What would you do if the local mafia showed up at your business and said "Nice little space/car company you got there, it would be a shame if something happened

What would you do if the local mafia showed up at your business and said "Nice little space/car company you got there, it would be a shame if something happened to it?" Call it an act of cowardice, but all of the top companies are currying favor with governments, because cronyism is everywhere, and if you are not in the game, you are out of it. Do you think SpaceX would have beat ULA, who literally had the Apollo moon landing astronauts badmouthing competitors in front of congress, if they had not curried favor? China is an especially great example of this: Don't play ball, you lose. (e.g. Google leaves China). Play ball, and find yourself continually kow-towing to keep the goodies flowing, as Tim Cook travels every year to Beijing and stroking the hearts of the government or nationalists. Until we end money in politics and ban the revolving door of lobbyists, we're not going to address the problem of contracts being handed out with questionable rationale.