Originally Posted By: IvyLeague
Originally Posted By: Lilo
Some of the biggest moneymakers for the mob were loansharking and gambling/numbers. Those businesses are all but legal in America today. I'd like to see a study to see what impact credit cards, payday loans, rent-to own, and various state lotteries had on Mafia profits in those businesses.


As it always has, loansharking goes hand with gambling. A bettor racks up a $50,000 gambling debt and has to go to the sharks to pay back the bookies. What payday loan outlet is going to give a degenerate gambling 50 grand? Or often times, the bookie and the loanshark are the same person. Instead of demanding the $50,000 immediately, the bookie/loanshark simply charges the bettor 2% vig on the debt each week. That's $1,000 every week. And that doesn't come off the top. He can pay the grand every week for the next 10 years and in 10 years he still owes the original $50,000. Likewise, there are still others on the wrong side of the law, and even obstensibly legitimate businesses who don't have any other means of obtaining a loan except a mob loanshark.


The rates charged by payday loan/rent-a-center places can be far higher than rates charged by mobsters in most instances. A 2% /week loan comes out to ~104% APR. Most payday loan places are dealing with APR's of at least 300% APR. Some charge rates as high as 1000% or more. They would superficially be more attractive because theoretically you don't have to worry about someone threatening to break your legs or put your daughter on the street. Payday loans and credit cards are also dealing in volumes that most loan sharks couldn't dream of.
Payday Loans in California/ The Outfit

A kindler gentler shylock

As far as larger amounts for loans I think the subprime lending, hard money lenders and general home equity loans filled that market. In the glory days of loan sharks, people weren't borrowing against their homes as much as they've done in the past 10-20 years. The market for credit has expanded exponentially in the past 2-3 decades.

This is something I am very interested in. I'm not saying mob or independent loan sharks don't exist, still thrive and fill a market. I would just like to be able to determine what impact the credit expansion has had on them. There's got to be a rigorous study/comparison out there somewhere.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.