Quote:

...here's an editorial outburst from the Daily News at the start of this year: "The city is still plagued by 142 pornographic video stores, topless bars and other X-rated businesses - 73 in Manhattan, 42 in Queens, 14 in Brooklyn, nine in the Bronx and four on Staten Island. In the past two years, the Giuliani administration has padlocked dozens of porn shops and dragged their owners into court. But once there, tenacious smutlords and their lawyers have been able to find enough wiggle room in the city's zoning rules to stay in business and continue blighting neighborhoods."



FGFM raises a good point. What does it matter to the industry or the fans whether the authorities proceed civilly or criminally (other than to those who might actually do time.) The net effect is the same: Production Companies, distributors and retailers will be shut down either way. Yes, it would mean that Max (certainly), Jeff and others (potentially) wouldn't have to worry about incarceration. But their livelyhoods would be destroyed, fans left without content and the First Amendment smeared with Rudy's (or another Polwhore's) excrement. These are the stakes.