Chapter 32: Upright and Impartial

Jordan stepped out of the club, stared at the car across the street, and raised his middle finger high into the air.

"Fuck the FBI! Get lost! Go home and screw your plain-Jane wives; I’m going to have the most beautiful supermodels lick caviar off my balls!"

Sitting in the car and smoking, Denham watched Jordan’s arrogant display with his usual calm. He asked his colleague, "Since when did Belfort get involved with Luca the Pigeon?"

"God knows when they met," the colleague muttered. "Maybe Belfort wants to use the Mafia to launder money? Or maybe he’s buying drugs from them?"

Denham felt a headache coming on. Belfort was already a handful, and now the Mafia was in the mix, with the Lucchese family behind it all. In the Bronx, Lucchese associates were everywhere, and Luca held significant sway; it was nearly impossible for the FBI to make any moves. For instance, Belfort had entered the SSR Club, and they couldn’t even follow him inside to monitor what was being discussed. There were many such places in the Bronx, controlled and guarded by gang members. Once Jordan ducked into one, surveillance became a nightmare.

Denham rubbed his temples. "I recall we have an undercover agent in the Mafia. Can we ask him for intel?"

"That agent is in the Bonanno family, not the Lucchese."

The Bonanno family was one of the Five Families of New York. While the families were closely linked through the Commission, sharing information and business, they were still separate entities with barriers between them. And as for undercover work... the Feds had been targeting the Mafia for years, and to date, only one agent had successfully infiltrated the inner circle—and even he was just an outside associate. To get into the inner circle... without killing someone to prove your worth, you couldn't get in unless you were the son of a high-ranking member and entered through their sponsorship.

At that moment, Luca and Jimmy walked out of the club and drove away.

Denham whispered, "Follow them."

"They already know we're here," his colleague replied.

"Then follow them openly. He’s a 'Peace Ambassador,' isn't he? Can't I just be in the Bronx to clear my head?"

"...Sure."

...

Investigating the Mafia wasn't Denham’s primary assignment, but since Luca and Belfort were colluding, there might be leads on Belfort connected to him. Regardless of whether he could crack the case, he could at least start by engaging with this "Peace Ambassador." Denham was curious about what kind of person he really was. The file on him had been sitting in the FBI office for a long time; from his early days as "The Butcher" to his current moniker as "The Pigeon," they had plenty of information, but it was all superficial.

*Maybe,* Denham thought, *there’s an opportunity to plant an undercover agent near the Pigeon?* With a club that size, getting someone in as an employee didn't seem too difficult.

The two agents followed Luca on a long loop, watching him live out his "Peace Ambassador" life for half the day. First, on the street, Denham saw Luca stop a mugger, give him a vicious beating, and retrieve the money to return to the victim. The ferocity on his face was so terrifying that the mugger knelt and begged for mercy. Even Jimmy was stunned, wondering why the "Pigeon" was in such a foul mood today.

[You have disciplined a mugger, retrieved the stolen money, and defended the peace of the neighborhood...]
[Skill points +3]

Luca glanced at the reward, and his ferocious expression vanished, replaced by a gentle smile. He patted the mugger on the shoulder and said with a grin, "Now get the hell out of here. If you mug anyone again, I’ll chop off your hands and feed them to my lions."

The mugger looked horrified. These mobsters really did keep lions in the city...

Once the mugger fled, Jimmy asked with concern, "Luca, is something bothering you?" Luca’s demeanor earlier had been terrifying!

*I was just testing the skill's effects,* Luca thought. The "Berserker" skill was quite good; the combat boost affected everything—strength, speed, reaction time—comprehensively increasing his overall lethality. But controlling the rage was a technical skill; too much anger could cloud judgment.

Luca sighed. "As long as this city isn't at peace, my worries will never disappear."

Jimmy: "..."

...

Later, Denham watched Luca go to a Chinese grocery store, buy a large amount of supplies, and head straight to a community nursing home to distribute goods to the elderly.

When an apartment building caught fire later that evening, Luca arrived before the police and charged straight into the blaze. Denham, seeing the fire, abandoned his surveillance to rush in and help. But Luca was much faster; he leaped like a stuntman, burst through a window with an old woman on his back, and climbed down a water pipe.

The community residents cheered, chanting, "Pigeon!"

Denham, witnessing it all, was numb. He could tell the gratitude was genuine, and judging by their familiarity with the "Pigeon," this clearly wasn't the first time Luca had helped them. What a picture of "peace and prosperity."

*What the hell?* This mobster was more proactive than the police!

His colleague was shocked. "Luca the Pigeon... the name isn't just for show. He’s actually maintaining peace in the neighborhood."

"He might be doing it for our benefit because he knows we're watching."

"But the citizens' reactions don't seem staged. It's clearly not his first time doing this."

"...True."

Denham found he couldn't make sense of it. This mobster wasn't cold; he was too enthusiastic!

"Agent Denham!"

Luca walked over, his face smeared with soot. Seeing that Denham was also covered in ash, he joked, "What are you doing moonlighting as a firefighter today? Is the FBI salary too low?"

*Shouldn't I be asking you that?* Denham suppressed his annoyance and said coldly, "You know me?"

