American variety show: The Godfather, the Peace Ambassador, what the heck?

Chapter 147 Crime Rate Decline

Detroit.

Upon receiving the message, Jimmy Hoffa felt a deep sadness and jumped up and down, complaining: "Damn it, he wants me to go to New York to see him? Who does he think he is? Me, the union president, actually having to lower myself to see some twenty-something kid? My son could be his uncle!"

Hoffa is like a playful old man, easily excitable. When he gets excited, he likes to gesticulate wildly and spout nonsense. He's quite an emotional person. However, Frank was quite pleased to see his old friend still jumping around at his age.

At least they're physically fit!

“Luca asked me to tell you that he, as a junior and the chapter president, expresses his respect for you.”

"Oh, he actually knows he's a junior."

“Hmm, although he’s a junior, he’s not some nobody. He has connections. This isn’t about putting on airs; it’s about you asking him for help, so it’s only right that we visit him,” Frank advised.

Frank had no objections; he was Irish, and it was already quite an achievement to have gained the approval of those Italians.

Hearing Frank's advice, Hoffa was furious again, shouting about how things had changed and how young people nowadays didn't know how to respect their elders, calling Fitz a good-for-nothing who sold his ass.
After calming down, Hoffa asked, "Have you arranged a time with Luca the Pigeon?"

It's already late February. After Hoffa was released from prison, he and his wife went to Miami for a stroll and soaked up the sun. When they returned to Detroit, the snow here hadn't even melted yet.

Frank: "I respect your opinion. Anyway, Pigeon has always lived in New York and won't be leaving anytime soon."

Hoffa frowned. "Don't rush to see him. Let's go to Philadelphia first. I want to visit your union there."

Frank's union has a local chapter in Bloomington, the city next to Philadelphia.

Frank had no objections, but Hoffa asked again, "Where's Peggy? I haven't seen your daughter in ages. She must be quite tall by now. Does my little sweetheart still remember her uncle?"

“Of course she remembers you, but she’s studying in New York, uh, Pigeon helped her with the enrollment.” Frank felt a little awkward for some reason.

"."

Hofa let out a heavy sigh, feeling a kind of indignation that even his beloved daughter had been taken away by someone else!
That pigeon!
Luca quickly received a reply from Frank, the "middleman," who politely said he would come to New York to meet as soon as possible, and would inform Luca of the specific time a few days in advance.

This answer was exactly what Luca had expected.

He wasn't Hoffa's first choice. That old guy was arrogant and proud, and wouldn't lower himself to see him until he was desperate.

In the original storyline, after Jimmy Hoffa was released from prison, the Mafia repeatedly sought to negotiate with him. There were many negotiators, such as the painter Frank, the big boss of the Bufalino family, the big boss of the Philadelphia family, Fat Tony, and Pro, who had already been killed by Luca, among others, involving most of the Mafia bosses on the East Coast.

The Mafia was initially very patient and willing to negotiate with Hoffa, their old partner.

Even many families from other places spoke well of Hoffa, pulled strings, and dealt with the New York Mafia, fearing that the New York bosses would kill Hoffa directly.

Before Fitz came to power, the Mafia had always cooperated with Hoffa, and the two sides had a fairly good relationship at that time. So initially, the Mafia adopted a conciliatory approach, unwilling to escalate the conflict. However, Hoffa broke off relations and used the union fund to block loans for many families, pushing the situation to an irreparable stalemate and completely exhausting the Mafia's patience.

For Hoffa, death was the only fate awaiting him.

Luca now has two plans.

One option is to continue supporting Fitz and persuade Hoffa to give up – that would be the ideal outcome. If necessary, he would use some extreme measures to force Hoffa to withdraw. In short, he cannot allow Hoffa to regain control of the union, as that would not be in the interest of the entire American Mafia.

Secondly, if Hoffa insists on taking power as originally planned, ignoring the advice of his old friends in the Mafia, then Luca will have no choice but to resort to violence to defend peace.

Between these two options, the first one, which is the safest bet, is to let Hoffa back down, because the consequences of killing this guy would be too severe.

