AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Bobby, good to see you.”
“What did you want to talk about, sir?”
My brothers and I always call my father sir - a sign of respect. My father used to be one of the most powerful men in Chicago. An Italian mobster with a criminal career that spans almost five decades. He rose from small-time hoodlum to the position of day-to-day boss of the Chicago Outfit. During his tenure as capo, he moved the Outfit into new operations and territories, increasing its power and wealth during his reign as boss.
My father grew up on Chicago’s Near West Side. In his early years, he established a solid record of making money for the Chicago Outfit. He was promoted to the Outfit's head of enforcement. As enforcer he did shake downs and killed people. When he became Capo, he developed a variety of profitable rackets, including gambling, loansharking, bookmaking, extortion – extorted millions of dollars from Hollywood studios, and the distribution of untaxed alcohol and cigarettes.
Under my father’s leadership, the Outfit placed slot machines in gas stations, restaurants, and bars throughout the Outfit's territory. He also smuggled millions of dollars in illegal drugs into the country and sold them for at a huge profit.
Outside of Chicago, the Outfit expanded into Las Vegas and took gaming away from the Five Families of New York City. My father made sure that all the legal Las Vegas casinos used his slot machines. The Outfit eventually dominated organized crime in most of the western United States. This resulted in a golden era of profitability and influence for the Chicago Outfit.
To reduce the Outfit's exposure to legal prosecution, my father phased out some traditional activities such as labor racketeering. He converted the Outfit's brothel business into call girl services.
The Outfit no longer dominates organized crime in the western states but still controls casinos in Las Vegas and skims millions of dollars.
My father still presides over Outfit "sit-downs" and mediates disputes. By the time he retired, his personal holdings include legal investments in commercial office buildings, retail centers, lumber farms, paper factories, hotels, car dealerships, trucking companies, newspaper companies, restaurants, and travel agencies. My father is a wealthy man – a billionaire. A great businessman and a brilliant strategist.
I learned everything from my father. After I graduated from Harvard University, I came home to Chicago and started to work for him. I have a head for business – I take after my father.
My oldest brother, Paul, Jr. married into one of New York’s five mob families to appease the New York mafia and form an alliance with them. He will take my place as capo someday. My second oldest brother, Vinnie, married the daughter of the Sotto capo – deputy boss of the Chicago Outfit.
Since I have taken over as Capo, we have become part of a vast, long-running drug conspiracy that touches four continents. The scheme involves purchasing morphine base from suppliers in Turkey, processing it into heroin in Sicily, smuggling it into the U.S., and then selling it through pizza shops and other Mafia-run businesses stretching from New York to Illinois. My idea. We are also importing cocaine from South America as part of the operation.
Heroin is a lucrative business. An estimated $1.6 billion worth of heroin is shipped to this country. The cash profits are illegally laundered through a web of banks and brokerages in the U.S. and overseas. When we started feeling heat from the FBI, the Outfit got out of the heroin business. I let the five families in New York take over the heroin/pizza scheme. They fucking owe me, even though the Outfit still takes a percentage of the profits.
I have moved the Outfit into online gambling. I have plans on moving into crypto currency. We are moving away from drug-trafficking because of the Feds. We prefer loansharking, bookmaking, call girls, strip clubs, and extortion, among other profitable vices. The Feds will never be able to completely stamp out mob activity, our crews have insinuated themselves into unions and legitimate businesses.
The Outfit owns restaurants and other legal businesses that we use to launder money. Unlike my father, I try not to kill people. Murder brings too much heat from the cops. We hardly ever beat up a business owner who does not pay back a debt, instead we take a piece of his business. Over time we take control over the company. A kind of illegal franchising.
“There is much we need to discuss, son.”
My father touches the manilla envelope.
“On Tuesday three teenagers from The Razors – you know that violent gang from the Moya Columbian Cartel, planned to rob one of our drug houses,” he sighs, “an 80-year-old Chicago man answered his door and was confronted by the three teenagers, who forced their way into the home. The Razors fucked up - picked the wrong house, but that didn’t matter to them. What happened next? 20 minutes of terror for an innocent elderly couple. The gang members pistol-whipped the man until he was unconscious, They stabbed 75-year-old wife. They brutalized the couple.
The teenagers were carrying stolen items to their car when the husband regained consciousness. He called 911 and got his handgun. The man fired two shots, hitting one of the teenagers. The three teenagers escaped. The cops arrested them hours later.”
“Fuck!” I reply.
“The elderly couple are the parents of Alderman Lockhart. He called me. The police got a confession, Salvador Villalovos, leader of the Razors, ordered the robbery. Lockhart wants him taken out.”
My father rubs his brow.
I reply, “he is a crazy Mother Fucker, even the Moya Cartel want him gone. He wants more drug territory. He wants war with us! I am trying to avoid that. I heard he formed an alliance with the Russian Bratva – Antonovich brothers.”
“New York and our people also want him gone, Bobby.”
My father glares at me.
“I am working on it.”
“Work faster. The Antonovich brothers are another problem. They are gaining more power in Chicago every day. Our people don’t like it.”
The three Russian Antonovich brothers lead a multi-million-dollar criminal enterprise with two primary sources of income: violent loan sharking and illegal gambling. The illegal gambling arm of the operation includes an online sports betting website that has contributed more than $2.9 million in gross profits to the Russian brothers.
The main hub of their criminal activities takes place in their strip club, “Velvet Handcuffs”, located on Chicago’s northwest side.
There is crossover between the two sides of the Antonovich brothers’ business - when customers can’t cover their gambling losses, bookies will refer them to Russian loan sharks. The brothers generate money by making loans to customers at interest rates from 104 percent to 395 percent. They demand weekly repayments. These demands are accompanied by acts of intimidation. Customers are menaced with guns, hatchets, and threats of physical harm to themselves or family members.
