OK, so how does limiting a cabbies’ upper mobility by allowing a small oligopoly to control taxi medalions free then from mafia influence?
For instance, how are they different than the slave hire badges of the Antebellum South?
http://www.wakeforestcoins.com/slave%20badges/slave%20badges.htm
Here’s some taxi medallions:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=taxi+medallion&FORM=HDRSC2
Sure, there's been a pause in the killing, but being New Yorkers, you pull the medallions out of there and no passenger will be safe.