by PolackTony » Tue Aug 23, 2022 1:52 pm
Coloboy wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:57 am
Also important to remember that there are many ways to "extort" that don't' have to include violence. They can cut you off from betting, or from potential lines of customers, or if you are a connected business owner perhaps they can prevent you from getting a license of some kind, or can threaten to use political connections to shut down a business, or hold back important contracts (in industries where corruption is common). I could go on but you get the idea.
Although overall I have to think extortion in general is a much smaller piece of the revenue pie these days. It's easy to get caught if you extort the wrong person. I would imagine the focus has to be on extorting shady individuals who are very unlikely to run to the police.
Agreed.
You’re probably aware of the very large number of legal “gaming parlors/lounges” that litter the classically mobbed-up Chicago suburbs (Melrose Park, Stone Park, Cicero, etc). When I was back in Chicago it was really striking how these places have sprung up all over. I’d imagine that there are connected guys making money off of these places on several levels — who owns them, who owns the property, who controls the license, guys using them as hunting grounds for gambling customers to bet off the books and on credit, etc. But, much like porn shops and strip clubs of yesteryear, I see these joints as “grey market” businesses that could be ripe for exploitation by OC. While the outfit almost certainly has little to no clout in the city today, they very likely retain some influence with the public servants and cops in some of these corrupt suburban towns, and thus could have leverage to extort these kinds of businesses, for the “service” of greasing the wheels of clout as well as keeping the heat off of places where illegal gambling activity is very likely parasitizing off of the now legalized “gaming”. As well as controlling things like who these lounges buy their machines and other goods from. All of that would fall under extortion that doesn’t necessarily involve putting a gun to someone’s head.
You will come across people who say that “black magic” only works on those who believe in it. To the extent that the mob still engages in explicit forms of violent extortion (“nice place you got there, would be a shame if something happened to it”, etc), I’d see it as similar. People from within communities/social networks that are already connected to the mob, and who understand how the game is played, could be targeted as they’re more likely to play ball. Some guy comes in to a place run by randos who aren’t even aware that the mob exists — people like that if threatened would probably think the guy was a nut or call the police. Someone who’s already part of that world, however, would recognize what was happening and understand that playing ball is just a cost of doing business. Individuals like that are probably also involved in shady stuff anyway, and thus would be prime targets for extortion. With these gaming parlors, I’d suspect many if not most are not opened by “randos”.
[quote=Coloboy post_id=236613 time=1661266664 user_id=6473]
Also important to remember that there are many ways to "extort" that don't' have to include violence. They can cut you off from betting, or from potential lines of customers, or if you are a connected business owner perhaps they can prevent you from getting a license of some kind, or can threaten to use political connections to shut down a business, or hold back important contracts (in industries where corruption is common). I could go on but you get the idea.
Although overall I have to think extortion in general is a much smaller piece of the revenue pie these days. It's easy to get caught if you extort the wrong person. I would imagine the focus has to be on extorting shady individuals who are very unlikely to run to the police.
[/quote]
Agreed.
You’re probably aware of the very large number of legal “gaming parlors/lounges” that litter the classically mobbed-up Chicago suburbs (Melrose Park, Stone Park, Cicero, etc). When I was back in Chicago it was really striking how these places have sprung up all over. I’d imagine that there are connected guys making money off of these places on several levels — who owns them, who owns the property, who controls the license, guys using them as hunting grounds for gambling customers to bet off the books and on credit, etc. But, much like porn shops and strip clubs of yesteryear, I see these joints as “grey market” businesses that could be ripe for exploitation by OC. While the outfit almost certainly has little to no clout in the city today, they very likely retain some influence with the public servants and cops in some of these corrupt suburban towns, and thus could have leverage to extort these kinds of businesses, for the “service” of greasing the wheels of clout as well as keeping the heat off of places where illegal gambling activity is very likely parasitizing off of the now legalized “gaming”. As well as controlling things like who these lounges buy their machines and other goods from. All of that would fall under extortion that doesn’t necessarily involve putting a gun to someone’s head.
You will come across people who say that “black magic” only works on those who believe in it. To the extent that the mob still engages in explicit forms of violent extortion (“nice place you got there, would be a shame if something happened to it”, etc), I’d see it as similar. People from within communities/social networks that are already connected to the mob, and who understand how the game is played, could be targeted as they’re more likely to play ball. Some guy comes in to a place run by randos who aren’t even aware that the mob exists — people like that if threatened would probably think the guy was a nut or call the police. Someone who’s already part of that world, however, would recognize what was happening and understand that playing ball is just a cost of doing business. Individuals like that are probably also involved in shady stuff anyway, and thus would be prime targets for extortion. With these gaming parlors, I’d suspect many if not most are not opened by “randos”.