NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: In Rastoria, Organized Crime has become a major factor of life. The Country is run by corrupt politicians and rich corporate CEOs. The Outfit( The extremely large and powerful organized crime organization) has grown so large that the Internal Intelligence Bureau (I.I.B.)has finally started to get certain members to talk about the various activities of the various Families and Gangs.

The Syndicate the ruling organization of mafia crime bosses fearing that the I.I.B. will finally bring down their organizations has decided to organize a crew dedicated to the elimination of rogue elements within the Outfit. The crew is headed by Lono Demilo the feared Mafia executioner known only to the authorities as Mr. Shades for always leaving a pair of sunglasses at every murder scene…

IC:

China Town…….

8 A.M.


The Golden Dragon is the most famous Chinese restaurant in all of China Town. This one Restaurant was under the control of the Tong organization that had quickly taken control of China Town. The Italian, Irish and German Mob organizations had for the longest time stayed out of China Town to avoid open war with the Tongs but the Rastorian Syndicate had legitimate beef with the Tongs. The Boss of the Tongs in China Town known to everyone as “Uncle” Benny Wong had been talking to G-men to keep the heat off his own organization. This made it harder for his neighbors the Irish controlled New Dublin Gang to operate within their own city.

The Boss of New Dublin an Irish Union boss known as “Black” Jack Connelly had placed a million dollar contract on Uncle Benny for squealing. The Contract was quickly accepted by the Syndicate and the Demilo Crew was ordered to take down Uncle Benny.


The hit was given to Santino Barzini a deadly sniper that had served in the Rastorian Special forces. Santino a thin yet muscular Italian Rastorian quickly walked up a flight of stairs in the Hotel that was right across from the Golden Dragon. Santino was carrying a large brief case that contained the dissembled pieces of his sniper rifle. The rifle had been supplied by Shamus Harper a well known Irish gun runner and arms dealer.


Santino had finally reached the room that would give him access to Uncle Benny’s office on the top floor of the restaurant. Santino had already scoped the area before hand and quickly found the room and set up his rifle to begin his hit. Santino quickly took his position at the window and waited for Uncle Benny to get into his office. Santino’s gloved hands held the rifle confidently and his scope made it easy to spot the entrance to the office it would have to be a very timed shot…


An Hour Later………..

The Golden Dragon was in panic, the sniper bullet had broken through the window and taken down Uncle Benny in one shot. The target had been hit in the head killing Uncle Benny instantly. It was an obvious execution and the Tongs tried to find the assassin but to no avail all they found was the rifle with a pair of sunglasses left next to the gun. The hitman had escaped down the elevator and slipped out the back were a waiting car had quickly made an exodus out of China Town into the safety of New Dublin about 60 miles away…


*************************************************************************************

East Veron……..


The port city of East Veron was an area controlled by the Barlucchi Family. The city was a massive one that was crucial for imports and exports that come in and out of Rastoria. The Barlucchis had taken over the local Union Locals and managed to control the harbors and dock labor along with the illegal drug distribution and smuggling trade. This nice position however was being threatened by a small ring of dock workers that were tired of the corruption and lack of welfare for the workers on the docks.

The Barlucchis had taken into account that these dock workers were all voicing their concerns to a local reverend of the local protestant church. The Reverend named Charles Malloy was feeding the I.I.B. Intel on the Barlucchis movements causing the local Crime Family a lot of discomfort with G-men being tipped off on drop off and pick up locations.

The Barlucchis were afraid to hit the reverend personally for fear of causing a huge stink in the media. The Barlucchi boss Don Emilio Barlucchi tried to use intimidation and bribes to silence this opened mouthed preacher but the highly religious man would not listen to any sort of reason. This uneasy relationship continued for another three months until the Barlucchi family finally agreed to send in a contract killer, Tony ‘The Tiger Taggoluchi.


The air was dark and musky from thick smell of the salty seas. This did not deter the mob hitman and he walked into Reverend Malloy church an hour after services. Tony was wearing a trench coat with a bowler hat his right hand was in his right pocket and his left hand was in his left pocket but the man had an aura of menace about him as he entered the church.

The mobster decided to act like this was a usual threatening shakedown from the Barlucchi family. “Preacher, You have crossed the line for the last time.” Tony gave the religious man a dark smirk and watched with approval as the reverend cowered in fear. It would be the last time the old man would ever get to do this again.

Tony pulled out his cleaver concealed in his trench coat. His gloved hands gripped the handle tight and he quickly with the grace of a hunting tiger slashed at the cowering reverend. In matter of a few hours, Reverend Charles Malloy would be found in pieces all over his blood stained church. Tony “The Tiger Taggoluchi had single handily and permanently silenced a major witness against the mob. The only thing Tony left behind was the bloody cleaver and a pair of sunglasses on the floor in front of the sacred altar…


*****************************************************************************************





El Dorado………


The notorious city of riches and gold. The only city that had permitted gambling and Casinos within all of Rastoria. This had provided a great deal of revenue for the country and has given the Cappaletti Family a huge control over all the major Casinos in the area. The Cappalettis have been actively running large scale skimming operations of the Casinos and they have been selling large scale drugs and girls all across the country making this family one of the riches and most successful crime families in the country.

They however have a problem, A local Casino Boss named Gregory White has decided to bar the mob from his casino making it harder for them to skim his profits and giving him a richer income. This does not look good for the Cappalettis because the other Casino Bosses may decide to follow Gregory’s lead if they do not do something about the situation and fast.

Don Aldo Maggolzetti the head of the Cappaletti Family decides the time has come to use Lono’s crew to fix the Gregory White situation for good. The contract is accepted and in a matter of a few days a large fat man wearing a black business suit with a black fedora is seen outside Casino in a Black Mercedes in the large parking lot.


The man watches as the Boss of the Casino Gregory White exits out of the Casino and heads towards his awaiting Grey Cadillac. The driver of the Cadillac immediately hands the keys over to Gregory and walks away from the vehicle. The Casino Bosses bodyguards watch the area as their boss enters his car and when the ignition starts up the caddy explodes in a fiery blast of death…..

The guards all fall to the ground to avoid the blast, The driver enters the Black Mercedes into the back seat and quickly said, “Okay, Where is my money?” Fat Paulie smiled and nodded to the man sitting next to him. The man a thin Irish hit man with a pistol in his coat quickly pulled out his weapon and shot the surprised driver in the head. The mobster sitting next to the driver in the back put a pair of sunglasses on the dead drivers face and kicked him out of the car. The Mercedes picks up speed and drives out of there like a bat out of hell……


*********************************************************************


New Rastoria………………………

Internal Investigations Bureau Headquarters ……..

Supreme Inspector Martin Barrett was a big man with a large bushy mustache and huge shoulders. This large domineering man was sitting at his desk and yelling and screaming loudly at the phone. “What the hell? What do you mean Malloy is dead and so is Benny Wong?”

The Supreme Inspector slams the phone down on the receiver and screams, “Damn it, The mob is moving in on our informers!” The big man quickly grabs his phone again and makes a quick call to witness protection. The report he got was not a good one. The Outfit had already made several executions on several key witnesses and intimated several others to disappear from the radar…

Supreme Inspector Martin Barrett then made a call to the undercover department and discovered that fourteen of his agents had been whacked using various execution styles all of them leaving a pair of sunglasses and the murder weapon behind with no prints to trace back to the killer. It seemed that Mr. Shades has been a very busy contract killer, killing several people all over Rastoria in a matter of a few weeks. The odd thing was the relative speed in which the hits had occurred it seemed highly likely that more people were involved in this massive massacre.

The brooding man stands up and finally gives a call to Inspector Victor Roth the head of the Platinum Shields. The Elite G-men that have been charged with battling the powerful organized crime factions. The Platinum Shields had been in charge of dealing with the various witnesses and performing undercover operations deep inside the dark recesses of the Mob underworld that has gripped Rastoria like an elaborate spider web of intrigue.

