14 A noble gangster

There was a time when the owners of shops and businesses in Chicago had to pay large sums of money to gangsters in return for ‘protection’.

曾经有一个时期,芝加哥的店主和商行的老板们不得不拿出大笔的钱给歹徒以换取“保护”。

If the money was not paid promptly, the gangsters would quickly put a man out of business by destroying his shop.

如果交款不及时,歹徒们就会很快捣毁他的商店,让他破产。

Obtaining ‘protection money’is not a modern crime.

榨取“保护金”并不是一种现代的罪恶行径。

As long ago as the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable discovery that people would rather pay large sums of money than have their life work destroyed by gangsters.

早在14世纪,英国人约翰·霍克伍德就有过非凡的发现:人们情愿拿出大笔的钱,也不愿毕生的心血毁于歹徒之手。

Six hundred years ago, Sir John Hawkwood arrived in Italy with a band of soldiers and settled near Florence.

600年前，约翰·霍克伍德爵士带着一队士兵来到意大利，在佛罗伦萨附近驻扎下来。

He soon made a name for himself and came to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto.

他很快就出了名。意大利人叫他乔凡尼·阿库托。