Shadow Empire

Chapter 1157 A Boring Meeting

People have been watching this closely, but unfortunately they didn't see the two brothers; they only saw two oil drums being taken away from here.

Their destination is most likely still Angel Lake, which has become a dumping ground for corpses.

This isn't to say that dumping bodies in Lake Angels is safe, but rather that there are so many bodies there that it's better not to retrieve them at all.

The FBI has already gone deep into the lake to observe, and given the obvious rumors that there's a chance to indict Lance, Roland will certainly let Derek try.

But they gave up after one attempt. Over the decades, countless oil drums piled up like mountains, a sight that would make anyone's scalp tingle.

There are at least thousands, or even tens of thousands, of oil drums below.

Although they didn't see the two people, they roughly understood Lance's attitude.

Around 1 p.m., the annual Federal Gangster Council officially convened in a grand conference room.

The four major families certainly won't appear so early. Those who arrive first are those with insufficient influence. Their abilities, influence, and strength are too weak, so there's no reason for the big gangs to come and wait for them.

Lance and the four major families will appear at the very end, but some minor problems still occur during this process.

"The gangs in Rota have withdrawn from this event," Melo told Lance as he prepared for the upcoming activities.

"Because of those two deadbeats?" Lance didn't seem nervous at all, and even made a joke.

Melo nodded. "They asked us for people, but I ignored them. Then, led by a few people, they decided to withdraw from the event."

“And…” Melo paused here, observing Lance’s expression, “...they said they would not participate in any future events involving you.”

This is clearly targeting them and is a very disrespectful act.

Melo thought Lance would be unhappy, but Lance didn't show any extra reaction.

"They still think there's a 'later'?" He chuckled twice. This is the most foolish thing about most gangsters in this era: they always think too highly of themselves.

Lance stood up, cigar in hand, and walked to the window, looking at the city that belonged to him. Of course, nominally it belonged to the Federation and the Williams family, but in reality, it belonged to him and to Lance himself.

Only by observing the city from such a perspective that can take in the entire city can one feel the beauty of that "power"—the allure of authority!

He took a puff of his cigar, savoring the rich flavors in his mouth. More nicotine was quickly absorbed through his oral mucosa, entering his brain and becoming a source of pleasure.

"This world can belong to politicians, it can belong to capitalists, but it will never belong to gangsters."

“We are born with some defects, so we have to hide in the sewers, while those people can stand on the ground.”

"Porter has essentially secured the victory, which means that of all the troublesome issues he raised during the election, the easiest to resolve is actually this degangsterization policy."

"Compared to touching the interests of capitalists or political groups, gangsters are the easier dough to manipulate."

"The crackdown on gangs in various states will be launched quickly, and this is a long-term task. The more arrogant these gangs are now, the more embarrassed they will be soon."

Melo stood behind him, listening to his words, a hint of worry appearing on his face. "Will we be hit too?"

Lance nodded. "The Liberal Party certainly won't stand idly by while we keep feeding the Socialist Party; they'll definitely find a way to cause us trouble."

“But, Melo, we’re not a gang in the pure sense. Although we do some illegal things, like murder, manufacturing and selling alcohol, we don’t do anything else bad, and we don’t prey on ordinary people.”

"If they think our actions can be exploited, let them find the evidence."

"Without evidence, no one can put me on trial!"

"As long as I don't stand trial, the Lance family will continue to exist."

"But those people, not necessarily."

Lance is considering something; he wants to find a way to oust Director Roland and replace him with one of his own.

This is a very bold idea, but it's not impossible.

Now that two senior FBI agents have already joined the team, who can guarantee that more agents won't follow suit?

Moreover, if Director Rowland is removed from office due to the scandal, Congress will have the means to nominate a new FBI director instead of having Mr. Porter appoint him.

As long as the newly appointed FBI director doesn't keep a close eye on him, there shouldn't be a big problem.

He could use these senior detectives to undermine some of the director's power and make them work for him, for example, to deal with the Rota state gangs.

After a president takes office, he always has to achieve something. Let's sacrifice this gang in Rota.

Of course, he wouldn't tell Messi and Ronaldo about these things. It wasn't that he didn't trust Messi and Ronaldo, but mainly because Messi and Ronaldo were too far removed from these matters, and telling him would only add more trouble for him.

Time quickly passed and it was time for the event to begin. Lance tidied his clothes, led his men out of the office, and headed towards the conference room.

