Character Income

Every named Character in Vendetta is responsible for his own Income and Expenses. By far the most common (and lucrative, in the long term) means of earning money is through operating one or more of the 120+ criminal Rackets in the game, but this is by no means the only way to earn their daily bread. There is a wide range of possible income sources available in the game, broken down into 'Ongoing' (regular weekly income) and 'One-Off' sources.

'Ongoing' Income Sources

Ongoing income sources are those which, once set in motion, produce a regular weekly income for the controlling Character - up until something happens to interfere with the income flow. All ongoing income sources are included in a Character's weekly 'Business Operations' activity, so the income from these is governed by how many 'Time Points' you allow each Character to allocate to his various Business Operations. The ongoing income sources are as follows:

Rackets

The 120+ illegal rackets in Vendetta will provide the main source of income for most underworld Characters. Lawyers, Accountants and Political Lobbyists cannot (or will not) operate illegal rackets. When first established a brand new racket will require roughly 15-20 'Time Points' each week to collect maximum income and reduce future time requirement, but this is also modified by the abilities, skills and specialities of the Character concerned. Racket income increases the longer a racket is in operation, until it reaches its minimum weekly time requirement (3-6 Time Points). Allowing fewer Time Points than are required for a new racket will both reduce its weekly income as well as slow down the pace at which its base time requirement is being reduced. Allocating extra Time Points to 'Business Operations' will, however, more quickly reduce the racket's base time requirement as well as provide a little bonus income.

Legitimate Businesses

There are thousands of existing legitimate businesses able to be bought out and owned by gang members, both underworld Characters and those involved on the semi-legitimate side of things. Once purchased these will be managed for the owning Character by his most trusted friends & relatives, reducing his own time requirements. Legitimate Businesses generally produce the poorest return on investment, dollar for dollar, but they are essential to help 'launder' illegal monies, as 'fronts' for illegal rackets to better hide these from the prying eyes of rivals & police, and also to provide a legitimate source of income for the owning Character. The more legitimate income a Character earns, the less likely he is to ever be successfully prosecuted for tax evasion - the means by which Al Capone was finally brought to justice.

Business Racketeering

Although this is one of the many illegal rackets it is a strange one in that it relies on close cooperation with a Legitimate Business. Business Racketeering earns relatively low income for itself (by normal racket standards) but also illegally boosts the income of a particular type of Legitimate Business. This is accomplished by 'forcefully' selling the legitimate products of the business while also insisting that the retailer not stock any rival brands - the phrase most often used is 'or else'. This is the main means by which an ordinary Legitimate Business can, over a period of time, be built up into a highly profitable one, even by illegal racket income standards. The Character running the Business Racketeering operation earns his money in the same way as would any other somewhat unethical salesman of legitimate products - by being paid commission on the quantity sold. The Business Racketeer need not be the same Character as the one owning the Legitimate Business itself, thus allowing several Characters to act as 'salesmen' for a large Legitimate Business belonging to one Character (such as your Boss), or even (by eventually operating multiple such rackets) as salesmen for the products of several different businesses all owned by different Characters.

Blackmail

Any Character in possession of a suitable 'Skeleton' (in the cupboard) can use this to blackmail another Character in the game, usually one of the many NPC 'Civilian' Characters such as politicians, police officers and businessmen. A 'Skeleton' is a hidden Character trait or weakness of some description, one which that Character would much prefer remained a secret - such as the identity of a politician's mistress, evidence of a police officer's crimes, or of a legitimate businessman's connections with organized crime. Perhaps even knowledge of any Character's sexual perversions. Many 'Skeletons' are a powerful form of 'leverage' for either blackmail or influence purposes. Successful blackmail results in a regular weekly income which takes little time to collect (1 Time Point), making it one of the most profitable criminal endeavours for the time actually spent. It is especially useful during times of war when any underworld Character's available time is by necessity greatly reduced due to the need for excessive caution (only 6-12 Time Points available). Note that blackmail has the disadvantage of making an enemy of the blackmailed Character, in the sense that he will never afterwards accept the friendship of, or 'influencing' by, any other Character associated with the Blackmailer. This extends to your entire Syndicate / Family, meaning that no other Boss currently friendly to you will ever be able to easily gain real influence with any Character you have blackmailed. Be very careful who you target for blackmail - always first use the 'Telegram' (private message) system and seek the permission of your superiors in the organization before you blackmail an important Character.

Tribute

Every underworld Character above the lowest rank in a gang earns 'Tribute' (a 'payment of respect') from at least one other Character in the gang, and often two or three. Similarly, player-Bosses pay Tribute to a recognized superior Boss, and receives Tribute from 0-3 Bosses below him. The Tribute paid by one Character to another is 30% of his total net income, this being the income he has left after all his expenses are paid.

