My absurd experiences in North America over the years

Williams, whose eyes reddened with gratitude for Li Fu's generous help, picked up his briefcase and prepared to go find the contractors below.

He walked to the door, then suddenly stopped, turned around and said, "Mr. Li, on behalf of Old Henry and the others, thank you in advance. If you need any help in the future, please don't hesitate to ask."

He knew that once Li Fu decided to help him, the matter would basically be settled.

It wasn't because the young man was rich, but because he was backed by the Forrest family.

This is nothing to top political and business families.

Thompson then pushed open the door and entered. Seeing that Li Fu seemed to be in a bad mood, he hesitated for a moment before asking, "Mr. Li, is the matter with Williams very troublesome?"

"It's not exactly troublesome, just a bit disgusting," Li Fu leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. "Williams' subcontractors have taken out high-interest loans from the Sin Lords gang, and now a lot of their equipment has been mortgaged, making it a bit difficult for the construction site to start work."

Thompson frowned. "Is there anything I can do?"

Li Fu's two main assistants have different roles. Lina is a top student who graduated from a prestigious university and has strong business skills. Thompson, although also from a prestigious university, is good at security and has high military skills.

If he hadn't become Li Fu's assistant, he would most likely have served in the Marine Corps.

He was grateful for Li Fu's kindness and was willing to go through fire and water for his boss.

"No need, we don't need to do anything," Li Fu shook his head. "Let's see how they react first."

As expected, the negotiations between Williams and the other side broke down.

The next day at noon, Williams called to inform him of the situation.

It turned out that he asked an acquaintance to find the steward of the evil lord to negotiate a settlement, and he was willing to repay the principal and interest now. However, the other party directly made an exorbitant demand, saying that there were also late fees totaling 30 million.

Williams had calculated carefully that even with the principal, interest, and hefty late fees, the total amount could not possibly be thirty million.

Unless the late payment fee is 20 million.

Li Fu had anticipated this outcome.

The reason why the higher-ups of the Sin Lords were making such exorbitant demands was simply to deliberately cause trouble; if Williams paid, they would make a fortune.

If they don't pay, they continue to occupy the equipment and company, using it for money laundering.

It's not that easy to spit out the meat you've already eaten.

"Then let's sue!" Li Fu had already made up his mind. "I'll pay the court fees in advance. You go find the best lawyer."

That afternoon, Williams sent several of his contractors to his office.

Li Fu and Thompson also rushed over.

Old Henry was the first to arrive. He was probably in his sixties, with gray hair, wearing a dark blue work jacket, deep wrinkles on his face, and droopy eye bags. He looked like he hadn't had a full night's sleep in months.

He stood at the doorway, rubbing his hands together, unsure of what to do with them.

Williams beckoned him in.

Old Henry sat down, but only a third of his buttocks were on the ground. He leaned forward, his hands on his knees, looking very restrained and anxious.

The Klein father and son arrived a little later. Old Klein was in his early fifties, with a pale complexion, deep eye bags, and wearing a dark gray suit.

Young Klein, in his thirties, wore a black leather jacket and had an old scar on his brow. As he entered, he glanced at the office decor, his eyes carrying the ruthlessness typical of someone who had been through the streets.

His father was a respectable businessman, but he was not very well-behaved when he was young. Later, his father forced him to take over the family business. In recent years, he has calmed down, but the ruthlessness in his bones is still there.

Wilkins was the last to arrive. He was in his forties, a portly man, and was still panting when he came in. He then took a checkered handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The other two are not in Nashville at the moment and cannot come today.

The four people sat on the sofa, and no one spoke.

The office was so quiet you could hear everyone breathing.

Li Fu looked at the list again, then looked up and scanned their faces one by one.

"Mr. Williams has told you everything, hasn't he?" He put down the list and leaned back in his chair. "The Vice Lords are asking for thirty million, which is outrageous. Not to mention that everyone is nervous about the financial crisis, even if we had the money, we wouldn't give it to them."

Thirty million could buy several brand new sets of equipment, and might not even be enough to cover the cost.

Old Henry's lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Little Klein frowned, staring into Li Fu's eyes as if trying to figure out what this person meant.