Outside the conference room, he saw the leaders of the other four major families, who had already gathered there.

"Shall we go in together?" Lance suggested, which was why they had gathered here.

The group politely declined each other's invitations as they entered the conference hall, which had been somewhat noisy, and immediately fell silent.

After some polite exchanges, Lance took a seat at the very edge.

It's not that he can't be in the middle, it's just that there's no need for him.

As the oldest leader among the four families, Kevin naturally gave a speech and then began the formal "discussion".

Lance had assumed this would be a relatively serious occasion, but in reality, it had been rather chaotic from the start.

There will always be friction between gangs, especially now that the profit margins on alcohol are so high, each gang hopes to capture more market share.

They have a lot of territory and interests in their own cities, but no gang is satisfied with what they have now; they want more.

If they want more, they can only expand outwards, but the surrounding cities are obviously the territory of other gangs, and there will be some friction between them.

Some of the more powerful gangs directly plant their own people in other cities, leading to more direct and rapid conflicts between these gangs.

There are also some who are relatively more lenient; they secretly smuggle alcohol to other cities, flooding the market with lower prices to make quick money.

But whether it's a forceful or a mild approach, the end result is the same: conflicts arise between gangs in two cities, or even between gangs in more cities, and escalate to the point of open warfare.

After Kevin finished speaking, these people started arguing about these things, which made Lance look down on them even more.

The four major families skillfully began to mediate. They would make certain decisions based on the statements of these people, such as requiring some people to withdraw or requiring some people to give up a portion of their profits to distribute among those with whom they had conflicts.

In the words of these four major families, there are so many profits that there's no need for everyone to fight tooth and nail for them; they mainly try to smooth things over.

It's not that they're unwilling to manage things more meticulously, but rather that they lack the ability.

For these unruly gangsters, if what you say is in their favor, they'll listen to you.

What you're saying doesn't benefit me, so I'll pretend I didn't hear it.

The four major families represent an "honor," not a "power"!
Watching them solve people's problems here, Lance found it quite interesting. They had never been in contact with power, but they created an illusion of power based on their own imagination.

"Isn't it noisy?" Mr. Clark, who was sitting next to Lance, took the initiative to start a conversation with him.

Lance shook his head. "No, I just find it ridiculous."

He didn't deliberately lower his voice; he just spoke plainly and directly. The first to fall silent were the people sitting next to him, and then many more people began to quiet down inexplicably. Mr. Clark also looked on with a surprised expression, as if...unable to understand the purpose of his words.

“I don’t know…” Mr. Clark shook his head. “Could you explain in more detail?”

The room fell silent. The huge conference room and the people sitting around the huge conference table all focused their attention on Lance.

Lance crossed his legs, appearing very calm and composed, showing no sign of fear despite the menacing men staring at him.

He seemed to have no idea what pressure was.

“I said, I think what you’re doing, all this noise, is ridiculous.”

At that moment, a man who looked to be in his forties, wearing a floral shirt, stood up and said, "What makes you think our things are ridiculous?"

"Because you're richer than us?"

"Or do you know some higher-ranking, more important people who make you think we're laughable?"

Other gang leaders also voiced their support for him, and they also sensed that Lance's attitude was somewhat...uncomfortable.

Lance shook his fingers twice, then placed his hands on his lap. "I didn't mean to mock you. I was just expressing my attitude and my opinion. You are ridiculous."

"Don't be so unconvinced," he said, pointing to the floral shirt.

What are you arguing about?

He pointed to the people who had shouted the loudest earlier, "You said they invaded your territory and caused you to lose 20 or 30 percent of your annual income."

"You said that guy across from you was selling alcohol in your territory and even beat up one of your men."

"You guys are almost always arguing about this kind of thing, who stole whose territory, who stole whose business, and then you keep making a fuss about it."

"This is what you consider very important?"

"But what is the reality?"

Lance tapped his fingers twice on the table. The sound wasn't particularly loud, but it was accompanied by the overall vibration of the wooden table. Even the person sitting at the other end could hear the tapping and feel the slight yet heavy vibration!
"Porter talked a lot about degangsterism during his campaign, and more than half of the public were interested in this topic in his campaign polls."

"What does this mean?"

"This means that once Porter takes office and is sworn in as president, his first priority will be to intensify the crackdown on criminal organizations across the board. At that point, you won't be thinking about who's taking whose territory or business, but rather how to survive in this massive social upheaval!"

