money like a clown

son of sam info The Strange Way Goodfellas Helped Criminals Everywhere You might have heard of Son of Sam laws, which say that criminals can’t benefit financially from publicizing their crimes. More specifically, they say that if a criminal writes a book or a movie that expresses their feelings about their crimes, all profits go to the state, to be distributed to the crime’s victims. The laws became so famous that they’re common knowledge now. And yet the original law (and equivalent laws, by extension) was found unconstitutional over 30 years ago, and it was thanks to Wiseguy, the book that was later adapted into Goodfellas. The original Son of Sam law was New York Executive Law section 632-a. New York passed it in 1977 the very day after they arrested serial killer David Berkowitz, in anticipation of his selling his story (which is kind of funny because he said he had no plans to, and we have no proof that he was ever going to). More than 40 other states then passed similar laws. In 1985, Simon & Schuster published Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family, about ex-mobster Henry Hill. The following year, New York demanded they retrieve all money they’d paid Hill and turn it over, and Simon & Schuster sued all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1991, the court ruled unanimously that the Son of Sam law violated the First Amendment. To explain their reasoning, we’d have to delve deep into standards and precedent, more deeply than any layperson can be expected to understand. But in summary: Yes, the criminal hurt their victims, and they’re punished for that, but they still have the right to their own thoughts and feelings and the right to express those. Victims may sue for a share in book profits, and courts can decide that on a case-by-case basis, but a blanket law could chill criminals from ever speaking out, and that’s bad. Any law limiting speech must be as narrow as possible. As written, the law could have been used to seize all proceeds from, say, Martin Luther King writing a book. If the law prevented him from ever writing that book, that would be bad, of course. Many fans of serial killer coverage would say that depriving them of juicy psychopath details would be an even greater loss. For more Son of Sam details, check out: - [He Was Caught By His Own Laziness And Stupid Handwriting]( - [He Left a Lot of Witnesses]( - [The 6 Most Terrifying Items People Actually Collect]( Daily Digest [37 Eyebrow-Arching Facts About Music]( By Cracked Writers / October 16th, 2022 [4 Unhinged Movie Theories That Almost Make Sense]( By JM McNab / October 16th, 2022 [Revisiting The Brief Reign Of The Razor Scooter]( By Eli Yudin / October 16th, 2022 [20 Boundless Facts That Really Stretched Our Horizons]( By Andrea Meno / October 16th, 2022 [31 Eyebrow-Arching Facts About Planet Earth]( By Cracked Writers / October 16th, 2022 [READ MORE]( [fb]( [tw]( [yt]( [Logomark_DIGITAL_Red_50X50-px] [insta png]( [tiktok png]( [ARTICLES]( | [PICTOFACTS]( | [Videos]( Literally media Ltd. 190 West St, Suite 17B, Brooklyn NY 11222 COPYRIGHT © 2005-2022 Cracked is published by Literally media Ltd. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. ONE CRACKED FACT | [View in browser]( [fb]( [tw]( [yt]( [Logomark_DIGITAL_Red_50X50-px] [insta png]( [tiktok png]( [ARTICLES]( | [PICTOFACTS]( | [Videos]( Literally media Ltd. 190 West St, Suite 17B, Brooklyn NY 11222 COPYRIGHT © 2005-2021 Cracked is published by Literally media Ltd.