THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF CRIME PLUS ONE con't
I especially like a line from the 1981 movie "Body Heat," starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. Hurt plays an incompetent lawyer who gets involved with the wife of a wealthy and ruthless man played by Richard Crenna. Hurt approaches one of his criminal clients about the possibility of his killing Kathleen Turner's husband. The street wise veteran crook gives Hurt some simple and sound advice about the project he is contemplating: "There are a hundred things that can go wrong. If you're lucky, you can think of fifty of them."
Never forget that line!
As this book progresses, I am going to tell you some anecdotes and funny stories. I am going to tell you about some smashing successes. Also, I am going to tell you about some disastrous failures, situations where people ended up receiving sentences of 20 to 25 years, life, or even the death penalty. You will also hear about stupid and unfortunate events I have experienced in the criminal life.
The nicest gift that parents can give to their children is the benefit of their life experiences, thereby saving their children from needless pain in life that the parents had to suffer.
I am not enticing anyone to begin a life of crime. But if you have reached a point in your life where you feel there is no other option, I want to take you by the hand, step you through the whole process, and spare you from the many problems I encountered in my "career." I want to give you the gift of 20 years' experience. I want to save you from some pain and suffering.
What I am going to do in the next several hundred pages is show you how to make your dreams come true. I am not going to supply you with a detailed plan of how to make your "first big killing" and retire to Rio, the Riviera, or Fiji.
Instead, I am going to give you a broad framework of how to accomplish your objectives. I will show you possibilities. Then I will leave it to you to design your final plan and carry it out.
I will show you how to get proper identity documents. I will show you how to avoid the common and uncommon traps and pitfalls that cause one to come to the attention of law enforcement agencies and risk being captured. I will show you how to obtain and bide the money that you are seeking for a comfortable and secure future.
I am going to tell you a lot about the law and court systems. I am also going to help you to live happily ever after.
It is not what you do that counts. It is where you do it and how you do it that make all the difference in how the authorities deal with you.
So, be alert and take careful notes. Crime is like war. It is a very serious business. The penalties for failure are steep. On the other hand, success can be really sweet. Whoever said that crime does not pay is really "full of it."
I have prepared the Ten Commandments of Crime for you to study. Each commandment will have a separate chapter devoted to it. Each chapter will go into a lot of detail. But, for now, let me list them for you:
Commandment Number One: Thou shalt keep thy mouth shut.
Commandment Number Two: Thou shalt always work alone.
Commandment Number Three: Thou shalt study long, hard and carefully on each project.
Commandment Number Four: Thou shalt never draw attention to thyself.
Commandment Number Five: Thou shalt know the law.
Commandment Number Six: Thou shalt plan thy operation carefully.
Commandment Number Seven: Thou shalt take thy time.
Commandment Number Eight: Thou shalt always protect thy body and assets.
Commandment Number Nine: Thou. shalt always maintain a legitimate front.
Commandment Number Ten: Thou shalt not be greedy.
Read these commandments over and over again. Learn them! Memorize them! Never deviate from them! If you follow these commandments carefully and faithfully, you will not fail. If you deviate from these principles, you are asking for problems. So be prepared to work hard to build the new life you want to enjoy. And do not forget Commandment Number Eleven: Thou shalt never allow thyself to get caught! want to enjoy. And do not forget Commandment Number Eleven: Thou shalt never allow thyself to get caught!
