As part of his elaborate scheme to kill Hannibal Lecter, Mason Verger breeds a very special, very violent type of pig. Appropriately, pigs are the family business. The father of Mason and Margot was renowned for his talents in the field of pig breeding and slaughter, finding new and innovative ways to make more money from less pigs. He bred them with a prodigal talent, meaning that pigs from around the world could be selected and paired together for more profitable traits, all while paying off corrupt members of Congress to ensure that slaughterhouse laws remained lax. Mason's choice of weapon against Lecter is a tribute to his father. He is symbolically demonstrating the triumph of the Verger family over Lecter and providing a tribute to a father whose actual personality does not seem too important to Mason at all. Rather, the pigs and their association with the family become a sort of joke for Mason. He amuses himself by turning the family business against Lecter, by breeding pigs to eat the man who is famous for eating people, and by bribing politicians such as Krendler to provide him with access to the investigation into Lecter's whereabouts.