The job

The mafia has moved on

The mafia has gone international so I spend a lot of time overseas, particularly in one country in Latin America where we have some "business interests." For my own safety I can't really say which country it is, so let's call it "Bolivaria."

About our business interests. The rule of thumb is: if its profitable, we're involved. Obviously the mafia made a killing in booze and extortion back in the day, but that stuff has gone the way of legitimate businessmen. We used to make money off of really boring things like, believe it or not, olive oil – but these things don't generate the kind of revenue that support the Don's lifestyle. No, we're into much bigger things now, like oil oil, as in petroleum, as well as smaller-ticket items like weapons trafficking auto parts. Add to this a touch of bond trading, real estate construction and loansharking and you got yourself a pretty decent business. You also got a mafia business that is often pretty hard to distinguish from real business, which is just the way we like it.

But the guys who run the show don't let us little guys touch that stuff. I'm a soldier, which means I'm the guy who handles the petty disputes and day-to-day stuff that our associates dream up to make my life miserable. I'm not the guy who whacks people, I'm the guy who gets to tell an associate that his kid just got whacked, and that I'm really sorry. 

So that's the job, more or less. Like I said, its not pretty.