Any system that mistreats the losers will be afraid when their winning streak ends.
From the documentary Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger
Thirty years ago, my wife and I purchased a liquor license. Then we had the liquor store up and running by Christmas. We poured our heart and soul in it. And then, lo and behold, I get a knock on my door one night, I'm at the house, my wife's down at the liquor store working, and it was Kevin Weeks and Whitey Bulger at the door, and I didn't know, what the hell do they want? "You got a problem." I said, "I don't... what problem?" He says, "Listen, we were hired to kill you." I'm like, what? He said, you got to understand, the other liquor stores, they hired us to kill you. I just couldn't believe it, I didn't know what to even think, I was dumbfounded. Actually, I froze. He said, "But what we're going to do instead of that, we're just going to become your partners." I said, "No, you're not becoming my partners." And then, Bulger's right there. He's just staring at me, and just grinding his teeth like, "You don't understand, we're taking the f*cking liquor store." I was like, "It's not for sale." He said, "I'll f*cking kill you. I'll stab you, and then I'll kill you." I'm like, Holy Jesus. And then they pulled out a gun. I was like, "Oh, f*ck." They picked up my kid. Daughter was a year. He said, "It would be terrible for this kid to grow up without a father." I was like... and I melted. Nothing you can do. Ever since that day, I've never been the same. I couldn't protect my own children. As a man, that just took me away. And I'm not over it yet. I won't be over, and maybe I'll never get over it, but I surely can't wait to get in front of that court, on that stand and testify against that. 30 years ago, he scared me to death, he don't scare me to death no more.