| As a Ghost Mail Weekender reader, you clearly enjoy the great stories that Dominique Olivier brings you each week. It comes as no surprise to this ghost that others have noticed her talents, with Dominique now writing regularly for Daily Maverick as well! In fact, her debut article was their top performing read on the platform on Friday and it even earned her a radio interview on Cape Talk.
I have it on good authority that she has a small amount of space in her schedule for new writing clients. If you're tired of AI using the word "underscores" in every single piece it writes, then reach out to Dominique. I did exactly that once upon a time and Ghost Mail Weekender is now a core part of this ecosystem that you know and love.
With that proud moment out the way, it's time to get serious. Or is that less serious? Woodstock '99 is a confusing thing to reflect on, as the legacy of a beautiful peace-and-love hippie festival was transformed into a capitalist disaster filled with filth and a Limp Bizkit-fuelled riot. Literally. Get ready to be taken on a wild ride in this week's story by Dominique.
Last week, she took a playful look at whether Spotify uses mafia tactics to achieve such a strong conversion rate. As you read on in this mailer, you'll see that the mafia features once more this week. It turns out that Gen Z employees are irritating the mob. You can't make this stuff up.
For something completely different, the Fast Facts this week are themed around space.
Have fun!
The Finance Ghost (follow on X) | Dominique Olivier (connect on LinkedIn) |
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| Woodstock '99: a recipe for a riot |
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| | | What do you get when you combine an unused airforce base, 220,000 teenagers, a couple of angry nu metal bands and some very expensive water? Part concert, part scene from an apocalyptic movie, the Woodstock festival that took place in 1999 was practically doomed from the start. Step into the mosh pit here>>> |
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| They just don't whack 'em like they used to
TL;DR: Have you got Gen Z coworkers or employees working on your nerves? Console yourself with the knowledge that somewhere in Italy, a mafia boss is having the same problem.
It turns out even the mob isn’t immune to the well-documented "struggles" of hiring Gen Z.
Wiretaps in Sicily have caught high-ranking Cosa Nostra bosses griping about the sorry state of their new recruits, complaining that today’s young criminals just don’t have the backbone - or the loyalty - of their predecessors. Apparently the biggest issue is that the moment they’re arrested, they cave and turn state’s witness.
Giancarlo Romano, an alleged mafia don, can be heard leading the complaints on tape. He slammed the “calibre these days” as “miserable” and even suggested that the new recruits at least get an education so they could blend in with the lawyers (because, apparently, today’s mafia hopefuls don’t even know how to schmooze properly). It’s not exactly “Tony Soprano mentoring the next generation” levels of mob leadership, but hey, at least someone’s trying.
This bout of criminal discontent came right as Italian police dealt what they called a “very hard blow to Cosa Nostra,” arresting 181 people in a massive dawn raid across Palermo. Backed by 1,200 armed officers, the operation rounded up suspects for everything from attempted murder and extortion to drug trafficking and mafia association. They even seized over 50kg of drugs. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni confirmed that several high-ranking bosses were among those taken in - though if the intercepted conversations are any indication, those bosses weren’t exactly working with the best of the best.
But despite their complaints, the Carabinieri confirmed that Cosa Nostra is still managing to attract young recruits. One particularly telling wiretap caught what can only be described as a mafia mentorship program in action, with an older member giving a rookie a full-on crash course in how to act around the bosses.
Cosa Nostra is trying to train up a generation that grew up on TikTok and remote work; a generation known for quiet quitting, questioning authority, and prioritising work-life balance. So when the going gets tough and the cuffs come out, is it any surprise that these Gen Z recruits are taking the first deal they can get?
At this rate, the mafia’s biggest threat might not even be the police. It might just be their own hiring crisis and incriminating selfies on the 'Gram when someone is sent to swim with the fishes. |
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| Dominique's fast facts:
A Space Odyssey |
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| An assortment of facts that will only take you five minutes to read. |
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| In 2009, astronomers exploring a giant cloud of gas and dust at the centre of the Milky Way discovered that the cloud was full of a chemical known as ethyl formate. On Earth, this chemical is responsible for giving raspberries their flavour, and has the smell of rum. From this, we can safely assume that parts of the Milky Way are basically a cocktail. Neptune has only completed one orbit around the sun since its discovery. Neptune takes 165 years to complete one full orbit around the Sun. Since it was discovered in 1846, Neptune only finished its first full post-discovery orbit in 2011. Earth’s spin speed is slowing. Every year, it takes our planet a little longer to complete one full revolution on its axis. The change is miniscule, however. Each century, Earth slows by 1/500th of a second, meaning that 1,000 years from now, one day will be two hundredths of a second longer than today. Venus spins in the opposite direction to the rest of the planets in our solar system. To this day, there is no confirmed theory that explains why that is. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, but also 400 times as far away, which is why both objects appear to be the same size in our sky. |
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| Disclaimer
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