Reefer Madness: Sex Drugs and Cheap Labour in the American Black Market is a new book by Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation. It's a very good exploration of the underground economies in marijuana, California migrant strawberry pickers, and pornographers, arguing for a rational, post-moralistic approach to these things. I was particularily seized by this little factoid from the history of porn and copyright.
The Los Angeles branch of the Cosa Nostra, lead by Dominic Brooklier, worked hard to get "a piece of the porno." But the extortion attempts of the "Mickey Mouse Mafia" proved a failure — among other reasons, because Brooklier's soldiers made arson threats to a phony porn company run by the FBI. More successful were the efforts of various companies to "dupe" popular hard-core films, to circulate unauthorized prints without paying any royalties. Since the films were of questionable legality, producers were usually reluctant to sue for violations of copyright. *Deep Throat* was widely pirated by small-time hoods unaware of Anthony and Louis Periano's relationship with the Columbo family. The Perianos turned the practice to their advantage. Representatives of their company would visit theaters where bootleg copies of *Deep Throat* were being shown; theater owners were given the opportunity to continue exhibiting the film in return for half of the box office receipts. Few theater owners refused this offer. As a result, the widespread piracy of *Deep Throat* not only facilitated nationwide distribution, but also spared the Perianos the cost of making new prints.
