First Comes Your Balls, Then We Inflate The Giant Rat

Brooklyn Brewery founder Steve Hindy reminisces about his first time meeting local labor representatives:

[Williamsburg] was a very different place [in 1996, when the brewery opened]. One day during construction, a bunch of union guys right out of Good Fellas showed up. One said, “We want J-O-B-S.” Their head guy — later indicted for labor bribery — said, “We put a picket up and no one’s gonna unload your trucks.” I promised them jobs on my next project. They went off to talk. I was sitting there shitting in my pants. One comes back, puts his hand on my thigh next to my balls, and says, “We’re gonna have to hurt you.” Then he says, “Just kiddin’! We’re gonna leave you alone. Next time you do something, we have to be part of it.”