Chapter 36: Stop fighting, cease at once!
Page (1/3)
Becoming a made man was no easy feat. Some people remained soldiers for decades and still never managed to rise through the ranks.
Seniority was one factor; ability was another.
The ability to make money, or the ability to wage power struggles... Yet no matter what kind of struggle it was, it would ultimately become a matter of dividing up the spoils.
Marigio continued chatting with Luca about recent events. “The Bonanno family has been having a rough time lately. Frank has seized a large portion of Galante’s market, and their drugs can’t compete with Blue Magic in New York at all.”
Carmine Galante—the boss of the Bonanno family.
Marigio continued complaining. “Serves him right! Galante refused to share the drug business with the other families back then, and now no one’s willing to step forward and help him... We’d rather work with Frank than go to that miser Galante.”
Luca was speechless inside. You might as well go to Galante. At least that guy knew how to keep his mouth shut and wouldn’t sell anyone out.
Frank, on the other hand, had confessed to everything.
Still, Luca wasn’t surprised that Dominic and Frank were working together. The underboss was a rare card, after all.
[Character Card: Dominic Catano — Unlocked]
[Dominic: B]
[Source: American Gangster]
[Skill: Drug Trafficking]
[Bond: Familiar]
Dominic was the Lucchese family’s underboss, the man who openly handled the family’s affairs—and a drug lord as well!
Marigio followed Dominic, and back in the day, he had become a made man thanks to Dominic’s sponsorship and promotion.
In theory, Luca would also need Dominic’s support to become a made man. The underboss was not only a drug lord; he also operated all kinds of other businesses, but drugs were unquestionably the most profitable.
Since Luca refused to touch drugs, gaining the underboss’s trust and sponsorship would be difficult—unless he could make an enormous amount of money through other channels and prove that he had the ability to generate wealth.
Thinking of this, Luca picked up his glass and drained a mouthful.
He didn’t deal drugs. Was he really supposed to count on Dominic to promote him?
He might as well count on Dominic going to prison—or, better yet, being removed from his position as underboss, thereby making room for others in the family to rise.
Luca had no objection to giving things a little push.
According to Luca’s plan, he would follow the great tide of history during this drug war, secretly help Richie sweep New York’s drug dealers off the streets, defend the peace, trigger as many system rewards as possible, and improve his bonds and learn new skills.
If the police won the war on drugs, Dominic’s drug business would certainly suffer a devastating blow, cutting off one of the family’s major sources of income.
That was precisely the situation Luca wanted to see.
For one thing, he did not want the family to keep dealing drugs forever. If he ever rose to power, he would certainly abandon the drug trade.
For another, when everyone else stopped making money, Luca could make a fortune through other channels. That would give him enormous influence, win the admiration of the family’s upper ranks, raise the family’s prestige, and allow him to rise to the position of made man—or even higher.
Luca would become the family’s new money tree!
The brightest star! The biggest asset!
As for where the money would come from?
His superficial friends on Wall Street would fleece the small investors, while Jimmy was also learning from Jordan. Before the internet bubble burst in the future, the American stock market still had a period of extraordinary glory.
If he seized the moment, he could make a killing in the market.
Luca also knew a few other unconventional businesses, such as gasoline-tax schemes. Or perhaps he could simply go dig up America’s national treasure?
He could wait for MacLean’s arch-enemy to come to New York and rob the Federal Reserve’s gold, then profit as the fisherman while the snipe and clam fought.
He certainly wouldn’t hand it over to the government like Richie did.
Once it was in his hands, it would be his.
There were countless ways to make money. Luca was not worried in the slightest.
Page (1/3)
Page (2/3)
...
Over the next few days, the opening of the tire shop caused the drug trade in the Bronx to flourish, and drugs were the easiest thing in the world to turn into crime and conflict.
Luca naturally refused to sit by and do nothing. Other areas were too far away for him to control, but in Little Italy, he would not allow anyone to violate his rules.
Within just a few days, Luca had spent his time defending the peace, and his skill fragments rapidly climbed to eighty.
The results were gratifying.
He also found an opportunity to learn another of Matilda’s skills: [Nimble Fingers], a support skill that increased the efficiency of learning assassin-related abilities.
In the future, whenever he invested points in assassin skills, he would be able to save at least a few skill points.
[Luca Greco]
[Skills: Firearms Mastery Lv. 6 → Lv. 7, Assassination Mastery Lv. 6, Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery Lv. 6, Driving Mastery Lv. 4, Shameless Scoundrel, Greedy Scoundrel, Harmless Disguise, Sin of Wrath, Nerve Paralysis, Nimble Fingers...]
[Current Skill Points: 0]
[Remaining Skill Fragments: 30]
At that moment, inside the supermarket.
Luca closed the panel and returned to his senses. Curious, he asked Uncle Biao, who was drinking tea in front of him, “Uncle Biao, where did Matilda go?”
Wasn’t she supposed to be working part-time at the supermarket at this hour?
Uncle Biao smiled. “Nancy took her out for a drive.”
