While in America, the system says Roosevelt was an emperor.

Vito believed Tom's words, but one should always be wary of others.

While searching for the person in the morning, I also sent someone to inquire about the situation at the Finance Bureau.

The Finance Bureau did indeed hold a meeting this morning. Apart from not publicly discussing the specific amount, the content of the meeting was largely the same as what Tom had said. Tom was indeed in charge of two counties.

Ten people are easy to find. There's a war going on in Europe right now, and there are plenty of people fleeing from Italy.

Upon hearing of an opportunity to work at the Finance Bureau, even if it's paid work, many people would scramble to take it.

In American industrial areas, manual laborers in steel mills and brick factories could earn 30% more if they had official status.

Who wouldn't want a lifetime of high-paying jobs in three months?

In addition, white men with formal work experience are also eligible to vote in elections.

For illegal immigrants, casting their solemn and sacred vote is more exhilarating than a mansion, a luxury car, champagne, or beautiful women.

Many of the sole breadwinners in their families regretted missing the opportunity to support their households, as they couldn't let their families go without food and water for three months.

Some people, whose relationship with the Corleone family was only so-so, missed out on a spot and, in a fit of sour grapes, spread rumors:

"Three months?"

"You think you can get formal work experience by working for free for three months?"

"How could pizza possibly fall from the sky?"

"I think the Corleone family is looking for gangsters, using good treatment to lure people in, but they'll all be dead in a few days."

Indeed, Tom's "unsecured" job was seen as a good deal by the illegal immigrants.

Director Dennis simply couldn't believe that so many people were vying to do the job that she thought even a fool wouldn't do.

The old man in the upper nest tower could never imagine the living conditions of the bottom nest mice.

After lunch, Tom returned to the Corleone family's stronghold. As soon as he entered, he saw a dozen or so young men sitting in the living room.

Father Vito was off to preside over an event at the church in the afternoon, so he was not at the base. Mike and Tom took over from him.

Mike was clearly displeased, but due to pressure from Godfather Vito, he had no choice but to receive Tom.

Tom sat on the sofa with a golden sword, while Mike led ten men to Tom.

Judging from their appearance, the oldest of the ten people was only about twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

The youngest looks to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, but is probably only thirteen or fourteen in reality.

Mike made them line up and said:

"These are the people we agreed upon, ten in total. See if this is acceptable."

"If it doesn't work, we can change it. There are plenty of people waiting in the next room."

"Come, let me introduce myself to Mr. Tom."

Ten grown men, from left to right, began to introduce themselves in turn.

"My name is Luca, I'm fifteen, no, no, nineteen years old, and I'm from Sicily."

"My name is Mark, I am 21 years old, and I come from Milan."

"My name is Totti..."

This scene was reminiscent of a shady KTV club in his past life, where a madam was leading a bunch of girls. Tom almost blurted out, "Change the batch."

Tom chuckled to himself, then asked the ten people a simple question:

"Can you write English?"

Everyone looked at each other, staring at each other blankly.

There's no way around it; they're all people who smuggled themselves in from Italy. Most of them can't even speak English properly, so how could they possibly write it?

Think of the hungry baby at home, think of the malnourished wife at home, think of the expectant looks in your family's eyes before you leave home...

The oldest-looking man stepped forward and pleaded with Tom:

Please, don't reject me just because I can't write English.

"I can learn, I learn very quickly."

Once one person did it, another followed. Ten people came forward one after another, pleading with Tom to let them stay, their expressions and gestures filled with longing.

Many people stuttered a bit when speaking English, and in their nervousness, they blurted out a few Italian phrases.

Mike was also a little confused and asked Tom:

"Didn't you mention before that you need to know how to write in English?"

"Don't worry, just wait. Within an hour, I can find ten fellow Italians who can write English."

Hearing Mike's words, the light in everyone's eyes dimmed, thinking that a "good job" was out of their reach.

This is official work at the Finance Bureau, so it's normal that English writing is required.

Tom's next words gave them a new lease on life.

Tom replied without hesitation:

"Why would I need someone who can write in English? I need someone who is illiterate."

Tom doesn't need people with very high English proficiency.

After the people were chosen, Mike took out an envelope and handed it to Tom.

Tom squeezed it and knew it contained ten thousand dollars in cash.

Of course, the $400,000 couldn't all be given to Tom at once, so Godfather Vito prepared $10,000 as a deposit.

The $400,000 will only be handed over once the Corleone family controls the entire constituency.

As for the $8,000 debt, Vito said, "Who borrowed money from loan sharks? I don't remember the Tom family borrowing money from me."

Tom led his men, borrowed three cars from the Corleone family, and drove towards the Finance Bureau.

V8 brothers, V8, the American-style big V8!

All three are Ford V8s.

Ford is a national-level automaker in the United States, with its cars priced between $200 and $10000, covering the low-end to luxury markets.

The Corleone family, being a Mafia family, has a lot of dirty money and owns several luxury cars priced at over $8000 each—Ford luxury cars (yes, that's the name; Americans are quite direct and never hide anything).

This car, nicknamed "Gangster's Happy Car," is a frequent feature in movies and TV shows.

On the way to the Finance Bureau, Tom first took everyone to a barbershop for haircuts and shaves, and then to a clothing store to buy new clothes.

Tom's taste in choosing clothes for everyone was also quite tacky, purely reflecting the stereotypical image of the Mafia in later films and television shows.

Black fedora, black suit, pure white shirt, dark gray trench coat...

Tom didn't understand why the Mafia liked to wear big trench coats before, but after buying a few himself, he realized it was to cover his guns.

Tom estimated that his loose trench coat could easily conceal not only a small handgun, but also two small submachine guns.

While buying clothes, Tom also took the opportunity to check out the "tools" in everyone's hands.

All of them were Colt M1911 pistols, and they were very well cleaned and maintained.

This gun is more common in America than the English language; Tom's family has a few.

Judging from the way everyone was brandishing their guns, you could tell at a glance that they were all veteran gunmen.

Tom also bought himself a new outfit; at least all eleven of them needed to be dressed the same.

Besides providing the necessary facilities, Tom also spent a lot of time getting to know the others along the way, trying to understand their situations.

Tom listened and realized that everyone's experiences were similar.

A gambling father, a sick mother, a sister going to school, and a broken man...

Wrong film set.