It is the ambition of the authors of "The Public Enemy" to honestly depict the environment that exists today in a certain strata of American life, rather than glorify the hoodlum or the criminal. While the story of "The Public Enemy" is essentially a true story, all names and characters appearing herein, are purely fictional.
End card: "The END of Tom Powers is the end of every hoodlum. "The public enemy" is not a man, nor is it a character - it is a problem that sooner or later WE, the public, must solve.