Victor answers his cell phone as he drives to headquarters in the middle of New Rastoria’s infamous traffic. The usual commuters and large cargo trucks were driving across the roads heading to their various locations and the Buses were still trying to keep pace with the demands of the public all across the city.

Victor being in a grouchy mood answers. “Hello, This is Inspector Victor Roth speaking, and it better be important!” The response Victor would have snapped anyone out of a bad mood especially with his boss cursing him for incompetence at the top of his voice…

Victor immediately responds in a more pleasant voice, “Sorry, Supreme Inspector. I have been having a very bad time with traffic and I am running late to work. I would like to apolo….”

“No Time Inspector , I have reports that your department has several dead witnesses and undercover agents. It seems the Mob has a mole or two in our organization. They have been killing people right and left, The press have been calling it the Rat Massacre! The few informers and uncovers we have in custody are under constant guard but the mob will get them if we don’t act soon. We need to get them out of Rastoria, before the Garazonis or the other Italian Families send these heavy hitters to whack them. I am going to ask the international community to house these brave people before the Outfit can get at them…”


Victor gulps and responds, “How do you plan to transport them out?, and who will escort them out of the country? The Outfit is going to put a contract down on all these people anyway and that means outside killers might come after them!”


The Supreme Inspector replies slowly, “You and you’re team are supposed to deal with the arrangements of transport and escorting them out of the country. I see this as a failure from your department and as such you will fix this mess Inspector Roth!”

Victor responds meekly, “Yes sir, I will deal with the arrangements and send a message to the International Community.”


*****************************************************************************************




To: The International Community
From: The Internal Investigations Bureau of the United States of Rastoria
Subject: Informer and undercover agents asylum


The Internal Investigations Bureau would like to request asylum for a number of informers and undercover agents that have been helping our Bureau build a case against the massive criminal element called the Outfit. The Outfit has recently managed to form a hit squad that has effectively found their many enemies and begun to massacre them all across the country. The Outfit has placed contracts on these people and they will see to it that these people are dead. If you take these people you must be aware that the Outfit may send contract killers after them. I hope you can find it in your hearts to protect these people for their courageous efforts in bringing down the largest and most dangerous organized crime syndicate in my country’s history…


Signed,

Inspector Victor Roth
Head of the Platinum Shields: Anti Organized Crime Squad…

OOC: This sounds interesting; I’d like to participate if you’d have me here. I think it would be rather interesting so see some hitmen attempt to make it through the Kilrany Empire. And apologies for the simplistic post, but I’m not so skilled with the diplomatic overtures, heh.

IC:
Greetings. After discussions held between myself, Emperor Sviatov and Internal Affairs minister Andrei Kvasov, I have been asked to offer our assistance in this matter. We are willing to see to the safety of several of these men if you wish, we can offer them new identities and a small security detail for their protection.

We do however need to know if there are any requirements for any person in general we may look after, medical conditions, etc … Baring any unforeseen events, we could have a transport aircraft en route to pick up any protectorates within a day. More detailed security information can be provided upon your acceptances of our offer.

Kilrany foreign affairs minister
Pavel Kasatikin

New Rastoria………
Internal Investigations Bureau Headquarters…….


Inspector Victor Roth smiled at the speedy response from the Kilrany Empire, Victor quickly informs his second in command L.T. Fredo Rosario of this good news and rushes to his personal lap top to send a top secret response back to the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Kilrany Empire…


SIC:

Receiving Encoded Transmission……………..
Password Protection Override *********
Password Accepted…………
Decrypting Transmission………….

To: Foreign Affairs Minister, Pavel Kasatikin
From: Inspector Victor Roth
Subject: Asylum

We intend to only send about three people to any one country to make it harder for the Outfit to locate these brave survivors. We have the following choices for you to pick please be aware that they are all being targeting by a highly organized a well armed crime organization that will stop at nothing to silence these people for good. We highly recommend that you give them new identities and security details to avoid getting them whacked by any would be hitman. I mean the Outfit employs people with obvious military training, and to give you an example Mr. Benny Wong a well respected Chinese Rastorian was hit with a sniper bullet and the assassin was never caught. It is rumored that Mr. Wong had a small army of Chinese Rastorian Gangsters protecting his area and they failed to protect him. This is to show you an idea of the skill of the people you will be up against. I could go into more details but if you read our news papers you can probably get the message.


We shall let you choice the three people you wish to protect from the following fifteen:

1. Vito Dalatori: A made man with the Cappaletti Family, This little punk was caught selling young girls to the local pimps and madams of El Dorado city. He was going to serve a 10 to 80 year sentence when he made a deal to squeal about Cappaletti movements and points of interests. He was realsed on a five year sentence but was found out to be an informer there have been at least three attempts on Mr. Dalatori’s life. They have all ended with their brutal execution at the hands of Vito’s personal security detail but his luck may eventually run out…


2. Officer Dino Bersorelli: He is one of our best undercover agents inside the Outfit. He has successfully infiltrated the Garazoni Crime Family as an associate and part time enforcer. This has given him first hand knowledge of the violence that the Mob plays on our fair capital city. Dino was lucky to escape with his life when the massacre began. It is believed that he was to be one of the top targets in the massacre due to his close relationship with Garazoni Capo Marc Anthony Feranelli.



3. Eva Weiss: A well known madam for the Cappaletti mob in El Dorado. She paid protection dues to the police by providing them information on Cappaletti activities. This relationship lasted for well over six years until one of her girls let the information slip to a trusted enforcer of the Cappaletti mob. The Cappalettis quickly tried to whack Eva in her home deep in the outskirts of El Dorado. They did not however take into account this deadly vixen had trained bodyguards with automatic weapons guarding her estate. The mobsters were gunned down by Eva’s body guards and she attempted to fight a guerrilla war agaisnt the Cappalettis. She had already recruited several young Irish gangsters and managed to keep and maintain a very organized gang that protected her girls and rivaled the local mob in power. The recent “Rat Massacre” has seen these young boys being targeted by professional killers. Eva Weiss has her small entourage of bodyguards and her stable of girls with her in our headquarters but she now lacks the criminal muscle she once had to completely protect her on the streets. She is considered a master criminal and a Crime Boss but her life is still in danger of Outfit retaliation.


4. George Armstrong J.R.: A Bartender for the famous Callahan Club. This joint is owned an operated by “Black” Jack Connelly the rumored crime boss of the New Dublin Gang. George has been an informer since his first day on the job. He is now held in protective custody to avoid being targeted by the Irish mob of New Dublin.


5. Roberto Sanchez: A mid level drug dealer that has crossed the Barlucchi Family by refusing to pay their protection fees and by selling tips to the police on the side. This has marked him for extermination, Roberto is from Mexico and has ties to several drug cartels in Columbia.


6. Officer Dennis Delahunt: This undercover agent was vital for the infiltration of the New Dublin Gang. He has successfully fingered Union Boss Jack Connelly as the Kingpin of the Gang and has managed to find evidence of both Union Racketeering and Money laundering for the Italian Families explaining the truce between these two powerful crime syndicates. His death would be vital for us to lose all the details in our coming trial of the infamous “Black” Jack Connelly.


7. Greg Hughes: a huge drug addict living on the streets, that was forced to wear a wire for money to record conversations with several drug dealers. His help was greatly appreciated and he is now in protective custody to prevent his bloody death in the back streets of East Veron…


8. Vinnie Solozini: A well known mob hitman that was sentenced to death by a trial of his peers. He started talking to get the state to give him life imprisonment instead. The State caved and now Mr. Solozini is wanted by his real peers the Maranzino Crime Family. He is a diabetic and needs treatment in order to stay alive.

9. Boris Broshelvisky: Boris was a member of the Russian Mob that tried to muscle into the already established Outfit. The Outfit has seen fit to decide that the Russian Mob is not to be allowed within Rastoria and has forth with marked all Russian Gangsters with a death sentence. Boris is the last surviving member of his gang. The rest were all gunned down in their favorite Bar in New Odessa.


