Tokyo Detective

Chapter 460 The Smoke of War in Palermo

On the television screen, the entire process of the building under construction from explosion to collapse, which took only a dozen seconds, was captured by surveillance cameras. Moreover, it wasn't just one building; it was two 100-meter-tall buildings that were supposed to be 30 stories high.

Now dust was flying everywhere. Unlike the port arms case, where the military and government covered it up, no one helped cover up the building being blown up. As a result, the identity of the Pacino family behind it was also revealed.

Now, online opinion is leaning towards gangland feuds, after all, the Pacino family has been quite active these past few days, killing at least dozens or even hundreds of people.

This resulted in a sharp decline in the Pacino family's real estate business, and even affected some other industries.

In his office, Harry Pacino received a call from the mayor of Palermo. He knew that when a powerful figure from the political arena called him personally, it was definitely not a good thing, if that were the case.

“Harry Pacino, I don’t care if you’re seeking revenge for your father or whatever, cancel all your plans.”

"Why."

Harry Pacino was already furious from the series of blows. If you tell me to stop, will my enemies stop too?
However, the mayor of Palermo gave a reason that was impossible to refuse.

"This is the district chairman's request. Sicily has been too lively these past few days, and he's not used to it."

"."

Harry Pacino wanted to argue, but in the end he could only nod obediently.

"I understand."

Despite Italy's land area being similar to Japan's, differing by only about 8 square kilometers, it has 20 regions and 20 regional governors, giving it the feel of a prefectural governor (high-ranking official) in Japan.

Sicily is actually one of the five autonomous communities, and the largest of them. The Sicilian gendarmes have an independent chain of command and can directly refuse orders from Rome, a power granted by Article 34 of the Law of Autonomy.

In other words, the superior of the more than 1 military police in Sicily is the district chairman. If the district chairman wants to, he can even confront the Italian military police who have intervened in Sicily. He is a veritable local emperor.
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[Ding! Intentional homicide, 7-star Sin level]

On the other side, Naoki Hanyu also encountered trouble, because it was really difficult to take action against the Pacino family. It wasn't that he was afraid of the Pacino family's power, but according to the intelligence he found, there was a Palermo Provincial Gendarmerie Mobile Company stationed in the street where the Pacino family lived.

Italy's gendarmerie system is quite peculiar. As a branch of the national armed forces, it is the fourth largest armed force after the army, navy, and air force. At first glance, it seems similar to the Marine Corps.

However, the gendarmerie is actually a police force that maintains order and protects dignitaries, but it can also be a fully armed army, after all, the Italian gendarmerie has a real track record against America.

In 1985, America's renowned SEAL Team Six was surrounded by Italian military police, and ultimately SEAL Team Six abandoned the mission.

The two most important divisions of the Italian Gendarmerie are the Special Forces Division and the Mobile Forces Division. The Special Forces Division can be imagined as America's special forces, specifically used for counter-terrorism, but it is a division-level unit.

The mobile force division is divided into two brigades: the first mobile brigade is responsible for domestic operations, and the second mobile brigade is responsible for international operations. Peacekeeping forces are often composed of the second mobile brigade.

It's easy to imagine that the firepower of the mobile company on the same street as the gang was definitely not weak; strictly speaking, their equipment was no worse than America's National Guard.

Palermo has two mobile companies. The first company has 150 men, divided into three assault platoons of 45 men each, and a command group.

Each armored unit in the company has one VBM "Arrow" infantry fighting vehicle, equipped with a 30mm autocannon and anti-tank missiles, with armor equivalent to 40mm of steel.

Four IVECO LMV "Lynx" light armored vehicles and six IVECO VM90P multi-purpose vehicles (equivalent to military Humvees).

In addition to armored units, there are also air force units, including NH500E helicopters with HK417 sniper rifles mounted on the cabin doors.

Naoki Hanyu felt that it would be difficult to defeat such a company-sized army in a short time using only infantry weapons. If he wanted to speed things up, he would have to use armored units, or even more powerful weapons.

But this isn't a black watermelon, nor is it typhoon weather. How could he reasonably bring armored troops into the city?
It has to be said that the Sicilian regional government's deployment of a mobile unit near the gang's headquarters was to guard against them, meaning that I can call in the army at any time to wipe you out, so just be a good glove. But now they have become the gang's protector, which is quite ironic.

Naoki Hanyu finally made a plan; he didn't mind taking a couple more days, treating it as a vacation.
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That evening, in Messina, Sicily's third-largest city, at a bar owned by the Pacino family.

Alex, one of the Pacino family executives and the local head, was enjoying himself with fine wine and a beautiful woman when a subordinate drinking nearby asked him a question.

"Brother, headquarters told us to be careful these next few days. Are we really not going to do anything to appease them?"

Alex shook his head.

