View article

An inadvertent bit of humor by a defense attorney provided one of the major criminological motifs for" the most serious violations of the antitrust laws since the time of their passage at the turn of the century." I The defendants, including several vice-presidents of the General Electric Corporation and the Westinghouse Electric Corporation-the two largest companies in the heavy electrical equipment industry-stood somberly in a federal courtroom in Philadelphia on February 6, 1961. They were aptly described by a newspaper reporter as" middle-class men in Ivy League suits-typical business men in appearance, men who would never be taken for lawbreakers." 2 Several were deacons or vestrymen of their churches. One was president of his local chamber of commerce, another a hospital board member, another chief fund raiser for the community chest, another a bank director, another a director of the taxpayer's …