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

Chapter 204 The Motorbike Gang Stealing Gasoline

Ah Qiang has been living a very ideal life lately.

With the opening of the furniture store, he instantly became a big boss, and the martial arts school also started bustling about on the first floor of the furniture store.

On the day the martial arts school opened, many brothers from the Lucches family came to sign up.

Taking care of the business is one aspect, but I also genuinely want to learn some skills.

Now everyone in Little Italy knows that there's a Chinese guy named A-Qiang who's incredibly good at fighting. He can take on an entire gang by himself. He's unbelievably strong and has some of the flair that Old Pigeon had back in the day.

The key is that they don't use guns; they can beat those troublemakers to a pulp with their bare hands.

Another very important factor is that Lao Ge also signed up.

"Old Pigeon, your movement isn't quite right."

Inside the martial arts gym, Luca, dressed in training clothes, struck a few rather stiff and abstract poses under A-Qiang's guidance. At first glance, they were passable, but in A-Qiang's opinion, they were substandard and merely empty shells.

Luca glanced at Ah Qiang's "Kung Fu Master" skill and said, "Wait until I learn this, then I will naturally be able to master all of Chinese Kung Fu."

After practicing for a while, Luca sat down to rest. Looking at the students in the arena humming and hawing, the face of a kung fu master suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Ah Qiang," Luca asked curiously, "Do you know Master Bai Mei?"

"White Eyebrows?" A-Qiang said excitedly, "Of course I know him, he is a martial arts master of the Southern School! He once defeated the entire Shaolin Temple of the Northern School by himself, and his Five Thunder Heart-Piercing Palm was invincible."

Luca: "."

Such an abstract and powerful master, it's a pity he was brought down by a bowl of fish soup.

Fish soup is here!
"It's a pity that Master Bai Mei is dead," A-Qiang said with a regretful expression. "He never took any disciples during his lifetime, and the lineage of his school has been broken."

"Hmm?" Luca asked, puzzled. "I remember Whitebrow had taken on disciples, right? Most of the assassins from the Deadly Viper organization learned kung fu from him."

"Deadly venomous snakes?" A-Qiang was taken aback. "I don't know this organization, but there are rumors in the martial arts world that Bai Mei doesn't accept disciples, and he has never passed on his unique skills to anyone else. The organization you're talking about is at most some outer disciples."

Luca remained silent once again.

The Yellow-Clad Warrior truly mastered the Heart-Piercing Palm technique; she killed Bill with a single slap. This kind of skill, capable of striking from a distance, is more effective than bullets in certain situations.

Even a bulletproof vest can't stop a palm strike that pierces the heart.

This is a bug-level skill; in Luca's eyes, it's as outrageous as the overpowered auras of those SSR characters.

Speaking of which, Luca, if you do the math, hasn't the Goddess of War defected from the organization yet? It should be soon, since it's been two or three years since they first met.

O-Ren Ishii is going crazy in Japan right now!

Luca and she keep in frequent contact by phone. The underworld queen said that everything is going well so far and she hasn't encountered any rivals in Japan yet.

The violent gang she formed was called the "Crazy Eighty-Eight Group," which recruited some schoolgirl killers who wore JK skirts and wielded meteor hammers. They were all rather abstract and rare characters.

She's doing quite well on her end, while One-Eyed Al is having a blast in California, Mississippi, Texas, and other places. Nicknamed "California Mountain Snake," Los Santos is her favorite spot, and she frequently calls Luca to invite him over for fun. If he stands her up, she makes a big fuss about it in her little notebook, planning to settle the score later.

Luca was speechless; she wasn't thinking about herself, but about Matilda, the gambling goddess.

Thinking of this, Luca took out his phone and called Al.

"Oh? A mafia boss like you has time to call me? This is the first time. I'll have to write this down."

Al's teasing voice came through the phone, "You're calling me first, there must be something you want to say. So, who do you want to get rid of?"

"No mission."

"Then why did you call an assassin? Why didn't you call that crazy woman, Ishii Oren?"

