text: Even though these tirades deserve to be ignored...
  
  The book Ring of Hell by Matthew Randazzo does make reference of sort to possible mob ties on the part of the McMahons.  I wouldn't call it out of the realm of possibility simply on account of their historical base in the Northeast United States and the prevalance of the mob in many facets of business in that region.
  
  Major media scrutiny of Linda McMahon's Senate campaigns shone light on her experiences working in the field of copyright law in the years before her husband started Titan Sports in the early 1980s.  Perhaps more than anything else, this is the key to their success.  They were able to navigate a changing landscape in the industry by pursuing that route while their competitors were still going after bread-and-butter business.  Sure, a lot of what they did was sleazy and possibly downright illegal, but most of the competitors they supposedly forced out of business would have fallen on their own accord.