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dark
blue inlay. Each banger was proud to carry his “ Cobalt ”, a
tool for protection, identification, and intimidation. It was also
a gang-specific symbol for earning full-associate status. Bobby
cherished and regularly polished his new Cobalt.
    As their loyalty was proven, new gang members became
front men or salesmen for one of the various vices in which they
engaged. The gang had a diversified portfolio of vice operations:
prostitution, drugs, protection (extortion) and gambling. After a
required rotation of jobs that showed the gang supervisors what
kind of talent was in the labor pool, the middle managers met with
the veteranos to bid on each BG for divisional assignment. The
rotation was nicknamed the “Boot Camp” and it was the path to job
promotion for newcomers.
    Davis was a blocking and tackling kind of
gangbanger. He was tough enough to protect the gang hookers; he was
busted a couple times for drug possession with intent to sell. In
juvenile detention, he demonstrated his street smarts and loyalty
by not talking about the gang. He was bold enough to display the
gang’s flags (wearing clothes featuring their colors and
insignias). Each time the police held him at the Elgin facility, he
remained silent. It usually took a couple days waiting for the
gang’s mouthpieces to obtain his release. The gang always
kept a few attorneys on retainer to handle the constant arrests and
federal tax issues. Nearly all of the hired mouthpieces were
Jewish. The gang not so affectionately referred to them as Hebrews
or “Heebs”. Moreover, after a day or two, Davis was normally back
on his street corner selling ganja and crack to passing cars.
    Bobby Jones was much brighter than most of the
club’s personnel. He had demonstrated his penchant for mathematics
several times. More subtle and cerebral than his cousin, he fit-in
better with the thinking assignments and less with the muscle jobs.
He was extremely valuable in the gang’s gambling division and he
liked his permanent assignment there. Like everyone, he started at
the bottom, from look out at the gang’s sports book, to runner, and
ultimately to odds maker.
    ***
    The cousins advanced down their separate career
paths. By now, they were twenty-five years old and Bobby
sarcastically earned the nickname Bobby the Greek (a play on the
Las Vegas icon, Jimmy the Greek, who set the betting lines in Las
Vegas for many years). By then, Bobby the Greek (shortened to Bobby
G.) was contributing enormous sums of money to the gang’s coffers,
and in turn, he earned a larger cut of the action.
    The gang always appreciated members who opened new
avenues of opportunities. For people like Davis, it meant expanding
his drug clientele to new grade schools within his hard fought
territory. Davis also tried to make connections with suburban chippers (occasional users) who could drive by the street
where he conducted his operation.
    Bobby G. made his contribution to new business by
developing a sports book of bets on high schools. While the glamour
bets revolved around college or professional football and
basketball, high school betting was smaller but much more
profitable. In traditional sports betting, the bookie would develop
the highest level of bets and to the extent possible, he would try
to attract a balanced betting load. If too many bets were coming in
on the Chicago Bears giving five points in a particular game, the
bookie would raise the number of points to encourage bets on the
other side (against the Bears). Anyone who lost a wager paid a 10%
losing tax called “juice”. Therefore, the bookie would try to have
an equal balance of bets. Suppose Bobby G. was able to get $50,000
bet on the Bears to win, and $50,000 on the Bears to lose. This
would be a sports book nirvana because the bookie cares not who won
– the juice was $5,000 paid by the loser, which the gang earned
without taking any risks. Even the large Las Vegas sports books
operated this way. They used the point