Chapter 54: The Committee's Execution Order

Once the bond with Denham reached the level of a close friend, the new skill [Upright and Incorruptible] was unlocked.

[Upright and Incorruptible: FBI trust +10%; when you are a member of the FBI organization, consistently refusing any and all forms of bribery and remaining strictly honest, FBI trust an additional +20%]

[Current skill fragments: 13]

The skill is quite good, but there are not enough fragments to learn it yet!

A single [Emotional Corruption] cost 60 pieces, learning [Defection] previously cost 50 pieces, and [Silver Queen] also cost 50 pieces.

Now, aside from [Upright and Incorruptible], Brian's [Charismatic] and Nancy's [Biker Phantom] have also been unlocked.

For the time being, none of them have enough fragments to learn.

Thinking of Nancy's body...

Luca smiled softly. This was probably the easiest time he had ever built a bond; this woman was even more proactive than Brian. After a few rounds of battle on the office desk and in the car, they became friends.

The sounds of gasping were definitely no quieter than the engine roar of a GTR.

......

In the following days, Luca split his time between farming fragments to learn skills and preparing for the opening of the club.

Time flew quickly toward the end of July.

As for Stratton Oakmont, the FBI arrested one of the senior partners and brought this round of investigations to a close.

Jordan was much more well-behaved this time and even took the initiative to send a sum of money to the SEC—previously, the SEC not only wanted heavy fines but also demanded that Jordan be banned from the brokerage industry, but this time the officials were much easier to talk to, accepted the money, and joined Jordan in cursing that partner.

Damn traitor, a parasite of Wall Street!

Motherfucker, go rot in a prison cell!

"From now on, tone down the extravagant style of your company."

At this moment, aboard a yacht anchored off the coast of Long Island, Luca sat by the pool wearing sunglasses and oversized swim trunks, casting a warning glance at Jordan. "Such a high-profile style will make your company a target for too many people. Your enemies wouldn't mind if you guys in that office did drugs until you dropped dead."

Luca remembered that Jordan and his crew were constantly throwing parties and organizing team-building events everywhere. Even before the plane touched down, the celebration would already be underway in the air, and any random snapshot inside the cabin looked like adult human art photography.

"Old Pidge, I can't keep them under control!" Jordan complained with utter indifference. "I've explicitly forbidden it and even put up notices: no fucking in the company during working hours. But they still choose this convenient and quick way to vent because of work pressure."

Luca: "......"

At that moment, Jordan produced a share transfer agreement and handed it to Luca—5% of the shares in Stratton Oakmont.

Jordan loved to mess around in his personal life, but he knew how to cozy up to powerful figures. He knew that his financial fraud schemes were not only laughable compared to major investment banks but also insignificant in front of someone like Luca.

Moreover, Luca held a vast amount of evidence concerning his criminal activities.

Since he was already neither completely black nor entirely white, he might as well become a thoroughly spotted dog.

The big-time live-streaming influencer of the old era—Jordan sighed with emotion, "Thank God, I've finally shaken off the damned FBI. I've never felt so relieved in my life. Old Pidge, this is my opening gift for the SSR Club, representing our friendship. Please don't refuse, or it will break my heart."

Luca glanced at the interface; it still showed as a surface-level friend. You little punk are harder to deal with than Denham.

"My friends all smile when they tell me their stories... Thanks for the gift, Jimmy, take it." Luca accepted the document and handed it over to Jimmy to process.

A nostalgic look flashed in the latter's eyes.

Jimmy recalled past events. Back then, he, Henry, Tommy—the three good fellows—along with capo Paulie Cicero, often operated the same way. Under the guise of "protection," they would usurp shares in other people's businesses, such as various restaurants.

Like parasites clinging to a restaurant—goods would just enter through the front door of the establishment only to be hauled away through the back door by them shortly after.

As this went on, no one would indeed dare to harass the restaurant, but the owners would lose their very shirts.

In the end, burning down the restaurant could extract a payout from the insurance company.

A perfectly fine restaurant would thus be squeezed dry of all its value.

As for the shares in his hand right now, Jimmy was unsure how Luca intended to handle them, but if they followed the old routines, "Gentleman Jimmy" wouldn't mind pushing Jordan to a desperate corner where he had to sell the very yacht beneath their feet to pay off his debts.

Yet Jimmy also knew that Luca probably wouldn't do that; at least the small Italian shops under his protection were all doing quite fair business, and their closing times at night were much later than everywhere else.

He found that Luca understood how to make money far better than other members of the Family who relied on drinking poison to quench their thirst.

Luca and Jordan chatted more about business matters. Jordan mentioned that he had already started scouting out investments in some internet companies, such as Yahoo or the like.

Luca nearly twitched his hand and slapped Jordan across the face.

