I agree with Brett’s bribery/extortion assessment: The payments to the RDA were in return for public praise from Gerard’s columns, et al, and also to prevent any bad reviews, whether justified or not. The RDA had both a checking and a savings account, and Gerard put the bulk of the funds in the savings account. He could then withdraw the money by using a phony ID from his secretary, leaving no paper trail back to him.

I would think that after a while the restaurant owners would realize that the benefits of the bribery portion had reached maximum value which left only the extortion part. By then all RDA members were well-established, high quality restaurants with solid customer bases. They should therefore be able to withstand Gerard’s attacks. I would refuse if I were Vittorio also.

I think if Vittorio bowed out quietly, or better yet, got his colleagues together, they could have worked something out. But that would have made a lousy episode. Also, the other members did refuse to tell Columbo about the scheme so maybe they felt they still needed Gerard.