"Mr. Li has shown you the way," Williams said, pushing a printed copy of the law over; it was a page from Section 47-14-103 of the Tennessee Code.

The Sinful Lords' usurious loan interest rate is 4% per week, which translates to an annual interest rate of 208%. The annual interest rate cap for commercial loans in Tennessee is 10%, and amounts exceeding this cap are not protected by law.

According to Article 47-14-117, once a loan is deemed usurious by the court, the entire contract may be deemed unenforceable.

"Mr. Li means that you should sue in court and ask the court to declare the usury contract invalid. The principal should still be repaid, but the interest exceeding the legal interest rate limit will not be paid at all," Williams said, looking at his old friends.

The office was quiet for a moment.

"Mr. Li, you need to hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit. Let's not even talk about the court fees and lawyer fees. If it drags on for too long, the interest will compound and you won't be able to pay it back..." Old Klein's voice was a little hoarse.

He worried that if he couldn't win the case, things would only get worse.

"Dad, you don't understand anything. We have a 99% chance of winning this case. We don't need to pay so much back," Little Klein interrupted his father.

"Don't worry, I'll cover the court fees first. I've already found a lawyer, the best commercial litigation lawyer in Tennessee, specializing in loan shark cases," Williams said bluntly to put everyone at ease. "You only need to do one thing: go to court and submit all the evidence that can prove loan sharking, such as contracts, IOUs, and bank transfer records."

"But..." Old Henry hesitated, unable to finish his sentence.

"I know what you're afraid of—afraid of Vice Lords members coming to your door and threatening you, right?" Williams raised an eyebrow. "Gentlemen, when have we ever been so timid? Didn't we spend our youth on the streets?"

He started out as a contractor when he was young.

Many real estate projects inevitably involve dealing with street gangs; some are even projects undertaken by gangs and then subcontracted out.

In their youth, which of these people didn't have connections in both the legitimate and criminal worlds? They bribed officials while simultaneously becoming sworn brothers with the heads of certain gangs in a particular neighborhood; otherwise, they wouldn't have had the means to borrow large sums of money from gangsters at exorbitant interest rates.

However, as they became wealthier, they moved into large houses and enjoyed a comfortable life, living a life of ease and luxury.

Street gangs have come and gone.

"Let them sue us, what are we afraid of?" Claire, undeterred, immediately stood up and said, "Those people are just trying to intimidate us. If they dare to come, I'll make sure they never leave the house."

"Sit down. Who gave you the right to speak?" Old Klein hissed.

“I think he makes sense,” Li Fu said again. “Sue is the only way to solve the problem right now. Don’t worry, the evidence is conclusive and we can’t lose this case. If those people go too far, wouldn’t that be challenging the government’s judicial authority? The police station will not sit idly by.”

His words were already quite straightforward.

The group looked at Williams at the same time; they certainly recognized Li Fu, who had been frequently featured in the Wall Street Journal recently.

However, they had no connection with Li Fu and needed to get a definite answer from Williams.

So, does that mean the government and police will really take action?

Williams nodded, telling them to act quickly and without delay.

……

Given the special nature of the case, the Nashville City Court accepted the case almost immediately.

The Vice Lords reacted just as quickly.

The day after the case was filed, Henry's youngest son, who was in high school, was followed for two blocks by a black SUV on his way home from school, and someone even pulled out a gun to threaten him.

A letter was slipped into Klein's mailbox. There were no words inside, only a bullet.

Mrs. Wilkins received a phone call from someone who said nothing but a low, guttural growl that sent chills down her spine.

These are common intimidation tactics used by gangsters.

The three families immediately reported the case to the police.

The police station also processed the case very quickly, to their surprise.

The organizational structure of the Vice Lords is different from that of ordinary street gangs. To some extent, it is more like a "shadow government" with a complete bureaucratic system from top to bottom.

At the very top are the "Plenipotentiary Committee" and the "Five-Star Global Elite," who are responsible for formulating the entire gang's strategic direction and are the true masterminds behind the scenes.

Below them are the regional "chairmen" and "mayors," who govern branches in different cities and control local illegal businesses.

The middle ranks consist of "officials," "deacons," and "gang leaders," who are responsible for relaying instructions, managing territory, and handling disputes among their subordinates.