Investing in anything else would be fine, but investing in a disastrous pit like Yahoo? When the bubble burst, this company would crash into a pile of shit. However, since the bubble hadn't popped yet, Yahoo was still a hot commodity. Investing in it for a quick profit was indeed feasible, and pulling out in time or even shorting it later wasn't out of the question.

When it came to specific stock market experience, Jordan was far more knowledgeable, so Luca didn't plan to interfere too much, merely telling him to pay extra attention to internet enterprises like Cisco and Amazon instead.

He also instructed Jimmy to get involved in some capacity and plant a few time bombs within them.

By dusk, the yacht docked.

Not long after stepping ashore, Luca received a call from Brian, asking if he wanted to go street racing in Brooklyn that night and head straight to Washington Heights.

Let us roam the mortal world together and live a dashing, carefree life~~~

Just as Luca agreed, Maranzano's phone call came through on the other line, inviting him over for dinner at his house and telling him to bring Matilda along as well.

This sounded like a family gathering, but Luca sensed something amiss in Maranzano's deep tone.

......

"You can't make it anymore?"

At the Bronx street racer hangout, Brian, who had just received Luca's call, felt somewhat disappointed.

Ever since he became one of Luca's people, Brian appeared at the club with increasing frequency and had been introduced by Luca to many of the club's members, such as Jimmy, Matilda, Leon, and others.

Yet Luca never took the initiative to introduce him to the other brothers in the Family, let alone bring him into Maranzano's presence.

What left Brian even more speechless was that Luca never interfered with what he did, nor did he bring him along to pull off major jobs. The sole requirement was that he pay his monthly dues on time.

Brian: "......"

Shit, I already belong to you, and I still have to pay you money every month!

Didn't you say you'd bring me along to make a fortune?

This was utterly bizarre; a poor bloke like him hadn't even received his salary yet, and he had to pay his boss first! Is this what the Mafia lifestyle is like?

In Luca's words: From now on in New York, I've got your back. When you run into trouble, you can use my name. Anyone who knows me, Pidge, will give you face, even the cops!

Brian didn't quite grasp the true value of that statement yet, nor did he know how to leverage someone else's power to make money. Instead, he turned the car around and drove straight to the Brooklyn street racing scene.

Street racing was still the most thrilling! Bullying the rookies in New York could also net him a decent stake in winnings!

He had to admit, Pidge's reputation was seriously useful. The underground racers were scared to death of him and showed immense respect; not a single person dared to bully him.

This was so much more comfortable than constantly being ridiculed and having people get in his face back in Los Angeles.

.......

In the evening, Luca led Matilda to visit the Maranzano family home.

Maranzano was of the same generation as Luca's father, and he had long been married with children. His son was two years younger than Luca, though he wasn't involved in the mob and was still attending university, so he wasn't home today.

Luca and his sister, along with Mr. and Mrs. Maranzano, happily enjoyed a warm family dinner together.

Once dinner concluded, Maranzano led Luca out to the courtyard, where the two of them sat by the pool, eating post-meal fruit and pastries while chatting.

"Luca, when is that club of yours opening?"

"Next week, on the 30th."

Maranzano nodded and offered a few more words of concern, mentioning that if Luca ran into any trouble with the club's opening, he should come to him. Then, the conversation shifted to Underboss Dominic.

"A few days ago, the Commission held a sit-down, and Dominic attended."

"Is that so? I recall it's been a long time since a sit-down was held."

A sit-down was a mafia method for resolving disputes. With the participation of a mediator, the conflicting parties would sit down to discuss how to resolve their conflicts and issues.

Gunfights turned into verbal sparring matches.

Such large-scale meetings used to occur frequently, but they had become rare nowadays.

Because the Feds liked to stir up trouble.

There had been an instance where a sit-down was completely busted by the federal authorities.

At the time, members of the Gambino family were discussing business—over a dozen members were rounded up by prosecutors alongside the police.

They were taken in during the morning, over a million dollars in bail was paid right on the spot—10,000 dollars per person—and everyone was released by noon.

And then they went right back to finish their meeting.

After that, that federal prosecutor's career was utterly ruined, stripped of any room for advancement, and he resigned not long afterward.

The Commission felt that the Feds could be truly annoying at times; everyone was just having a meeting, why the hell did you have to barge in?

"It wouldn't be appropriate for me to tell you the contents of the meeting since I didn't attend, and I don't know the specifics myself."

At this point, the gaze Maranzano cast toward Luca grew obscure and unreadable. "I only know the final outcome—the Commission has passed two execution orders!"

He pulled out a photograph and handed it to Luca. "Luca, you know the rules."

Upon seeing the person in the photograph, Luca's pupils constricted slightly.

——Richie Roberts.

Motherfucker! You want me to assassinate my precious rare card?!

Boss, that is my dearest friend and brother!