We watched a documentary on Netflix recently called “Fear City.”

It dealt with the New York City mob’s domination of the Big Apple in the late 1900’s.

A then young federal prosecutor, Rudy Giuliani, spearheaded a plan, using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act that eventually brought the mobsters to justice.

One of the interesting points in the program involved Giuliani talking about how the Italian mob preyed on their own – Italian immigrants.

Giuliani said both of his grandfathers were small businessmen – we think a barber and a butcher – and were forced to pay protection money to the mob to avoid having their businesses burned or worse.

The program said the mob controlled numerous judges, making them almost impervious to the law.

That caused us to recall numerous articles referring to the election of many American prosecutors through funding from the many George Soros agencies, all with high-sounding names that could cause people to believe they stood for worthwhile purposes.

Then we came across this written by Gil Gutknecht, former Minnesota and U.S. legislator about billionaires buying Minnesota prosecutors.

“Imagine a state’s attorney general accepting staff who were paid by a foundation that was funded by an out-of-state billionaire who had financial and political interests he wanted advanced. These volunteer assistant attorneys general waste little time filing lawsuits against the billionaire’s adversaries in Minnesota. They pursue their actions knowing full well that even if they succeed, the only result will be higher prices for all Minnesotans.

“That’s exactly what is happening right now in the Minnesota attorney general’s office.

“Recently, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office filed a lawsuit against the American Petroleum Institute, Exxon Mobil, and Koch Industries, claiming that they have caused “devastating economic and public-health consequences.” These entities have engaged in a ‘campaign of deception’ concerning their carbon emissions. The lawsuit isn’t grounded in fact. It’s simply a replay of suits filed against energy providers that have already failed in other courts.

“Let’s call it political prosecution.

“Two of the four attorneys on the Minnesota complaint came from a New York University fellowship program. Curiously, that program received $5.6 million in funding from the Bloomberg Family Foundation to support “defending and promoting clean energy, climate and environmental laws and policies. ... So, a Democrat mega-donor effectively bought influence inside our attorney general’s office? Shouldn’t this raise serious legal and ethical concerns?

“The suit pretends that the science is already settled on what they categorize as the ‘severe environmental and social consequences’ of carbon emissions. They must know that this is far from the case. They further claim that the world has warmed by two degrees Fahrenheit due to human-caused climate change. That two-degree number has never been proven. The role that human beings and their burning of hydrocarbon fuels may have played in any change is even more tenuous.

“Apparently, these energy companies should be held liable for disagreeing with what climate alarmists have projected, even though other respected scientists have challenged these findings. You may remember just a few weeks ago, one former climate alarmist made a public apology for claims he had previously made. A recent study found that over 100 of the climate models used by government climate scientists – between 1950 to 2015 – dramatically over-predicted warming rates. These energy companies are targeted largely because they disagree with these increasingly flawed models and forecasts.

“Ellison’s job as the state’s chief legal officer is to uphold and enforce the law objectively. He represents all Minnesotans. ...

“A New York judge threw out a similar suit, stating that ‘the scope of plaintiffs’ theory is breathtaking’ and asked a critical question – ‘would it really be fair to now ignore our own responsibility in the use of fossil fuels and place the blame for global warming on those who supplied what we demanded?’”

But back to the Giuliani story.

Many will recall that Giuliani was later elected mayor of New York and made the city’s streets safe again.

And how did he do it? By beefing up the police department and prosecuting criminals.

The documentary on the mob’s effect on New York City seems similar to what is happening in big cities across the nation today.

It appears that the metropolitan Geppetos have taken over the role of mob bosses. If you go along with them you can get away with anything, from ransacking legitimate businesses to destroying public property, including police departments.

However, this time its not the mafia doing the damage as much as left-leaning big city administrators who are following the Marxist rule book.

People are leaving those unsafe places in droves.

We invite you to read the column on the right-hand side of this page. It is written by Kay Cole James, president of the Heritage Foundation, an organization we happily support because we believe it is working hard to preserve a free America.