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

Chapter 158 Union Conflict
The car was driving on its way to the union.

Luca tilted his head slightly, his pupils reflecting the gaunt city, its skyline a gray expanse.

Detroit has indeed "slimmed down." The city used to be economically developed, with a nationally renowned automobile industry and a thriving economy. Back then, the industrial production lines south of 8 Mile Road were the city's vibrant lifeblood. Now, those lifeblood have shrunk, the factories are deserted, and there are only desolate ruins everywhere.

In fact, Luca was not sure when the riot would occur. According to the original plot, a black choir would appear on the eve of the riot, but Luca had Leon investigate and found no trace of them.

Then he'll have to "light the fire" himself and detonate it prematurely.

In any case, Detroit is a powder keg that has been brewing for a long time, just waiting for a fuse.

The explosives and fuse are ready; all that's missing is a lighter, someone to ignite it, and someone to be "killed" in the explosion.
Rare cards flashed through my mind, each with several bonds that connected to other rare cards.
Luca asked, "Leon, how's the situation with Bobby Marcel?"

This guy may not discriminate against Black people, but he is a complete violent maniac and savage. Under his two-barreled trolling, all people are equal.

He is currently living at his mother's house.

Lyon gave a brief and detailed account of Bobby's situation, such as how Bobby frequently traveled between Hoffa and his mother's house, though Lyon didn't know exactly what he did there, but he did communicate with Hoffa quite often; in addition, only two of the Marcel brothers were currently in Detroit, while the other two were still out there, and Lyon didn't know what they were doing either.

I vaguely remember Luca.

The third brother is a rock 'n' roll youth, I don't know where he hangs out; the fourth brother is a black man, also a gambler, and seems to frequent Las Vegas.

In the original storyline, the four brothers reunited at their mother's funeral. However, this has not happened, and the four brothers have no opportunity to reunite.

Luca thought for a moment. The third and fourth brothers were out of town, so they were irrelevant. The second brother, Jerry, a union member and businessman, along with the eldest, Bobby, were more crucial figures, having close ties with Hoffa.

Secondly, in the original storyline of "The Four Brothers", there are some characters with more complicated identities, such as the black councilor of the city council who has close ties with the Sweet gang. They joined forces to block the second brother's renovation plan and extort money from him.
The gang also had a corrupt police ally within the police department—a white officer.

Look here, there's a white police officer who doesn't discriminate against Black people, but is actually willing to cooperate with Black gangs.

Of course, these dark secrets are nothing but paper tigers in the face of the four brothers who are capable of anything. They sweep through everything in their path, determined to avenge their mother and expose her to the fullest extent of the law.
Luca looked away and gazed at the road ahead, where the Detroit Truckers Union was right in front of him.

The situation here is more complicated than with other unions outside. Although it is not the union headquarters, it is the place where Hofa was born and rose to prominence.

Before Hoffa went to prison, there were more white people in the Detroit labor unions. However, as white people left Detroit and the black population gradually increased, the unemployment rate rose year by year. Many black people who lost their jobs pinned their hopes on the labor unions and joined them in an attempt to secure a livelihood for themselves.

But with the city's overall environment in such a terrible state, how much can the labor union really help?
With limited opportunities, competition within the union intensified. After all, driving a truck wasn't a high-end, unique skill; Black people could learn it too and commanded lower prices, thus competing for white jobs.

Given such a polarized environment, there are also many discordant voices within the union.
Luca arrived at the union and, leveraging his status as a Mafia member, business owner, and New Jersey union president, sat down for a chat with the current union president. His core demand was simple: to ensure the smooth operation of the gasoline business in Detroit, which would create dozens, even hundreds, of high-paying, high-benefit jobs for the local union.

As for how to select people, should we choose white or black people? How much kickback does the local association president want to squeeze out from the high salaries?

Luca didn't want to get involved.

They didn't want to get involved, at least not until the riots started.

He's here to add fuel to the fire, not to get himself into trouble.

8 miles north of the road, in the northern suburbs of Detroit.

Hofa's house is located in a scenic spot by the lake.

At this moment, the two old men sat leisurely on the shore, basking in the sun. The bright sunshine and the cool breeze from the lake made Zeli look very content.

As a semi-retired old man enjoying his retirement, Zerelli prefers to lie here in the sun rather than sit in his office dealing with matters, especially after several members of the Consortium Committee passed away, making him cherish his remaining life even more.

He was getting too old, and his health was deteriorating. He probably knew how much longer he could hold on.

In such a large Detroit Mafia organization, no one volunteered to take over, and the reason given was even more ridiculous—"We're not ready yet, please hold on a little longer."

He sighed, “Hofa, it’s hard for me to find a successor now, but you and I are different. The truck drivers’ union has so many talented people, you don’t have to worry about not having a successor.”

Hofa leaned back lazily in his recliner and hummed, "Succession? At least I'll voluntarily give up my position to someone else, instead of some bastards taking advantage of me while I'm in prison to steal what's rightfully mine. So who are you planning to hand over your position to?"

“I don’t know. Who cares what happens after I die?” Zerelli shrugged. “But if I had to guess, it would be the other members of the committee. None of the younger generation has the prestige to lead the Detroit Mafia.”

Hofa: "."

Does your consortium committee have any members under 70 years old?
Hoffa knew all those old men who were older than him; they were all old acquaintances from Detroit, and they had even fought side by side during a strike.

Now, several old men have passed away, and he didn't even have the chance to attend their funerals while he was in prison.

That's not something that can be explained simply by saying "things have changed, people are no longer the same".