Boss Pay-Off

This is the term used for the receipt of any regular weekly income from another Boss who is not himself a member of your own Syndicate or Mafia Family. It is most often paid to the Head or high-ranking member of a Syndicate or Family (though from a Boss of any rank in a rival organization), usually in return for the right to operate a particular racket within his territory. Such a payment is a percentage of that racket's total gross weekly income (either 10, 15 or 20%, as negotiated) and counts as an actual racket expense, before net income is determined for the controlling Character. It's also possible for any Boss to set up a regular, automatic weekly pay-off (of a fixed amount) to any other Boss, as negotiated between them. This might be for any reason, but the most common reasons might be: a. Alliance / Protection: Payment to the Head of a large, powerful Syndicate by the Head of a smaller, weaker organization, in return for some type of alliance or protection agreement. b. Racket Influence: Payment to another Boss who has the influence or power to seriously harm your own racket operations or those of your organization, given sufficient cause to do so. This might occur where a Boss controls a high-level racket able to cut or at least seriously hamper supplies to some of your own racket operators, and thereby drastically reduce their incomes. c. Political Influence: Payment to another Boss who has the ability to use certain influence to greatly harm, or greatly help, your own organization.

"One-Off" Income Sources

One-off income sources are single payments as a result of a particular action, usually carried out through assigning a particular Order to a Character. These activities are not counted as normal, weekly 'Business Operations' and do not automatically repeat without a specific Order to this effect. One-off income payments might also be made from one player-Boss to another as a result of negotiation and 'reasoning'. The various possible 'One-off' income sources are as follows:

Other Crimes

This is an Order / permission from the Boss to a particular Character for him to try to raise cash through some form of one-off crime, such as a bank robbery, jewellery heist, payroll stickup, safe-cracking, hijacking of valuable goods, or even the kidnapping of a wealthy civilian for ransom. The 'Time Points' allocated to this Order (6-36) will determine the level of planning involved and therefore the profit and risk of the crime committed, as will the abilities & skills of the Character concerned. 'Other Crimes' are an easy but very risky way to make money, and they also have a greater impact on the local Crime Rate than just about any other mob activity, mainly because the local Police would not usually accept pay-offs for such blatantly public crimes.

Ransom Payments

This specifically refers to collecting ransom for the safe return of kidnapped rival gangsters, rather than for ordinary civilians (which is included in 'Other Crimes'). When you successfully kidnap a rival Character you have a choice between offering his safe in return for a ransom, or of torture-interrogating him for useful information. You can also hand him over to any other Boss in the city - perhaps in return for a one-off 'services rendered' payment (see below). Should you decide to offer him for ransom you will be informed of his approximate 'value', based on his own rank and personal wealth as well as the rank of his player-Boss, but you will be free to demand any sum you feel appropriate. High-ranking Characters of powerful organizations will be very valuable indeed (up to 80% of any ransom payment will come from that Character's personal wealth to date, which might be considerable), provided of course that his Boss agrees to make a deal for his man's safe return.

Vendetta Settlement

A formal vendetta can be a bloody and ongoing affair, often degenerating into a tit-for-tat situation where two rival bosses are taking huge chunks out of each other to the great amusement of those all around. It is also usual for one side to steadily gain the upper hand in any prolonged, vendetta-caused war, and for his rival Boss to be suffering greatly with no end in sight. Many serious vendettas won't end until either the Boss himself is dead or much of his organization has been battered into a bloody pulp. The problem with vendettas is that they give the 'injured' Boss only two choices - either avenge yourself for the insult / damage suffered, or suffer a continual loss of 'Respect' in the underworld, which greatly harms your Boss Status and is therefore holding back your Boss Rank. For this reason most Bosses who have a vendetta against another will hit back again and again, in an effort to regain this lost Respect - or at least to kill the rival Boss who caused the vendetta, and so end it by avenging himself. It is at times like this when the Boss who currently has a powerful vendetta against him will consider the option of paying a cash 'Vendetta Settlement'. Although this might prove very expensive - it is, after all, often your own life you are paying for - settling a vendetta in this fashion cancels it entirely by regaining the 'injured' Boss his lost underworld Respect (as well as the cash).

Services Rendered

This is a payment by one Boss to another - usually a member of a different Syndicate or Family - for the performance of a one-off service. This might be a secret payment for that Boss's treasonous activities (of one form or another...) or for some other, more open service. For instance, you might receive payment from another Boss for delivering to him a kidnapped rival Character he is particular pleased to have, or for using your influence with a third-party Boss in his favour, or for using in his favour influence you might have with an NPC Character - such as a high-ranking police officer, a judge, or a prosecutor currently able to determine the fate of one of his important gang members. Adroit Bosses will find numerous ways of earning valuable additional income from rival Bosses in return for such one-off 'favours'.

"Black Hand" Pay-Off

Similar to 'Services Rendered', but in this case literally extorting money from a rival Boss in return for doing something (or, even more likely, not doing something!). Powerful Bosses will find ways and means of extorting extra cash from rival Bosses, especially where they have control of rackets or supplies important in some way to certain rival Bosses.

Hit Contract Rewards

Any rich Boss can place a public 'Hit Contract' on the life of any other Character in the game, on payment of a large fee to a neutral third-party 'handler'. Although any Hit Contract will eventually attract the attention of NPC hired killers (with skills based on the amount being offered), in the meanwhile the Contract is fair game and open to everyone - without incurring a formal vendetta for attempting the hit yourself. Filling hit contracts can be an extremely lucrative, if dangerous, form of one-off income, as payment for a successful hit is guaranteed by the Contract 'handler'. Even if your hitman dies in the attempt, the Boss himself will receive the cash - but no payment is made for a failed hit, only for one resulting in the immediate death of the target.