The room was very quiet, with only the sounds of smoking and the occasional flicker of a lighter. People's expressions gradually became serious.

Lance spread his hands. "Look, this is the real big deal. It's a matter of life and death for you, not about who stole my territory, who stole your business, or who beat whose people."

"Don't be immersed in your current seemingly calm but actually turbulent false prosperity!"

"You need to wake up and face the worst-case scenario!"

Mr. Clark couldn't hold back any longer and said, "The federal government has said more than once that it wants to restrict the activities of gangs like ours, but so far, they still haven't achieved any real results."

"The city remains in our hands; they control the day, and we control the night!"

These words boosted morale, and immediately some people stood up and cheered, supporting Mr. Clark's point of view.

Lance shook his head and said, "In the past, when people said they wanted to deal with the gangs, it was just a small trick they used to appease the public and deceive public opinion. But this time it's different."

Mr. Kevin sat in the middle seat, licking his somewhat dry lips. "What's different this time?"

Lance glanced at her. "This degangsterization is a campaign promise, a commitment he wants to fulfill to the people."

Mr. Kevin nodded without denying it. “Every president makes a lot of promises, but they fail to deliver on most of them. I don’t think he can eradicate the entire federal gang.”

Some agree, while others are pondering it.

"As you said, most things can't be fulfilled, but there are always things that can be fulfilled."

"If you were president, which of these three options would you choose: dealing with capitalists, dealing with politicians, or dealing with gangsters and low-level law enforcement officers?"

A very simple question silenced Mr. Kevin, Mr. Clark, and the other mob bosses who were somewhat intelligent.

Every president seeks re-election, and the basis for re-election is that he still leads other candidates in the polls during the midterm elections.

If a president does nothing, he has no chance of getting another chance in the first four years.

Every president who gets a second chance, if you observe what they do, will try their best to complete some "vanity projects" during their first term in order to gain continued public support.

Compared to threatening the interests of capitalists or politicians, the most efficient way to connect gangs with grassroots law enforcement is actually through effective communication.

"So I think you are ridiculous. A matter of life and death for you is just around the corner, more than a month before the election."

"Isn't it ridiculous that you're discussing such trivial matters now?"

Mr. Kevin coughed twice. "Lance, do you have any good ideas for how to deal with this?"

Lance shook his head. "I don't have any good ideas. To be honest, I don't even know how the federal government lost!"

“Every gang here has too many criminal records, witnesses, testimonies, and evidence. It’s just that you may have gotten along well with local politicians and celebrities in the past.”

"They wouldn't use these deadly things to kill you; it's possible that you've fed them enough."

“But then things will be different. If they don’t stab you, the president will stab them.”

"This is a disturbing future, and there are no good solutions."

"So it's more meaningful for everyone to discuss this together than to discuss who hit whom, don't you think?"

Under Lance's "guidance," the discussion quickly began to revolve around de-gangsterization.

It must be said that these gang leaders or representatives are somewhat capable; some even proposed organizing a nationwide gang march to protest the federal government's crackdown on them.

Some even suggested sabotaging the ballot boxes to prevent Mr. Porter from securing enough votes to win the election, thus causing the election results to repeatedly fail.

There are always some people who can say some outrageous things, and some even suggest that everyone go on strike so that no one in the city will sell alcohol and beverages, and all the drunks will blame Mr. Potter and won't vote for him.

They discussed for over an hour but couldn't come up with any answers. Of course, given their abilities and skill levels, it was impossible for them to reach any conclusions.

The gang council needs two or three days; it can't be resolved in just one afternoon.

After resting for a while, they put the issue aside for the time being and started talking about how each gang made money.

As Lance listened to these people boast about their low-tech criminal businesses, he felt increasingly bored and uninterested.

The meeting lasted until after 5 p.m., and this was only the first day. Lance was sometimes very curious about what they were going to talk about that could keep them talking for two or three days straight.

He had originally planned to have a chat with Mayor Williams that evening. However, Mayor Williams' health had been declining lately, so he called Lance and planned to retire two years early so that James could take over his job.

But James would only have a chance to become the next mayor if Lance agreed to this, so he hoped that Lance could go and do it when he had time.

But Mr. Clark pulled Lance aside, wanting to sit down and talk with him and the other four major families.

(End of this chapter)