Let's say some immigrant wants to open a restaurant in Chicago, maybe a pizza restaurant. Well, no bank is going to loan him a dime, too risky. So he talks to the owner of the restaurant where he works, and the owner puts him in touch with some nice Italian guys. They can help wth the lease, they have a friend in the used restaurant equipment business who can hook him up with a good used pizza oven and everything else he needs, they have cousins in the plumbing and electrical business to get the store ready, and any permit or inspection problems magically disappear as soon as their Italian friends make a phone call. All they want in return is weekly payments until the loan is paid.

Well, that and the guy buys all his ingredients from their wholesalers, uses their company for the jukebox, their printer for the menus and the boxes, their sign guy, their liquor distributer for the beer they sell, and on and on and on. Oh, and maybe one of their girlfriends needs a job, so she's the new hostess.

They basically take 10-15% right off the top forever, but the guy is living the American Dream with his restaurant and there's no way he would have done it without them. To be fair, in a place like Chicago you're going to pay somebody--it's a heck of a lot easier to pay your local mob guy than it is to pay every health inspector, fire marshal, cop, and building inspector that comes through the door, and your Italian friends can make those pesky landlord tenant disputes go away a lot faster than some lawyer charging you $200/hour.

My point is, they do provide value. If you buy a Dominos Pizza franchise they're going to charge you an upfront fee, make you buy your supplies from them, and demand a royalty on your sales every month. What's the difference? If you're that immigrant someone's out to fuck you regardless, and they probably get more attention and better value for their money from the local Mafia guy than the Dominos owner does from some wanker at Corporate Headquarters 1000 miles away.

I used to call on dozens of guys like that, and not all of them were successful, but a lot of them were, they raised families, put their kids through college, and lived a good life thanks to the opportunities they had. I know one guy who had a very successful chicken restaurant. It was a local landmark. He got in serious trouble gambling, first with the bookie and then thanks to a trip to Vegas. For 3 months there was a nice Italian gentleman who sat at the counter next to the cash register. He kept track of every dime the restaurant took in. At the end of the evening they would sit down, and the Italian gentleman would count the money. He would give the owner enough cash to pay the expenses and keep the operation going. Whatever was left he kept. As soon as the money was repaid he was gone. You think fucking Citibank would have worked with him like that?