Shadow Empire

Chapter 132 Interests and Business Ideas and Saturday Meetups

"Mr. Pasretto, the money laundering methods in the film industry are not limited to movie theaters. Every link here can allow you to launder your money cleanly."

"But in the early stages, cinemas are definitely a good way to launder money with low investment but high output."

"We can build some cinemas in the western region, even in uninhabited areas, with just a simple house, a simple projector and a big screen."

“All these investments together may not amount to more than 500 yuan.”

"The total investment for one hundred cinemas like this would not exceed one hundred thousand yuan."

"But it can clean at least 1.5 million dollars for you every month, and up to 2 million dollars."

There are very few people in the western region, and population mobility has gradually stabilized. Some towns or small cities may have only a few thousand people, and there is a lack of entertainment activities. The local area also lacks more jobs and tax revenue.

The local government will also support this kind of "investment behavior", so it is a good thing with great profits.

Mr. Pasletto took a puff of his cigar and began to think. Lance did not stop talking. "We just talked about the issue of taxes. Alberto and I also talked about this."

"As long as there are not no people at every movie show, as long as there are people watching and buying tickets, it is extra income for us."

"In some remote areas, five cents for a movie ticket might be too expensive for them, so we can just charge three cents, as long as they are willing to come in!"

"The movie tickets they pay can offset some of our tax expenses, especially since I heard that there has been tremendous development and progress in the film industry recently. Movies will further become an important entertainment activity for ordinary people."

"It will attract more people to the cinema, and the price of movie tickets will also see a huge increase."

"In addition, we can use cinemas to show our own films, and the money we pay to actors, crews, and directors can be... you know, they have legitimate reasons to report taxes, and we also have legitimate financial expenditures, but no one will really check whether the money we spend is in the bank or the safe."

Mr. Pasletto smiled and said, "It's an interesting idea, keep going." He was already interested.

Lance changed his train of thought and put it more concisely and in a way that was easier for him to understand. "We can use the black money as part of the filming expenses to pay the actors, directors, screenwriters, crew members, and all other expenses we need."

"This amount can be deducted from part of the tax when the company pays income tax."

Lance looked at the pen on the table and picked it up. "Mr. Pasretto, do you know how much this pen costs in the store?"

It was a very ordinary pencil. He thought for a moment, "About a penny for two. I'm not sure. I haven't dealt with these things personally for a long time."

Lance nodded, "But between our expenses and the movie, each one of them is worth ten bucks!"

Alberto stood up. "That's impossible."

"Nothing is impossible. It is a special prop, not just an ordinary pencil. Whether they admit it or not, we as the producers accepted the offer from the 'supplier'."

"Whether we are stupid or foolish has nothing to do with whether it is worth the price. In the account, it is ten dollars!"

"This ten dollars can save us a few dollars when we pay taxes, but in fact, we only spend a penny."

"The tax deduction space saved can help us process more dirty money, pay less tax, and reduce losses in the money laundering process."

"When the movie is released in our own cinemas and more cinemas, the cinemas will make money and can also launder money. As a producer, we can also make money as long as the box office of the movie is good."

"It's possible that a movie can not only help us launder millions, but also bring us tens or even millions of legal income!"

Mr. Pasletto understood roughly what he said. "It's an interesting method. I never thought that movies could bring us this. How did you come up with it?"

In fact, even now, no one has the idea of ​​money laundering in movies because this industry has just developed.

At this time, the movies in federal cinemas mainly last from 20 minutes to an hour, and there are not many one-hour movies, so the price of movie tickets cannot be increased.

Dozens of people watch a movie, and the fee is only a dozen yuan. This amount of money is not even as much as what a washing machine in a laundry room processes in a day.

But Lance saw something in it that others could not see, which made him more interested in Lance. His previous understanding of this young man came from Alberto.

When he talked about the calmness shown by people like Lance who came to borrow money, he was willing to give them a chance to offset this debt that actually had no expenditure by working for them.

Lance and the others' performance was amazing, which made him decide to continue dating Lance. Then his performance became more and more amazing, so that now in some ways, Lance is even about to catch up with him.

Except that Lance has no background in this city and has not built up a complete network of contacts, he is actually no worse than those gangs that have been established for many years.

He was also very interested in Mr. Pasletto, the young man highly recommended by Alberto, but before that, his interest in Lance was just because he thought the young man was very motivated and a little smart.

