50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 618 The Chicago Typewriter
Attorney Smith is quite a name in the New York legal community, and he recently took down USBank (America Bank), so he's riding high.

Now that Mr. James has given him the opportunity to learn from Attorney Smith, it is a rare opportunity, and he is even more grateful to Mr. James.

Seeing the young lawyer's expression, Sun Zhiwei knew what the boy was thinking and couldn't help but feel somewhat satisfied.

Young people are easier to fool; they'll be grateful if given a chance, unlike seasoned veterans who only care about money. Luckily, I have money.

With Attorney Smith on board, the acquisition team's operations immediately went smoothly.

They started with small, individual shareholders, and the acquisition team split into several groups to go to different places to negotiate acquisitions one by one.

The key to the acquisition strategy was speed, leaving no time for others to react. Soon, good news came back from various teams.

They acquired a total of 36% of the shares at prices that were 20%-30% higher than the market price.

After securing these small, scattered shareholders, the team shifted its focus to the descendants of the Pinkerton family.

This time it was actually easier. The younger generation of the Pinkerton family were not interested in the industry, and they kept the stock mostly as a memento.

Now that Sun Zhiwei is coming to acquire the shares at a high premium, naturally no one is foolish enough to hold onto their limited shares.

Three days later, they had secured the Pinkerton family's deal and acquired another 15% of the shares.

Sun Zhiwei now holds 51% of the shares in Pinkerton Detective Agency, achieving absolute control.

Having gained an absolute advantage, Sun Zhiwei no longer concealed his intentions and directly instructed Smith to notify all shareholders to convene a shareholders' meeting.

This time, he wants to gather everyone together and resolve all the issues at the shareholders' meeting.

On November 1, Sun Zhiwei led the acquisition team to Chicago from LaGuardia Airport on a regional flight.

Chicago, America's third-largest city and the heart of the Great Lakes metropolitan area, is one of the world's financial centers, but also a notorious outlaw city.

When people in China hear the word "Chicago," most of them first think of "Chicago typewriter," which shows how rampant Chicago society is.

One statistic vividly illustrates the chaotic state of public order here.

From 2001 to 2016, America lost 4504 people in the war against Iraq and 2384 people in the war against Afghanistan, while Chicago lost 7916 people in those 16 years, far exceeding the total number of deaths in both wars combined.

Many of these dead were killed by the "Chicago Typewriter" gun.

The 'Chicago Typewriter' was actually the Thompson submachine gun.

As early as World War I, the Djokovic family owned their first submachine gun.

At that time, trench warfare was the main form of combat. When the enemy was using bolt-action rifles, submachine guns were a complete game-changer for them.

This invention caused great suffering to Allied soldiers, so much so that the Allied powers later explicitly prohibited Djokovic from producing military submachine guns in the Treaty of Versailles.

In November 1914, Brigadier General John T. Thompson, head of the Small Arms Department of the American Army Ordnance Department, retired and became the chief engineer of the American Remington Arms Company.

Thus, the Thompson submachine gun came into being.

By World War II, the Thompson submachine gun had been well-designed and provided reliable close-range fire support for soldiers in the Pacific theater and among airborne troops.

However, its drawbacks are also obvious.

First, it is heavy.

二战时的普通步枪都在3-4公斤左右，比如三八大盖重3.95公斤，李·恩菲尔德4公斤，莫辛纳甘3.9公斤。    而汤姆逊冲锋枪满弹夹时重量超过了5公斤。

Secondly, the excessively long barrel makes it very inconvenient for jungle warfare.

Third, ammunition resupply is difficult. Its rate of fire is too fast; a full magazine is emptied in less than a minute after the trigger is pulled.

As a result, the Thompson submachine gun was quickly abandoned by the US military, and later, automatic rifles became the mainstream.

However, the shortcomings of the Thompson submachine gun are not obvious in small-scale urban combat.

In the 1920s, when America was carrying out the "Prohibition Movement," smugglers who were out on the move set their sights on the Thompson submachine guns that had been abandoned by the army.

Because of its high firepower, high rate of fire, and good portability, it once became a standard weapon for criminals. Chicago criminals were the first to use this gun to wreak havoc.

After removing the drum magazine and stock, this submachine gun could be easily hidden inside a violin case, which the bandits simply nicknamed the "Chicago Violin."

Because it made a rhythmic "rat-a-tat-tat" sound when firing in bursts, much like an old-fashioned typewriter, it was also known as the "Chicago Typewriter".

The Chicago Typewriter made its name during the "Valentine's Day Massacre" on February 14, 1929.

Two Chicago Typewriters easily killed seven bandits, and the Chicago Typewriters became famous overnight.

From this point on, sales of Remington Arms Company's "Chicago Typewriter" skyrocketed.

In 1930, the notorious bank robber John Dillinger, while robbing a bank, arrogantly wielded a "Chicago Typewriter" and swept through a large group of American federal police officers.

This heinous crime has made the "Thompson submachine gun" even more famous.

Regardless of its reputation, a weapon's design is at least considered successful.

Remington Arms Company made a fortune as a result.

It is probably because of the rampant crime in Chicago that the headquarters of the Pinkerton Detective Agency was built here.

Sun Zhiwei brought his team here not to fight the bandits, because no matter how rampant they were, they couldn't affect Sun Zhiwei.

When the plane landed at O'Hare International Airport, Sun Zhiwei saw that it was already late.

For the safety of his men, he booked rooms at the airport hotel and told everyone to rest there and set off again the next day.

As night fell, Sun Zhiwei stood alone in front of the hotel's floor-to-ceiling window, holding a glass of wine, looking down at the brightly lit city below.

Just as he was wondering what the night would be like here, the rhythmic sound of gunfire came from afar.

As he carefully observed the city lights, he could see flashing lights in various corners of the city from time to time.

Although no sound came from the distance, he still understood what they were.

Well, he finally understood why this place was a city of bandits. It was really unsafe here at night. Luckily, he was quick-witted enough to stay at the airport hotel.

If he had led a group of defenseless subordinates to the main city at that time, he probably wouldn't have fared well.

This cast a shadow over his decision to convene the board meeting.

The remaining shareholders of Pinkerton Detective Agency all came from families that were detectives for the company. Back then, detectives were practically like bandits; they all had legal licenses to kill.

(End of this chapter)