Which way would you write this sentence?

[Maria Esposito]

What about rewriting it for clarity?

This was not John's first encounter with the mob – and it certainly would not be his last.

I second this.

[Jacqueline Elshabazz]

I like the sound of the second one.

[Jacqueline Elshabazz]

Rewrite for clarity:

This was not John's first encounter with the
Mob and, it certainly will not be his last.

Explainnation: and, is a break so therefore there is a commer .

[Jacqueline Elshabazz]

I like the sound of the second one.

This was not John's first encounter with the Mob and, (and separate the two sentences or phrases ) it certainly will not be his last .

[Jacqueline Elshabazz]

Rewrite for clarity:

This was not John's first encounter with the
Mob and, it certainly will not be his last.

Explainnation: and, is a break so therefore there is a commer .

[Jacqueline Elshabazz]

This was not John's first encounter with the
Mob and, (and separate the two phrases or sentences) it certainly will not be his last .

[BookPower9]

I would go for the first sentence.

[mary-annef]

I see I'm in the minority, but I would go with the first sentence. The phrase "with members connected to the mob" qualifies "encounter" and thus does not need to be set off by commas. It could be placed right after "encounter" too.

Excellent response - I intuitively chose the first one but without being able to explain why. Thank you!

[gayscott]

I totally agree with the way the first sentence is written. I'm not sure about the second one. To be even more clear, the sentence could be rewritten.

[Innocent Mwanza]

I'd go for the first one.
The first comma in the second statement is wrongly placed.
The second comma is perfectly placed because it's separating two statements