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Saturday, December 06, 2003

Swimming with the fishes 


If you owe the mafia money and you can't pay up, they don't actually break your legs, unlike in the movies:

Then there's the misconception that if you don't pay your debts, the mob will break your legs. I've seen that on TV but never in real life. Sure, some agents make their collection runs with a bodyguard, but wouldn't you want some muscle around if you were carrying tens of thousands of dollars in cash? Breaking people's legs is bad business. If somebody doesn't pay their debts because they're broke, maiming them isn't going to put cash in your bank account. Still, the threat of pain remains a valuable deterrent. Tell your customers that you're breaking people's legs and there's no reason to actually do it. Truth is, when people don't cover their debts, we put them on a payment plan. If that doesn't work, we spread the word that they're a bad risk. Basically, we fuck up their underground credit rating.
There's other untold mafia secrets as well.

(Via Marginal Revolution)
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