Crime boss's inner circle

My story is about a Nobody To Nightmare criminal mastermind.

She was once part of an established syndicate. But due to ideological conflicts between her and her superiors, she was deemed a threat to the organization. She and several of her loyalists barely escaped with their lives.

The story more or less begins with the splinter group coming out of hiding and now seeking to expand.

As they expand, the group end up meeting some individuals who possess experience and knowledge in skills that would benefit the new organization. These individuals eventually join group as trainers and as part of the protagonist's inner circle as the story goes on.

Now who are these individuals (as in their background prior to meeting the gang) and what respective skills do they possess?

The protagonist has years of business management experience. But hard economic times gave her some incentive to make some "money on the side".

It depends first on what kinds of crimes they were in on. That factor alone influences the types you're around. For instance, someone involved in the drug trade is going to have a bit of a different setup than someone involved in, say, a protection racket, arms trafficking, smuggling, or a heist crew.

At any rate, a natural extension of thing is going to be some heavies (enforcers, muscles, hitters, use whatever name you like for them) for the sake of protection and combat in general. As for the types you want for enforcers, it's best to avoid violent thugs and more have disciplined enforcers.

edited 11th Dec '14 4:22:40 PM by Prime_of_Perfection

Is it a plausible scenario to have a military veteran join the gang?

The quirk about the protagonist's gang is that it is "smarter" than the other gangs in the story. Maximizing profits, minimizing footprint, and keeping tabs on everything.

edited 13th Dec '14 9:45:11 PM by Worlder

It's always possible. Military types as a whole tend to translate well to crime, particularly as heavies. It just becomes a question of why and what military background do they have.

Regardless, that doesn't address the question of what kinds of crimes are they committing to make a profit and what kinds of criminals are they. Staying ahead of others and so forth is just a starting point. The devil is in the details. Still, I can help you more figure out what kinds of criminals there should be once I know what their operation actually is.

Another factor I just thought about that I forgot to ask about, what exactly are the ideological differences in operation? That's important to know too as it relates to what types of crimes they're committing.

Also, if they want to keep tabs on everything, they're going to need spies in all of these different organizations. Which will mean tons of people who are loyal to them and they have reason to believe is in this trusted position. That or just overall a means of infiltrating everybody.

edited 13th Dec '14 10:33:55 PM by Prime_of_Perfection

The former gang that the protagonist escaped from is more or less a hate group.

The former gang is committed to spreading fear and suffering towards those deemed "guilty". The protagonist turned out to be a tad too selfish and greedy to care about some greater cause.

Her superiors didn't like the fact that she wasn't specifically terrorizing certain groups and she didn't like the fact that she has to obey the orders of blind zealots.

Overall, this story pits profit driven criminals against ideological domestic terrorists.

edited 13th Dec '14 11:21:28 PM by Worlder

Alright, shall take that into account & that does sound interesting there. Though again, the initial question remains of what kinds of crimes do they commit to make money? I hate repeating myself, but I seriously can't help you until I know that. Once I do, I can easily as I've studied a great deal of criminology for the sake of crime writing.

edited 14th Dec '14 1:59:47 PM by Prime_of_Perfection

Mainly extortion and protection rackets. Later on some prostitution, currency counterfeiting, and identity theft as well.

Alright, at the earlier level, all it really comes down to is a heavy racket. Heavy racket is basically jobs that depend on violence. They'll need a couple of enforcers as a whole to attack whoever, threaten, and defend. That's basically all you need there.

I also question how they keep the authorities out of things, so if there isn't an answer, they'll need a fixer. In this case, the take on fixer as in someone who puts in the fix with law enforcement. Having a dirty cop on the take couldn't hurt.

When it comes to prostitution, there will need to be the following: managers to keep track of the prostitutes during each nights activities, bookers to transport them between neighborhoods to achieve the consumer appeal of new faces, collectors & housekeepers to collect money. There will also need to be enforcers to maintain discipline and settle disputes. Bail bondsmen, attorneys, and physicians can be good to have for handling arrests and ill health.

Counterfeiting takes a more high quality color copy machine or computers with laser printing. It takes little to no art skill. Counterfeiters use high-tech software programs basically. So basically, will need someone with computer experience, preferably a cracker. Pulling off the highest quality though is not easy and the details that go into thwarting counterfeiters is insanely brilliant.

As for identity theft, it depends how they intend to do it. The most common ways to steal them are through just stealing someone's wallet or garbage. The reason why is because that's where personal information is. There are more sophisticated techniques, but these are the most practical and simplest. Just have pickpockets and dumpster divers. If you wish to go more into cyber crimes, good to have a cracker. Develop some malwares and all, use some trojan horses, blah blah blah, I'll leave the tactics to you.

edited 15th Dec '14 1:25:42 AM by Prime_of_Perfection

So judging by your post it seems we have the following

• Military veteran
• Dirty cop
• Cracker
• Physician
• Highclass prostitute

And possibly the following

• Gunsmith

So far it seems we have quite a diverse council of crooks, which is exactly what I'm going for. While they could get "hands on" in various operations, I think that some of them should serve as trainers and overseers. So as to emphasis their importance to the organization and to the story.

Also, I have a scene in my head in which the vet roughs up a snarky impatient recruit as part of a training exercise.

You don't want a single prostitute. Or, well, here, let's explore some of the dynamics of prostitution a little without me going too far into depth into the tactics. A high class one that your mentioning is a Call Girl. Call girls maintain their own apartments and keep a book of of clients. Generally, she responds to calls although she can also use her book of names to solicit. These are the types who avoid having a pimp.

When it involves a proprietor, they overall control and organize a legion of others who work for them basically. They don't do any of the work themselves outside of managing and the layout I previously mentioned.

Anyway, to link to a few tropes to look to for inspiration, Back-Alley Doctor & The Cracker (who wouldn't need other people to likely help them).

Also keep in mind you don't want to make a criminal organization too large. The larger it is, the more likely it will be compromised.

Oh and almost forgot, given what you want to do, you're definitely going to need cleaners.

edited 17th Dec '14 6:52:07 PM by Prime_of_Perfection

Regarding having a veteran fall in with a criminal group, given how badly some countries treat their veterans, and the sorts of things some soldiers experience (which can then make returning to civilian life even harder) it is certainly possible. Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel, was originally composed of Mexican army spec ops who deserted and went rogue. There's plenty of other examples out there, some as extreme as that (the Burmese and Thai armies have, at various points, been little more than one gigantic drug ring) and others much more mild.

One good American example is Colton Rhodes from Justified (which I know I've mentioned a few times in gangster-related threads, but it's appropriate). A former MP who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, he got dishonourably discharged for being hooked on the heroin he was confiscating from other soldiers. He eventually joins up with his old friend Boyd Crowder, whom he served alongside way back in the Kuwait War, working as muscle, and gradually losing his mind due to heroin abuse. Not sure what route you want to go with your character, but if you want a PTSD-victim turned criminal, he's a damn good model.

I suddenly imagined a somewhat touching scene in which the vet compliments the protagonist's brilliance and leadership skills by telling her that she would've made a fine officer.