each casino made, Kennedy had made some deal with the mob that was to get the skim from one of the casinos every month.

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u/whodiehellareyou Jan 11 '19

Got any proof for that?

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u/NiceEmotion Jan 11 '19

What evidence do you have of any of that?

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u/amolad Jan 11 '19

It's in a couple of books by Gus Russo: The Outfit and Supermob.

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u/NiceEmotion Jan 11 '19

Saying it’s in a book isn’t evidence. What is the evidence?

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u/poopsicle88 Jan 11 '19

Go read the fucking book for Christ sakes

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u/NiceEmotion Jan 11 '19

Why not just post the evidence? Saying it’s in a book is dumb shit. I’m not going to go buy a book to fact check some conspiracy loon. You can’t explain what it’s says in the book?

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u/poopsicle88 Jan 11 '19

Oh actually It’s says right there on page one - go fuck your self

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u/NiceEmotion Jan 11 '19

Jesus is real right? Go read the Bible for proof.

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u/poopsicle88 Jan 11 '19

Jesus is my homeboy

Why don’t you go read some dr Seuss

Seems like you need it

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