It's quite obvious that hutts are gangsters, so that would include anything like slaving, spice dealing, smuggling etc. However, in order to subdue someone into slavery to begin with it would require some sort of strength over the other species. In order to become some kind of drug dealer it requires some brawn or physical ability to begin with, to gain a position of power over your peers. Even if you don't actually appear that strong you still need to be intimidating in some way. And the way hutts are perceived is that they are some fat slobbish worms that can barely move.

 

Sure they could pay people to smuggle/slave trade for them, but they require some kind of ability to make the money. Unless they some how poop gold there's really no reason they even got their money or power to begin with

Edited December 31, 2011 by xomel

Well, it's actually not that difficult to acquire money and power. The Hutts are all pretty intelligent, first off. Also, they have lifespans that are much longer than most other species. Hutts live (naturally) for thousands of years.

 

So, I'm a 150 year old Hutt with more sense than your average turtle. I go to Alderaan, pick up some stuff. It doesn't matter what. Anything I collect will become an artifact by the time I'm middle aged. By the time I've hit my mid 700s I've got a collection of baubles and knick-knacks from my childhood that are worth huge piles of credits because even though any Hutt can do this, none of the Humans who run Alderaan can. I buy trinkets. Rings, necklaces, clothes, etc. It costs almost nothing at the time. But how much is an 800 year old ring from Great-x10-grandma worth to the Organa family? Not just in cash but also as a token of good will. You give it over and you make a friend. And 100 years later, you're not just the friend of one Organa, you're a friend of the family, someone who has been around longer than anyone can remember. Someone who knows family secrets and who has provided favors and council for generations.

 

 

When you can play the long game like that you are bound to win. Even if things go poorly and you have a non-Hutt rival, who cares? You go to ground for 50 years. That guy ages and dies, you come back and just resume business as usual.

Also most Hutts you see in game are old. Younger Hutts are much more mobile and dangerous. They talk about Jabba as young hutt in some of the early SW EU books and he is a ruthless and very tough customer.

This is actually explored and addressed in the Bounty Hunter story line. A certain Heroic level quest on Hutta has you dealing with the environmental consequences of Hutt Industry causing pollution on the planet.

 

Essentially the Hutts have a huge production industry backing them and have ruthlessly exploited every opportunity that has ever become available to them.

 

They would be directly comparable to the powerful Oil Barons that dominated North American industry in late 1800s during the Industrial Revolution and later on.

 

They are basically an extreme interpretation of what our society would have become had the practices of those individuals and organizations been left to grow unchecked and unregulated by the various governmental bodies over the past century.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Loclif

Location, location, location.

Also most Hutts you see in game are old. Younger Hutts are much more mobile and dangerous. They talk about Jabba as young hutt in some of the early SW EU books and he is a ruthless and very tough customer.

 

Eh, the older Hutts are just lazier. For an example of a Hutt who remained mobile you might look at Beldorian the dark Jedi Hutt.