"No need. I'm not in the arms business or real estate. I just do some prostitution and human trafficking. I don't make much money. The Pacino family's enemies won't target someone as tough as me."

Haha, that's true.

Before the underling could finish speaking, a burst of gunfire suddenly rang out from outside, and then one of the underlings, who had been shot twice, ran in.

"Boss, this is bad! There are more than 10 fully armed men outside. They are not only good marksmen, but they also have rocket launchers. The brothers can't hold them off."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than an explosion occurred right in front of him.

"boom"

Alex is dead beyond dead.

Naoki Hanyu's clone walked in with a rocket launcher. Since the target was indeed dead, he didn't pay much attention and left with his men. After all, the original had said there was plenty of ammunition, so they didn't need to conserve it. They weren't going to mess with the military police's riot squad; ordinary police officers were no match for them.

In just one night, eight Pacino family territories in Sicily were raided, resulting in the deaths of 143 gang members.

Such incidents occur at night, and although they have a serious impact, they haven't elicited much of a response from the government. The idea is that gang fights should be left to the police to handle.

The same thing happened on the first night and the second night. More than two hundred members of the Pacino family died before the government, the police, and the military police really got involved.
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The series of setbacks had robbed Harry Pacino of his former vigor. His heavy dark circles under his eyes indicated that he had been in very poor spirits these past few days. He was terrified by the harsh reality, so he called his good friend Roberto Martinez.

"Robert, please tell those people that I've backed down and will never think about avenging my father again. Please ask them to act as mediators and help persuade the other side to stop the war, even if it comes at a price."

The middleman that Harry Pacino mentioned is the capital behind the Pacino family, which has connections in both the legal and illegal worlds, and even the military. They are definitely among the top in Italy.

Robert Martinez nodded, clearly unaware of the capital behind the scenes or the origins of the "enemy."

“I’ll talk to them, but you should be aware of those restless guys by now.”

"Yes, three of us died today without knowing why."

The guys they were talking about were other Sicilian gangs. Harry Pacino's arrogance had already put pressure on other gangs, and now that Pacino had suffered a major blow, which of those Sicilian silver medalists wouldn't want to take his place?

Even the Bran gang, their partner, might have this intention. Capital just wants the black glove; they don't care who their black glove is.

Today, a local gang targeted members of the Pacino family, which is what made Harry Pacino feel a deadly danger.

"We must fight back; we absolutely cannot let others think that our family is incompetent."

Robert Martinez nodded, even though he cared more about business, he knew that at this moment he had to use violence to prove that his family was still standing.

Thus, a major battle broke out among Palermo's local gangs, but they knew how to keep it low-key, mostly fighting at night and not making too much noise.

The stalemate continued until the evening of two days later, when a change occurred.

An explosion at one of Palermo's six ultra-high voltage power stations, which supplies electricity to the city, caused a blackout in a part of the city, but power was quickly restored.

However, a few seconds later, the northern power station also exploded, plunging the northern urban area into complete darkness, which was also the area where Pacino was located.

When a power outage suddenly occurs in a place where smoke and fire are raging, it will naturally exacerbate the conflict. Without surveillance, the police are also in a state of near paralysis. Gang shootouts soon broke out in the northern part of the city and escalated.

A group of gangsters armed with submachine guns drove into Pacino territory; after two days of conflict, no one had really gotten into a fight.

The mayor of Palermo is numb; are the gang wars in the city really that scary?
It's actually not that scary; the government can suppress it quickly if it wants to.

But those thugs who bombed the substation were terrifying. Others might not know, but he knew that a few days ago a batch of weapons, enough to arm a battalion, had been stolen. They were very likely the same people who bombed the substation today, and they clearly had a grudge against the Pacino family.

"Damn it, damn it, the Pacino family, who have you messed with?"

At that very moment, an explosion occurred at the city center substation, causing a power outage in the city center. This became the last straw for the mayor of Palermo.

The city of one million people is out of control.

"Contact the army for me. I want them to send troops into the city."

The mayor's secretary was instantly startled.

"Mayor, isn't letting the army into the city a bit too much? There are also military police and regular police in the city."

The mayor interrupted his secretary.

"I wouldn't bet."

"Yes."

Shortly afterward, the secretary brought the news.

"Mayor, the army has appeared in the suburbs. A total of one Centaur tank destroyer, four Dado infantry fighting vehicles, VM90P multi-purpose vehicles, and two A-129 'Mongoose' attack helicopters have arrived."

"Come so fast?"

The mayor was somewhat surprised by the army's speed, but he didn't think too much about it and directly sent the army to the North District to stabilize the situation.

Yes.

On the other side, Naoki Hanyu was also a bit confused. The police around him were even very cooperative in helping to clear the way. Something was wrong with this plot.

He originally intended to use his status as an Italian army soldier to force his way into the city, which would make the police and gendarmes hesitant to act.

(End of this chapter)