I鈥檓 developing a low opinion of gangsters.

I know, they seem like such admirable figures! The drugs, the gunfights, the murders, the beatings, why doesn鈥檛 everyone want to be a gangster?

Maybe it鈥檚 because for all their violence, all the terror they inflict on the innocent bystanders, they鈥檙e pretty pathetic in terms of both income and outcome.

Consider the last two murders in 91原创, both thought to be 鈥渢argeted killings,鈥� in other words, gang hits and turf disputes turned violent.

Both of them were across the street from each other and down the road from where I live. It鈥檚 a middle class neighbourhood where people take their pooches to the dog park and go play rec league softball in the summer. It鈥檚 boring, and frankly, we like it that way.

So why are gangsters shooting at one another on my street?

Because they can鈥檛 afford to live in a nicer neighbourhood, basically.

I suspect a lot of people get into gang life because they鈥檙e seduced by the things it (allegedly) brings you 鈥� money and the trappings of power. Fancy cars, expensive booze, parties. You know. All the stuff you鈥檝e seen if you鈥檝e ever watched Scarface.

Of course, they don鈥檛 wind up being Tony Montana. They end up as the little guys who are dealing drugs or doling out beatings for Tony Montana. Or for Tony鈥檚 middle managers.

Famously, Freakonomics showed years ago that many drug dealers .

They鈥檙e little fish in a big pond. They鈥檙e living a lifestyle that is certainly more exciting than that of your average middle-class office drone, but not more remunerative.

Thinking back over the killings of criminals we鈥檝e seen over the last few years in 91原创, they were not exactly in ritzy mansions or the driver鈥檚 seats of European supercars.

Several of the gang-linked crooks were living in crummy mildewed houses used for growing pot or making meth. Others were living in heavily-fortified homes studded with security cameras 鈥� but on ordinary cul-de-sacs in Willoughby or Walnut Grove or rural 91原创.

So to would-be gangsters, I say this: Give it up. Get a realtor鈥檚 license or put on a hard hat or get your nursing degree. Yes, you鈥檒l have to work more hours. But in the end, you will probably earn more money!

And you are much, much less likely to wind up as another quickly-forgotten name trotted out in our end-of-the-year roundup of young men who caught a bullet and were scraped off the ground behind police tape.