It's hard to consider living the thug life without the fringe benefits, and one of those is handling flashy cars. Mafia Wars takes a step in the right direction by offering a new must-have New York property -- the Chop Shop.

Much like the FarmVille horse stables, this chop shop needs to be built with certain materials, and those can only be acquired as gifts from Mafia Wars friends. What does it take to build this operation? Ten of each of the following items: cement blocks, power tools, car lift, acetylene torches and shipping containers.



Of course, the key here is to give in order to receive (c'mon, don't be shy) -- so players will have two free giftable chop shop items to send to friends, which will rotate every week.



Once the Chop Shop is complete -- it will produce some sweet rides that will help make completing missions that much easier. Some of those listed are two common cars -- the Zhar-ptitsa Sedan and an Armored Limo -- and a rare car -- the CM Dragon.

Since the recent changes to the New York properties, some virtual mobsters have been shut out of buying properties -- and building this Chop Shop -- entirely. Apparently, it will take a few weeks for players who were property free prior to the update to be folded into the new property system.