Vanderbilt truly deserved his place among those who had made something of themselves in history. He immediately abandoned the idea of escalating his revenge. Vanderbilt had both power and connections; whether in the underworld or aboveboard society, everyone gave him face. Otherwise, he could never have become America's richest man.
When all was said and done, Vanderbilt relied on only three things. First, he had enough money. There was nothing more to say about that—his rise was practically a history of hostile takeovers and cutthroat competition.
Second, his backing was strong enough. At the time, people said that New York's courts had been opened by the Vanderbilt Family.
On one hand, the Vanderbilt Family had never lost a lawsuit in New York courts. On the other, cases brought against the Vanderbilt Family were almost never accepted.
What was more, the Vanderbilt Family's most formidable power was that they could directly obtain court search warrants to arrest competitors, impose private punishments on competitors and disobedient workers, and even have courts issue injunctions barring a company or individual from engaging in commercial activities, while unilaterally freezing their opponents' funds and supplies.
The two most famous incidents were these: during one bout of cutthroat competition, the Vanderbilt Family had New York State Court issue seven injunctions in less than a day in order to crush a competitor.
In the other, the Vanderbilt Family's police force had shot protesting workers dead in the streets of Pittsburgh—and ultimately received immunity.
Third, they were ruthless enough.
The Vanderbilt Family had always maintained a group of desperadoes, numbering between three and five hundred. In ordinary times, these men handled problems—and people—that legal means could not deal with for the Vanderbilt Family.
This was also the prototype of what would later become the largest private police system in