Roosevelt used gangsters like Lucky Luciano to help win WW II.
The enemy of our enemies is our friend.
ouch... pulling fingernails.... we'd start with sodium penathol right?
I like the quote from Gladiator. Commodus wants information about the impending coup from his sister. So he talks of how the Emperor Claudius was betrayed and how Claudius found out what he wanted to know:
What have you been up to, you busy little bee, tell me? Or I shall strike down those nearest you, and you shall watch as I bathe in their blood.