Times are changing so fast, Hoffa suddenly felt a pang of melancholy. Zerelli then brought up the gasoline business, "Pigeon brought his gasoline business from the East Coast to Detroit, and we've already started working on it in the West Side. I must say, that guy's incredibly generous, especially to those truck drivers. Those out-of-town drivers get at least twice the wages and benefits of Detroit truck drivers!"
If my partnership with him can flourish throughout Detroit, Hoffa, all these drivers will support you!

"support me?"

Hofa looked suspicious.

He didn't deny that Pigeon was generous; that's what the guy did in New Jersey, and he had countless "die-hard fans." But this was Detroit. Hoffa had been in prison for too long, there were too many Black members in the union, and the union back home had gradually slipped out of his control.

Even if the pigeons win over the workers here, how could they possibly come to support them?
“He can’t possibly support me,” Hoffa said with certainty.

“But don’t forget, I’m here too,” Zerelli said. “I’m the boss of the Detroit Mafia. Until I die, I’ll still be the one in charge here. Pigeon is just an outsider. He can only listen to my opinions. Besides, Pigeon is also in it for the money. He won’t turn down money.”

"I just don't quite believe it," Hoffa questioned, and Zerelli explained the theft of the tanker truck.

Zerelli: "Hoffa, this is a great opportunity. With your current prestige among workers, your intervention, your standing up against those black gangs, and your promises to local workers will greatly help your campaign!"
Those black gangs have gone too far, and Pigeon is worried about losses, so they have drastically reduced the gasoline supply! This has made many local gas station owners very unhappy; they have tasted the benefits and don't want to miss out on this business.

"To restore pigeon supply, the local situation needs to stabilize. Then I'll help you get the same contracts from the pigeons and give them to local truck drivers! These can all be used as leverage to win you votes, Hoffa. We need to make good use of the pigeons' gasoline business."

Hoffa raised an eyebrow. "You can control the pigeons?"

Zerelli declared confidently, “If he still wants to do business in Detroit, he can’t get around me! If he still wants to use the drivers here, he can’t get around you! When it comes to money, I think Pigeon knows what to do.”

Hoffa believed this; the Mafia would stop at nothing for money.
Just as he was pondering this, a guest came to visit.

Mrs. Marcel.

Given the old lady's reputation among the people, Zeli had heard of her and met her a few times.

Marcel came to Hoffa for help because of his son Jerry's renovation business—Jerry thought he had kept it a secret, but Marcel, who had watched him grow up, knew exactly what trouble his son was in.

She even went to the city council to confront the corrupt councilor and had a heated argument, but to no avail. After learning that the councilor was colluding with a black gang, she went to the police station to report him, providing a lot of information and accusing the group of working together to illegally control municipal government projects.

A remarkably brave old lady who risked her life for her son.

When Hofa learned of this, he couldn't help but frown.

Is it related to Black gangs again?

Zerelli added from the side, "I know that black senator; he has close ties to the Sweet gang."

After listening to Zellelli's explanation, Hoffa looked at the pleading Ms. Marcel and reassured her, "I'll help you with this."

Ultimately, Hoffa agreed to step in and help protect the local union and resist illegal and malicious forces that infringe upon workers' rights.

Whether it's for the jobs and welfare of local truck drivers, for votes and support, or to appease the white business owners and gas station owners who have filed a large number of complaints, it's all for the sake of local truck drivers' jobs and welfare, for votes and support, or to appease the white business owners and gas station owners who have filed a large number of complaints.
Hoffa realized he had underestimated the gasoline business. Moving from the East Coast to Detroit had created such a huge impact in a short time, and gas station owners in the West Side seemed to particularly favor these cheap gasolines.

When he arrived at the union, he found it in complete chaos, with several groups of people arguing loudly in the corridors and hall.

One group consists of out-of-town truck drivers under Luca's command. They come to Detroit's local union seeking protection of their rights and hoping to work smoothly here instead of being constantly threatened by the local gangs.
Some extremists even believe that the tanker truck robbery is related to the local union, and that it was a despicable tactic deliberately used by local workers to exclude them, the outsiders, in an attempt to drive them out of Detroit.

The second group consisted of white business owners and gas station owners, who were also there to protect their rights—they had prepaid a portion of the gasoline deposit, and the theft of the gasoline was an unexpected external event that caused them significant financial losses.

Moreover, they have already implemented price reduction measures, but there is no low-priced gasoline now, so it is unrealistic for them to continue to maintain low prices. They can't really lose money to give benefits to citizens, can they? But if they turn around and raise prices back to the original level, they will lose a large number of customers who were attracted by the low prices.

Neither retreating nor advancing is an option; the only solution is for Luca to continue supplying low-priced gasoline.

In addition, some gas station owners who didn't get involved also wanted to get low-priced gasoline to cope with market competition, but Luca turned around and dumped them on the union—don't fucking come to me, go to the union, go to the police, go to the city government. If my tanker trucks aren't guaranteed, nobody can do business with me.

The third-party force is the local unionized drivers. They are envious of the high wages and benefits in other places and hope to get better jobs and treatment from the local union. They also resist outsiders taking away their jobs and want the union to give them an explanation.

Other forces included union officials and peacemakers who wanted to mediate the conflict that erupted from the theft of the oil tanker.

Among them were some white radical civil rights activists who opposed Black people and wanted to drive Black people out of unions to free up some jobs.

Looking at the chaotic situation, Hoffa thought to himself that there had never been such a big conflict here before the pigeons came to Detroit.

How come that guy ignited the conflict among everyone as soon as he arrived?

Is it a dove of peace, or a crow that brings disaster?

(End of this chapter)