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

Chapter 154 The Rapper of 8 Mile Street

The situation in Detroit was a little more complicated than Luca had imagined. He had expected it to be chaotic, but he hadn't considered that so many children were involved.

Although Luca himself joined the mafia at a young age, this does not mean that the mafia uses child labor on a large scale; people like him are extremely rare.

These young delivery drivers in Detroit have clearly formed a large-scale organized crime group.

Coincidentally, it's still a drug-related crime.

If Luca were to stand on the 8-mile stretch of street, countless people would be terrified and their legs would go weak.

At this moment, hearing the well-intentioned advice from these older brothers, Luca felt helpless and speechless at the "laissez-faire" Mafia in Detroit.

However, this is due to the broader environment. Detroit is experiencing a continuous outflow of white people while the number of black people is increasing, inevitably leading to a gradual weakening of the Mafia's influence.

Right now, it's just these old men holding things together. Once they're all gone, the Detroit Mafia can finally come to an end.

Leaving those topics aside for the time being, Luca had dinner with a group of older men, chatting and joking around, and they even talked about Jimmy Hoffa.

The awkward thing is that these older brothers are already marginalized within the National Committee. They know Hoffa has caused trouble for everyone, but they don't know that Tony has already issued the execution order.

It seems that having voting rights makes no difference to them.

Even when Luca and Tony wanted to kill Hoffa, they didn't intend to notify the local Detroit mafia.

Luca could guess that Tony and Russell were trying to shift the blame to the Detroit family—after all, in the original storyline, the Detroit family was the most affected by Hoffa's death, and the federal government investigated them thoroughly, uncovering everything about the Big Brothers.

Who caused Hoffa's "disappearance" in Detroit? Who implicated the Detroit family and the truck drivers' union? If not the local mafia, who should be investigated first?

Speaking of which, Zellelli and Hoffa have a pretty good relationship. He said tactfully, "I visited Hoffa recently and talked to him about these things. Why should we old men who are about to die compete with you young people? Isn't it better to spend our twilight years with our families and enjoy life? After a lifetime of hard work, this is what I want now, to hold my grandchildren and watch them grow up safely."

Zerri is quite old, almost 80, and is indeed somewhat "retired," lacking the energy for political infighting. He has long wanted to step down.

It was precisely because of his peaceful mindset that these old men in Detroit all died peacefully outside of prison, a rare "good end".

Luca: "I guess Hoffa definitely didn't take your advice."

Zerelli smiled helplessly: "The older people get, the more they can't let go of their past obsessions. Sometimes when you don't know what the point of living is, you start thinking about these things. Hoffa has never been a submissive person. I've known him for decades. When he first organized the union strike in Detroit, I even helped him threaten the business owners."

He told me back then that he wanted to make the truck drivers' union the largest union in the United States, and that he wanted every truck driver to be respected by outsiders!

Luca took a sip of his drink, staring at the other man's wrinkled face. "Without the help of our Mafia, Hoffa couldn't have achieved these victories!"

“Luca, there are very few people in the Mafia who do business with truck drivers like you. As the boss, you know better than anyone what the Mafia wants.”

Zerelli looked at Luca with great admiration. "When I was talking to Hoffa, although he kept complaining and cursing a lot of people, he didn't criticize what you did."

What he hated most wasn't the Mafia, but people like Fitz who would betray the union without any scruples. He believed that the union's dignity would one day be ruined by these parasites.

Luca frowned. "But what he said on TV was really awful."

"He definitely did something wrong."

"He shouldn't have blocked our loan either."

“This is being handled by Alan Dorfman; perhaps you could try talking to him.”

Dorfman owns an insurance company and is one of the heads of the union's retirement fund. He used to work for Hoffa and continued to serve him even after Hoffa went to prison. However, after receiving a bomb threat from the Mafia, he ended up working with Fitz again.

In addition, Hoffa had some close associates managing the fund, and it was these people who received Hoffa's instructions to block loans to various families.

Luca shook his head. The Mafia had already spoken with Dorfman, but he couldn't control the situation. Hoffa's "remnants" within the union weren't weak.

Now that the execution order has been issued, there's no point in discussing this anymore, and Luca really doesn't want to argue with Hoffa.

Hoffa is dead, and the unions can have peace.

Zellelli was unaware of the depth of the young man's murderous intent. With a friendly smile on his face, he chatted with Luca for a while and even offered to act as a mediator, helping Luca to negotiate with Hoffa again.

Luca neither agreed nor refused, brushing it off and returning the conversation to the gasoline business, "I don't want to miss out on the Detroit gasoline business; the profits here are very high. Would you be willing to help me?"

"That's certainly not a problem. I'd be happy to help you. I have considerable influence in the local union, and your business should be able to operate smoothly in the West District, but in the East District..."

Zerelli shook his head. "Sorry, the Black community over there is too powerful. We have an agreement with the Black community in the East District not to interfere with each other, so we can't forcefully intervene in their territory."

Luca thought to himself, "This won't do. Most of Detroit's population lives in the East Side."

How many people live in this affluent area in the northern suburbs? And how many live in the western suburbs?
There are just too many people in the East District.

Luca smiled slightly: "Then let's start with a pilot program in the West End. Maybe my cheap gasoline will attract the attention of the Black people in the East End?"

