The value for gMinuit.SetPrintLevel of -1 is the level required for the fit log file (to be used by the later 98_fit_cross_checks script). And so it became a pointless if statement since both conditions required a value of -1. I've described in the few lines above this point in the code what the values available are, and how much output they provide, so can be changed manually in future...just not with the verbose flag.