[CalChris]

Jay Gatsby was a criminal. That's gray. It's hinted and perhaps likely that he was a bootlegger. As that was legal before prohibition and after, it's hard for me to morally judge him a criminal what with his character never having been charged and convicted of any crime.

[mikeryan]

Bootlegging, by definition, is illegal.

[paulddraper]

But legally...he was a criminal (probably).

Just like people who drove 80mph were criminals during the Emergency Highway Energy Conversation Act, but they weren't before or after that.

[CalChris]

No, legally people who are convicted of crimes are criminals.

[paulddraper]

Hm, then there should be a name for someone who commits a criminal act.

[oh_sigh]

Agreed. I also never understood why Al Capone has such a bad stigma when he was really just a run of the mill tax evader.

[jwc1]

I think there's a great deal of evidence to suggest Capone was more than a run of the mill tax evader even though all they nailed him for was tax evasion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone#Saint_Valentine's_Da...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Outfit#Al_Capone's_emp...

[oh_sigh]

I was referring to this part of the post:

> his character never having been charged and convicted of any crime.

Or is the idea that if you are charged for shoplifting it is okay to spread the idea that you are a murderer?