Well, look no further than John Gotti. What did he gainfully do to afford lawyers like Cutler and Shargel? Work as a clerk in a fishing bait shop, something like that?

And stop blaming the victim here. Loansharking and extortion are illegal.

And re: your last paragraph. It's perfectly relevant and it puts into perspective calling a recidivist career criminal like Giallanza's sentence harsh when it isn't anything of the sort.

He, and people like him, are a plague on society. And I cannot sanction your defense of people like them, while hypocritically laying all the blame of society's ills on others.

I invoke my right under the 5th amendment of the United States constitution and decline to answer the question.