Mafia Tech Support 323
Mzilikazi writes "A story from Wired about performing tech support for the mob, mainly focusing on gambling. Some interesting information is presented about P2P applications. Frankly it sounds like fiction to me (you can already imagine the movie being made -- 'I Was a Hacker for The Mob'), but the story is interesting nonetheless and shows that if you're skilled and determined but have a flexible moral compass, there's a lot of job opportunities out there." I started reading it for the mob references, but kept on reading for the details of how to run an illegal gambling organization.
Hmf. (Score:2, Informative)
He's got his terminology wrong. That's not a market maker, that's a *market*. A market maker is just someone who's required to offer a particular price on both sides of the book in return for some preferential treatment by the exchange.
You've been had! (Score:1, Informative)
Simson Garfinkel is a real author (Score:5, Informative)
2 application I heard of... (Score:5, Informative)
The other application is the other way around. At 6AM, the application creates "fake sales" for the previous day; I heard this specifically for video stores (own by the Hells Angels). A bunch of tapes that really spent the night in the store, indicated as returned during the night, and compiled for the 6AM opening. Why you ask? Money laundering. These "fake sales" produces clean money at the cost of the tax. The stores accepted cash only, and the owner simply adds the indicated amount in the register.
I am always suspicious of stores that accept cash only! Or like that not too bright fellow who made 250K$ that year, with 4 peanuts distribution machines that takes only quarter, without ever bringing a single quarter to the bank, Only bills!
The IRS had a good case!
Re:Simson Garfinkel is a real author (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Bunch Bull (Score:3, Informative)
The government has to be involved, because if there's a hundred thousand dollars riding on a horse or a spin of a wheel, several people have quite a motivation in fixing that game. Historically speaking, they have often fixed the game. If you let every shyster with a deck set up a casino, there's going to be many stacked decks.
On the other hand, in places like Las Vegas where gambling is mostly legal, you don't see legitimate casino operators putting out contracts on each others' lives.
After one heck of a crackdown on organized crime. I spoke recently with an coroner who used to work in Las Vegas. Used to be 170 murders a year for a population of 1/3 of a million. Now it's 170 murders a year out of 2 million people. Gambling is high money and it's all about trust, meaning that the mob is likely to turn up where ever it exists.
I can imagine the movie... (Score:3, Informative)
Ironically enough, just a day or two ago, a trailer for the Movie This Thing Of Ours [apple.com] came out, and it's about a bunch of mobsters who move into computer crime.
Small world
It's not what you think. (Score:1, Informative)
Most remarkably though, it was just a job pplz. We did exactly what I still do today, worked on computers. Everyone quietly knew and understood that there was a murky history to the family that ran the place, but that for some prolonged period of time that at least this functional arm of their business was legit. Again, we're talking about a nationwide company here with > 1000 employees, not some closet apartment in Jersey...
Why on earth would the mafia be interested in onshore bookmaking still, when its simple to setup offshore or internet based systems anyway? These people aren't dumb, and don't really remind me at all of the Sopranos. The one part of that article that made sense is that they really are very much like Jack Welch anymore.
Re:Average geek (Score:4, Informative)
Haven't RTFA but... (Score:3, Informative)
Real coders for the mob don't grow old (Score:3, Informative)
At least that's the theory.
Various news reports regularly pop up about these machines beng used for full-blown casino-like gambling in bars. A common scheme works like that: Legal no-pay machines are bought wholesale from factories. Then the ROMs are changed. When the machine is installed in a bar, it is also wired to a switch located behind the counter.
Customers "in the know" can ask the barkeeper to flip the switch. This changes the operation of the machine to a different game. The customer is credited a certain amount (e.g. $50). When he leaves, he pays or gets the game's balance at the counter.
This is such a profitable business that a full-fledge gang war was raging last year in Southern France and Italy. At least one programmer was shot because he worked for the wrong people.
Friendly betting my ass.
Re:Wired lies (Score:3, Informative)
Yeah, except that the MicroSerfs article you reference was an excerpt from a Douglas Copeland book [amazon.com]. It was meant to be fictional and wasn't portrayed otherwise.
It's also a great book. One of his best IMHO.
Re:Simson Garfinkel is a real author (Score:4, Informative)
Of course, the interviewee could be a fraud. I don't know what he may have done to prove his story.