of how utterly crushing it is for small businesses to be beholden to the Cosa Nostra?
We all love mob films, but the truth is, these mob men crush the little guys, & are no more than two bit thieves & crooks.
When I first got sober back in the early 90s, my AA home group was filled with old timers who were once part of organized crime.
I can genuinely state that I grew to love most, if not all of these guys, & they were ALL gentlemen to a ‘T’, yet most had their lives upended by doing hard time, & once they hit the streets, they were either destined to be broke, & live off SSI, or did small jobs, along with getting SSI, or had to go back in 100%, in order to make decent money. There were also a few that were compensated for not squealing, or who were smart enough to stash their cash very well, & live a low key life, however, those examples were exceptional, and not the rule.
The one thing that pulled me away from some of my most beloved friends in the end, was when they all protected & stood by Robert Blake, after he was acquitted for the murder of Bonnie.
Look, I’m not stupid, & I understand that in mafia terms, Bonnie was nothing but trouble, & a horrible person, but to me? She wasn’t worth a bullet to the head. Also? I loathed Bobby Blake, & any one with capable & working brains would as well, as he was genuinely nothing but a HUGE, narcissistic, POS person, & now that he’s dead, I can say it freely. I kept my mouth shut about my feelings regarding him for many years, because I never wanted to implicate my Italian friends for protecting him, but let’s be honest: Blake was scum.
I have mixed feelings about organized crime. The crew I befriended in AA were top of the line, top shelf gentleman to me, my friends, & others. I have not one bad or shitty thing to say about these guys, because they were good folks to me, personally.
The above stated, they’re all dead now, & I can say that they gave up way too much for what they got back in return.