The black gang, Luca, plans to cooperate with the government in a large-scale "anti-gang" operation.

War must come before peace can be achieved.

This massive civil war in Detroit will shock the entire nation.

Luca intends to detonate this "bomb" ahead of schedule.

After enjoying dinner with a group of old men, Luca invited Brian and Ah Qiang to leave together.

On the way back to the northern suburbs from the West End, as the car passed near 8 Mile Street, Luca told Brian to turn in and check the situation.

What one sees is utter desolation.

This is an upgraded version of Harlem, New York, where almost everyone you see is Black, wandering the streets aimlessly. Black men carrying bottles of liquor are a common sight, and homeless people are everywhere, often found fast asleep.

There were people selling drugs on the street, and the dilapidated walls were covered with graffiti containing sexual and violent allusions. "Are there biker gangs in Detroit?" Brian looked around curiously. "This is the Motor City, the biker culture should be pretty good, right?"

Luca rolled his eyes at Brian, thinking, "He really has to speed wherever he goes."

However, there probably are biker gangs in Detroit, just not as prevalent as in Los Angeles.

Along the way, Brian also saw several groups of Black people huddled together, shouting at each other.

"Street battles? I've heard that Detroit has some pretty good rappers, and some big rap stars have come out of there."

Luca has no musical talent and is completely indifferent to rap; he just finds it noisy.

That being said, this 8 Mile Street
Luca suddenly remembered something; it seemed that this place would become a symbol of rap in the future, and even attract many foreign rappers to imitate it and hold underground battle competitions.

Can they learn from the Detroit Blacks? These Black people, under long-term discrimination and oppression, have developed a rapid-fire, rhythmic tongue, and they never lose when they argue with the police.

Just as he was thinking this, Brian suddenly interrupted Luca's thoughts, "Old Pigeon, something's not right. Look over there, it looks like a fight is about to break out."

Luca remained calm. It would be abnormal if there weren't fights in Detroit; the city's murder rate had once been the highest in the nation.

Looking up, Luca followed the direction Brian was pointing and saw a group of black men wielding sticks, cursing and swearing as they chased after a white man.

Upon seeing the white man, Luca's expression faltered.

Damn, buddy, you actually worked on the 8 Mile before you started out?

"Brian, stop the car."

Luca gave an order, then said, "Qiang, go and help."

After saying that, Luca calmly drew a pistol from his waist and handed one to Ah Qiang, saying, "Take this gun with you. Bullets are more useful in case of danger."

Ah Qiang didn't refuse and took it. He had been practicing with the security supervisor, Leon, recently, and although he wasn't a sharpshooter, he could still manage to shoot at these targets.

Then Luca pulled two guns out from under his seat, tossed one to Brian, and kept the other for himself.

As the car stopped, Ah-Qiang took the lead, grabbed his gun, rushed out of the car, and blocked the white guy's path. The latter thought Ah-Qiang was also there to settle scores with him, so he immediately turned around and ran towards the street next to him.

Unexpectedly, a white young man of about the same age as him appeared in front of him.

Gunshots rang out into the air, and all the black people in the scene looked toward Luca with surprise and uncertainty. In an instant, they felt a powerful pressure, and the fear from their hearts made many of the drug addicts take a step back.

But fear also caused some of the Black men to pull out handguns and attempt to resist.

But just as they raised their arms, several bullets were fired ahead of time, hitting their arms.

These few shots immediately caused an uproar.

Many people were immediately terrified and fled in all directions, while many others were knocked down by A-Qiang and lay on the ground groaning in pain.

A black man, who was leading the group, lay on the ground, looking at Luca with fear in his eyes. He then glanced at the white boy not far away, and tremblingly moved his head away from Luca's gun. "Dude, please don't shoot."

"Why are you causing trouble for him?" Luca pointed at the white boy.

The Black man chuckled dryly, "We didn't cause him any trouble, really, I swear, it's a misunderstanding."

He gave a dry explanation, explaining that the reason was simply that he had been insulted during a street rap diss, which led to a minor altercation between pushing and shoving escalating into a street brawl.

Luca was speechless. What the hell was this?

He waved his hand: "There are rules to dissing, you hear me? Next time I see a bunch of blacks bullying a white person, my bullet won't just hit your arm."

I'm so sorry.

"Get as far away as you can before I change my mind and kill you."

The Black man quickly got up and, with the help of his companion, fled the scene.

You stopped a conflict between people of different races. You defended peace on the streets.

[Gain 5 skill points]

[Gained 2 Skill Fragments]

[Remaining Skill Fragments: 304]

Luca glanced at the panel, then looked back at the thuggish white guy not far away, his character card popping up in front of him.

[Rare Card Discovered: Jimmy Smith]

Smith: A

[Source: 8 Mile]

[Skills: Rap of the raunchy; Lose yourself]

[Bond: Strangers]

Jimi Luca couldn't help but complain, "Why are there so many people named Jimi?"

Looking at the still somewhat immature face in front of him, Luca found it hard to connect this short guy who was still in the underworld with the future world-renowned rap superstar.

Detroit, this seemingly rotten land, is surprisingly teeming with talent.

(End of this chapter)