feudal enterprise

[Mike Hussey]

In a bar looking place, mobster Frank meets undercover cop Billy:

Billy: Frank, how many of these guys...have been with you long enough to be disgruntled? Think about it. You don't pay much, you know. It's almost a f*cking feudal enterprise. The question is, and this is the only question...who thinks that they can do what you do better than you?

What does "feudal enterprise" mean?
Source: "The Departed" (a 2006 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

First, look up feudal and enterprise.

In the Middle Ages, serfs did the grunt work in feudal economies. (You can look up grunt work and serf.)

Billy is saying that Frank treats his underlings like serfs. (You can look up underling.)

 

[Tdol]

He's so mean it's like the way they treated the poor hundreds of years ago.