The Economics of the Mafia

[Music] so listen mid-1900s your kid growing up in New York in the lower class and you spend your childhood seeing your parents struggling to make ends meet they worry about making rent they pinch pennies at every corner and you think to yourself that there has to be something better than this that I never want to be poor again and then you see these local wiseguys mafia members hanging around your neighborhood they wear expensive suits drive classy cars get all the girls have all this money and look successful people respect them and they come man beer basically they're everything your parents aren't so you start to idolize them and come to the conclusion he's a sucker why would I want to go to school and join the rat race just to end up like my parents when I can join the most powerful crime organization the world has ever seen an organization so powerful that at the height of the golden years of the mob the five main Mafia families were equal to the size of the top ten US corporations at the time they controlled trucking the port's the garbage business and a lot of the meat produce and fish markets much of the building trade is in their hands the carpenters and electrical unions they have judges on their payroll and in their pockets so you set your mind on becoming a mafioso the only problem is being that the most successful criminal organization in the world their inner workings how to join the mafia and move up the ranks are filled and secrecy so if you want to become a successful mobster you gotta learn the economics of the Mafia [Music] you know what is the the Mafia the Cosa Nostra as we call it here in America Colten Oscar is a cult everything that they do is about making money or we know criminal organization in the history of our country has ever infiltrated legitimate institutions of society the way the Mafia was able to do the Mafia is a business but obviously they're not like many other businesses see a typical business makes money by providing value to the world by solving customers problems Amazon provides value through a huge selection fast shipping among other things Google provides the value of offering the entire human races collective knowledge at your fingertips so these companies get paid money in return for the perceived value they give out to the world which makes their owners feel free rich as it should the problem is providing honest value is kind of difficult for the most part you have to work honestly you have to abide by these silly laws and regulations this is where the Mafia has an advantage instead of making money through providing value they make money by doing the exact opposite through taking value so you can think of the mob as sort of an anti-business an anti business that isn't restricted by the plebeian las legitimate businesses or helps you now of all the different ways they make money also known as rackets say protection money if we're trading labor unions or just some good old-fashioned robbery most of them revolve around taking value from people by force take the classic protection racket for example mod members go door to door to mom and pop shops and instead of solving a problem they already have they create a problem for them and offer the solution you have to pay us a hundred dollars a week so we can protect you from those no-good criminals who will break your windows with analyze your property robbed you and maybe even hurt your family if they accept great you're now bringing in four hundred dollars per month in pure unadulterated cash flow if they don't well then maybe their windows would be conveniently shattered in the next day by some pesky criminals this is what's called a broken window fallacy get a hundred brick-and-mortar stores under your protection and you have nearly half a million dollars coming in every single year just from one of your rackets without having to provide any value when the Mafia isn't taking value from people there other rackets operate kind of like legitimate businesses providing to customers by selling illegal stuff since illegal goods are very profitable they drugs prostitution illegal gambling loan-sharking and alcohol back in the Prohibition days whatever is trending during the times with all this racketeering money coming in the mafia can't just outright spend this dirty money because the IRS will wonder where it's all coming from so they'll often set up legitimate businesses to launder that money and wipe off all that excess blood away to make it look legitimate they'll also get some legal income coming in so it's a win-win situation these could be stores legal casinos in Las Vegas and Atlanta City and many other fronts one thing the mob does have in common with regular businesses is money at the end of the day it's not about honor respect loyalty God all that other stuff you see in the Godfather films - a mafia family the only God you worship is the Holy dollar and this is where you come in [Music] [Applause] if you want to be a mafioso and command all the status that you so desperately crave you have to know your place in the organization your one and only duty is to help make the family money more specifically to make the head of the family the boss or the Godfather more cash that is literally all that matters and there are two ways you can go about doing this you can be an earner someone who focuses on making money and giving it to the family while of course taking a cut of the money you earn or you can be a killer after all being that the Mafia operates outside of the law they're gonna need someone to enforce their rules and contracts to make sure they get their money so if you're a very astute emotionless killer this role would be perfect for you and you can get paid very handsomely the average person who joins the mob will typically specialize in one of these two areas really good at making money or really good at murder so pick your poison but if you happen to be one of those rare breeds as great at both and vicious at the negotiating table and behind the gun well you have