Gangster films of the 1930s and 1940s used the rebellious figure of the criminal and the rigid structure of the criminal organization to challenge both capitalism and the business ethic. Having made a career of illegality, the gangster functions as the dark double of “respectable” society, undermining its claims to legitimacy and parodying the American drive to succeed. Cinema audiences experienced the dual satisfactions of vicarious participation in gangster violence and of seeing violence turned against the gangster himself, enabling them to identify with criminal rebellion against a corrupt, hypocritical society while enjoying fantasies of revenge against criminals who embodied “the root of evil.”