I was offered a job as a hoodlum and I turned it down cold. A thief is
anybody who gets out and works for his living, like robbing a bank or
breaking into a place and stealing stuff, or kidnapping somebody. He really
gives some effort to it. A hoodlum is a pretty lousy sort of scum. He
works for gangsters and bumps guys off when they have been put on the spot.
Why, after I'd made my rep, some of the Chicago Syndicate wanted me to work
for them as a hood -- you know, handling a machine gun. They offered me
two hundred and fifty dollars a week and all the protection I needed. I
was on the lam at the time and not able to work at my regular line. But
I wouldn't consider it. "I'm a thief," I said. "I'm no lousy hoodlum."
-- Alvin Karpis, "Public Enemy Number One"