Fairytale of New York II

Remember this story - about Richard Desmond's top man being beaten up ?

He certainly played with some rough boys.

"SIX reputed mobsters from New York’s Gambino crime family have pleaded guilty to using internet porn sites and “free” sex lines to cheat users across the globe out of $650 million (£344 million) in one of the biggest consumer frauds in American history.

One of the charges involved an extortion attempt against the former porn publisher Richard Desmond, the proprietor of the Daily Express. One of his executives was beaten by the gang."

A useful fraud, porn fraud. You presumably rely on people's unwillingness to kick up a fuss.

"The mobsters also persuaded web surfers to part with their credit card information so that they could enter “free tours” of porn sites, saying the data was needed for “age verification”, and then charged their credit cards up to $90. "

Not a small figure, but a meal for two sort of price. You can see why it might have worked.