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

Chapter 153 Detroit Deliverymen

"Detroit had this ticking time bomb."

Luca looked surprised.

What comes out will definitely be a medium to large-scale conflict.

The Detroit riots lasted for five days; they were quite serious because many people died, thousands were arrested, the incident was exposed by the national media, and most of the city was in chaos with looting and vandalism. The government even deployed the National Guard and the Army Airborne Division to suppress the unrest.
It's not that serious. Its impact is far less than the theft of the Federal Reserve's gold reserves, and discussing the deaths is not very meaningful. So many black people died, but it's not as significant as the death of Hoffa.

The riots were sparked by a police raid on an unlicensed black-owned bar. The excessive number of arrests led to clashes with many black bystanders and supporters. A group of black people, emboldened by their numbers, forced the police to leave, and then the situation spiraled out of control. They began vandalizing the city and looting shops, gradually escalating into a city-wide riot.

Ultimately, the root cause lies in the long-standing antagonism between black and white.

Luca found it outrageous. From an outsider's perspective, history will answer who was right and who was wrong. All he knew was that this turmoil severely disrupted the peace of Detroit.

He sat in his office, holding the faxed images, and pondered for a long time.

This kind of unrest cannot be resolved by simply eliminating a few rare cards; those few characters related to the story are merely a small microcosm of the riot.
How can I get involved?
Luca felt it was necessary to make a trip to Detroit himself.

It's not just because of the riots.

His business has just expanded into Russell's territory, and Russell's influence in eastern and central Pennsylvania continues to spread northwest, reaching Detroit, Michigan, after a few hundred kilometers, and then further west to nearby Chicago.

Both cities are under the control of the Mafia, including the truck drivers' union.

Contact with the local mafia is inevitable.

The Chicago Mafia, though past its peak with the death of its boss Al Capone from syphilis, still wields considerable influence and remains a dominant force.

Detroit
The Mafia families in this city are a bit special because there is more than one family in it, just like in New York, where multiple families are crammed together, except that each family is much weaker than the families in New York.

These smaller families then formed a small committee, elected a leader to represent Detroit, and held one of the seats on the national committee.

They are indeed rather weak. The combined strength of several families is not even comparable to that of a single family in the neighboring Chicago. Moreover, they have failed to become the absolute hegemon of Detroit and are still competing with those black gangs for territory and business.

Detroit has an overwhelming number of Black people. The Black population now exceeds 50%, and this percentage is expected to rise rapidly, eventually reaching over 80%. As far as the eye can see, it's all Black.

The Black people here are indeed quite strong fighters; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to instigate riots that shocked the entire United States, and even the Mafia couldn't gain much advantage in the conflict.

—As for why the riots are always associated with the Black community?

It's like three Black brothers in a car, but who's driving?

Of course, they are police officers.

Luca also believes that the Detroit riots were not only caused by black people's tendency to cause trouble, but were also mostly related to local black gangs. These gangs would not miss such a huge opportunity to buy something for free.

"It seems necessary to go to Detroit and check out the situation."

Luca put away the intelligence and made a decision: "Such medium to large-scale conflicts are rare and unpredictable."

Riots, the Detroit Mafia, the assassination of Hoffa, and then there's Bobby Marshall—a whole host of things all coming together.

Bobby, this rare card, is quite powerful in combat, and with his aura, he can single-handedly take down a black gang.

Surprisingly, this guy and Hoffa are quite close.
Luca narrowed his eyes.

He picked up his phone and called Lyon: "Lyon, the plans have changed."

Then he informed Frank: "Wait for my notification, and I will tell you what to do then."

7 month 1 number.

After handing over the club's affairs to Jimmy, Luca led a group of men to Detroit. In addition to some Mafia underlings, Luca also brought along Ah Qiang and Brian.

The furniture store is still under renovation, and Uncle Biao has long since returned from his honeymoon. A-Qiang doesn't need to look after the supermarket; his main job every day is security at the club and maintaining peace in Little Italy.

He was having a lot of fun, and he farmed a lot of fragments for Luca.

As a person with a chivalrous spirit, Ah-Qiang's philosophy is to fight against evil and help those in need. He is particularly good at using violence to fight violence, and has earned the nickname "Kung Fu Kid" in the Bronx, where he beats up a group of thugs who cry for their parents.

As for Brian...
Ever since Brian learned that Luca was an informant in the gold heist and helped the Federation recover the gold, he's been absolutely amazed by Old Pigeon!

Oh my god, I misunderstood Old Pigeon. The collaboration with Simon was just a show.

Old Pigeon, you kept this from me for so long!

"Old Pigeon, what are we going to Detroit for this time?" Brian asked Old Pigeon in the back seat as he drove.

“Let’s talk to the local mafia about the gasoline business,” Luca said casually. Mentioning the gasoline business, Ah Qiang suddenly felt a bit itchy to get his hands dirty. “Old Ge, the furniture store isn’t fixed yet. When we get back to New York, I’d like to drive a truck whenever I have free time.”

Luca smiled and said, "Yes, just tell Jimmy, and he'll take care of it."

