# why don't Latino gangs run covert unlicensed cheap medical practices? or are they actually doing it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126 "2009-11-11T01:18:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126/41 "2009-11-12T23:19:21Z")
“angry patients”? “if you’re that hated”? Have you ever heard the saying, “let no good deed go unpunished”? People do bad things (which may include handing innocents over to persecution) for all sorts of reasons having nothing to do with “hate” or real offenses against them. That’s why there is the government that discourages this by means of violence (police). In this case I am suggesting that since police don’t fit into the picture well, it makes sense to use the gang instead, as an alternative enforcer. Incidentally, gangs may also be sufficiently politically connected to actually manage/minimize the police enforcement against their own clinics as well. Especially if the local police happen to be Latinos themselves 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126/42 "2009-11-12T23:33:56Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > These are going to be poor immigrants, right? They aren’t going to sue. They’re going to keep their heads down. If they don’t like your work, they’ll just go to another quack doctor. That’s the point of operating among the immigrant community, right? Among people who don’t speak english, who don’t trust the cops or the legal system, both because that’s the way things work in their home country, and because they don’t want to be hassled by La Migra. While I agree I doubt you’ll have legal problems from your patients doing a simple general practice, illegal Mexicans do know how to sue. They sue for workers’ compensation and win. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126/43 "2009-11-12T23:42:17Z")
Also, lacks panache. Just try writing a rap song about the ducats you’re pullin’ down from your stone cold unlicensed medical practice. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126/44 "2009-11-13T00:11:28Z")
> [@](#): > > These are going to be poor immigrants, right? They aren’t going to sue. This is one of many ugly stereotypes about immigrants in this thread and frankly, just taking this question seriously is really ridiculous and shows a real lack of street smarts and basic understanding of minorities. My parents were immigrants. They would have never gone to or taken their kids to some street doctor. Im starting to resent these ridiculous stereotypes. Immigrants arent ignorant morons afraid to stand up for themselves. Heck, moving to a different country takes x amount of cajones. Being poor doesnt equal being stupid or cowardly. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126/45 "2009-11-13T01:38:26Z")
> [@code\_grey](#): > > I am saying that the gang would HIRE doctors/dentists, for a good salary (by Mexican standards, at least), to work illegally in America. What’s exactly in it for the doctors in your scenario, assuming you’re not talking about coercion, or for the gang, for that matter? “Hey, do you want to give up your practice and illegally travel to a foreign country to performed unlicensed medical care on poor people?” You’d have to pay a doctor a good amount of money to get him to agree to it, I’d imagine. So, if the gangsters do that, how are they going to turn a profit? ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126/46 "2009-11-13T02:34:07Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > This is one of many ugly stereotypes about immigrants in this thread and frankly, just taking this question seriously is really ridiculous and shows a real lack of street smarts and basic understanding of minorities. My parents were immigrants. They would have never gone to or taken their kids to some street doctor. Im starting to resent these ridiculous stereotypes. Immigrants arent ignorant morons afraid to stand up for themselves. Heck, moving to a different country takes x amount of cajones. Being poor doesnt equal being stupid or cowardly. It seems some immigrants would, though: [http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-bar-tender/2009/11/dentist-allegedly-practiced-without-license-and-with-dirty-tools.html](http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-bar-tender/2009/11/dentist-allegedly-practiced-without-license-and-with-dirty-tools.html) ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126/47 "2009-11-13T13:47:06Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > This is one of many ugly stereotypes about immigrants in this thread and frankly, just taking this question seriously is really ridiculous and shows a real lack of street smarts and basic understanding of minorities. My parents were immigrants. They would have never gone to or taken their kids to some street doctor. Im starting to resent these ridiculous stereotypes. Immigrants arent ignorant morons afraid to stand up for themselves. Heck, moving to a different country takes x amount of cajones. Being poor doesnt equal being stupid or cowardly. But the references are mostly to _illegal_ immigrants, many of whom have an incentive not to put themselves into any type of situation where they may be noticed by certain authorities. My wife is a legal immigrant; she’s also not poor and not stupid, fully insured, and has no one to hide from. That’s a _huge_ difference. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126/48 "2009-11-13T17:05:24Z")
> [@Umbriel2](#): > > For routine care, I think the low-income uninsured resort to either legitimate low-cost clinics or emergency rooms. There’s really not much room for a “black market” to develop that would make any kind of profit. That’s what I would expect too. It won’t necessarily be cheaper and the rules may suddenly change on you given the criminal milieu. If my kid has an ear-ache, and my choices are: go to a legitimate clinic and shell out $70 according to their posted prices and get a receipt and legal prescription… or go to an underground “gang doctor”, pay $50 when I get there, then maybe another $50 so I can leave, and because they are having a bad week another $50 to get my kid back, and then they stop by my house demanding a “follow-up fee” or else they’ll break my legs. Oh, and the “doctor” turns out to be a veterinarian. It wouldn’t be worth the risk. At least with a legitimate clinic, you now what you’re getting into, and if something goes sour the worst that will happen is that you can sue for malpractice rather than have to go into the witness protection program. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126/49 "2009-11-13T17:30:00Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Actually, there is quite a bit of literature, such as [Gang Leader for a Day](http://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/1594201501), that illustrates how gangs operate on solid business principles. The top gang leaders are successful businessmen who are far removed from the day-to-day business of the streets. Lesser leaders act as middle management. I mean, drugs work on the principle of supply and demand, too. The gangs that make the smartest decisions will end up on top. > > In most cases, the blood feuds and honor are there to provide fuel for the low-level street soldiers who maintain a gang’s right to run criminal enterprises on certain territory, etc. Much like the Vietnam war certainly wasn’t about “let’s kill some gooks!”, but that sort of rhetoric might be used to fire up the troops before a battle that serves a larger political goal. Indeed, according to the book above one of the main duties of a mid-level gang leader is to reign in the passions of the low-level thugs in order not to upset the careful balances that have been negotiated at the highest levels. Or, as “Freakonomics” put it, working for a drug gang is a LOT like for working for McDonald’s. The CEO makes tens of millions a year. A franchise owner makes 500 grand a year. The store manager makes 50 thousand a year. And the fry cook/street dealer makes minimum wage. Which is why, despite the stories you hear about the opulence and spendor of Pablo Escobar’s house, a street cocaine dealer is probably living in his mom’s apartment. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126/50 "2009-11-13T18:04:55Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Among people who don’t speak english, who don’t trust the cops or the legal system, both because that’s the way things work in their home country, and because they don’t want to be hassled by La Migra. “Back in the home country”? It isn’t in the home country where their oh-so-civilized employers threaten them (us, BTDTGTTS) with La Migra if they so much as sneeze too loud. It isn’t just something people imagine, it’s actual threats, sort of like the difference between knowing that “there are guns in the world” and having someone wave one in your face. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-latino-gangs-run-covert-unlicensed-cheap-medical-practices-or-are-they-actually-doing-it/517126.md?page=2)