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

Chapter 15 The War That Is About to Begin

You commissioned Leon to kill a notorious drug dealer, restoring peace to the community.

[Gain Skill Points +5]

[Gain Skill Fragment +1]

At home, Luca put down his phone and asked Matilda with a smile, "The Chinese food tonight isn't spicy, is it? What do you think of the taste?"

Matilda licked her lips: "Great! I didn't know Chinese food could be non-spicy, especially this sweet and sour pork! It's so delicious, sweet and sour!"

Shortly afterward, just as the two were enjoying their meal, another phone call came in; it was Jimmy.

"Luca! Henry is dead!"

"Wait?" Luca asked in shock. "How did he die?"

Jimmy was hesitant to speak, "He was arrested by the police for drug trafficking, and it seems he was beaten to death by the police. I don't know the specifics of the scene; his wife told me."

"Didn't I warn him to stop dealing drugs?"

"."

"Jimmy, were you involved?"

"No, I promise, if you tell me not to touch it, I won't! I'm sorry, I tried to persuade Henry, but he wouldn't listen to me."

"This isn't your fault; he brought it on himself. Jimmy, you've always been lucky; the police haven't caught you."

Luca silently curled the corners of his mouth.

After leaving the bar that day, he called Leon and asked him to keep an eye on Henry, firstly to find out if Henry continued to deal drugs, and secondly to be ready to kill him to cover it up at any time.

Henry has been warned to give up the drug business, but he is outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant and hasn't forgotten his original intentions, so there's nothing that can be done.

Henry can't be caught; his mouth is undone, and that shameless scoundrel will betray his own family to save himself.

Luca didn't want things to go according to plan, so he didn't even give Henry the chance to participate in the witness protection program.

As for Jimmy, he's been to jail multiple times, but he's never betrayed his family. Luca plans to observe him further.

In the Mafia, being caught for a crime is not important; the family will bail out the member. If the sentence is too severe and the member cannot be released for a while, the family will also take good care of the member's family so that everyone has no worries.

The premise is that you must keep your mouth shut and not betray them.

Otherwise, execution is the better option; hiding in prison will only lead to an even faster death.

The following morning, at the New York Police Department.

William Somerset and David Mills unexpectedly receive a new case report—another sniper has been reported.

The previous two deaths involved an artist and a stockbroker, respectively, but this time it was a drug dealer.

"Somemossey, do you think it's related to the previous sniping case?"

David analyzed Henry's file for a long time but couldn't find any connection between Henry and the two previous victims.

Henry was a peripheral member of the Lucchese family and had absolutely no connection to the first two victims.

Moreover, the first two victims shared a common characteristic when they died—they were both on the phone.

But Henry did not.

William shook his head and said, "Last night's sniping case is not our responsibility. Don't meddle in other people's business."

He was retiring soon and didn't want to cause any trouble at this time; he just wanted to finish the two assassination cases he was currently handling.

Three days passed in a flash.

On a bright, sunny morning, Luca attended Henry's funeral, along with Marigio, Jimmy, and many official members and associates of the Mafia.

Such funerals are commonplace for the Mafia, as members die frequently.

Luca once set a record of attending 15 funerals in a single month, and ironically, some of those funerals were murders he had committed.

At Henry's funeral, Luca met Pauli Cicero, a gangster.

As Henry's boss, Paulie showed no sadness when he saw Henry's tombstone, as if he had long anticipated Henry's fate.

Perhaps Henry's death was the best choice for him and for the entire family.

Poly left a bouquet of flowers, offered a few words of condolence, and then departed.

Luca wanted to chat with Pauli and develop a relationship, but seeing Pauli's somewhat gloomy expression, he thought better of it and decided not to go over and provoke him.

Marigio watched Pauli's departing figure and complained to Luca:

“The police officer in charge that night was Roberts, Luca. You know how sensitive that guy is. It was only a matter of time before that idiot Henry was caught by Roberts. I guess Paulie anticipated this and sent an assassin to take care of Henry.”

"It was definitely an assassin." Luca nodded in agreement: "That's right! Pauli had the motive; everyone knows he hates people around him dealing drugs."

He was pleased that his boss had taken the initiative to shift the blame onto someone else.

Well, let Poly take the blame for this.

Taking the blame is better than being betrayed by Henry and going to jail, right?

Now that Henry, that shameless scoundrel who could betray them at any moment, is dead, Luca has one less thing to worry about and can focus more on other things.

For example, opening a club, or taking care of Ricky Roberts, the police officer.

Luca already knew this guy; he was a local New York police officer.

[Character Card: Ricky Roberts (Unlocked)]

[Rich: A]

[Source: American Gangster]

[Skills: Honesty; Defection] [Bond: Stranger]

Richie was one of the key figures who later won the war on drugs in New York. It was he who led the special narcotics task force to capture Frank, a black drug lord, and turn him to the side. He then sent three-quarters of the narcotics officers to the DEA, causing a major reshuffle in the NYPD and the DEA.