The group set off in the morning and arrived in Detroit in the evening. After arriving, Luca first met with Leon and then arranged a later meeting with the Detroit Mafia boss.

The group then crossed another 8 miles of streets, heading north to the predominantly white northern suburbs of Detroit.

Racial discrimination in Detroit is quite severe. The 8-Mile Drive is a clear dividing line—north of the road is the area where white elites live, with a relatively low crime rate; south of the road, the crime rate rises exponentially, with all the blacks concentrated in the south.

Along the 8-mile stretch of street stands the "Berwood Separation Wall," a resemblance to the Berlin Wall, which forcibly separated Black and white communities to meet the Federal Housing Administration's loan requirements.

This is blatant discrimination placed on a landmark.

Black people were not allowed to migrate north, while white people could openly come to the south, open factories, and recruit cheap Black labor.

Later, it evolved into the discriminatory perception that "Black people can't walk 8 miles," and this perception has not been completely eliminated in the future. It has become a culture and has been written into various rap songs by Black people.

On the south side of 8 Mile Road, the gang's influence split into two areas, east and west.

The Mafia family alliance's business is mainly in the West End and parts of the East End, involving gambling, loan sharking, union infiltration, and a small amount of drug dealing.

The major black gangs are concentrated in the East District, mainly dealing in drugs; black people only deal in drugs.

night.

In a restaurant in the northern suburbs, Luca met Joe Zerelli, the leader of the Detroit Mafia syndicate.

This older brother is even older than Gambino, and he's been in power ever since. He originally wanted to step down and hand over the reins to a more capable person, but his subordinates disagreed and insisted that he remain the leader, supposedly because the next generation of leaders wasn't ready yet.

Under his rule, the Detroit Mafia was surprisingly harmonious, with very few internal conflicts occurring over the decades.

Despite living in one of the most chaotic cities in the United States, it is more peaceful than the five major New York families.

After learning of Luca's purpose, Zerelli expressed his opinion, "Luca, I personally do not recommend that you start a gasoline business in Detroit. The Detroit truck drivers' union is a complicated situation, and we do not have much control over it."

Most of the union members are Black, and these Black people have East Side gang connections. They are a bunch of lazy wolves who don't know how to cooperate with the union and are only thinking about how to rob the union.

You painstakingly prepare generous contracts and benefits for them, but they take it for granted and will insatiably demand more from you.

Luca glanced at the mafia members next to Zerri, a group of elderly men and owners of other small families—these families were more or less related by marriage, and a large part of the alliance was made up of relatives.

Harmony is not without reason.

These old men are all too old and will die one by one. After all these older generation members have passed away, the Detroit Mafia leadership system will completely end, the alliance will decline and lose its voice, and will gradually be replaced by those street black gangs.

In the future, there will be very few white people in Detroit, and the Italian Mafia will have no say there.

Luca chatted with a group of old men and sadly discovered that these old guys had lost their edge, like lions in their twilight years, only able to sit on their own territory and live off their dwindling resources, relying on their remaining power to intimidate other gangs, without any intention of continuing to expand their territory.

"It seems you have no intention of cooperating? Even if I can bring you substantial profits?" Luca shook his head and smiled. "Detroit is the Motor City. If it can't even sell gasoline, the decline of this city is inevitable."

"It's not that we're unwilling to cooperate with you."

Zerelli's voice was old and hoarse, "But Detroit is different from New York. The low-end industries in this city can't do without Black people, and they can't avoid those Black gangs. If you want to cooperate with gas stations here, you have to hire Black employees, you have to have Black drivers deliver your goods, and you have to be prepared for these Black people to cause some trouble, like your gas station suddenly burning down, or the gasoline in the tanker truck being stolen."
And your price war might not work very well here; those black gangs will force you to raise prices at gunpoint.

Luca nodded thoughtfully.

The core of the gasoline tax is to dump low-priced gasoline, selling it cheaper than competitors, thereby quickly seizing the market. If even this cannot be achieved, discussing the subsequent tax evasion is meaningless.

Clearly, Black people in Detroit also had "cooperation" with gas stations, such as paying protection money, and they violently suppressed out-of-town vendors to maintain the dominant position of their own businesses.

Zerelli said helplessly, "Can you imagine those black teenagers, each carrying a gun and drugs? Those blacks are using children on a large scale to sell drugs for them on the streets. Children are easier to control, and the law can't touch them. They go around the streets and alleys, delivering drugs to their customers, just like..."

An older man nearby added, "Delivery drivers! Those kids are drug delivery drivers!"

"Yes, they are food delivery drivers."

Zerelli shrugged: "Can you imagine those kids being proud to join gangs? The school education system has been diluted. These kids, who are not even 10 years old, just want to join gangs to sell drugs, rob and kill with gangs, and they think it's an honor."

Luca: "."

Doesn't this sound like we've come to Africa? When warlords couldn't find soldiers, they turned to boy scouts.

Zellelli's gaze was deep and unfathomable: "Luca, the bullets fired by children are no different from those fired by adults; they can both kill."

(End of this chapter)