10. Pierre Dubois: This French immigrant was quickly recruited as an intelligence operative for the Undercover department. He was targeted by Mafia kidnappers seeking to acquire him and get him to name the names of his team of agents deep inside the Rastorian underworld. Pierre’s skill with firearms, no doubt a skill he picked up in the Foreign Legion saved his life and managed to get him into the protective walls of our headquarters.



11. Tetsu Saizen: This Yakuza gangster is one of the last of his kind in Rastoria. The Outfit has been very intolerant of outside influences and the Yakuza have suffered the same fate as the Russians and the Columbians. They have all received death sentences, Tetsu has not given any information and will never betray his oath of loyalty but we picked him off the streets to save his life before he could stupidly get killed trying to avenge his comrades deaths at the hands of the Outfit…


12. Sergio Sanchez: Mexican drug smuggler and brother of Roberto. He is wanted for aiding his brother in their foolish attempt to avoid paying protection money to the mob and for squealing about family business. He is also connected to several Columbia Drug Cartels.


13. Jerry Ryman: This famous singer and actor was an in member with several mob figures ranging from Don Emilio Barlucchi to Don Tony Garazoni himself. Jerry was selling out high levels of information on the Mafia and provided a large amount of Intel on the Outfits movements all across the country. It is rumored that the highest ranging contract is on Jerry for his closeness to the upper echelon of the mob elite. We pray that this one lives, He was instrumental in saving many peoples lives including the ones on this list…


14. Bobby Reinhart: This small time drug dealer and extortion artist was facing some serious time for manslaughter when one of his customers had an over dose and died on the floor. Bobby sold out a number of his friends including his suppliers in exchange for a lighter sentence and protection from the Families…



15. Officer Genco Montebello: A deep cover operative that managed to get into the heart of the Maranzino family. This well established officer has managed to get himself made and is considered the pride a joy of our department. He did not even need kill someone to achieve this status. He is easily a huge embarrassment to the Maranzino family and they will stop at nothing to fix this huge mistake permanently.


End SIC



*************************************************************************************

In Fredo’s Office…………..


Fredo was talking to someone with his cell phone, the skilled agent was careful with his wording and managed to say things like, “Mom, I have good news, The Eggs are in the basket but the Mother hen is guarding them. She intends to protect them until they can fly the coup…”


On the other line a dark and insidious voice replies, “Thank you Fredo, Your services have been of great help to the Syndicate…”

Encrypted Message Follows

The Community, itself having suffered from organized crime in the past, would be willing to do our part to eliminate it in another part of the world.

Anyone you send to The Community will be provided with a new identity and employment. All that is required is that they make a deposition on their position before a member of the Siapian Intelligence Network and the subcommittee on organized crime to identify the threats to their security. Afterwards, these men and women will be completely safe for however long they stay in The Community.

~Alex Connor
Speaker
The Community of Siap

OOC: Hey Siap, I was thinking can the Syndicate use their connection with Cassius to try and get information on the three people that will be sent to the Community? I could then have a legitimate way of explaining how the Demilo crew was able to sneak into Siap and plot the deaths of these individuals…


IC:


Inspector Victor Roth immediately begins sending his response to Siapian government. The busy Inspector fails to notice that his information is being recorded on the camera phone of his trusted L.T. Inspector Fredo. Fredo is careful not to make it seem obvious but the information is clear enough to see the message and the names on it, and Fredo quickly sends the message to his shadowy friend……


SIC:

Receiving Encoded Transmission……………..
Password Protection Override *********
Password Accepted…………
Decrypting Transmission………….

To: Speaker Alex Connor
From: Inspector Victor Roth
Subject: Asylum

The United States of Rastoria and the Internal Investigations Bureau thanks the Community of Siap for their kindness and wiliness to protect these charges from the ever expanding arm of the Outfit. I hope that these people manage to find better lives away from the violence of the streets but I know that some of them are criminals and may bring their bad habits with them. I suggest you watch some of them carefully especially if they have records in the rackets.


We shall let you choice the three people you wish to protect from the following fifteen:

1. Vito Dalatori: A made man with the Cappaletti Family, This little punk was caught selling young girls to the local pimps and madams of El Dorado city. He was going to serve a 10 to 80 year sentence when he made a deal to squeal about Cappaletti movements and points of interests. He was realsed on a five year sentence but was found out to be an informer there have been at least three attempts on Mr. Dalatori’s life. They have all ended with their brutal execution at the hands of Vito’s personal security detail but his luck may eventually run out…


2. Officer Dino Bersorelli: He is one of our best undercover agents inside the Outfit. He has successfully infiltrated the Garazoni Crime Family as an associate and part time enforcer. This has given him first hand knowledge of the violence that the Mob plays on our fair capital city. Dino was lucky to escape with his life when the massacre began. It is believed that he was to be one of the top targets in the massacre due to his close relationship with Garazoni Capo Marc Anthony Feranelli.



3. Eva Weiss: A well known madam for the Cappaletti mob in El Dorado. She paid protection dues to the police by providing them information on Cappaletti activities. This relationship lasted for well over six years until one of her girls let the information slip to a trusted enforcer of the Cappaletti mob. The Cappalettis quickly tried to whack Eva in her home deep in the outskirts of El Dorado. They did not however take into account this deadly vixen had trained bodyguards with automatic weapons guarding her estate. The mobsters were gunned down by Eva’s body guards and she attempted to fight a guerrilla war agaisnt the Cappalettis. She had already recruited several young Irish gangsters and managed to keep and maintain a very organized gang that protected her girls and rivaled the local mob in power. The recent “Rat Massacre” has seen these young boys being targeted by professional killers. Eva Weiss has her small entourage of bodyguards and her stable of girls with her in our headquarters but she now lacks the criminal muscle she once had to completely protect her on the streets. She is considered a master criminal and a Crime Boss but her life is still in danger of Outfit retaliation.


4. George Armstrong J.R.: A Bartender for the famous Callahan Club. This joint is owned an operated by “Black” Jack Connelly the rumored crime boss of the New Dublin Gang. George has been an informer since his first day on the job. He is now held in protective custody to avoid being targeted by the Irish mob of New Dublin.


5. Roberto Sanchez: A mid level drug dealer that has crossed the Barlucchi Family by refusing to pay their protection fees and by selling tips to the police on the side. This has marked him for extermination, Roberto is from Mexico and has ties to several drug cartels in Columbia.


6. Officer Dennis Delahunt: This undercover agent was vital for the infiltration of the New Dublin Gang. He has successfully fingered Union Boss Jack Connelly as the Kingpin of the Gang and has managed to find evidence of both Union Racketeering and Money laundering for the Italian Families explaining the truce between these two powerful crime syndicates. His death would be vital for us to lose all the details in our coming trial of the infamous “Black” Jack Connelly.


7. Greg Hughes: a huge drug addict living on the streets, that was forced to wear a wire for money to record conversations with several drug dealers. His help was greatly appreciated and he is now in protective custody to prevent his bloody death in the back streets of East Veron…


8. Vinnie Solozini: A well known mob hitman that was sentenced to death by a trial of his peers. He started talking to get the state to give him life imprisonment instead. The State caved and now Mr. Solozini is wanted by his real peers the Maranzino Crime Family. He is a diabetic and needs treatment in order to stay alive.

9. Boris Broshelvisky: Boris was a member of the Russian Mob that tried to muscle into the already established Outfit. The Outfit has seen fit to decide that the Russian Mob is not to be allowed within Rastoria and has forth with marked all Russian Gangsters with a death sentence. Boris is the last surviving member of his gang. The rest were all gunned down in their favorite Bar in New Odessa.


10. Pierre Dubois: This French immigrant was quickly recruited as an intelligence operative for the Undercover department. He was targeted by Mafia kidnappers seeking to acquire him and get him to name the names of his team of agents deep inside the Rastorian underworld. Pierre’s skill with firearms, no doubt a skill he picked up in the Foreign Legion saved his life and managed to get him into the protective walls of our headquarters.