He had no intention of having Lance join his family.

If his previous interest was only based on Alberto's bragging, now he has realized that this is indeed a young man with great talent and ideas.

Lance showed his modesty in front of Mr. Pasletto. The five major families in Jingang City are also among the top criminal groups in the entire federation.

If you have to find an intuitive example, it's probably like... a senator in Congress, and there is no president or emperor in this industry, so the senator is the top.

So Lance will give him the respect he deserves.

"Mr. Pasretto, there are many bad things about the Federation, but it is also the fastest growing economy in the world."

"I will use my eyes to observe this society and look for suitable opportunities. I think movies that are not paid much attention to by people will become an important opportunity!"

Mr. Pasletto nodded. "I'm sure I don't know as much about this as you do. Why don't you do something first so I can see?"

Lance thought about it for a moment before agreeing, "I'll do it, sir."

It's not that he wants to be dependent on Mr. Pasretto's family, but this matter itself has huge benefits.

The Kodak family's one million was reduced to half after the washing, leaving only five hundred thousand.

There is certainly some tax that individuals should pay on their casino winnings, but the Kodak family also took a lot of money from it.

Casinos are their main means of profit, as is money laundering.

But what if there is now a more reasonable channel for money laundering?

Moreover, the money laundering fees are lower and it is safer and more reliable. Will people join in?
Lance thinks it will!

Even if he charges a 30% handling fee, these people will throw themselves into his arms, so why can't this be done?
But if Lance were to do this alone, there is a high probability that he would not be able to do it now, because he is just a small character with no background.

With the size of the five major families in Jingang City and the scale of the five major families in the Federation, they may not even need to pick up the phone if they want to suppress Lance now.

He just needs to say something to the people around him, "I heard that there's a guy named Lance in the Empire District who's been acting very arrogant lately...", and then he might go find Jason to compete to see who can hold their breath longer.

From the rich experience that Lance had gained from another world, using someone else's skills to gain influence was always a good way for a small character to quickly climb up the ladder.

You may not be afraid of me, but you cannot help being afraid of Mr. Pasreto behind me. Although Mr. Pasreto behind me has not said "I will cover for this young man", who dares to bet that he has never said so or thought so?
After coming out of Mr. Pasletto's estate, Alberto seemed very happy. He always felt that Lance would become a big man. Now even his boss began to notice him and was interested in his affairs.

This is a performance. He believes that people who can succeed will show that potential before they succeed.

For example, the four major families on Sumuli Island. Even when the Prime Minister went to Sumuli Island to promote his political ideas, he had to visit these four major families one by one, and then he could talk about his philosophy of governing the country.

He grew up listening to the stories of the founders of the four great families, like Cole, who was born with a ray of light shining into the house in the dark night, and Ivan, who was drowning but saw his future in the water and achieved success.

There were even people who could actually face lead bullets head-on and survived being shot, leaving behind the legend of "Immortal Enzo" in the sumu - but there were also rumors that Enzo was eventually assassinated.

The assassin stabbed Enzo's chest with a dagger as even he looked in disbelief.

But Enzo's family said that the despicable assassin used poison, but no one knew what it was.

In short, successful people always have some special potential. When Lance easily handles things that he finds difficult, he feels that this is potential.

If Lance does very well and gets more appreciation from Mr. Pasletto, Alberto's status will be improved because of Lance's success, regardless of whether he joins the family or not.

Everyone wants to stand higher, even if the higher the ranking in the criminal group, the faster they will die during the trial, but they still want to do so.

While sitting in the car, Lance asked a question, "Do you know where I can get some cheap alcohol?"

Alberto was a little surprised, but when he thought of what Lance said about the origin of that batch of wine, he didn't think about it any further.

Just thinking about the question itself, he also came to a conclusion, "Are you planning to open a bar?"

Lance nodded, but then shook his head, "Not exactly."

"I took over the workers' club and I signed a contract with the Longshoremen's Union that I would run the Longshoremen's Union for the next ten years."

"There are more than 10,000 workers on the docks..."

Alberto gasped, "Each person makes you five cents a day, which is hundreds of dollars, but they definitely make you more than five cents!"

The look in his eyes when he looked at Lance changed again. Isn't this the potential of a successful person?

Who could have thought of these, who has thought of these?
Lance shook his head. "Not everyone will come here, so you're overthinking it. Besides, I'm not doing this for the money."

