‘We’re not mafia,’ say Phuket taxi drivers

[fester the benevolent]

If you feel the need to proclaim that you are not mafia at a meeting with the deputy permanent secretary for the Justice Ministry then you've probably already lost the argument.

Also, speaking as an expert on such things because I watched several seasons of The Sopranos it is well known that the mafia on occasion take care of their own. The scumbags in Tonka toys of Phuket would be auctioning granny's liver, kidneys, heart, eyes and anything else 30 seconds after she says she thinks she might be coming down with a cold.

So yeah, the drivers are technically correct but only because even the mafia has something like membership standards.

[steven100]

‘We’re not mafia,’ say Phuket taxi drivers .........

[AJBangkok]

I had a nasty incident a couple of years ago when taking a meter taxi from the airport to Layan beach. The "office'" that ran the airport meter taxi que ( it's gone now) was giving Me a hard time about paying the meter rather than then a fixed fee but I insisted and eventually was allowed to get in a taxi. When we were driving to our condo the wife told him to turn right at the police box in thalang to go down to Layan beach he said no. I then told him to turn right at the police box and he said Mai dai. As we drove past the turn I saw other cars turning and I said hey where are you going, he then launched a spiel at the wife saying he had to drive to the heroines monument and go through cherntalay to go to Layan. We called bullshut and asked him to turn around and take us to the police station then he started blabbering about the mafia would not let him drive the shorter route turning right at the thalang ploice box.

We jst kept on saying take us back to the police station and stop the car and in the end he turned around and drive back to the airport refusing to stop on the way. At the airport the que office told us to piss off and I said I was going to complaint to the police. She said go ahead and threw her ID at me. I took a picture of the taxi number plate at the driver started going crazy and then went to complain at the airport police leaving the driver screaming at me and 2 people from the office yelling at him.

The police officer was actually happy I wanted to complain and said he was sick of this shit as well. He took the complaint and then bought us back to the meter taxi office where all the staff had run away as well as the taxi driver. The police man then called the "owner" of the office and made him come to the airport which took around 20 minutes. I was offered a free ride home but I declined and instead went to the limo desk and took another taxi. In all a couple of hours were wasted but I also wrecked their day as well.

Probably a complete waste of time but I refused to be ripped off and it was interesting that the taxi driver kept saying the mafia would not let him drive the short cut and it wasn't worth it to him to break that rule.

[gandalf12]

And John Gotti never killed anyone

[hobz]

Didnt the prime minister clean up the taxi mafia in phuket? I remember reports that they illegally used government property etc. The mayor was arrested as well? All back now? What does it take for this country to stop with the crackdowns and start with persistent law enforcement?

Edited March 1, 2016 by hobz

[LivinginKata]

Didnt the prime minister clean up the taxi mafia in phuket? I remember reports that they illegally used government property etc. The mayor was arrested as well? All back now? What does it take for this country to stop with the crackdowns and start with persistent law enforcement?

Mostly all back as before. The Karon taxi mafia (right next to the Karon mayor's office) still camped out in the bus shelter.

[gandalf12]

Then remember you are a service for the customer, the customer is not there for you

[rosst]

And we don't lie, ha ha ha

[AlexRRR]

Your all winging because some one was smarter than you, 200 isn't so expensive, thats what i would have had to pay, fixed price in my book doesn't work when i was only less than a 10 min walk from my hotel.

Someone went to the trouble to organised all taxi tuk tuk and bikes, at the shopping centre you get a guy organising customers and transport, system works very well, if you do a little research you can find out what goes on and get a hotel closer to the action, pretty easy really.

[clasship]

‘We’re not mafia,’ Opinion differs on this matter, the Phuket taxi drivers say they are not mafia, everyone else thinks they are!

[exbikey]

Didn't some clown from Krung Thep (a deputy something or other) pay a visit to our Paradise Island a few weeks ago and declare that "everything was ok, no problems in Phuket". The taxi drivers association/club/union/mafia must be right.

[Jonmarleesco]

'... We don’t understand why we are labelled as ‘mafia’ or ‘thug-like’ associations,” insisted Pornthep Charmkhao, the leader of the Kata-Karon taxi group.' Well, I doubt they would recognise the genuine article. Certainly, they are incapable of recognising their own severe shortcomings.

[2fishin2]

Your all winging because some one was smarter than you, 200 isn't so expensive, thats what i would have had to pay, fixed price in my book doesn't work when i was only less than a 10 min walk from my hotel.

Someone went to the trouble to organised all taxi tuk tuk and bikes, at the shopping centre you get a guy organising customers and transport, system works very well, if you do a little research you can find out what goes on and get a hotel closer to the action, pretty easy really.

I sure hope you are being sarcastic.

[HerbalEd]

Yeah, that's right. They aren't smart enough work like the mafia. They're just plain thugs.

[MockingJay]

First readers' reactions to the headline "We're not Mafia!", say Phuket Taxi drivers...

[fekman]

LOL, low level cab losers are not 'mafia'. I think they simply mean 'monopoly' and 'price fixing'.

Not using the meter is illegal in Thailand. Why don't they simply run stings and start fining/imprisoning/revoking licenses?

[CoreanoOzzie]

Best to kick out the Ruski mafia who have no place here in Thailand.

[phil2407]

Is there a link to get a full copy of the poster / picture shown in OP? The taxi divers to owners etc

Thanks

[2fishin2]

LOL, low level cab losers are not 'mafia'. I think they simply mean 'monopoly' and 'price fixing'.

Not using the meter is illegal in Thailand. Why don't they simply run stings and start fining/imprisoning/revoking licenses?

Little help for you:

Mafia

ˈmafɪə/

noun

noun: Mafia; noun: the Mafia

1. an organized international body of criminals, operating originally in Sicily and now especially in Italy and the US and having a complex and ruthless behavioural code.

   • any organized group of criminals resembling the Mafia in its way of operating.

     noun: mafia; plural noun: mafias

     "the rise of criminal mafias in Russian and Eastern Europe"
   • a group regarded as exerting a hidden sinister influence.

     noun: mafia

     "the British literary mafia"

[lvr181]

Not mafia eh? In the strict sense of the word, no.

But are you law abiding taxi drivers that do not overcharge and always use your meters that are accurate in showing prices? Always willing to take a fare? Failed!

Thus to many "farang", mafia is just another name for crooks or criminals, neither are law abiding (same as mafia)!

[metisdead]

Trolling posts have been removed.

[geisha]

No, they are not " Mafia" . Thai taxis drivers never see the Godfather ? These taxi owners/ drivers on Phuket are low life criminals and thugs, who rip of a few hundred here, a few hundred there, from their golden goose. If anyone, anything, in the world has givenphuket a bad name it's the taxis and tuc tucs. It won't last, soon there will be few independent tourists left on Phuket, leaving the Chinese to take taxis ? I think not !