"this thing of ours"

After watching "The Sopranos" I was thinking, Why would anyone be in the Mafia?  Who would want to live in that manner?  It's horrible and terrifying and immoral.

They could just -- Not be in it, and -- live.

It occurred to me that being in the Mafia is kind of like boxing, in that people choose it because they think they don't have other options.  

-30-