Even if someone is simply missing, no matter how clean they were when they committed the crime, no evidence was left behind, and the federal government never found Hoffa's body, the federal government still "tortured" the Mafia.

The Mafia families in Detroit were completely wiped out, the Bufalino family was also implicated, and the situation had a negative impact on New York and Philadelphia as well.

The federal government identified the Mafia as the biggest beneficiaries of Hoffa's death—a disappearance case that the United States had been investigating for decades, relentlessly pursuing until the federal government took drastic measures against the five major New York families, inevitably influenced by the aftermath of this incident.

If it really comes to the point of killing Hoffa, then Luca will have to think about how to "kill" him in order to minimize the subsequent impact, or see if he can find a third option to resolve this big problem.

"Hopefully, things won't escalate to the worst possible outcome. The system rewards will be the most generous if things can be resolved peacefully."

"Think of a way to make Hoffa back down. That hot-tempered old man... I hope he won't beat me up when we meet."

Luca remembers that in the original storyline, Hoffa was supposed to seek support from Pro, the guild leader, and the two would start arguing when they met, and then get into a fight after only a few words, which was very unpleasant—now Pro is dead, and the 560 guild has fallen into Luca's hands.

On the east coast, as Luca's petrol tax business continued to expand, more and more truck drivers benefited from his generosity and became his loyal supporters.

Hoffa wants to take over, but he can forget about it if Luca doesn't agree.

Unbeknownst to many, Luca had become the central figure in this event, a key recorder who altered the course of history.

Luca now has the power to decide the fate of many important figures with a single sentence, even though the other party was once the president of the largest union in the United States, capable of influencing presidential elections.

"When the negotiation site is filled with Silver Queens, you'll have to suppress your temper no matter how angry you are!"

"And learn a skill while you're at it."

[Labor extortion: Your deterrent effect on truck driver union members +10%; Money laundering through truck driver unions, conversion rate of illicit funds +10%]

Luca hadn't learned this little skill he got from Pro yet, but now he could use it.

[Skill Fragment -40]

[Skill added]

[Remaining Skill Fragments: 132]

In mid-March, temperatures in New York gradually began to rise, as the Atlantic monsoon finally brought some warmth.

Luca has been living a relatively comfortable life lately. Besides keeping an eye on the furniture store's progress, he also invited Yuri and his wife to the club to chat about arms supplies and strengthen their bond. Yuri is facing no major troubles; the international police can only harass him, not affect his business. The only concern for him is that his wife might be implicated by the international police.

Few of these rare cardholders have a smooth and fulfilling family life.
In addition, Al got tired of New York and left for New Orleans—the same city where she and the bald mechanic had their hideout.

It's said that she received some news from Bill and had some business to attend to when she left.

Luca counted on his fingers, wondering if the Yellow Robe Goddess of War had escaped because she was pregnant.

However, Ishii Oren hasn't received any news from Bill yet, so things shouldn't have gotten to that point yet.

And when it comes to pregnancy...
"Old Pigeon! My wife is about to give birth!"

That day, David came to the club in high spirits for a drink and shared the good news with Luca.

Luca was still somewhat dazed when he heard this. He had known David for almost a year without realizing it. When the religious murder case broke out, it seemed that his wife had just become pregnant, and now, it was indeed almost time for her to give birth.

He felt quite gratified; David's family was a rare breed, one of the more fulfilling ones. His wife had once been willing to live with him in an apartment near the subway, enduring the noise and vibrations of the trains passing by. Now, David had been promoted and received a raise, and the couple had long since moved to a more comfortable neighborhood.

"Old Pigeon, when the baby is born, can you baptize him?" David sat opposite Luca, looking at him expectantly.

Luca asked in surprise, "Are you Catholic?"

David took a sip of his drink and recalled, "So it turns out they didn't believe. You remember that religious murder case, right? The killer was a fanatical Catholic. He almost went after my wife, and he even branded me with the sin of wrath."

Even now, David recalls the fear of being dominated once again. Luca also remembers that the guy labeled him as greedy and arrogant.

"I think my temper has improved a lot now."