11. Tetsu Saizen: This Yakuza gangster is one of the last of his kind in Rastoria. The Outfit has been very intolerant of outside influences and the Yakuza have suffered the same fate as the Russians and the Columbians. They have all received death sentences, Tetsu has not given any information and will never betray his oath of loyalty but we picked him off the streets to save his life before he could stupidly get killed trying to avenge his comrades deaths at the hands of the Outfit…


12. Sergio Sanchez: Mexican drug smuggler and brother of Roberto. He is wanted for aiding his brother in their foolish attempt to avoid paying protection money to the mob and for squealing about family business. He is also connected to several Columbia Drug Cartels.


13. Jerry Ryman: This famous singer and actor was an in member with several mob figures ranging from Don Emilio Barlucchi to Don Tony Garazoni himself. Jerry was selling out high levels of information on the Mafia and provided a large amount of Intel on the Outfits movements all across the country. It is rumored that the highest ranging contract is on Jerry for his closeness to the upper echelon of the mob elite. We pray that this one lives, He was instrumental in saving many peoples lives including the ones on this list…


14. Bobby Reinhart: This small time drug dealer and extortion artist was facing some serious time for manslaughter when one of his customers had an over dose and died on the floor. Bobby sold out a number of his friends including his suppliers in exchange for a lighter sentence and protection from the Families…



15. Officer Genco Montebello: A deep cover operative that managed to get into the heart of the Maranzino family. This well established officer has managed to get himself made and is considered the pride a joy of our department. He did not even need kill someone to achieve this status. He is easily a huge embarrassment to the Maranzino family and they will stop at nothing to fix this huge mistake permanently.


End SIC

OOC: That is feasible, but, like any work with Cassius, it will come at a price.

IC:

Encrypted Message

The Community feels that Officer Genco Montebello would be the safest in The Community, simply because we have a strong need for men of his calibre. General Urban of The Siapian Intelligence Network would like to offer him a consulting position with SIN. This position comes with a new identity, residence on a Siapian military base and a tax-free 10,000 Platinum Credit ($21,800) signing bonus.

We would like to extend shelter to Jerry Ryman, condition of his deposition before The Council of One Hundred Subcommittee on organized crime. Specifically, we would like to know if he has heard anything of ties of his associates to Siapian criminal elements. This will be rewarded with a new identity, subsidized housing and a stipend until he can find employment.

Roberto Sanchez would also be welcome in The Community, in exchange for a similar deposition. If he were to provide information on the Barlucchi family, he would be provided with a new identity, subsidized housing and a stipend until he finds employment.

~Alex Connor

OOC: The Guys you picked are going to be worth the price. Genco has embarrassed the Maranzino Family and Jerry has been close knit with the Dons themselves. This could get ugly for everybody…..



IC:


Inspector Victor Roth after a long talk to these individuals finally sends a response back to the Siapian Community. The Inspector however failed to notice the huge intrest his second in command was having with what he was typing. L.T Inspector. Fredo heads out of the room after reading the three names and sends a text message to his shadowy contact about the people being sent.


SIC:

Receiving Encoded Transmission……………..
Password Protection Override *********
Password Accepted…………
Decrypting Transmission………….

To: Speaker Alex Connor
From: Inspector Victor Roth
Subject: Asylum

Mr. Montebello has agreed to your generous offer. Genco has been a friend of my for a long time and he has managed to bring down the reputation of the Maranzino Family. I can personally vouch for his skills as a deep cover agent.

I have talked to Jerry and he admits that the Syndicate has had dealings with a mysterious figure called “Cassius.” Jerry’s knowledge of this person is limited but it is believed that the Outfit has dealings with other crime syndicates outside of Rastoria.

Roberto Sanchez has also agreed to tell you all he knows about the Barlucchi Family. He just asks that you never return him back to the ports of East Veron because those boys will send him down to into the sea with cement shoes…





End SIC

Encrypted Message

We are well aware of the actions of the man known as "Cassius", although we have had extreme difficulty in gaining insight into his operations.

We are dispatching aircraft to pick up these men. I must inform you that it will be nearly impossible for anyone to contact these men (myself included), especially Mr. Montebello, after they make their depositions to the subcommitee.

We wish you best of fortune in combatting the sydnicate and will offer whatever information that comes to light regarding the matter.

~Alex Connor

Inspector Victor Roth responds almost immediately to quickly get this part of the job out of the way. The thought of losing Genco was a disheartening prospect but so was losing him to a hitman’s bullet. Inspector Roth hides his emotions well and replies with careful wording…

SIC:

Receiving Encoded Transmission……………..
Password Protection Override *********
Password Accepted…………
Decrypting Transmission………….

To: Speaker Alex Connor
From: Inspector Victor Roth
Subject: Asylum

It is probably for the best that we can not reach them after they arrive and are integrated into your society. I have my personal intuition on the matter but the Chief believes we may have a few moles within our organization. I would hate to think any of our agents would cheapen their own value by working with these thugs and murders. I just hope that they have not been able to find these messages because if the Outfit gets even a whiff of this. They will most assuredly send a contract killer or a hit squad to kill these people. The Internal Investigations Bureau will appreciate any information you can get out of these people. The Syndicate has been on the move and they seem intent on cleansing their organizations and eliminating all their enemies that have managed to make any ties to them…





End SIC



*************************************************************************************


New Rastoria..........
Underground Bunker.............


“Hey Boss, We found three of the targets they are heading to Siap and one of them is Jerry Ryman himself. I believe the contract on him is worth 15 million dollars. We also have Genco who is worth 6 million. Roberto is only worth 85,000 but the overall sum seems to be worth the effort.” said the tall muscular man in a trench coat listening on the phone.

Lono Demilo the infamous mob executioner and Capo of the Demilo crew smiles and replies, “Tell the Dons, I need a favor. I want to talk to their connection to Cassius.”

The big man in the trench coat walks out the door leading to the stairs……….

Esmund

"This is Kesson." The man wore civilian clothes, but they had all been purchased at an Army surplus store. "Yes I am familiar with the three men about to receive asylum in The Community." He had already grabbed his jacket and made it to the door. "I'm on my way."

Kesson had been asked to sit in on the depositions, which were about to happen.

The planes had landed succesfully in Siap, and the asylum-seekers were transported via helicopter to the Halls of the Council. They were to sit behind screens with voice-scramblers, and they would begin. Soon afterwards, they would be split up, and, ideally, never heard from again.

---

Blake's Point

The phone in the back of the bar rang. "DeCell, its for you. Sound foreign."

The man who served as the connection between Cassius and much of the outside world stood up and took the phone. "Hello?"

The asylum seekers were all nervous about the proceedings. These people seemed very good at keeping everything secret and in the dark. They even had voice scramblers and screens to avoid being spotted. Jerry shivered at the sudden realization that his beloved Rastoria would forever be to dangerous to return.

Genco was a man that had seen a lot of things on the mean streets of Morentral City. The undercover agent merely smiled and thought about how interesting it would be to be in a totally new society….

Roberto was just plain frightened out of his mind. This poor Mexican drug dealer had been shot at and nearly whacked several times and now he was in a totally new environment and he wondered how he would fair and if he could start up his drug trade business without running into the Barlucchi Family in the process…


*****************************************************************************
Underground Bunker......

DeCell would hear a reply along these lines, “Is this line secure to talk business?, or do we need a more secure line?” replied Lono Demilo

The small room filled with ten members of The Council of One Hundred, along with General Urban of SIN. Jerry was called first to make a deposition.

Inside the heavily guarded waiting room, a soldier in uniform approached Genco. "Mr. Montebello, may I have a word with you in the adjacent room?" He indicated a door next to the one that led to the chambers.

