Old-time Arizonans have long been aware of the presence of organized crime here in real estate, restaurants, bars, prostitution, strip clubs, heroin-trafficking, horse and dog racing, illegal gambling. When Mob boss Joe Bonanno died May 11, 2002 in Tucson, his home of many decades, over 400 people attended his well-publicized funeral, as if he had been an important man.
We have a national ambiguity about criminals. If they get rich by criminal activities such as extortion, fraud, the selling of women and dangerous drugs, inside politics in land-zoning, murdering competitors, buying of legislators local and national--then we forgive and forget. As long as their fortunes keep them consorting with the powerful, living in impressive estates and contributing to local charities, we overlook the source of the wealth.
This ambiguity may explain why the traditional press has ignored the October 13, 2014 election cover story of the Phoenix New Times , by Stephen Lemons and Lance Williams:
"Special Report: Arizona Gubernatorial Candidate Doug Ducey Hails from an Infamous Ohio Organized Crime Family."
Four pages of detailed, referenced reporting trace Ducey's family history in Toledo; where his maternal grandfather, William Scott, Scott's brother Tony Paul Scott, and son Billy, were active in extortion, gambling clubs, loan-sharking, etc., from the 20s to the 80s--prominent members of the Ohio underworld connected to Detroit. Ducey's father, Douglas Roscoe, was on the Toledo police force for twelve years while his in-laws, the Scotts, the infamous Toledo crime family, were under investigation by various agencies.
In a 2012 bio for the magazine MASK [Mothers Awareness on School-age Kids], Ducey wrote,"My mother's parents, my Gammy and Pa, were a very big part of our lives when I was young, it was in that environment that the importance of family was instilled in me."
Nowhere in the New Times does it say that Ducey's campaign benefited from his criminal relatives. (He had the Koch brothers for that.) Nevertheless, they continue to be part of his life in Arizona, where as State Treasurer he participated in one of Arizona's least competent administrations, leaving the state a billion dollars in debt, and where he just might be elected Governor.