Chapter Two Four Chairs in the Basement

Ethan's first real business was not drugs or robbery. It was a sports-betting ledger. Brooklyn bet on games: dockworkers, cabdrivers, laid-off brokers, restaurant owners. The wins and losses were small, but the cash came every week. The Moretti Family had left the business to loud street soldiers who collected with fists and often ruined the very people who could have paid for years. Ethan had Marcus rebuild the debt list by job, income, family pressure, and source of fear. A laundromat owner who owed two hundred should not be beaten. He should be extended and given worse odds. A gambling cabdriver who owed two thousand should not be extended. He should be put on a night delivery route and have wages clipped.