the potential for a very successful career you may even have what it takes to someday be a godfather once you have an idea of what career path to take it's time to start climbing the ranks [Music] just like any other well-oiled organization the military corporations etc the mob has a very well-defined hierarchy and structured that you need to climb this is why it's called organized crime at the bottom of the pyramid are associates and this is where you'll start out any criminal organizations biggest bottleneck or people we need great innovative criminals to run our empire but how do we recruit them how do we vet them how do we know that we can trust them this is where associates come in think of yourself as an intern you're nobody that isn't officially part of the family yet but you're still working under official family members and helping out in their rackets you are doing all the groundwork we did the grunt work for the mob bosses or the upper echelon mob guys and those mobsters had power in those days if they gave you an assignment you couldn't refuse and you had to do it now this may not sound like the glamorous gangster life you were hoping for but great things take time so meu this as an opportunity to prove yourself the goal of an associate is to eventually be initiated into the Mafia as a made man with the next rank being a soldier becoming a made man is the dream of any aspiring mafioso it means that you're officially initiated into the life that you're a part of something bigger than yourself you command respect status fear and are considered untouchable by other criminals if someone so much as embarrasses you your Mafia brothers will take care of it this is what we're working towards so how good are you at making money for the family how good are you at taking orders being loyal to the family are you willing to kill or be killed how good are you at navigating around people that will have you killed and a moment's notice if you said the wrong thing or offended the wrong person one mistake the slightest error you're through they never hesitate to kill a lot of power plays involved I requires a lot of emotional intelligence this is also where you'll start learning the ropes of the mob and their company culture out of all the rules of the mob the biggest rule that must never be broken if you don't want to get whacked is what's called omerta their code of silence to never review the secrets of life to outsiders or authorities this is what made the mob appear untouchable in the eyes of the public and law enforcement because they just couldn't get anyone to talk or be an informant which meant that if you were prosecuting the mob if you weren't investigating the mob you really didn't have access to anybody in the inside the breaking of omertà is also what led to the downfall of the mob which is a story for another video another interesting world to know is that mob members never referred to themselves as the Mafia or the mob or any other incriminating name like that to keep out in the public eye and to Port Authorities the only ever refer to themselves as La Cosa Nostra or our thing in Italian in fact for the longest time there are doubts as to whether or not the mob even existed and people claimed it was a mere conspiracy you've had a number of successes haven't you for example you've managed to get the Justice developer to drop the word mafia in town it was that your doing it was the voice of all the Italian people getting the Justice Department of the United States to ban the use of the word mafia that's pretty good political power that is pretty good political dump this is how good they wore a staying in the shadows around that time the producer of The Godfather came to visit Joe Colombo he sent for him and Joey actually looked at the script of the Godfather back then he took any reference to the word mafia he pulled it out of the script to become an associate as a teenager is pretty simple the mob loves grooming kids from the streets when they're young they'll start giving you very small jobs here and there and if they like you they'll start giving you more and more responsibility to be an associate as an adult it's a little bit trickier it's harder to trust you as a grown adult and for the most part it's better to demonstrate your value and how you can make the money and let them approach you take Joe Pistone's case he was an undercover FBI agent posing as Donnie Brasco a supposed jewel thief and to become an associate he had to hang out at the bars and restaurants the mob members visited to develop relationships for a whole six months before he got to work for the family you don't walk into a mafia place and say hey you know I'm Donnie Brasco jewel thief I like to start doing business with you know yeah holy you know yeah once you do become an associate it's game time start making money for love show them how ambitious you are but not too ambitious to where you're threatening people's egos another thing to keep in mind is that the law favors bloodlines you don't have to be fully Italian to be an associate but for the most part you'll never be able to become a main man if you're not fully Italian or if you're nected to the law and as you gain their trust as you prove yourself as an earner or a killer as you show them that you're an asset that they need in the family it's time to become a Maine man but first we have to get our hands a little bloody again the biggest vulnerability for a crime organization are its people so even if an associate has proven themselves to the family you need some leverage on them to make sure they stay committed for life this is where making your bones come in before you become a made man one requirement is that you have to be sponsored by an existing Maine men another requirement is that you carry out a hit that you take the life of another human being in the name of the family not only will to show how serious you are about the life but the family is gonna have a potential murder conviction to hang over your head to prevent you from ever turning on