loansharking, also self-explanatory
Please help me out here. I don't get it.
I understand the concept of not killing your debtor. That one is easy. But why in the world would a guy make himself a debtor and even give you the option to make that call? Someone said people need quick money. If your home is not in foreclosure, why? Just why?
Is it drug addiction? Are they lending to addicts that need a fix and have no money to pay it?
If you look at the cases, most of the mob's loansharking goes hand in hand with it's gambling operations. Let's say a bettor owes a $50,000 gambling debt but doesn't have the money to pay up. The mob is happy to simply charge him 2% (or $1,000) a week interest on that debt. That doesn't come off the principal. It's just what the guy pays to
not have to pay back the entire $50,000 or get put in the hospital. They'll "juice" the guy indefinitely or, perhaps, to a point and then let him pay off the principal over time. Violence is the mob's ultimate insurance but they have any number of ways of recouping their money. Maybe the guy has a business they can bust out or take over. And many gamblers willingly go along with paying so much every week to float a loan because they always figure they will get more money the next game or whatever.
