I have often argued that political operatives and other key figures of the US ruling One Percent have been greatly influenced by Mafia methods. This is another excellent illustration of this observation. That the Mafia has been largely integrated into the US ruling class over many years has been clearly indicated in the book entitled The Money and the Power by S. Denton & R. Morris. Also, it is now widely known that ruling class operatives through agencies such as the CIA and the National Security Agency have employed the Mafia in activities such as assassinations and drug trafficking.
Taibbi is writing about what he regards as an interesting, important, and unreported trial:
...this just-completed trial in downtown New York against three faceless financial executives really was historic. Over 10 years in the making, the case allowed federal prosecutors to make public for the first time the astonishing inner workings of the reigning American crime syndicate, which now operates not out of Little Italy and Las Vegas, but out of Wall Street.(Note: The article is quite long, so if you wish to get to the core of this crime, start reading the 3rd paragraph on page 2.)
Of course, such financial rackets have been going on all the time without being prosecuted. Thus, he offers an explanation for the prosecution of these financial scam artists.
He explains how arrogant some of these people are because they get away with this sort of operation all the time.
Jamie Dimon exhibited that same characteristic when he appeared before the House and Senate committees. Most people who appear before such committees bring an army of lawyers and support staff. He confidently walked in the Senate committee room by himself, made some perfunctory mea culpas to play to the naive public, and then was met with weak questions from an intimidated Congressional committee. They ended up mostly asking his advice about curbing reckless, economy destroying bets by banking firms--and Dimon is the CEO of a bank who had just been discovered engaging in this type of financial gambling. Clearly directors of this Congressional play saw that the Senate performance was too ingratiating, thus they directed the House committee members to appear more aggressive in the questioning.