After Jerry was situated behind the screen, the speaker of the subcomittee spoke. "Mr. Ryman, I need you to describe your entire involvement with the criminal elements of Rastoria, from your introduction to your current state. I need you also to summarize the threats against your life, and if any of your organizations have ties to any Siapian citizens."

***
Claude looked around at the bar and smiled. Everyone here was on Cassius's payroll. And anyone listening in would get an earful of static. "This line is kosher as Chistmas."

OOC: Apologies for the delay, I had to take off for work. Once again, simplistic post, thankfully when I get past the diplomatic exchange, I’ll be more interesting to read ... ideally, heh.

****Encrypted Communication****

Greetings again. We understand your desire to not, ‘put all your eggs in one basket’ as it were; we will of course give these people new identities and a detail for their protection, as an added precaution we will spread them across our nation. Given your last communiqué, we felt it best to send this one more securely.

After careful review, we will accept responsibility for the following individuals:
Officer Dino Bersorelli
Officer Dennis Delahunt
George Armstrong J.R

Sadly under Kilrany law we cannot guarantee the safety of those other individuals convicted of certain crimes, however rest assured, these three men will receive the best protection we can offer. Arrangements are being made for the transport and escorts, our only concern at this point will be the following, despite the fact our men will only be arriving at the airport to take them into protective custody and leave again, will we need any special permits to carry firearms into your nation?

Kilrany foreign affairs minister
Pavel Kasatikin

****Encrypted Communication****

Chief Kenneth Whelan recieved the communique from Rastoria and read over it three times before calling President Adair. After a brief discussion, the two men decided to grant asylum to two of these individuals.

Official Governmental Communique from Descartesland Central Control

START

After receiving your request for assistance, my President has authorized me to extend an invitation of asylum to two of the individuals you need assistance in protecting. Organized crime is particularly insidious and can rapidly destabilize a nation. We would also like to offer our assistance in inspecting your agency for any possible information leaks.

Please inform the two individuals you choose to send to us of the living conditions in Descartesland. All of our citizens are barcoded and exist in our national database system. These two individuals will be given jobs in our Arms Manufacturing industry and modest homes. They will also be under 24/7 surveillance and guard.

In addition to asylum for your informants, Descartesland offers The Internal Investigations Bureau of the United States of Rastoria access to our surveillance satellites and equipment. We could redirect the tracks of some of our satellites to provide you with photos of any regions you wish with resolution of up to 2 inches. Beyond this, Descartesland has developed some of the most technologically advanced audio bugs in the world. We would be willing to provide you with some of this technology and the training to use it effectively.

Officially Signed:
Chief Kenneth Whelan
Head of Homeland Control
Descartesland

STOP

The Holy Empire of Lord Sumguy wishes to help in any way it can to end the rampant crime within your nation.

OOC: Sorry, For the Delay in response, I have been a little busy thanks to RL reasons. I will continue the thread…….


IC:

Genco Montebello replied in a friendly manner, “Of course.” Genco got up from his seated position and followed the soldier out of the room. Genco however stayed behind the soldier and made sure that the soldier left before him. This was standard policy to avoid being assassinated in the back by someone that is considered an ally (in this case the Siapian soldier) and also it helps prevent assassins from killing the first person out of the door trick that the mob would often employ to get targets in easy areas for quick assassinations.

Jerry Ryman was a little nervous about the question. He had been feeding the Internal Investigations Bureau information for several years but selling this information to foreigners seemed a little far fetched even in Jerry’s nervous mind. It took Jerry several minutes to finally answer…

“My first encounter with the criminal organizations of Rastoria began back when I was thirteen. My older brother had joined the New Dublin Gang in New Dublin City. I would often join my brother and hang out with the guys and they would talk fairly openly about their rackets and scams. These people considered me an member of the neighborhood and the rule of the neighborhood is that you never talk to the police or any other authority figure about the Outfit’s business. This code of silence is almost everywhere now a days thanks to the strict enforcement by the Syndicate.”

Jerry pauses and then adds, “I later moved to New Rastoria to follow my dream as a singer and actor. I was told that the movie stars and popular singers all had to audition at the night clubs in New Rastoria. This area of society was completely owned and operated by the Syndicate. I eventually managed to get some fans from the night clubs and started up a very successful music career. The Mob took interest in my abilities and they would have their upper echelon constantly hang around me to give themselves a legitimate face in the public light.

I did not mind the added publicity and it only increased my popularity among my Italian and Irish fans but sadly. I started to hear little bits of information from this guy and that guy. I eventually was able to piece together the Outfit’s power structure and hierarchy from the Tongs in China Town to the Barlucchi Family in East Veron. I learned about dates, names, places and managed to make myself seem like an inside guy in the Syndicate. I finally decided after several years of this that, My duty as a Rastorian was to help stop this scourge from killing more innocent people. I started to sell information to the IIB in exchange for well over twenty million dollars. This relationship lasted for several months until the Outfit managed to use their moles to find out whom was informing on them. Thus this giant Rat massacre that you see.”

Jerry takes another breath and concludes as for Siapian citizens involved, “I know some guy known as Cassius is working with the Outfit in smuggling in Illegal drugs into Rastoria. He is also credited for several sweat heart deals in keeping out unwanted competition out of Rastoria‘s drug market. I don’t know anymore than that but I have heard rumors that the Barlucchis are holding some items for Cassius in their main compound on the Dockyards of East Veron.”

****************************************************************************************

Underground Bunker………..

Lono replied, “Perfect, I am a representative of the Syndicate, We have managed to find out from our moles in the IIB that three high profile targets have left Rastoria to hide in Siap. We would like to ask for Cassius’s help in locating them and smuggling some of our hitters over to collect on the contracts. If Cassius agrees we are willing to pay 35 percent of the contracts worth to Cassius’s organization for the help.”


*************************************************************************************


****Encrypted Communication****

Greetings again. We understand your desire to not, ‘put all your eggs in one basket’ as it were; we will of course give these people new identities and a detail for their protection, as an added precaution we will spread them across our nation. Given your last communiqué, we felt it best to send this one more securely.

After careful review, we will accept responsibility for the following individuals:
Officer Dino Bersorelli
Officer Dennis Delahunt
George Armstrong J.R

Sadly under Kilrany law we cannot guarantee the safety of those other individuals convicted of certain crimes, however rest assured, these three men will receive the best protection we can offer. Arrangements are being made for the transport and escorts, our only concern at this point will be the following, despite the fact our men will only be arriving at the airport to take them into protective custody and leave again, will we need any special permits to carry firearms into your nation?

Kilrany foreign affairs minister
Pavel Kasatikin

****Encrypted Communication****


Inspector Victor Roth responds after a few minutes of painstaking typing and watching over his shoulder. This however did not prevent his insidious colleague from seeing everything that was being typed via the recording of his cell phone that was left on the shelf right behind Victor and his computer seeing everything and sending the information back to the Syndicate’s hit squad…


SIC:

Receiving Encoded Transmission……………..
Password Protection Override *********
Password Accepted…………
Decrypting Transmission………….

To: Kilrany Foreign Affairs Minister Pavel Kasatikin
From: Inspector Victor Roth
Subject: Asylum

The Internal Investigations Bureau would like to thank the Kilrany Empire for their willingness to help out our department in this time of uncertainty and doubt. The Officers and the informant have all agreed to your offer of hiding in your nation to avoid the wraith of the Outfit.

The current laws of Rastoria prohibit non state registered firearms within the country. I feel however since you are trying to protect these valuable individuals from people that will ignore this law anyway. We shall not hold it against your people if they are armed. We just ask that they don’t use their weapons rashly and kill or harm any innocent bystanders should a fire fight erupt at the airport.


End SIC

Within the droning hum of the aircraft’s cabin twelve men and women sat casually and comfortably, all members of the Kilrany Internal Security Ministries Close Protection Unit. Although they all possessed military ranks as with standing within the ISM, the Kilrany’s national police force, officer was still used as a catch all term for these members of law enforcement.

