Thump really has lower character than a freaking mob boss

[DemocratSinceBirth]

The mob mostly left "civilians" alone. They asked for tributes to protect legitimate businesses but beside that people who came in contact with the mob did so at their own discretion, whether it was to get a loan, buy drugs, buy stolen goods, or hire a prostitute,

[Drahthaardogs]

1. You watch too many movies

You have no idea what la cosa nostra or Ndrangheta are about or what they do.

[leftstreet]

2. Hollywood has certainly fluffied 'the mob'

Mob movies replaced westerns

This article is really old, but...

Sept 9, 1990

FILM; Why We Love the Mafia in the Movies

All at once, though, it was academic. By the early 60's the western, for any practical purpose, had become obsolete. Irrelevant. At the first sight of sagebrush, audiences right and left began nodding off.

(snip)

Enter now the Mafia to embody and reflect our deepest anxieties, yearnings, wonderment and, most important, our imagination. What better mirrors fierce free enterprise with everyone's (shiver) life literally on the line, the resourcefulness of a nation ever on the move, constantly plunging into innovative and profitable technologies (like, say, casino gambling)? Who among us, having been wronged, has not fantasized about calling upon brothers in blood to wreak suitable vengeance - an ice-picked body, perhaps, trussed like a turkey bobbing up somewhere?

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/09/movies/film-why-we-love-the-mafia-in-the-movies.html?pagewanted=all

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. The mafia's core activities are protection racketeering, the arbitration of disputes between...

The mafia's core activities are protection racketeering, the arbitration of disputes between criminals, and the organizing and oversight of illegal agreements and transactions.

Sounds like my description:

The mob mostly left "civilians" alone. They asked for tributes to protect legitimate businesses but beside that people who came in contact with the mob did so at their own discretion, whether it was to get a loan, buy drugs, buy stolen goods, or hire a prostitute.

[Drahthaardogs]

4. The Mafia is an economic system in southern italy

If you go to Sicily it is hard to find someone NOT in it. It was necessary here due to extreme Italian prejudice. As a famous member once said, " when we played the numbers game here it was racketeering, then the State took it over and it became the lottery."