3 ideas
Money and its display work like clothes: they cover the wearer and project respectability, while the moral emptiness beneath stays exposed to anyone who looks closely. Corrupt gains can dress a person in status without supplying the substance that status is supposed to signal.
When legitimate paths out of poverty are closed or invisible, whoever offers quick wealth gains outsized power over the people around them. The boss does not need to force anyone. Deprivation makes his offer the most rational-looking option on the table, so the corruption appears to be the recruits' own choice.
Watch how a local strongman builds authority from theatrical self-presentation, such as an invented grand name, an aura of mystery, and conspicuous confidence, rather than from formal position. Seen this way, his influence depends on others believing in his reach. That belief is what draws followers in, and it is also what could collapse if they saw through him.