The aircraft, built by the Kilrany Imperial Arms Manufactures as a private business jet, was quite similar in design and appearance to the Bombardier, BD-700 Global Express XRS and was capable of comfortably transporting twenty people. Although in this case the ISM had borrowed one from the Kilrany Diplomatic Service for this somewhat unusual assignment.

Due in great part to their appearance, wearing tailored suits, which covered their personal body armour, and wearing dark sunglasses, the officers of the CPU were often jokingly referred to as ‘RISS Lite’, or ‘Export RISS’, in deference to members of the Russkyan Internal Security Service. As a standard service sidearm, each officer carried a Yarygin PYa with several extra magazines located in pouches attached to their belt, concealed underneath their suits.

Given the expressed danger cited by their superiors in response to the messages sent by the Rastorian Inspector, six of the twelve officers carried a long arm to supplement their firepower. Two of them carried the KRCS Blackthorn, a semi automatic, magazine fed twelve gauge shotgun jointly developed by Russkya and Kilrany to replace the Saiga 12.

The other four officers carried the Lapinkoira, a Russkyan designed bull pup PDW capable of being chambered for a variety of rifle caliber ammunition. In this case these accurate and controllable weapons were chambered to fire 7.62x39mm rounds, in the close quarters the CPU were ever likely to be engaged in, the strong punch of the heavy round was considered more effective then smaller submachine gun ammunition.

Because the officers didn’t know what to expect from the criminal organizations, whether or not they were well armed and equipped, half the magazines they carried for their Lapinkoiras were loaded with 7N23 AP, incase the organized crime members had access to heavier body armour.

“You know, we need to borrow transport from the diplomatic corp. more often, I could get used to this,” a chorus of chuckles erupted from Officer Tatlin’s quip.

“I wouldn’t get to comfortable, this isn’t likely to last long. But in the mean time, I’m going to enjoy this while it lasts,” Tatlin smirked at his comrade’s reply.

“So why do you think the Emperor decided to offer assistance to this foreign agency? As far as I know we’re not exactly getting anything out of it.”

There was a short pause after the last officer spoke, none were entirely sure, however it wasn’t long before Tatlin heard someone make a quick joke about it.

“Maybe he was just in a good mood and felt generous.”

Tatlin could hear the smile in the voice of the officer as she spoke and chuckled himself at the thought along with the rest. A moment later their unit leader, Officer Falk spoke up, he himself sporting a grin.

“I somewhat doubt that, more likely he’s trying to make some new friends, and it’s not like babysitting a handful of people is exactly resource intensive. I’m more concerned with why we got this assignment, if this is considered so important as to have the Emperor weigh in on it, I would have figured Fifth Division would have been all over this.”

The Officer’s word struck a note with the others; although they were well trained they were use to getting the low priority assignments, with the more important ones being taken over by the Imperial Guard’s 5th Division. For some reason beyond their knowledge, after the Emperor’s order had come through, 5th Division had tasked them with this operation, rather then sending a unit of their own.

“More importantly though, we should be landing shortly to pick up these three individuals, you know your jobs, but this isn’t Kilrany, apparently corruption is rampant, or some such, so don’t fucking trust anyone here. Kuprin, when we land we’re going to have to refuel, before they touch this aircraft, you use that little test kit to make sure what they’re putting into this aircraft isn’t contaminated.”

Officer Kuprin gave a quite nod and acknowledged the order, with that, Falk continued.

“No one comes near this aircraft unless they have a damned good reason and no one touches this aircraft unless we specifically let them. I don’t want to mysteriously drop out of the sky halfway home, got me? Additionally, orders from higher up state that lethal force is to be used only if absolutely necessary.”

Although they chuckled slightly they acknowledged the order, understanding that everyone’s safety, and their reputations, were on the line with this operation.

Forward of the cabin, in the aircraft’s cockpit, the copilot lifted up a radio as they began to approach Rastorian airspace, identifying the aircraft, requesting clearance to enter their airspace, along with requesting clearance to land at the appropriate airport.

Genco Montebello replied in a friendly manner, “Of course.” Genco got up from his seated position and followed the soldier out of the room. Genco however stayed behind the soldier and made sure that the soldier left before him. This was standard policy to avoid being assassinated in the back by someone that is considered an ally (in this case the Siapian soldier) and also it helps prevent assassins from killing the first person out of the door trick that the mob would often employ to get targets in easy areas for quick assassinations.

Jerry Ryman was a little nervous about the question. He had been feeding the Internal Investigations Bureau information for several years but selling this information to foreigners seemed a little far fetched even in Jerry’s nervous mind. It took Jerry several minutes to finally answer…

“My first encounter with the criminal organizations of Rastoria began back when I was thirteen. My older brother had joined the New Dublin Gang in New Dublin City. I would often join my brother and hang out with the guys and they would talk fairly openly about their rackets and scams. These people considered me an member of the neighborhood and the rule of the neighborhood is that you never talk to the police or any other authority figure about the Outfit’s business. This code of silence is almost everywhere now a days thanks to the strict enforcement by the Syndicate.”

Jerry pauses and then adds, “I later moved to New Rastoria to follow my dream as a singer and actor. I was told that the movie stars and popular singers all had to audition at the night clubs in New Rastoria. This area of society was completely owned and operated by the Syndicate. I eventually managed to get some fans from the night clubs and started up a very successful music career. The Mob took interest in my abilities and they would have their upper echelon constantly hang around me to give themselves a legitimate face in the public light.

I did not mind the added publicity and it only increased my popularity among my Italian and Irish fans but sadly. I started to hear little bits of information from this guy and that guy. I eventually was able to piece together the Outfit’s power structure and hierarchy from the Tongs in China Town to the Barlucchi Family in East Veron. I learned about dates, names, places and managed to make myself seem like an inside guy in the Syndicate. I finally decided after several years of this that, My duty as a Rastorian was to help stop this scourge from killing more innocent people. I started to sell information to the IIB in exchange for well over twenty million dollars. This relationship lasted for several months until the Outfit managed to use their moles to find out whom was informing on them. Thus this giant Rat massacre that you see.”

Jerry takes another breath and concludes as for Siapian citizens involved, “I know some guy known as Cassius is working with the Outfit in smuggling in Illegal drugs into Rastoria. He is also credited for several sweat heart deals in keeping out unwanted competition out of Rastoria‘s drug market. I don’t know anymore than that but I have heard rumors that the Barlucchis are holding some items for Cassius in their main compound on the Dockyards of East Veron.”

****************************************************************************************

Underground Bunker………..

Lono replied, “Perfect, I am a representative of the Syndicate, We have managed to find out from our moles in the IIB that three high profile targets have left Rastoria to hide in Siap. We would like to ask for Cassius’s help in locating them and smuggling some of our hitters over to collect on the contracts. If Cassius agrees we are willing to pay 35 percent of the contracts worth to Cassius’s organization for the help.”



The room Genco was led into was a compact but well-furnished office. Sitting behind the desk was a man wearing casual suit without a tie. "Mr. Montebello, please take a seat. You will be exempt from making a deposition before this committee, and instead you will make a statement at a later time." He slid a small stack of papers. "Review these carefully, but I will summarize them. The first page is that you acknowledge the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen and a contractor to the Siapian military. Its pretty straightforward, keep your mouth shut and don't make trouble and your golden. Just sign both lines if you have no problem. The next page is your change of identity form. In order to accept work at SIN, you agree to give a deposition before an intelligence specialist at a time to be determined. You also agree to a complete overhaul of your identity. Firstly, your fingerprints will be removed. Secondly, we will place you in touch with a surgeon who will alter your face visibly as well as significantly alter your voice. The next dotted line pertains to the final change. You will be infected with a virus that contains a slightly modified version of your DNA. Specifically, your eye color and several other distinguishing factors will be altered. The next line is a cover story. For a period after the operation and infection, you will need to be on immunosuppressants so that the virus can take full effect. The cover is that you will have undergone treatment for throat cancer, which will excuse the scar on your throat and give you enough leave to figure out the rest of your new identity. The next page. The page after that is your work contract with SIN, five years, at 30,000 plat creds per annum, tax free with residence included. And the page after that is the confidentiality agreement, after which we can give you your signing bonus. What do you think?"