Luca was speechless.
How had that little brat ended up hanging around with Nancy?
He had met Nancy several times. She was Uncle Biao’s neighbor—a sexy Chinese-American beauty, a member of a street-racing gang, and an obsessive motorcycle enthusiast... If his nephew had come to New York earlier, he might even have had a romantic encounter with her, just as in the original story.
That woman had caused his nephew no small amount of trouble, though. Several of the conflicts had happened because of her.
As an ambassador of peace, should he resolve the problem for his nephew in advance?
Just as the two men were drinking tea and shooting the breeze, a call suddenly came through to Luca’s phone.
Jimmy said, “There’s a fight involving police officers at the tire shop.”
Luca froze. “The police are fighting whom?”
“Other police officers!”
Luca: “...?”
What the hell?
Drug dealers got into fights all the time lately, but this was the first time he had heard of police officers fighting one another.
...
“Stop fighting! Break it up! What are you doing...?”
Jimmy reached the scene before Luca did. He had received complaints from nearby merchants and shopkeepers.
He knew both sides of the brawl. One group consisted of two police officers: Richie Roberts, an old acquaintance from the street-level drug crackdown, and David Mills, a rising star in the department who had received praise at the previous police press conference.
The other side consisted of a police officer named Trubor and several of his men.
“Get out of my way!”
Trubor shoved Jimmy aside and swung his fist at David again. But David was consumed by fury, and his fighting spirit erupted. His combat ability soared, leaving several officers helpless against him alone.
Richie also lost his temper and rushed in to help David.
When Luca drove to the scene, all he saw was a group of police officers beating one another.
[Character Card: Trubor]
Page (2/3)
Page (3/3)
[Trubor: C]
[Source: American Gangster]
[Skill: Abuse of Official Power]
[Bond: Attention]
Luca raised an eyebrow.
Well, if it wasn’t New York’s biggest middleman in the drug trade.
Among the three drug dealers who appeared most frequently in the original story, there was the Black drug lord Frank, Dominic the distributor, and then Trubor, the corrupt cop.
If the DEA’s biggest middleman was the late Stan, then this man was the biggest middleman in the police department.
Trubor’s methods were every bit as despicable as Stan’s. After every drug bust, he would remove the drugs from the evidence room and take them somewhere else to cut them with adulterants, reducing their purity.
Once that was done, he would sell them back to the very gangs and drug dealers whose drugs had been seized.
He would seize one kilogram, turn it into five, pass it through his own hands, and sell it back. Those gangs and dealers were forced to swallow the loss because of the little authority he possessed.
Secondhand drugs from the New York Police Department—the middleman pocketed the enormous difference.
But Trubor did not dare provoke the Mafia. That was one of the few signs that he possessed any self-awareness. He preferred to prey on French gangs and other small outfits, extorting them mercilessly.
A classic bully who feared the strong and preyed on the weak.
Luca had no interest in him either. Trubor’s skill had a prerequisite: the user had to be an official, and extortion would increase its success rate.
It was of no use to an ambassador of peace.
...
Richie was grappling with one of the officers, trying to seize the bag in the man’s hands. It contained his money.
The bills were all marked and had already been registered with the court.
They had been specially authorized for use in purchasing drugs.
The previous day, Richie had disguised himself as an addict and used the money to find a drug dealer and purchase drugs. They had arranged for the handoff to take place the next day. Then, together with David, who had just joined the team, he had followed the dealer all the way to the tire shop.
He had a feeling they were about to land a very big fish.
What he had not expected was that Trubor and his corrupt officers had also set their sights on the same dealer.
Those crooked cops had charged straight into the tire shop and beaten the drug dealer who had taken the money, yelling a stream of motherfuckers as they did so. Then they had openly stolen the cash.
They had simply robbed him in broad daylight, counting on the dealer not daring to resist.
Richie had quickly intervened and shown his badge, identifying himself and explaining where the money had come from. He had hoped to get it back.
Instead, Trubor had mocked him mercilessly. David, whose temper was already volatile, could not stand it, and the confrontation had erupted on the spot.
Trubor shoved David away with one punch and sneered. “Mills, I was wondering why I hadn’t seen you lately. So you’ve been hanging around with Roberts, the honest fool who returns everything he finds. What, did you find some money and decide to hand it over to the feds out of the goodness of your heart?”
“Hahahaha!”
The group of officers burst into loud laughter, their voices grating on the ears.
“Roberts, do you know whose pockets that million ended up in?” Trubor continued, fixing Richie with a mocking stare. “You don’t honestly think the department is going to donate that money to charity, do you? You idiot! Stop pretending you’re so damn righteous. No wonder you’ll never get promoted!”
At the repeated mention of righteousness, Richie’s expression shifted several times, turning pale, then livid...
He remembered the day Trubor had accused him of pretending to be righteous at the precinct—and how the entire department seemed to accept it without question.
Just then, from among the shopkeepers and pedestrians watching nearby, someone shouted:
“Dove Luca is here!”
Page (3/3)