"You come to the Bronx every day. Even the local coffee shop owner knows you like lattes. Are you satisfied with our environment? Do you find the people here friendlier than in other districts? Want to move in? I can guarantee that no street racers will wake you up at night here. Where I go, the drug dealers don't dare to sell."

Facing Luca’s smiling banter, Denham felt a subtle, strange sensation—an instinct to trust the man. Combined with what he had witnessed, he was surprised to find he didn't have a bad impression of this mobster; he felt he was a decent guy, certainly better than Jordan. It was bizarre!

But due to his core identity, Denham kept in mind that this was a man with blood on his hands.

"Little Italy... is indeed different from what I imagined," Denham said, shaking his head. "I came here before when this was a chaotic slum. The security is much better now, and I’m happy to see that change... but as long as you exist, this place can never truly be peaceful!" Denham sneered. "Luca, don't think you can wipe away your past just by changing your nickname! Don't forget your old one!"

"Oh, thank you for the reminder." Luca shrugged and shouted to the neighbors, "Tell this officer, what was my old nickname?"

"The Butcher!"

A grocery store owner shouted with a laugh, "Luca is the best man with a knife I've ever seen! The sashimi he cuts is thinner than the trashiest lingerie—it’s a miracle from God!"

Denham: "..." *Damn the sashimi!*

...

[Bond: Attention]
[Denham: B]
[Integrity: FBI trust +10%; When you are an FBI member who maintains a clean record and refuses all forms of bribery, FBI trust +20% (once a bribe is accepted, this bonus is permanently lost)]
[Learning requirements: Bond must be 'Close Friend' or higher; requires 80 skill fragments]

In the bar, Luca, having showered and changed, held a glass of wine, the corners of his mouth curling upward. Another impressive skill. It was similar to Richie’s skill in that it increased official trust, but Denham’s was more specific, targeting the FBI. Luca figured he’d never need the latter part of the skill, but the former was great. Trust was the scarcest resource in the world.

*I’ll take this skill!* Integrity? He wasn't bribing the FBI; couldn't a concerned citizen just want to make a friend?

"Jimmy!" Luca called him over. "Help me find a charity!"

"Got it! Are we pulling a job? I’ll find the richest one!" Jimmy’s eyes lit up. The Mafia robbed banks and airports, but they’d never robbed a charity! Luca was even more ruthless than he thought!

Luca: "Rob? I'm going to donate money."

Jimmy: "???"

Jimmy looked confused. *Boss, are you crazy? Donating to charity is worse than donating to me! At least I’m actually helping homeless strippers!*

...

At the FBI New York Field Office, Denham, who handled financial crimes, had caught many criminals on Wall Street over the years. But Jordan Belfort was proving tricky. The man was exceptionally well-versed in Wall Street loopholes, leaving behind very little evidence. If not for the fact that Jordan was a drug addict and he’d caught a break during a binge, he wouldn't have found a single lead. He’d hoped things would go smoothly, but the Mafia’s intervention had complicated the case.

Heavy-hearted, he found his colleague, who headed the team investigating the New York Mafia, to discuss intelligence from their undercover source.

"You mean Luca the Pigeon?" The colleague shook his head. "He’s with the Lucchese family. My informant has little contact with him... but I can tell you, Luca is indeed maintaining peace in the Bronx, especially in Little Italy. He’s a man who loves to meddle in others' business! But he’s not as gentle as he appears. His methods are brutal. Rumor has it he once wiped out a small gang single-handedly, killing dozens of them."

Denham was silent for a long time. It sounded contradictory, yet it was reality. Combined with his observations, Luca really was committed to maintaining community peace... wait, he thought of something.

"Does Luca sell drugs?" Jordan was an addict, and Wall Street was full of them; those brokers couldn't live without drugs and sex. Was Jordan going to Luca to buy drugs?

"Luca doesn't sell drugs."

His colleague’s words were a bucket of cold water.

"Aren't you investigating Jordan Belfort? Why are you asking about Luca?"

"They have a connection."

"That sounds terrible." The colleague shook his head and lowered his voice, asking curiously, "I heard Belfort offered you stock tips?"

Denham stayed silent. It wasn't a tip; it was a disguised bribe, offered the first time they met. That single trade could have netted over $500,000—Jordan had promised as much. And Jordan knew his son was stuck in college due to student loans, and that his mother needed money for heart bypass surgery. That fraud had investigated his life!

Denham felt the same silence he’d felt when facing that bribe. The air seemed to thicken, pressing against his lungs, making it hard to breathe.

His colleague continued, "Hey, there's no one else here. Tell me, what stock did he recommend? Anything he suggests is a gold mine! He’s the Wolf of Wall Street! Damn, why didn't I choose financial crimes?"

"I refused."

"Don't be like that, man. I gave you the intel on Luca; we should help each other."

"I really refused."

"That’s... a real shame. We never get any perks investigating the Mafia; our informants even have to pay the damn mob." The colleague sighed. The Mafia’s tradition of collecting protection money made their budget incredibly tight.

Denham looked up at the F, B, and I on the wall—Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity. Those weren't the original spellings, but they were the tenets instilled in every agent before they joined. Denham remembered them clearly. But he also remembered his mother's pained groans in her hospital bed and his son’s complaints about his lack of a future.

He had given so much to this country. Would it ever be kind to its own people?