---

"Thank you Mr. Ryman. If you go through the door to the left, you will find a counsellor to assist you with your change of identity. Welcome to The Community" The speaker of the subcommittee said. "We now call on Roberto Sanchez to make his deposition." The soldier guarding the door opened it. "Mr. Sanchez, we need you to detail your entire involvement with the outfit and detail the threats against your lives, and tell us everything you know about involvement with Siapian citizens..."

Kesson sat quietly in the back taking notes.

---

DeCell leaned into the phone. "Listen. The sydnicate has something my boss wants. There will be a civvie twin prop cargo plane going through Rastoria, registered to a legit front company. They have it at the airport in its original box, unscratched and ready to go, or I never answer this phone again. Assuming its there, we may not notice a few rats climbing in the cargo bay, so long as they keep themselves and their gear evenly distributed. The plane will be making a fuel stop in Blake's Point, Siap, before continuing to its destination. If you want to know anything, you'll place a very large bet on Mr. Topaz through a bookies in the basement of a dry cleaners off of the main drag. You'll recognize it by the fact that there's usually a dozen blowjobs hanging around the front at all times. Any queries, questions or quibbles, you can go fuck yourself." He deftly hung up the phone.

Claude was not excited about dealing with this. Especially since it was probably being handled by SIN.

IC:



Official Governmental Communique from Descartesland Central Control

START

After receiving your request for assistance, my President has authorized me to extend an invitation of asylum to two of the individuals you need assistance in protecting. Organized crime is particularly insidious and can rapidly destabilize a nation. We would also like to offer our assistance in inspecting your agency for any possible information leaks.

Please inform the two individuals you choose to send to us of the living conditions in Descartesland. All of our citizens are barcoded and exist in our national database system. These two individuals will be given jobs in our Arms Manufacturing industry and modest homes. They will also be under 24/7 surveillance and guard.

In addition to asylum for your informants, Descartesland offers The Internal Investigations Bureau of the United States of Rastoria access to our surveillance satellites and equipment. We could redirect the tracks of some of our satellites to provide you with photos of any regions you wish with resolution of up to 2 inches. Beyond this, Descartesland has developed some of the most technologically advanced audio bugs in the world. We would be willing to provide you with some of this technology and the training to use it effectively.

Officially Signed:
Chief Kenneth Whelan
Head of Homeland Control
Descartesland

STOP


Inspector Victor Roth read the information carefully and decided to send the politically correct response back to Descartesland. If the Inspector allowed these foreigners to help hunt down the security leaks in the I.I.B. it would anger the many of the high ranking politicians in the Senate and probably get a very bad reaction from the elected officials in the Syndicate’s pocket. It was better to accept Descartesland’s offer to take the two people but not to breach security regulations and allow foreign influence into the country‘s intelligence agencies. It would most likely open a huge can of worms that Victor was not willing to pay……




SIC:

Receiving Encoded Transmission……………..
Password Protection Override *********
Password Accepted…………
Decrypting Transmission………….

To: Chief Kenneth Whelan
From: Inspector Victor Roth
Subject: Asylum

The Internal Investigations Bureau would like to thank the government of Descartesland for their generous offer in sending us equipment and training in our mission to hunt our mole problem within our organization. The only problem with this offer is that, I don’t have the power to authorize foreign Intelligence agencies the right to operate in our nation or to allow them access to our personal or our records. I would have to send a proposal to the Senate for permission and such a request would no doubt be tied up in a bureaucratic mess by the various political parties. The Outfit has several key politicians and they have a lot of control within our government.


I am pleased to note however that the following two witnesses have agreed to your offer of asylum with the offer of being barcoded and have jobs in your arms manufacturing industry. These men are Greg Hughes and Vinnie Solozini. I would personally suggest that you watch Vinnie like a hawk. He was a former mob hitman and is known for his deadly marksmanship.




End SIC












******************************************************************************************



The room Genco was led into was a compact but well-furnished office. Sitting behind the desk was a man wearing casual suit without a tie. "Mr. Montebello, please take a seat. You will be exempt from making a deposition before this committee, and instead you will make a statement at a later time." He slid a small stack of papers. "Review these carefully, but I will summarize them. The first page is that you acknowledge the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen and a contractor to the Siapian military. Its pretty straightforward, keep your mouth shut and don't make trouble and your golden. Just sign both lines if you have no problem. The next page is your change of identity form. In order to accept work at SIN, you agree to give a deposition before an intelligence specialist at a time to be determined. You also agree to a complete overhaul of your identity. Firstly, your fingerprints will be removed. Secondly, we will place you in touch with a surgeon who will alter your face visibly as well as significantly alter your voice. The next dotted line pertains to the final change. You will be infected with a virus that contains a slightly modified version of your DNA. Specifically, your eye color and several other distinguishing factors will be altered. The next line is a cover story. For a period after the operation and infection, you will need to be on immunosuppressant so that the virus can take full effect. The cover is that you will have undergone treatment for throat cancer, which will excuse the scar on your throat and give you enough leave to figure out the rest of your new identity. The next page. The page after that is your work contract with SIN, five years, at 30,000 plat creds per annum, tax free with residence included. And the page after that is the confidentiality agreement, after which we can give you your signing bonus. What do you think?"

---
"Thank you Mr. Ryman. If you go through the door to the left, you will find a counsellor to assist you with your change of identity. Welcome to The Community" The speaker of the subcommittee said. "We now call on Roberto Sanchez to make his deposition." The soldier guarding the door opened it. "Mr. Sanchez, we need you to detail your entire involvement with the outfit and detail the threats against your lives, and tell us everything you know about involvement with Siapian citizens..."

Kesson sat quietly in the back taking notes.

---

DeCell leaned into the phone. "Listen. The syndicate has something my boss wants. There will be a civvie twin prop cargo plane going through Rastoria, registered to a legit front company. They have it at the airport in its original box, unscratched and ready to go, or I never answer this phone again. Assuming its there, we may not notice a few rats climbing in the cargo bay, so long as they keep themselves and their gear evenly distributed. The plane will be making a fuel stop in Blake's Point, Siap, before continuing to its destination. If you want to know anything, you'll place a very large bet on Mr. Topaz through a bookies in the basement of a dry cleaners off of the main drag. You'll recognize it by the fact that there's usually a dozen blowjobs hanging around the front at all times. Any queries, questions or quibbles, you can go fuck yourself." He deftly hung up the phone.

Claude was not excited about dealing with this. Especially since it was probably being handled by SIN.


Genco read the paperwork slowly and made sure to catch the fine print. This was part of his training to take into account all the information available and make quick and insightful decisions. The experienced agent thought about the benefits and the costs of trying to use these methods of hiding and blending into the Community. It seemed well thought of and provided plenty of time to come up with a better cover story. Genco smiled and started to sign his signature on the required pages and finally answered, “This seems reasonable considering the people I am trying to evade. I just hope you guys don’t have as many leaks in your security as my old department. I know there is a large contract on my head and the Maranzino Family is very angry with my undercover work. I named a lot of names and solved a lot of murders and other crimes because of my work, I would think that every would be hit man and contract killer is going to be after me and Jerry.” Genco looked at the man to see his reaction, The tactic was a common one to see if this man was lying in his response. If the man showed any signs of hesitation or started to blink heavily or looked away. It would confirm Genco’s feelings that he should watch his back carefully…..


