It's pretty strange to read about the inner workings of drug dealers. I can honestly say that I never figured that I would be reading the income statements of a South-side Chicago crack gang but all the information was so interesting. I mean, you hear all this talk about the gangs but this really points out the intricacies that you never take into account.
I thought the whole idea of Venkatesh going into this abandoned housing project, armed only with his questionnaire, which started off with the question, "How do you feel about being black and poor?" was insane. Did this guy not even glance at the survey beforehand? And then for him to be essentially held captive for an entire day was crazy. But, you can't say that it wasn't all worth it. I've never really given a whole lot of thought to how gangs go about making and managing their money, but the similarities to typical business actually illustrates that it's not just a bunch of idiots running them.
Going through the information, its easy to see now why drug dealers live with their moms. The part about how they're really not that much different from aspiring actors or professional athletes does answer why they put up with the most dangerous "job" in America: the potential payoff.
It's also funny how the timing of events has so much to do with their impact on society. If the environment hadn't been right for the crack boom to happen, it may have turned out completely differently. Examples of this include the decrease in available life-time jobs and the relationships built between the Colombians and the black gang leaders.
This chapter reminded me a lot about the growing problem of crystal meth. in America, which seems to be cracks replacement. In my hometown of Panama City, you hear a lot about different meth labs being shut down or a people being arrested for dealing probably. The difference being that you don't even have to start off with an illegal drug to do it, all you need is some pseudophed, which is a lot more readily available than cocaine.
1 comment:
You know, I have to admit that I have no clue what Crystal Meth is, but i am also surprised at how smart these crack dealers were. I mean, i grew up learning that you sold drugs because you were too stupid to make in in school. All the drug dealers I knew were famous for their violence and not their brain. I now know that all the drug dealers i knew were minimum waged enforcers and foot soldiers. very interesting. I do hope, however, that it Crystal Meth does not go the direction Crack because we cannot take another street corner war as a society.
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