Okay, explain Jabba the Hutt to me.

[Hi-Val]

So I get it, he's wicked rich, resistant to the Force and a giant slimy slug body. That's a given. My question is, how did the Hutts get to be badasses in the first place? I mean, I wouldn't take orders from some gastropod unless he had a posse to back him up. Why does anyone follow a Hutt, other than their money? How did the first, non-rich, non-crimelord Hutts become powerful? Give me the Hutt history here.

[Matt]

Presumably he stood around in public with a sign reading, "Pay me $ to stop licking myself". A real cash-grabber, that would be.

[Ephraim]

According to Wikipedia, "Before the establishment of the Old Republic, the Hutts were the dominant species in the galaxy, although they never built up an extensive empire, their dominance focused instead on trade and economic empires."  Very simply, before the rest of the species in the galaxy united under the republic, the Hutts were already an entrenched species.  From the perspective of the rest of the galaxy, the Hutts have always been wealthy and savvy.

[Sextiger]

Hutts are very intelligent and can live very long lifetimes, pretty good attributes for getting wealthy. They do look like pretty losers charisma wise, but money is a very powerful factor in their power.

[sean1i0]

Plus, as I understand it, the Hutts are no pushovers in physical combat when it's absolutely necessary.  (There actually was a Jedi Hutt at one time, I believe.)  That along with the aforementioned intelligence and lifespans would definitely be enough to establish some money, a.k.a. power, in the first place.  That's my take on it at least.

[andrewpate]

That's how they became so dominant in the first place.  Their bodies are naturally very resistant to damage; even blasters have very little effect on them.  Leia is able to kill Jabba by strangling him, but most Hutts are not so fat and weak as Jabba is there.  Typically that would not have worked.  From The Mandalorian Armor by K. W. Jeter:

"[W]ith thick leathery skins impervious to blaster shots and acids, and vital organs so deeply buried under layers of blubber that they couldn't be even nicked with a vibroblade... the only physical threat that Hutts feared was specific bands of hard unshielded radiation, the kind whose toxic effects built up in their bodies' shielding fat rather than being dissipated through normal excretion prcesses.  That had kept the Hutts from extending their criminal enterprises to certain areas of the galaxy."

Basically, they were the best-equipped race in terms of cunning, resources, and physical power at a point when space travel was common but technology was a bit more primitive than in Old Republic days.  As others have pointed out, the position of Hutts by Episode IV is a holdover from those days.

[LotusHead]

I'm sure they got their power (the Hutt's) because they had scandalous info (blackmail/extortion) that would be released if say, Jabba dies.

Or, everyone THINKS that if Jabba dies,  the he wouldn't enter in the "don't release DoomsDay Device Today/ThisWeek" password into his nigh-HackerProof Laptop.

[Harlequin]

Plus, as I understand it, the Hutts are no pushovers in physical combat when it's absolutely necessary.  (There actually was a Jedi Hutt at one time, I believe.) 

I dunno Carrie Fisher seemed to have no problem overpowering him ...

Edit: I just realised I'm arguing about Star Wars on the internet - my life has just reached a new low.

[TopSecret]

The Hutts are good at sitting in chairs and saying things that you can't understand.
Since they're so much like the Vito Corleone, it's only natural that money and organized crime flow to them.

[Klep]

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hutts

Wookieepedia for the win.

[Anusien]

Why do greasy Italians run everything through the mob?  Same concept.

[Moxlotus]

Why do greasy Italians run everything through the mob?  Same concept.

They throw kickass spaghetti dinners?