When Wendy Barde decided the best way to make a fortune out of war and not waste the period was to open another casino, she reminded me of Kate Blackwell in one of my favorite Sidney Sheldon books, Master of the Game. You see Kate wanted to profit off the war by supplying war ammunition but her husband, David Blackwell wouldn't accept that. She found a way to do it when David went to serve in the war.
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Wendy reminded me of her because Marty Barde outrightly said no to the expansion proposal. Wendy just wanted a way to go more legitimate so they could have an escape route out of the cartel's painful grip. But Marty would have none of that, he was too risk-averse to see any angle that Wendy brought to the convincing table.
But when Wendy Met Navarro, the forerunner of the whole cartel they laundered money for so many years, she was able to convince him to take the leap and tie up his money in another casino. And she was able to do this by wrapping the discussion around his children.
You see for anyone in the drug dealing business, the choice to go legitimate so they can wash their hands off the past always seems difficult. It's almost like you can get in but can't get out. Somehow, you are expected to stay forever until either the law catches up with you or your competitors pull a bullet on you. The idea of getting to a level where you can finally say, I'm done, I want out doesn't appeal to them. The rest of the bosses or other people who have benefited one way or the other in the course of performing trades always want to stay forever until the inevitable happens.
So, investing in legitimate ventures would always be in the best interest of future generations because the parents would want to make sure their children are well taken care of so they don't end up in that cycle. Wendy knew this. Wendy knew the stereotypes that come with running a cartel and she also knew that the war they were experiencing would bring a lot of attention to Navarro.
She was able to convince him that it's better to invest in more legitimate businesses so that if the law catches up with him, he will go down alone instead of doing so with his children. His assets will be tied up in court and his children need something to fall back on that wouldn't need to be dragged to court. He needed to invest in this so the future of his children wouldn't be cut short because all the money their daddy made couldn't be readily available to fund their education or take care of food, shelter, and clothing.
After all, isn't all the work we put into anything because we want to give our children a better life? Of course, it is. So Wendy won the convincing game by targeting the very topic that would encourage any parents to readily make a bold move.
Do not forget though that Morgan Housel had also taught me that heads of families always make investment decisions based on circumstances of this nature. A father would consider pulling his money out of the stock market if it looks like the market will deal terribly with his family if he doesn't. Like Theresa Mendoza also pulled her money out of the market when she needed the make sure that his godson was well taken care of and he did not have to lack anything.
It all boils down to the fact that no one is crazy. People make investment decisions based on so many factors that might seem foolish to the next person. But if these moves make it possible for them to sleep better at night, then, who are we to judge?
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