David shrugged. “Money and status really can cultivate one’s character. When I was a junior detective, I was always eager to achieve results. Now that I have them, I’m not so eager anymore. I’ve even tried going to church to pray. I want to heal my sin of anger, make myself more peaceful, and leave my children with the image of a good father.”

David talked on and on, expressing his feelings and friendship for Luca, and finally asked about baptism—a rather sacred matter. In short, Luca would become the godfather of David's children.

The police allowed the Mafia to become the children's godfathers. When David chose to break down these barriers of identity and value friendship more, Luca also made his choice.

He smiled and said, "I will use my name to protect his spine."

This was Luca's promise, a simple sentence that David felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

After leaving the SSR Club, David went to the hospital to tell his wife the good news. The next day at work, he mentioned it to McLean, which made McLean exclaim in surprise.

"You little rascal, you're always trying to be clever, you bastard!" McLean laughed and scolded. "With Pigeon as your child's godfather and you, a cop dad, the little guy is already able to roam freely in both the legal and illegal worlds of New York right after he was born!"

McLean grew increasingly envious. What if David rose to a higher position in the NYPD, and Pigeon became a big boss?
“I’ll go back and discuss it with my wife,” McLean joked. “How about we have a third child and have Pigeon as the godfather?”

David laughed and scolded, "You already have two kids, and you want more? Can you even afford to raise them?"

“Once you’ve acknowledged a godfather, the godfather can’t just abandon you, can he?”

"All you do is cause trouble for Old Pigeon."

Amid the joke, McLean pulled out a report and handed it to David, saying, "Take a look at this."

"what?"

"Over the past month or so, case summaries from various boroughs in New York show that the crime rate in the Bronx has decreased by 7% year-over-year, and most of these cases are unrelated to organized crime such as gangs or drugs. If we only consider organized crime, the decrease is even more dramatic, almost 15 percentage points! Especially in Little Italy, the crime rate has dropped by 20%. David, can you believe it?"

The Bronx used to be known as the "Red Bronx"!
McLean added, "Now compare Harlem to Little Italy, one a predominantly Black area, the other an Italian predominantly Italian area. The crime rates used to be similar in both places, but now the difference is staggering."

David glanced around and saw that Harlem's crime rate was still ridiculously high, while Little Italy was the neighborhood with the lowest crime rate in all of New York.

He gaped in surprise: "I felt the crime rate over there was much lower, and there were fewer emergency calls coming from there. I didn't expect it to be this low now!"

"This must be because of the old pigeon."

McLean exclaimed in admiration, "Besides him, I really can't think of anyone else who could bring down the crime rate so much. More and more people in Little Italy are following the rules."

David looked on incredulously. Could it be that someone really reduced the crime rate in the area just by virtue of their personal prestige?

Old Pigeon is really amazing; he's truly a peace ambassador for a reason.

It's truly fortunate for his child to have a godfather like Lao Ge.

During this time, Jimmy Hoffa traveled around the East Coast lobbying for votes.

Before looking for Luca, a member of the mafia, Hoffa planned to contact other union leaders who were not from the mafia background. Pure black gangsters like Luca, who had sworn blood oaths, were rare in the truck driver union. There used to be another one, Pro, but now only Luca remained.

Other union leaders may have collaborations with the Mafia, but at least they themselves are not gang members.

Hofa believed that they could try to reach out to these "old subordinates" first and gain their support.

However, along the way, from New Jersey, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, to Baltimore, and even the capital Washington, D.C., he did not receive a clear response. Many people smiled and said they would "support" him, but when it came to specific plans, they were evasive and hesitant, each one dragging their feet and unwilling to side with him, swaying like a reed in the wind.

And we haven’t seen that fat bastard Fitz all the way here!

Hofa was so angry he was practically fuming.

Finally, at the headquarters of the truck drivers' union in Washington, he gave an interview to reporters, where he vehemently criticized and accused Fitz, the current chairman, even resorting to extreme terms such as "crime," "corruption," and "fraud."

When these remarks were broadcast on television, the internal war within the union officially began.

Fitz then gave Hoffa a gift in return—he blew up Hoffa's friend's yacht!

(End of this chapter)