Take earlier fences, for example, who dealt mainly in smaller trades, with single goods, or one-time buyers. The opportunity to truly expand their operations was not there, without a considerable amount of time invested. This was of course before the industrial revolution when goods began to be mass-produced, creating the opportunity to steal more, and also to sell more:.
"The growth of mass-produced and mass-owned consumer goods, of which there is little chance of being traced or recognized by the owner, paved the way for "receivers" who on a large scale buy stolen property to resell it, often at a distance or after a time has elapsed, for a handsome profit."[pg. 10].
After the industrial revolution not only could legitimate businesses grow, but so could the illegitimate ones. According to The Fence, there was little chance of being caught when dealing in mass-produced goods, so the benefits of committing a crime outweighed the chance of being caught, and deviant acts were committed. These early fences had little chance of being caught by authority, but they also had to convince themselves that they were not doing anything wrong. This would be the true test of will for the deviants.
Neutralizing one's own guilt is a true test of the successful criminal. This is explained by Sykes" and Matza's Neutralization theory, which states that deviants adopt different values than those of non-deviants, which in turn allows deviants to commit criminal acts. Sam can be seen exhibiting this criminal trait throughout the book, whether it be denying a crime or passing off a crime to be not much of anything. Sam says that "The dealing I"m doing now is nickel and dime anyway, not like it was in American City"[pg. 2], displaying that he believes that there really isn't much to worry about the crimes that he is currently committing. The way that Sam presents his crimes would make one believe that they are not really much of anything.