This book is about Robert Dunton, an entrepreneur in San Pedro, an area south of Los Angeles. He was highly successful and was held in high esteem in this tightknit community. He possessed a keen business mind and looked for ways to improve the profitability of his business.
The lucrative trade that Mr. Dunton was involved in could best be described as the illicit narcotics business. He dealt in heroin, coke, meth and marijuana whatever the druggies in the beach area wanted. To be successful he took pride in supplying high quality drugs at a very competitive price. However, overtime he started to resent the fact that he had to pay taxes on everything he sold. Every narcotic dealer knows the rules. You are required to pay a 10% tax to the Mexican Mafia (EME) on all narcotics sales.
It is essential for the Mexican Mafia to collect this tax in order to survive. Since most of the top officials in the Mexican Mafia hierarchy are in prison, they need people on the outside to supply the money for the organization. One might wonder how can they require all narcotic dealers to pay this tax if the leaders are in prison. The answer is that if a dealer doesn't cooperate, an EME enforcer will visit them and demand the money. If they don't pay up, they are violently disposed of. Amazingly dealers quickly learn that it is beneficial to their health to pay the EME taxes.
Mr. Dunton understood there was a risk in not paying the taxes but he thought he could cut some corners and no one would notice. For months it was smooth sailing and his business was more profitable without the tax burden. However, the EME enforcers started zeroing in on his business to determine if he had been shorting them. In order to survive, Mr. Dunton protected himself by fortifying his house and hiring an armed security guard. Find out how that wasn't enough to survive the wrath of EME.