Seeing Alberto's distrustful look, Lance was not sure what to explain. From the birth of the AFL and trade unions to the present, the federal government has been doing one thing for decades -

Do everything possible to undermine the influence of the AFL and trade unions among the working class and completely separate them from the working class.

In fact, they have already achieved some of this, but the effect is not yet very obvious.

But these have nothing to do with Lance. What has to do with Lance is that since they can shout "National Workers' Unity", why can't he shout it out?

Maybe shouting at this time won’t be as effective as at the beginning, but can he unite the workers?

If all the more than 10,000 workers at the dock became his side, then there would be a lot he could do!
So Alberto would not fail to understand his ideas. This may be a problem of people's vision of the development of the times.

You can always grasp the key points of things that have already happened or experienced more easily than others.

Alberto shrugged, "What are you going to ask for, anyway?"

"Beer, cheap whiskey, and preferably some cider and sparkling wine, and I'll have some girls over there."

In fact, to a certain extent, there is no essential difference between working on the dock and working out in the gym. Both are high-intensity aerobic and tearing exercises.

This also led to the workers being affected by testosterone, and their desire became stronger. Even if they could not do something with these women, they were willing to come and sit for a while and have a drink just by watching from a distance.

Of course, there is a profit model here, and Lance plans to give it a try to see if anyone is willing to be the top of the list.

"These are very common wines. Many wineries in the Federation now have stocks, but their prices are relatively high and are close to the market price."

"I've been looking into this recently. There are many wineries in Yalan that sell very cheap wines, and the shipping fee isn't expensive either."

"I might go there in a while. If you also want to find a stable source of goods, we can do it together."

Lance didn't hesitate for long before agreeing, "Let me know when you leave."

After returning to Lezhu, Lance went to the lounge to meet with others, then played billiard for a while and left.

These people have always been very friendly to him, and Lance didn't really care whether it was for Alberto's sake or not.

After returning to the company, everything seemed to have calmed down again. Although Will's death brought some changes, changes in everyone's spirits and some other changes, it did not really affect our current life.

The next morning, in the open space outside St. Laye's Cathedral, when Lance came over this time, more people took the initiative to greet him, such as Mr. Bolton.

When he saw Lance get off the car, he held his hands high and swayed continuously, calling Lance's name affectionately, as if they had a very good relationship.

"I heard something, Lance, is it true?" There was a different look in his eyes.

For the federals and residents outside the Imperial Zone, the name Will is not familiar to them at all.

But for the imperial immigrants in the imperial zone, this name and the things behind it are people’s nightmares!

No one wants to be targeted by them. Once targeted, not only will they lose a lot of money, but they may also die.

These people don't follow the rules and kill people at any time. People dislike them but are afraid of them.

Now that they suddenly knew that someone was killed by Lance, and that Lance seemed to be alive and well, these people's thoughts began to change.

Although this might offend the Camilla gang, it might also get you protection.

Lance shook his head and didn't give a direct answer. "I'm not sure what you said. It probably has nothing to do with me. Besides, don't spread this kind of thing around. You never know when you'll offend someone."

Mr. Bolton immediately shut his mouth and made a zipper-like motion. "Don't worry, I keep my mouth shut."

"But no matter what, Lance, people are happy. If you can use me, feel free to tell me!"

Although Mr. Bolton, the real villain, is really unlikable in some aspects, he is still more than a hundred times better than his son in being a villain and maintaining decency.

Lance did not reject him bluntly, "If I need your help, I will definitely tell you. I hope you won't hide from me then."

These words made Mr. Bolton feel very proud. He laughed and wanted to pat Lance on the shoulder with his hands raised. However, when he thought of the gap between them now, his two palms met again in front of his chest and held each other together.

"Look at what you said. No matter what you did for us or you are Gerard's friend, as long as you need me, I will never refuse."

He looked at the people around him who were still looking over here, and took the initiative to leave, "Then I won't bother you. It can be seen that everyone wants to talk to you."

He apologized and left. Soon someone came over, greeted Lance warmly, and said a few flattering words.

These people are actually revealing one meaning in their words:

If one day I encounter trouble from Camilla's gang, can I ask you for help?

No one knows whether those who are specifically persecuting them will choose them. They dare not be as optimistic as those who have been killed. They have to be prepared.

In response, Lance said that they were all Imperials in the Federation, and he was willing to lend a helping hand if they needed it.

(End of this chapter)