them and once you do hold that trigger and watch The Life Drain from their eyes it's time for your initiation ceremony now you won't know when this will take place but at a random time you'll get a call telling you to get dressed so you'll suit up get picked up in the car the car will circle around for a while to avoid any police tails and then you'll arrive at a random location you'll walk into a room full of mobsters and they'll ask you if you know why you're here by now of course you know why but you're supposed to say no they'll put a gun in a knife on a table to represent that you don't live by God but that you live and die by the gun and the knife the boss or the second-in-command the underboss will hand you a picture of a saint and prick your finger you'll let the blood drip onto the st. Hill like the Saint on fire and you'll swear your allegiance to the family as this card burns may my soul burn in hell if i betray the oath of a Martha and boom you've gone from associate to soldier and now you're in the same ranks as those local gangsters you grew up idolizing however all those benefits of being a made man come at a cost low the main requirement is that you put the family above all else that if your wife was dying before your eyes and the family called you you better leave your wife in the blink of an eye [Music] as an official member of La Cosa Nostra you're now free to move up the ranks basically your duty is to help with the rackets and find new innovative ways to make money for the family here's how it works when you were an associate you work for soldiers and their captain also known as a capo which you can think of as the manager who led that crew all the different crews and the family take orders from the next level in the chain of command the underboss who is kind of like the vice president that can take over if the boss is taken down he's also kind of like the family's chief of operations that can oversee all the day-to-day happenings of the family's most lucrative rackets and then you have the boss also known as that Don or the Godfather he's like the CEO of the family and has the final say on all decisions and finally you have the families constantly area this is the family's advisor and the boss's right-hand man who's usually a trusted friend and confidants who I'm gonna continue referring to as the advisor being the undef Lee butchering this the advisor is often seen as the third in command of the family they're also usually the meteor's and disputes and are the middlemen between the family and other crime families and business associates the reason why it's set up like this is that not only does it help with being organized but it also acts as insulation the few at the top are insulated from the petty day-to-day crimes of lows at the bottom it's harder to prosecute them Colombo as as well as the other bosses they knew they were well insulated they had all these soldiers and all their underlings to do their criminal bidding and they were completely untouchable all the crews run the rackets of the family and as the money is made it flows up the chain of command whoever made the money let's say it's an associate takes their cut the associate passes the money up to the soldiers and the capital of the crew they get their cut and then it's passed out to be split between the underboss boss and the advisor so you know how the business of the mom works how they make money from rackets and legitimate businesses you know your role in the Mafia the company's culture the code of omerta what they're looking for how it's structured for insulation and how to move up the ranks so now it's time to get out there start working towards becoming a Manman and being everything that your parents warrants and who knows maybe one day you'll even be agog father open up your joshie bola welcome to the watch to the end Club if you guys want more mafia videos like this all you have to do is let me know in the comments because if you kind of tell I'm pretty into this whole organized crime business if that is the case and you want more videos like this you might as well subscribe because I make video essays like this every single week for free on the most provocative stuff in the world business and you can always dislike an unsub whenever you want this is awesome the perfect video to plug that if you want to support this channels goal financially of making the world a more curious place one on the best ways to do that is with our Mafia themed patreon the Tran crime family you can start as an associate a soldier or go all the way in and start out as a capital all the roles of which you just learned about which you can join with the link below another convenient plug is to join our community this court server where you can hang out where other like-minded individuals that are also into business entrepreneurship rackets etc with the link below the more you interact on a server the higher your social credit score will go thanks to the Chinese government for the inspiration also special shout-out to the moderators that helped manage the server they're really helpful and have suggested allow the ideas that make it a really fun place to hang out which you can join with the link below but that's gonna be it for this video you guys thank you so much for watching you've been awesome I've been Jake and I'll see you guys in the next one give my love you mummy no cake no boards you come [Music]

Channel: Jake Tran

Views: 1,997,146

Keywords: mafia, la cosa nostra, mafia documentary, families of the mafia, cosa nostra, organized crime, sicilian mafia, mobsters, italian mafia, chicago outfit, the irishman, crime movies, the godfather, goodfellas, mafia 1, mafia 2, mafia 4, crime documentary, documentary, business, business ideas, business ideas 2020, small business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, make money online 2020, make money online, how to make money online, make money online fast, side hustle, passive income

Id: 8MjDEuTuRD0

Length: 15min 54sec (954 seconds)

Published: Wed May 20 2020