In other words, even if Stan didn't die at Luca's hands, he would have been sent to jail by Richie later.

However, Richie is currently just an ordinary police officer and doesn't seem to have been recruited by the DEA's bigwigs yet.
—The DEA deals with large-scale drug crimes, such as transnational drug cases, and targets major drug lords; while city police officers are usually responsible for drug raids in the city and on the streets.

Richie hasn't gone to the DEA yet, which means there's still some buffer time before that major crisis.
Luca certainly wouldn't mind helping Richie.

Such a big event might just bring out some very generous system rewards.

Moreover, Richie's two skills are also very useful.

[Honesty: Your integrity has been recognized by the federal government, increasing your trust level by 10%; when you turn over illegally obtained funds to the government, your trust level will increase by an additional 5% to 30% (depending on the amount and source of the illegal proceeds).]
At the same time, the trust level of corrupt police officers decreases by 10% to 50% (depending on the amount turned over and the degree of involvement of the corrupt officer in organized crime).

[Learning Requirements: Bond level must be close friend or higher; 80 skill fragments required]

[Turning Criminals: You are more likely to persuade criminals, and their trust level increases by 10%; if you are a government official, your trust level increases by an additional 20% when you turn criminals.]

[Learning Requirements: Affinity level of Friends or higher; Requires 50 Skill Fragments]

Two skills: one to gain the trust of officials, and the other to gain the trust of criminals.

Both are nice.

However, Luca only needs to look at the first half of the skill for now; the second half won't be useful to him for the time being.

How does the Mafia recruit criminals?

How could Luca possibly hand over the embezzled funds? Wouldn't that be blatantly admitting he had illegal income?
Even so, the first half of the skills was very appealing to Luca.

In exchange for system rewards and skills, Luca is happy to help Richie win the drug war and send Frank to prison.

As for Frank's skills, there's one called "Cross-border Transportation" and the other called "Corruption Infiltration." The former reduces the probability of official searches when transporting drugs across borders; the latter increases trust by a small amount when bribing officials.

Luca no longer touches the drug business; his first skill is immediately out of the question.

The second skill... is passable, but in America, things that can be solved with money aren't really problems; besides, [Corruption Infiltration] requires a bond of at least close friendship, and Luca doesn't think he can become close friends with a ruthless drug lord like Frank.

That guy is capable of killing even his own brothers and sisters.

Therefore, Luca wasn't very interested in Frank; the guy would end up in jail sooner or later.

If it weren't for needing Frank to provide a confession, dismantle the New York DEA, and achieve a greater victory in the drug war in exchange for more system rewards, Luca would have preferred to assassinate Frank directly for the rewards.

After the funeral.

At 3:30 p.m., Luca drove back to Manhattan to pick up his kid from school.

"Luca!" Matilda excitedly climbed into the passenger seat. Seeing that the seat hadn't been adjusted and was perfect for her short legs, her smile widened.

"Today I taught a girl who used to bully me a lesson at school. It felt so satisfying!"

"Oh? How did you do that?"

“I told them my brother is Mafia! They stopped attacking and excitedly called me 'Big Sister,' asking me to take them to see you.”

"."

Alright, alright, so this is how I, Mafia, will use my name, is that right?

Thinking of this, Luca opened the panel and glanced at the message notifications he hadn't noticed.

Matilda used your name to defend the peace of the campus.

[Gain Skill Points +2]

[Gain Skill Fragment +1]

[Remaining Skill Fragments: 64]

Hmm, looking at it this way, it doesn't seem like it's impossible.

As long as the school doesn't make Matilda call her parents, Luca doesn't want to listen to those teachers nagging.

Matilda exclaimed excitedly, "Luca! I'm really looking forward to the weekend. I want to experience the life of the Mafia!"

This was a statement that would send shivers down the spine of American "happy education" (a term used to describe a highly effective educational approach to education). Luca nodded with satisfaction, "Alright, I'll teach you things you can't learn in school."

Luca is very patient when playing house with children.

But he didn't expect that before he could even play house with Matilda, he would first see a group of police officers playing house.

On their way back, as they passed through Times Square in Manhattan, they saw a group of police officers blocking the road, with many onlookers and reporters standing outside the cordon to watch the spectacle.

There were snipers on the surrounding buildings.

Question marks simultaneously appeared on Luca's and Matilda's foreheads.

what's going on?
Although New York is rife with arson, murder, robbery, and countless other crimes, and the sound of police sirens can be heard in Manhattan every night, it is still relatively rare to see such a large-scale operation in Times Square.

Luca stuck his head out of the car window and looked ahead. He saw a man inside a phone booth, holding a receiver with a panicked expression and talking into it.

[Character Card Discovered: Stu Shepard (Unlocked)]

[St. Peters: D]

[Source: Phone Booth]

[Skill: None]

[Bond: Strangers]

Luca raised an eyebrow slightly. Oh, it's this guy?

(End of this chapter)