Luca just wanted to know about the SSR card, Goddess of War. She was a real madwoman. If El and Ishii Oren got involved, they would be dealt with one by one by Goddess of War and die a very ugly death.

"Have you been waiting for my call for a long time? You answered as soon as I called." Luca smirked. "As expected of an assassin, your reaction is quick."

"I'm not quick-witted, and I have a terrible memory. I've been learning Chinese lately, and I can't even remember the initials and finals. I have to flip through my notebook to read them aloud every time. But there's one word I've remembered: 'femme fatale.' That's how it's pronounced, right? Boss, could you please explain what this word means to me again?"

Luca: "."

Seriously, do you really need to learn Chinese just for a single word?

Luca vaguely felt the phone's temperature drop a few degrees. He smiled and said, "Want to learn? Come to New York, and I'll teach you in person."

"Bastard! You lying bastard!" El cursed. "You're the real venomous man!"

Snapped!
The phone hangs up.

Luca was ashamed.

But a moment later, the phone rang again. Al's anger subsided a little. "By the way, there's something I need to ask about. Do you know anything about the situation with the Los Angeles Mafia?"

The Los Angeles Mafia?

Luca knew, of course, that he had been working with this family on the West Coast gasoline tax business for the past few months.

The Los Angeles family is one of the 12 members and the only Italian Mafia family in California. Although they seem to have no fellow countrymen competing with them, they are not doing very well there.

The Los Angeles family used to be a local power, but they're not so powerful anymore.

Black gangs are very powerful in Los Angeles, such as the Cripples and Bloods, as well as Mexican drug lords, who are also dominant in the area.

Los Angeles is so close to Mexico; just a few hundred kilometers south along the coastline, you'll reach the border.

Mexico is right next door.

It's even closer than Las Vegas.

Los Angeles is a mixed bag, much more complicated than Boston.

Luca asked curiously, "Do you have any conflicts with the Los Angeles family?"

“No,” Al explained, “but their family recently posted a $100 million bounty through the Continental Hotel in Los Angeles, open to the entire West Coast, to take down a magician.”

Luca: "???" 100 million, that's not a small amount. Night Demon's initial bounty was only 200 million.

But what the heck is a magician?

In response to Luca's doubts, Al teased, "So you don't know either. This magician is from a Los Angeles family and is quite famous in Las Vegas. He's a very skilled gambler."

As an assassin, I shouldn't be involved in these matters according to the rules, but now this bounty has attracted too many assassins. I don't know how many people want to kill this magician. In the end, there will definitely be assassins fighting over the bounty.

This mission is a bit tricky. I'm considering whether to take it. If you can get me some more intelligence, I can give you half of the reward after it's done.

Las Vegas, located in the desert to the east of Los Angeles, is currently the most economically developed city in Nevada.

Who doesn't know about Las Vegas?

Luca never expected that this mess would involve Vegas again.

If a mafia family wanted to eliminate its own members, they could simply issue an execution order and carry it out secretly. Why did it escalate into this high-profile affair? And why did they have to use a mainland hotel as a front?
Luca didn't care about the bounty, but he was skeptical about the whole thing, worried that it might ruin his gasoline tax business.

He reassured me, "Let me check the situation first, and I'll let you know when I have news."

Immediately, Luca lost all interest in continuing his martial arts training and hurriedly said goodbye to Ah Qiang.

Looking at Old Pigeon's retreating figure, Ah Qiang complained, "Old Pigeon only works sporadically these days; it won't be easy for him to master any kung fu."

Luca, eager to find out more, soon received a lot of inside information about the Mafia.

This whole mess has nothing to do with New York or the gas tax; it's just that the magician was plotting to seize power, and the Los Angeles family tycoon discovered it beforehand.

"This matter wouldn't have caused such a big commotion otherwise."

Inside the club's cigar room, a group of big shots sat chatting and bragging as usual. It was the fat Tony who spoke, "Who knew that magician would betray us and join the FBI, becoming a witness against the Mafia? This is getting really big. We need to take care of this magician under the protection of the FBI to prevent him from causing trouble for the Mafia."

