Trump admires Capone but will he meet the same fate? | Opinion

After much wrangling between prosecutors who’d like Donald Trump’s trial about attempting to illegally overturn the 2020 election to begin ASAP, and Trump’s lawyers who’d like to delay this case until we have flying cars, a verdict has been reached.

On Monday, Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan set a March 4, 2024 launch for the trial, despite Trump’s lawyers beseeching her that it begin in April 2026 at the earliest.

As criminal indictments against our neighbor mount like piles of stolen documents in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom, the former president gripes that he’s being persecuted by the courts, the “deep state,” the media, and anyone who doesn’t buy his bespoke brand of Trump Baloney.

More: Trump indictment shows former president's desperate attempt to hold power | Editorial

Trump recently moaned on his Truth Social site that “because of weaponization, targeting and unprecedented harassment, I have more lawyers working for me on this corrupt law enforcement-induced Bull… than any human being in the history of our country, including the late, great gangster, Alphonse Capone!”

Al “Scarface” Capone was involved in everything from tax evasion to racketeering to murder. “Great?” Does Donald Scowlface Trump identify with him? Don’t be offended, MAGA true believers, Trump will be happy to have his scowling mug shot-inspired merchandise, from T-shirts for $34 each to beer koozies at $15, bring in money for his campaign or legal fees. If nothing else, Trump knows how to turn lemons into lemonade.

Meanwhile, the former president has verbally attacked the judges presiding over all four of his criminal cases, referred to the prosecutors as thugs, and brazenly posted, IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

More: Vote-changing satellites and Justice Dept. pressure campaign: How Trump spent Christmas 2020

That unambiguous statement has put the judges on high alert for any attempt to intimidate witnesses — or jurors.

Which brings us back to Capone.

The godfather of Chicago’s most notorious organized crime family, Capone used threats, violence and murder to stop anyone who got in his way, while bribing and threatening judges and jurors to avoid being imprisoned. But Scarface was finally put away for the lesser crime of tax evasion.

How did the authorities pull that off, knowing that Capone regularly engaged in jury tampering?

As jurors filed in for Capone’s trial, Judge James Wilkerson got word that all of them had been bribed, so he instructed the bailiff to go down the hall to another trial about to begin, and switch juries. Scarface was toast.

Will Trump meet a similar fate? Doubtful. But Trump should still pray that none of the judges on his various trials are as clever and resourceful as the judge of his beloved Capone. For the purposes of serving justice, they may not need to be, though, with the considerable evidence amassed in all four cases.

We'll see how it plays out, and whether the guy who turns lemons into lemonade ends up Or "We'll see how it plays out, and whether the guy who turns lemons into lemonade ends up turning orange into a line of Trump orange jumpsuits.

Michael Vogel is a resident of Boynton Beach.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Donald Trump admires Al Capone but Capone got convicted