At the very bottom are the "soldiers," who are the ones who actually operate on the streets. Illegal activities such as drug trafficking, extortion, loan sharking, and intimidating witnesses all originate from them.

The low-ranking soldiers of the Sin Lord usually wear oversized hoodies and baseball caps, a hip-hop style, and wander around the streets. Once they receive orders from above, they will act immediately.

The threat to old Henry's family came from a few low-ranking soldiers of the evil lord in Nashville's East End.

They thought this time would be the same as before; they could scare the plaintiff into withdrawing the lawsuit and obediently returning the money.

But they didn't know who was standing behind them this time.

The state police and the FBI had informants within Vice Lords, not because they wanted to completely eradicate the gang, but because their "business" was so large that the FBI's annual report dedicated a section to them.

Those informants were lurking in the lower and middle levels of the gang, regularly sending messages upwards.

These informants can now be activated.

Cole spoke about the matter with the chairman of the Public Safety Committee at a closed-door meeting of the state legislature.

The government has decided to take action.

To encourage the police to bring the evil lords to justice, Li Fu donated a sum of money to upgrade the frontline police officers' weapons and equipment to a full set, with a total value of two million US dollars.

However, just as everything was ready and the police were about to launch their operation, the Vice Lords suddenly backed down.

The gang has informants in the police department and the FBI, and the police department, like the city government, is protected by the gang.

They passed the message out.

The Sin Lords' "mayor" in Nashville is named Dion Jackson, who is thirty-eight years old and has been involved in the gang for twenty years. He rose from a lowly soldier on the streets to command two or three hundred men.

When he received the news, he was settling accounts at an underground casino in the East District. He immediately called his subordinate and asked him to make concessions to the person involved.

Dion wasn't foolish enough to confront the government and police head-on. Since a powerful figure had intervened, he could only "swallow his teeth and bear the pain."

He recalled that last winter, the FBI arrested eight members in Nashville, charging them with a series of serious crimes including murder, robbery, and drug trafficking.

The operation was a joint effort between the FBI and the Tennessee State Police, and a large quantity of firearms, ammunition, and drugs were seized at the scene; the evidence alone filled several large boxes.

If they wanted to do it again, the donated new equipment would be enough to equip the entire riot squad of the city's police department with night vision goggles and bulletproof vests, and uproot them from the streets.

Making concessions was a matter of necessity.

Old Henry's contractors soon received a promise from the Sinful Lords' middle management that they would return the equipment and company seals as long as the principal and interest were returned at the legal rate.

The police operation was subsequently cancelled.

Cole and the government officials knew that gangs were like weeds in every major city, "they can't be extinguished by fire, they just keep growing back in the spring breeze," unless they could substantially take over all the neighborhoods and implement effective management.

However, that is clearly not realistic.

Gangs are, to some extent, the actual controllers of certain neighborhoods, where they dictate the order, whether it's day or night.

Setting up a police station in a slum? Don't dream about it; the tax revenue there isn't even enough to cover the police officers' salaries.

In fact, many police officers or retired police officers work for gangs in order to increase their income.

For the United States at present, cracking down on organized crime and eliminating local tyrants is simply impossible.

Gangs are like malignant tumors on the main arteries of a country. If they are completely removed now, the entire system may collapse.

In Chicago, the crime capital, there are more than 50 large, documented gangs with over 700 branches. The FBI director estimates that there are as many as 110,000 gang members in the city.

In comparison, the city has a total population of 280 million, but only 1.3 police officers.

Gang members outnumber police officers by almost ten to one.

The situation in Nashville is much better, of course, but there are still at least two thousand gang members.

Li Fu fully understood why the police terminated the operation.

He simply wanted to solve the problem, nothing more. The two million dollars worth of equipment was just a favor he was doing for him.

He then invested in Williams' real estate company, preparing to begin large-scale resumption of production.

The Trump Organization in New York acted even faster; once the funds were in place, they immediately began assembling workers and pushing forward the project.

Some large-scale projects have also begun to enter the negotiation and acquisition stage.

Ivanka invited Li Fu to come and coordinate the work.

Li Fu agreed to go there in three days, and his entanglement with the evil lord thus spread to the greater New York area.