America 1881: Legend of the West

Chapter 526: The End of Tammany Hall
Here at Wells Fargo, Bullock was having a heated fight with the people in the bank building.

As a former soldier, there is nothing more exciting than commanding a war, even if the other side is just civilians with guns.

But he forgot, this is New York, this is Wall Street.

A group of police and gangs were fighting here, with gunshots and explosions happening continuously.

This caused great panic.

After all, apart from the Chinese New Year in Chinatown, this city hasn’t had such exciting activities for a long time.

In addition, some people and gangs who had taken guns in the morning also began to take advantage of the chaos and fish in troubled waters.

Citizens who didn't know the truth fell into panic.

"The British have landed again!"

"New York labor is in rebellion! Attacking Wall Street!"

Various rumors began to spread among the citizens, and some even considered whether to flee New York.

But Bullock didn't know these things.

He was living his command addiction.

"Let me attack! If it doesn't work, throw explosives! Let them see our strength!"

Bullock stood upstairs,
shouted excitedly.

"Um, Director, are you sure you want to use explosives?" The subordinate looked at the bank door below that had been damaged beyond recognition by bullets.

All the glass on the first floor was shattered, and there were craters on the door and walls.

"I want these gangsters to know what cruelty is!" Bullock was fed up with his subordinates. "You don't understand anything. Only by fighting like this can our casualties be small."

Just as he was about to give the order to attack, a man in a suit bent over and climbed to the top of the building.

"Chief Bullock! Sheriff Bullock!" He trotted to Bullock's side.

The visitor was panting, and the jogging and climbing up the stairs had consumed a lot of his energy.

Brock turned around.

He knew this man, he was from the city government, and he was usually responsible for running errands for the mayor.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Mr. Mayor said that you have to clean up the mess here within half an hour, otherwise, he will let you mend the hole in the wall of Wells Fargo Bank." The man said to the police chief, "This is the mayor, uh, No, Congressman Castleman’s exact words.”

Bullock's face turned red and white:

"How did he know there was a hole in the wall at Wells Fargo?" the police chief said, confused.

“Not only do they know, but now the whole of New York knows there’s a shooting going on here.

"Rich people are worried, the phone numbers in the city hall have been blown up; poor people are running for their lives because an unknown number of thugs are robbing them with guns!"

"Because you transferred all the police here!"

The man imitated Councilor Castleman's tone and conveyed the mayor's message to Bullock.

Big beads of sweat broke out on Brock's forehead.

He knew that if the problem here was not solved immediately, he would be in trouble, and there was a high possibility that he would be pulled out to take the blame.

The new police chief used all he had learned in his life to direct the attack on the building.

Under the strong attack of the police, the bank's door was quickly breached.

After all, only some die-hards resist, and others are more inclined to surrender.

Robbery of a bank is a capital crime, but you will still be tried after all, but if you don't surrender, you will most likely be beaten to death on the spot.

Of course, the storm also cost the New York Police Department more than a dozen casualties.

Elsewhere, Torrio is taken into the NYPD.

It's very close, right next door.

Since there was no one on duty at the police station, Torrio, whose hands were tied, was locked into a conference room.

The Border Detective Agency took away Torrio and the several sacks of bills from the vault.

"If these bills were published, I'm afraid the mayor, congressmen, and Tammany Hall would all fall." Roosevelt looked at these sacks and sighed, "I never thought these silverfish could be so comfortable sucking the blood of New York citizens!"

"Leave these to Pulitzer, he is most interested in these things." Chen Jianqiu had an additional account book in his hand.

This ledger was obtained by the Border Detective Agency from its manager through "friendly negotiation."

"Do you really not need anyone to check on your wife and children?" Roosevelt asked worriedly.

"No, I know Camilla's methods very well."

Chen Jianqiu wanted to say that his life was almost in her hands, but after thinking about it, he still didn't say it.

After all, I had already spent a lot of money to clean up that experience, and it would not be very interesting to expose it again.

"The bodies of those thieves are probably lying on the floor of my house now." He replied, "Teddy, get ready to take up the post of director again. I'm going to go check on the Italian with a broken brain."

"Well, I'll leave this guy to you." Roosevelt hesitated for a moment, then reminded him, "Well, it's best, I mean best, not to kill him at the police station."

He knew that the Border Detective Agency was a group of good men and women, but he also understood that without means, it was impossible to deal with those criminals.

He has been to the west and knows what kind of people this security company that grew up in the western environment faces.

"Don't worry, I can still use him if I keep him." Chen Jianqiu nodded.

He turned into the conference room where Torrio was being held.

Bullock's "Bandit Suppression Route Map" is still hanging on the wall in the conference room, and there is also a map on the table.
There are some teacups, paper and other things.

