The recent Chicago-gangland style killing of a rather flamboyant character, in Athurugiriya, gave rise to a flurry of social media memes about shady doings in the underbelly of our society. The fact that the Police thought it fit to interrogate one of the suspects in the full glare of television cameras added a sense of the surreal to related events that had transpired.
There is no intention in this article to comment about the assassination per se. Law Enforcement is still to apprehend all suspects, and come up with a definitive answer regarding the whodunit. The social implication of the killings is an entirely different matter.
There were several Internet memes and commentaries about the targeted deceased individual in the murder, and his connections to politicians of all stripes. There have been social media commentaries also speculating about how political connections may or may not have led to the assassination of this colourful but allegedly amoral figure, who apparently was in the underworld crosshairs for some time. Most of these commentaries were in the realm of speculation, or could be classed as speculative, even though the discussants spoke as if everything they referred to was absolute fact.
Again, it is not the intention of this article to dwell on any of those specific references to various political figures. A lot of that may have been in the area of sensationalism as well, but there is no doubt that the events that followed the murders cast the spotlight on possible connections between politicians and State actors, and the social underbelly in which shady figures operate.
AGENCIES
Such nexuses exist in almost all countries, however, and it is the extent to which these connections upset the smooth functioning of society that is important to people who are interested in democracy, and the general welfare of citizenry.
In this context the recently released docu-series Mafia Spies, relating to the CIA procuring the services of two gangsters Sam Giancana and Santo Trafficante to assassinate Fidel Castro of Cuba, casts some light on connections between politicians, the State, or agencies of State and the underworld.
This was the 60s United States of course, and not Sri Lanka, but the subject of discussion is the same. To what extent at a given time does the nexus between underworld figures and the State impinge on the smooth functioning of society, and social institutions?
Imagine the State intelligence service commissioning the services of two mafia dons to take out a leader of another country that was deemed inimical to the interests of the United States? Not only did this happen, but also the two mobsters, Giancana, and Trafficante’s underling Johnny Roselli, were asked to testify before Congress on the botched assassination attempts. There is a classic shot of Giancana arriving in Washington for Federal Court hearings, grinning from ear to ear. No doubt he would have been grinning once more, if he had come before the Senate sub-Committee instead of being assassinated the day before the hearings. It is fortunate that the movie focuses on history and a questionable era from the past and not on anything people need to worry about in the present. The US Government later outlawed the targeted assassination of foreign leaders by US intelligence agencies.
How did the connections between a US State intelligence agency and the notorious Mafiosi come to such a pass that mafia dons were commissioned to do hit jobs for the State? The practice may have been outlawed now, but the history depicted in the movie proves that in certain contexts, the State could have much to do with the social underbelly. It is not farfetched.
It depends on how acceptable the practice is within the prevailing political culture. Commissioning the mafia for hit-jobs would be so preposterous as to evoke not merely shock and horror, but also utter revulsion within the prevailing political culture of Washington today.
But that was absolutely not the case in the 60s. It is clear, however, that sometimes there are strong conduits between State actors and underworld figures. No reference is made here to any politician accused by various social media pundits of being connected to the events that transpired in Athurugiriya. This writer knows absolutely nothing about such connections.
EXCEPTION
But in general, it is known that there are connections between some politicos in Sri Lanka and underworld figures. This is the case in other countries such as Serbia, Russia reputedly, and Italy where the mafia originated, to take a sampling of a few countries at random in this regard. In early South Korean democratic politics, there were alliances between politicians and street leaders.
However, we should focus on Sri Lanka. That it also happens in some other countries is no excuse for persisting to ignore State actors’ ties with the societal underbelly. There are such ties involving politicians in active politics, and sometimes involving other State actors in the bureaucracy or Law Enforcement. Political thuggery has sometimes been the norm during elections, but the thugs operate under the patronage of some politicians.
These days the connections could be concealed or suppressed from the public view in contrast to the flagrant display of kinship between politicians and unsavoury underworld characters in the past. It is why there is so much innuendo and suggestion of misconduct when a particular incident such as last week’s broad daylight murder happens.
Some of these stories, especially in social media, are no doubt sensationalist or grossly overblown. But the innuendo is taken seriously by some readers for the simple reason that it is common knowledge that there indeed are connections between some politicians and some underworld figures. Of course, if that was an aberration, it would not be much of a problem.
But the public seems to think, with good reason, that such connections seem more the norm than the exception. They are aware that some shady figures bankroll political campaigns. Sometimes there is the photographic evidence and the video evidence to show for it.
Sometimes, indeed, these connections are not suppressed from public view at all. Certain politicians have on the one hand been rather open about their fraternising with less than savoury characters. They accept funding from all comers, and display the video too.
TARRED
If that is the case, it can be said that brazenness is one of the qualities that has made the underworld and politician nexus more prominent. But what is the reason for this brazenness? It is perhaps the fact that close connections between some politicians and some shady people from the underbelly of society have become normalised. May be apart from some cases, politicians did not want to make their shady connections seem to be normal.
But bad and sensationalist as social media can sometimes be, it is also clear that it has a habit of discovering things that would have been hidden in a different era. Social media is full of nosey-parkers, and though sometimes they are a nuisance, at other times they find a photograph here and a video there that speaks volumes about certain things, such as the chummy connections between certain politicians, and certain underworld figures. Certainly all politicians cannot be tarred with the same brush and called associates of hoodlums and underworld thugs. There may be many who do not know a single thug.
But for a good many politicians the underworld nexus has become a part and parcel of their political ambitions. There should be a remedy for such a situation in a democracy, as by any yardstick, politicians being beholden to or being in convivial terms with unsavoury characters from the social underbelly, is simply not acceptable.
However, mob connections in politics are a matter of political culture, and for issues that come under that rubric, there is seldom a remedy that is effective either legally or by other means of official censure. In other words, there has to come a point in the future where there is zero-tolerance in society for these types of unwanted connections. When that happens the politicians who think nothing of hobnobbing with underworld figures would have to fall in line and sever such connections. At present on the contrary, these conduits are strong, and involve some politicians from all types of political parties.
