Protection Money Quotes

I've been racketeered on.

And that is called paying the Dane-geld; but we've proved it again and again, that if once you have paid him the Dane-geld you never get rid of the Dane.

Corruption is a greater danger to us in Afghanistan than the Taliban…. It starts with President Karzai and goes all the way down. It’s just rotten from top to bottom over there.

As a teen-ager I played cards, shot craps, played pool, went to the track, hung around social clubs. I knew that some card and crap games were run by the mob, and some social clubs were mob social clubs. Even as a kid I knew guys that were here today, gone tomorrow, never seen again, and I knew what had happened.

It was impossible to operate in the aluminium business without krysha - very real physical protection.

We had a reward system and a protection system. We would reward players for big plays, things that can help your team win. And then also, we paid guys money for protection, especially guys who couldn't protect themselves and especially offensive players.

We do not fear you [the Mafia] any more. We will root you out from under every rock, from the dark places where you hide.

When I was 16 I'd watch 'The Godfather,' but I didn't think, 'Right, I'm going to go down the barber's and get some protection money off him.'

International affairs is very much run like the mafia. The godfather does not accept disobedience, even from a small storekeeper who doesn't pay his protection money. You have to have obedience; otherwise, the idea can spread that you don't have to listen to the orders, and it can spread to important places.

What is "credibility"? It's a very familiar notion. It's basically the notion that is central to the Mafia. So suppose say the Godfather produces some kind of edict and says you're going to have to pay protection money.

If some small storekeeper somewhere decides he's not going to pay the money, the Godfather doesn't let him get away with it. The money doesn't mean anything to him, but he sends in his goons to beat him to a pulp. You have to establish credibility, otherwise conformity to your orders will tend to erode. International affairs runs in much the same way.

People here imagine that they have a right to demand payment from every one who passes through the country