The Italian was half lying on the chair, his hands were tied, and his eyes were staring at the ceiling, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Mr. Chen! You won! So, you are planning to kill me now, are you?" Torrio did not divert his gaze, but continued to raise his head and speak.

Chen Jianqiu did not reply, but slowly walked to the table and stared at the Italian in front of him without even looking at him.

Suddenly, he suddenly lifted a chair next to the table and smashed it down on Torrio.

The chair instantly changed shape.

The Italian was knocked to the ground along with his chair, his face covered in blood.

Chen Jianqiu dragged him up from the ground and pressed him onto another chair next to the table.

"This time, it's because you threatened my wife and children." Chen Jianqiu said.

The blood flowing from Torrio's forehead had pooled at his chin and dripped onto the clothes on his chest.

He looked crazy, raised the corners of his mouth, and shouted at Chen Jianqiu:
"Yes, that's it. Come on, kill me! Quick! Don't suppress your anger."

However, Chen Jianqiu made no further moves.

He sat on the chair opposite Torio, took out a cigar from his clothes and lit it, then stared at the Italian expressionlessly.

"What's wrong? Where's your decisiveness in killing? Where's your anger? Mr. Chen?" Torrio licked the blood on his cheek with his tongue and continued to provoke Chen Jianqiu.

Chen Jianqiu took a puff of cigar smoke.

He pointed at Torrio's clenched right hand.

"I advise you to put away the nail in your right hand. That nail cannot save you, but may even kill you."

"Besides, don't you think it's nice to keep pretending your hands are still tied?"

The madness on Torrio's face disappeared in an instant, and his expression returned to calm.

The ropes tied around the Italian's hands suddenly fell off.

He raised his hands and opened the palm of his right hand.

An iron nail fell to the ground.

"As expected, Mr. Chen. How did you know that?" Torio asked, tilting his head.

He originally wanted to take advantage of the moment when Chen Jianqiu approached angrily to use the nail to deal a fatal blow to his "idol".

This trick has worked time and time again in the past.

"I've read your profile. You used to be a street magician. That noose can't do anything to you. As for the trick of taking nails from the chair..." Chen Jianqiu didn't continue. "But I can tell you for sure that I don't care."

"So, you'd better put away your acting skills. It's meaningless," he said.

Torrio dropped his hands, and stopped talking as if he had become a different person.

This silence lasted for about ten seconds.

Chen Jianqiu found an iron cup on the table with Block's initials written on the bottom of the cup.

He knocked the ash from his cigar into his cup.

"I've read the information. You and your Five Points Gang don't have the ability to purchase a large number of guns and explosives. But you not only distributed guns, you also used explosives."

Chen Jianqiu looked at Torio.

"Not only do you not have the ability, Tammany Hall also does not have the ability." "So, there is someone behind you."

Torrio looked at Chen Jianqiu with a smile:
"Mr. Chen, do you think I will tell you?"

Chen Jianqiu also laughed.

"I also checked the Gunpowder Association's shipment records near New York in the past few months. The manufacturer that provided you with explosives is not in the Gunpowder Association. There are not many options like this."

"I'm not asking you to get the answer from you, I just want to tell you that this person can't save you."

"No matter who this person is or what his purpose is, if it doesn't bother me, I can turn a blind eye. But if he goes against me, I can only mourn for him in advance."

Torrio and Chen Jianqiu looked at each other.

Then, he said word by word:

"That person told me to send you to hell, so I will wait for you there."

Chen Jianqiu held a cigar in his mouth and shook his head:
"No, you're not going there for a while."

"The Elizabeth Mental Hospital has been very successful on the West Coast, so I also invested in one for them in New York State, hoping that they can save the patients on the East Coast."

Torrio opened his eyes wide, and Chen Jianqiu's smile became more obvious:
"Believe me, they have a lot of experience dealing with psychopaths who are magicians, liars, union leaders, etc."

After saying that, Chen Jianqiu stood up and walked out of the room.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

Behind him, Torrio's wild laughter echoed throughout the room and did not fade away for a long time.

The shootout at the end of Wall Street in New York City was ultimately portrayed as a bank robbery by a vicious downtown criminal group.

As the most prominent gangster in the bank, Eastman was naturally dragged out to take the blame, even though he was the one who wanted to surrender the most.
However, the public, especially Wells Fargo shareholders, are not going to give up.

They were never told that a hole would be blown in their building.

Bank executives have their own little thoughts.

If the robbers really robbed the vault, they could report a higher amount to cover up some of the facts that they themselves were not willing to reveal.

But the robbers did not, they just looted some miscellaneous valuables on the first floor.

Even so, the city government, banks and insurance companies are embroiled in an endless dispute over the losses.

