I always did too. I take it then that he’s served his time?
Yup! Just like Van Jones did.
Your point, then?
PS: I fear that some may have thought I was making a funny when I wondered aloud if he'd been housed with the Aryan Brotherhood during his incarceration.
Hard time is legendary for forging certain antisocial aspects to a personality. Several years spent in close quarters with a sociopathic clique with an axe to grind WILL have an effect on all but the most hardened of NON-criminals (a category to whose ranks I cannot in my most charitable moments in clear conscience ascribe to don Traficante).
Some (read: "MANY") come out as "Nation of Islam" and some come out as "radical communists" and some come out as "Aryan Brotherhood" and some would have us believe they've managed to take the long road through the barnyard without being tainted in the least, even though the air above them flutters with mirage-risers from the ghastly stench that exudes from their pores.
So, while don Traficante may not walk like a duck, he does not appear to be capable of restraining himself from the role of the quack.