Russell said, "Letting the Continental Hotel get involved is a last resort. The High Table's hitmen are much stronger than the Mafia, so it's safer to let them do it. Otherwise, if the Magician's charges are successful and he testifies in court, the Los Angeles family will be severely damaged, and our business will be greatly affected."

Luca cursed under his breath, "What a nuisance!"

If the Los Angeles family falls apart, he'll have to find other local gangs to cooperate with. But other gangs don't have the inherent trust foundation that exists within the Mafia.

Do you expect those damn falcon cripples and blood gangs to do business properly?
Those black guys just rap while they're trafficking drugs with Mexican drug lords.
Unless a street tyrant like Bobby comes along and can subdue these black people, it's unlikely.

At this moment, Marigio asked curiously, "Pigeon, don't you have a very skilled assassin under your command who can even kill Pushkin? Why don't you send him over to help you solve this problem?"

That's not a big problem. Any one of the three—Nightmare, Robert, or Leon—could handle things in Vegas.

However, Robert is a man of principle, and he might not accept such assassination missions. This is not about upholding justice or eliminating evil for the people; it's purely a Mafia infighting that involves the FBI.

“I’ll think about it,” Luca said thoughtfully.

This matter involves the FBI and numerous assassins; it's already an open secret—the FBI wants to protect the magician, and the assassins want to kill him.

Going directly against the authorities carries risks.

It's possible that the Los Angeles family paid for hotels in mainland China to reduce their own risk.

Coincidentally, Luca knew of a group of professional assassins who were very good at this kind of thing.

That evening, Luca contacted Arthur's group of mechanics and discussed the matter.

Arthur was surprised by this, saying, "I'm already in Las Vegas."

Luca: "."

After a moment's hesitation, Luca said, "I'll give you another million. Just make sure this is handled well and doesn't cause too much of a commotion."

Arthur didn't agree immediately: "Old Pigeon, this is beyond our company's control. A lot of assassins have come to Las Vegas, all after that million. We can't control what kind of trouble they'll cause. I can't give you any guarantees either. We can only take out the Magician as soon as possible."

"I believe in your company's capabilities, and I have this million ready for you at any time."

Luca wasn't sure how much evidence the FBI had obtained about the Los Angeles family through that magician, but in any case, he needed to make other preparations in advance.

If the Los Angeles family goes under, he needs to make sure his gasoline tax business isn't too affected.

After discussing the matter with Arthur, Luca then contacted the Russian mafia's West Coast leaders and the Los Angeles family to discuss the gasoline tax issue.

The Los Angeles big boss assured Luca that nothing would go wrong, but the Russians had objections.

During the phone conversation, the Russian complained that the Los Angeles family was incredibly incompetent, unable to even protect their own territory, which was teeming with gasoline thieves who were all incredibly skilled at robbing tanker trucks.

The Los Angeles tycoon was embarrassed and explained, "There are just too many motorcycle gangs in Los Angeles. Those thieves are very skilled and have great driving abilities. I've already equipped those truck drivers with guns. If they dare to rob again, I'll make sure they don't leave alive."

Russian: "I don't need explanations, I want results. Almost every trip involves a tanker truck being robbed. Damn, in just over a month, I've already lost tens of millions!"

The gasoline tax business is a mess; if there's no gasoline left, what's the point of doing it?

At this point, Luca said, "I'll handle those thieves."

Russian: "You're on the east coast, what are you going to do?"

When it comes to the West Coast business, Luca's role is to act as a go-between for the Russians, the Los Angeles family, and the local truck drivers' union, investing and taking the lion's share. For the actual operations, Luca sends a few experienced family members from the East Coast to assist him; he himself doesn't usually get involved much.

The west coast is just too far away.

"How to deal with it?"

Luca laughed: "Only bikers can deal with bikers."

To deal with the Family Hero, you'll definitely need to send out another Family Hero.

It's time for the blond-haired guy to make his move.

Luca thought to himself that in the end, he still had to make a trip to Los Angeles to check out the rare cards there.

The leader of the biker gang might also be an SSR card.

(End of this chapter)