Take a look at yourself! It’s terrifying to look in the mirror and realize you’re just another cog in a vast machine, isn’t it? Life feels like a game where ordinary workers play by the rules, hoping for the best, only to end up stuck. They try to do the right thing, yet life keeps screwing them over. The working class has hit a dead end: they play by the rules and still lose – because they’re playing someone else’s game. You tried to do the right thing, but the cards were clearly stacked against you. Your job has become a monotonous routine, and despite your efforts, success seems out of reach.
Sometimes you question whether it was even worth it to stay honest and follow the rules especially when others break them with ease and still get ahead. You followed the «right» path, yet fate hasn’t been kind. The world is ruthless, and you’re stuck in a reality where the old rules no longer work. But despite all this, you keep going – maybe because there’s something deeper within you. Maybe there’s a spark of creativity, or a hunger for change, that keeps you alive in this long journey. You realize that taking risks and moving forward is the only way to unlock your true potential. Perhaps it’s your inner fire and drive for something greater that keeps you from giving up – that keeps you walking forward even when the odds are against you. So instead of becoming a prisoner of circumstance, you use your inner strength as fuel for a bold and creative approach to life. That could lead to unexpected discoveries, new opportunities, and maybe even a shift in the game itself in your favor.
I can show you how to gain the power, money, and respect that you’ve been denied for far too long. It’s all in this book: the tactics of the world’s most powerful bosses – those who became masters of their own fate, one shot at a time. Of course, this life isn’t for everyone. But by following their example, you’ll learn to use their tools – and you will become rich.
Chapter I GET A DREAM JOB
If I say «mafia boss,» who comes to mind? A mafia boss is someone who knows how to beat the system. A mafia boss is, essentially, the CEO of an organization. A big one. A very big one. And they rake in money by the shovel. When problems arise, they handle them in different ways: with fear, ruthlessness, cunning. Giants of the criminal underworld, managing operations worth $20 billion a year, they understand the value of the right connections and a diversified portfolio: extortion, drugs, gambling, kidnappings, fraud, racketeering, murder. Before you become a boss, you need to follow the manual – climb the corporate ladder. But not many have risen as high, and as fast, as the son of a Brooklyn barber who grew up to become a real gangster.
Al Capone an American gangster of Italian descent operated in Chicago during the 1920s—30s. Under the cover of a furniture business and dry-cleaning shops, he ran bootlegging, gambling, and prostitution rackets, while also engaging in charity work (he opened a network of free soup kitchens for unemployed citizens). A vivid representative of organized crime in the U.S. during Prohibition and the Great Depression, born and bred under the influence of the Italian mafia, he was the head of its Chicago branch. By the time he turned thirty, he was already the king of Chicago’s criminal world. He ran a massive criminal empire earning $100 million, leaving behind piles of corpses in the Windy City.
And the way he started that’s your first lesson in self-improvement. Do you want the kind of success that comes with being the boss? Ready to start building your own empire?
LESSON 1. UNLOCK YOUR POTENTIAL
To become a successful mafia boss, you need to have drive and ambition. You have to be smart, know how to motivate those around you, and sometimes intimidate people just enough to keep them on edge. Like in any other field, developing these skills requires hard practice and a focused approach. The guys who were drawn to the mafia were looking for a way to succeed. They didn’t have an education, they didn’t get into college, and they wondered who would value their skills in robbery and violence. The answer came to them instantly: they needed to join the mafia. As is well known, many criminal masterminds showed their potential from an early age.
The future boss of the New York mafia, John Gotti, had been arrested five times before he turned twenty-one. As a child, he nearly lost his toes to a cement mixer he was trying to steal, which gave him his signature walk. Sicilian mafia boss Salvatore Riina took part in his first murder when he was eighteen. He helped kill a union member who had publicly shamed Riina’s boss. The founder of the Medellín cartel, Pablo Escobar, as a teenager, made his teacher proud by selling fake diplomas and report cards. A young Al Capone also turned out to be a gifted student of the criminal arts. He was born into an immigrant family. His father, who arrived in the country first, worked as a barber. Back in Italy, the family made pasta. Al Capone wasn’t born into a family of criminals – America made him a gangster. While in school, he had good grades, but he dropped out in the sixth grade, either because of a fight with a teacher or simply because he got bored and wanted to earn money.
