Because there are laws. Any cash transaction of over $10k must be reported to the Feds, and, the law further forbids purposely structuring cash transactions to be under $10k for the purposes of avoiding reporting laws. Bottom line, mobsters have to keep their money in cash and, if the cops ever find that cash and the mobster can't justify why he has it, it will be seized. That creates great incentive and temptation to just spend it, and, yeah, many of these guys are too weak to fight that temptation.
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BiffGG
8 years ago
The laws were not as strict back during the time that these guys were going. Full size fully equipped pick up trucks and Cadillacs were selling for over 10 K and I heard plenty of stories of old coots who did not believe in banks due to the Great Depression bringing in wads of cash to pay for such things. But one thing these old coots did was file their tax returns even if everything they did for income did not make it on there. This was the catch for guys such as Henry as he was tailed enough that the Feds would know that Henry made a very significant purchase and could not show legitimate income to pay for it. And if Henry pitched the excuse that the in-laws paid for it or loaned the money then the in-laws would be checked out by the authorities then that excuse would fall apart. Johnny Roastbeef with his Cadillac should have been pinched almost immediately if the cash reporting obligation were at 10K or greater at that time. The dealer would have readily complied on such law rather than risk penalty on themselves. Jimmy would have known that and would have had Johnny whacked almost immediately rather than waiting several weeks or months. Mob guys do get hot (stolen) things such as cars but the way the scene played out between Jimmy and Johnny tells me that the Caddy was purchased legit through a dealer. The fact that Johnny was a known associate meant that there was active surveillance on him and the minute law enforcement noted Johnny driving a Caddy would have sent them digging. Had Johnny legit cover businesses that would have kept Jimmy cool as Johnny would have a good cover for the Caddy.
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