In addition to facing the banks, Kasman and his colleagues also have to face the families of the police officers who died.

Because of Bullock's command, five police officers died in the gunfight, eight police officers were seriously injured, not to mention those who were slightly injured.

The city government had to face the grief-stricken families of the deceased police officers.

The government had to pay high pensions to appease the anger of the citizens.

And as we all know, the New York City government has no money.

As a result, signs are posted at the door of City Hall every day, and some family members even hope that the damned Sheriff Bullock and the mayor will pay with their lives for their loved ones.

Cassman is now regretting his decision.

He really didn't know what he was thinking when he let a fool like Brock become the police chief.

It was the latter who mobilized all New York City police officers, resulting in several times more robberies and murders in New York City that day than usual.

Immediately afterwards, the bills that Chen Jianqiu found from the vault were also "inadvertently" disclosed.

Pulitzer happily reported the incident on two large pages.

He was very glad that he no longer had to attract readers' attention by publishing "yellow journalism".

As the saying goes, when the wall falls, everyone pushes it.

Other newspapers were not to be outdone.

Various negative reports about Tammany Hall were exposed one after another.

They control the municipal administration, subcontract government projects to their own people at high prices, and then make profits from them;
They accept bribes, form cliques, and even today when the civil service system has been implemented, they still carry out the spoils system;

They even falsified citizenship of immigrants, fabricated ballots, and influenced elections.

In fact, there have been reports about these things a long time ago, but either they were suppressed by Kasman or they were sporadic and insignificant.

But this time, public opinion was like the Yellow River bursting its banks, uncontrollable and all bursting out at once.

These reports completely pushed Castleman and his Tammany Hall into the abyss.

The citizens are angry!

They felt they had been tricked.

Your city government was elected and should represent the interests of the voters, but it is spending taxpayers' money and doing beastly things.

Instead of getting better, things in New York City are becoming more cloudy and darker.

No one can bear it.

On this point, American citizens have never indulged politicians.

They took to the streets and began marching in protest.

Faced with this overwhelming public opinion.

Celebrities and smart people in New York society began to distance themselves from Tammany Hall.

The Democrats' political opponents, Republican lawmakers, have also begun to work.

They have all been dormant for a long time.

Politics is about taking advantage of the situation.

If I don't seize this opportunity, all my years as a politician would have been in vain.

They initiated impeachment against the mayor, Councilman Kasman and others in the city council.

At the same time, the court also began to file the case.

A Republican prosecutor in New York City named Arturo Hope began prosecuting Castleman and others for corruption.

In court, he took out an account book.

It records in detail many unknown interest transactions within the Tammany Hall, and forms a closed loop of evidence with the original bills.

Castleman was at his wit's end.

In this regard, he is not as good as Chen Jianqiu's old rival Scott in New Mexico, or even Governor Stoneman in California.

He and his Tammany Hall were helpless.

Or maybe they have already taken everything for granted.

So, when the wall suddenly collapsed, none of them had the power to reverse their fate.

They are paying for what they did in the past.

Castleman, the mayor and others were thrown into prison, and the Tammany Hall collapsed in an instant.

Since the Republican Party also has a bad reputation, the new mayor will be an independent.

Mr. Theodore Roosevelt was reappointed as Police Commissioner of New York City.

He replaced almost all the personnel in the police station, conducted assessments, and recruited a large number of police officers of color and female police officers.

With the help of the Border Detective Agency, the Sheriff intensifies his crackdown on downtown gangs.

The leader of the Five O'Clock Gang was sent to a mental hospital, and the core members of the gang were either killed or wounded; Eastman was thrown into jail, and the remaining members of the two gangs fled in all directions, and they were no longer a force to be reckoned with under Roosevelt's attack.

Li Xiling from Chinatown surrendered to the police obediently.

The reason why he was able to dominate Chinatown was entirely due to the previous police department's indifference to Chinatown and his relationship with the Tammany Hall.

Chen Jianqiu didn't even go to Chinatown to see him.

He sent Li Sifu over.

New York's Chinatown is being remodeled according to the San Francisco model, with smoking cesspools closed and new jobs arranged for those who can quit, while those who can't are sent back to the other side of the Pacific.

After a period of hard work, public security in New York has improved.

New York Police Commissioner Roosevelt was also transferred to the Federal Navy Department because of his outstanding political achievements.

These things are more or less related to Chen Jianqiu, so he has been staying in New York.

He bought the mansion from Astor Jr.

In this way, no one will question whether Camilla killed people to protect her private property and private space.

The family lived a very comfortable life in New York.

But there was one person who was not very happy.

In the private salon of the Freemasons, John Rockefeller sat at the table, silent.

(End of this chapter)