In the United States, if you are rich enough, you can get
away with anything.
There are a few exceptions to this rule, but not many.
Bernard Madoff is in prison, though he is serving his sentence in comfort.
Among all the many examples of wealthy people getting
away with crimes, I have chosen the story of Patty Hearst. You are welcome to
read, at your favorite online source, the story of her kidnapping by the
Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974. A good source of information is the recent
book American Heiress.
This so-called Army was actually a small cult that went
on murderous frenzies. They kidnapped Patty Hearst, heiress of the Hearst
fortune. At first she was confined, but soon she was allowed freedom of
movement. Her captors became her friends. During the ensuing crimes committed
by this Army, Hearst had many opportunities to reveal her captivity to third
parties, or even to literally drive away from it. But she did not do so. She
was as guilty of the crimes as anybody would be who fell in with a band of
criminals and chose not to leave. This little cult was not a Mafia who could
have hunted her down had she left them. Their tiny number dwindled to almost
none after the shootout and fire in Los Angeles that killed the leaders of the
cult.
Almost anyone else in Hearst’s situation would have been
held accountable for such crimes. But Patty was rich. Really rich. Her parents
wanted her to receive a pardon, as did their friend Ronald Reagan, who was the
Republican governor of California. They vigorously requested that the
Democratic President Carter commute her sentence, which he did. On his last day
in office, the Democratic President Clinton pardoned her.
Politicians, both Republican and Democrat, will allow
rich criminals to get away with almost anything.
