Gangland

Gangland figures cannot function without their lawyers - their mouthpieces - who speak for them in court, obtain bail, throw doubt on the evidence and, if all that fails, try to obtain a reduced sentence. However, in the Underworld, this is only half the job. Although many lawyers are honest, possibly the best type of lawyer for Gangland figures is dishonest - a shyster - who will act as a go-between with the police, provide false alibis, bribe and intimidate witnesses, jurors and judges and, from time to time, finance and set up robberies and burglaries. Occasionally these lawyers - who may by then have even become judges - will kill on their own or their clients behalf, or may be killed themselves.