***********************************************************************

Jerry quickly left his seated position and quickly headed to the door on the left. He was nervous that he would be killed after handing over his vital knowledge of the upper echelon of the Syndicate. It was a typical mob tactic and one Jerry had seen many times during his time with the Dons. Jerry was careful to take note of all the people around him as he exited out of the door……


Roberto Sanchez was a Mexican man with a heavy Spanish accent in his speech, “Well Senor, The Outfit is a massive criminal organization that controls everything from East Veron to New Dublin. It is controlled by the Italian Mafia but it’s main body is made up of other organizations that act as buffers like for example the Irish mob and the various street gangs that commit the daily devilry that the Dons want done.

I use to be part of the Outfit, I was a member of the Acosta Posse a notorious Latino street gang that controlled 7th Street to 2nd Street in East Veron. We were part of the drug trade in Rastoria on the distribution end of the trade. We had connections with Columbia and thus we rarely dealt with the Italians for our shipments. This lack of communication is what got us in trouble, We started to expand our turf and our operations without honoring Barlucchi Don. The Barlucchis sent a representative and he demanded that we pay a fifteen percent cut in our profits in order to pay for this insult to the Barlucchi Family.

The Acosta posse sent our response by sending their associate back in a garbage bag in bloody pieces. The Don Emilio Barlucchi ordered the local street gangs to shut the Acosta posse down. We were hit by so many rivals at once that we were surprised, We were suffering drive bys from the Vigilantes, The Black Guerilla Family, and the Ghetto Mob. We lost friends in massive shoot outs, and the cops suddenly started to suddenly hit our dealers in the streets. I noticed that these cops not only beat us in the streets they also used no restraint in combating our operations. It seemed the Barlucchis had connections with the local police department and that gave the local cops all the excuse they needed to attack the Acosta Posse.

I survived by going underground and so did my brother Sergio. I however heard that Pueblo Cortez our leader was killed by the Barlucchis personally. They sent a made man by the name of Carlo Sarrazana. Carlo killed our Boss with an Italian garrote. I heard this news from Jerry Ryman, I had after a week of laying low decided to fight back against the Outfit.

I purchased an Koch Mk.23 mod.0 US SOCOM pistol with silencer from a well known arms merchant called Shamus Harper.

I must admit Senor, I committed several acts that would probably get me a death penalty in most countries. To give you an example, I found Carlo in an Irish pub on 5th street about five days after he hit Pueblo, I went inside with the pistol concealed in my coat. I ended up shooting him at point plank range into his face. I ran out of the pub and luckily no one saw my face to make an accurate profile. It was noted by the investigating police that the shooter was Hispanic and that told the Barlucchis that the Acosta posse had retaliated for their actions..

Don Emilio Barlucchi tried to find the rest of the posse but we all stayed underground. We lost turf to our rivals but we could still deal in the shadows. I also learned how to really hurt the Outfit. We started to sell information on the other gangs to the G-men in exchange for immunity and protection. Jerry set us up with a clean contact and managed to convince the old Sicilian Dons to leave us off their hit lists.

This worked well for several months. I was gaining enough money and capital to begin rebuilding our gang to it’s original strength until the Syndicate decided to clean house. The Irish and Italians started to hit anyone they deemed not loyal to the Syndicate. The Outfit was efficient and brutal it’s usual tactics in getting rid of it’s enemies. The Outfit is once again under the Syndicate’s control but this time they have killed off all their competition, meaning the Russians, Columbians, and the Yakuza and all the informers and witnesses that ever tried or did break the code of silence. Omerta.”

Roberto meekly added, “Senior, I have heard rumors in the streets that the Outfit is dealing with Cassius through some character called “Claude.” Claude was rumored to have visited the Bosses a few months back and created a bridge between the Outfit and this mysterious Cassius figure. I have heard that the Outfit is trying to keep Cassius as it’s primary drug supplier to avoid having to smuggle in from the Columbians. The old Sicilian Mafiosi don’t trust us Hispanics to keep our mouths shut. Cassius seems to have some appeal to the Syndicate and they plan to keep him around as long as he is useful…”



*********************************************************************************
Underground Bunker...


Lono grumbled curses as he slammed the receiver down, Lono looked up from his seated position and sent a call via his cell phone, “Santino, I need you and a small group of professionals to due a job in Siap. I know you don’t like the idea of being smuggled into the country but it’s going to have to be that way. I also want you and your boys to keep your hands to yourselves and don’t mess with the cargo inside the plane, I also want you to place a large bet on Mr. Topaz to the bookie located in the basement of the dry cleaners in Blake’s point.”


***********************************************************************************

4 hours later……..


Santino Barzini and his squad of four guys sat inside the cargo plane. The squad was dressed in traditional style dress for Rastorian hitmen leaving the country. They were all wearing trench coats, with matching black sunglasses, and military styled black boots. They all had gloved hands with black Italian leather gloves with a thick Kevlar vest concealed in the trench coats. They also had matching slick back hair with clean shaven faces. The final touch was the mixture of bowler and Fedora hats that the squad was wearing.


They all were armed with concealable pistols with silencers in a gun holsters with several clips of ammunition disturbed in different locations on their person. One of them had a suitcase with a dissembled sniper rifle, and another one had a suitcase with a remote controlled bomb, the other gangster had a special piano wire garrote concealed within his sleeves. The fourth hitman had a black suitcase with $100,000 Rastorian dollars to place the bet on Mr. Topaz. The last gangster had an dissembled AK-103 in a duffel bag. The team was assembled and they waited impatiently to land and get the job over with…



**************************************************************************************
Within the droning hum of the aircraft’s cabin twelve men and women sat casually and comfortably, all members of the Kilrany Internal Security Ministries Close Protection Unit. Although they all possessed military ranks as with standing within the ISM, the Kilrany’s national police force, officer was still used as a catch all term for these members of law enforcement.

The aircraft, built by the Kilrany Imperial Arms Manufactures as a private business jet, was quite similar in design and appearance to the Bombardier, BD-700 Global Express XRS and was capable of comfortably transporting twenty people. Although in this case the ISM had borrowed one from the Kilrany Diplomatic Service for this somewhat unusual assignment.

Due in great part to their appearance, wearing tailored suits, which covered their personal body armour, and wearing dark sunglasses, the officers of the CPU were often jokingly referred to as ‘RISS Lite’, or ‘Export RISS’, in deference to members of the Russkyan Internal Security Service. As a standard service sidearm, each officer carried a Yarygin PYa with several extra magazines located in pouches attached to their belt, concealed underneath their suits.

Given the expressed danger cited by their superiors in response to the messages sent by the Rastorian Inspector, six of the twelve officers carried a long arm to supplement their firepower. Two of them carried the KRCS Blackthorn, a semi automatic, magazine fed twelve gauge shotgun jointly developed by Russkya and Kilrany to replace the Saiga 12.

The other four officers carried the Lapinkoira, a Russkyan designed bull pup PDW capable of being chambered for a variety of rifle caliber ammunition. In this case these accurate and controllable weapons were chambered to fire 7.62x39mm rounds, in the close quarters the CPU were ever likely to be engaged in, the strong punch of the heavy round was considered more effective then smaller submachine gun ammunition.

Because the officers didn’t know what to expect from the criminal organizations, whether or not they were well armed and equipped, half the magazines they carried for their Lapinkoiras were loaded with 7N23 AP, incase the organized crime members had access to heavier body armour.

“You know, we need to borrow transport from the diplomatic corp. more often, I could get used to this,” a chorus of chuckles erupted from Officer Tatlin’s quip.

“I wouldn’t get to comfortable, this isn’t likely to last long. But in the mean time, I’m going to enjoy this while it lasts,” Tatlin smirked at his comrade’s reply.

“So why do you think the Emperor decided to offer assistance to this foreign agency? As far as I know we’re not exactly getting anything out of it.”

There was a short pause after the last officer spoke, none were entirely sure, however it wasn’t long before Tatlin heard someone make a quick joke about it.

“Maybe he was just in a good mood and felt generous.”

Tatlin could hear the smile in the voice of the officer as she spoke and chuckled himself at the thought along with the rest. A moment later their unit leader, Officer Falk spoke up, he himself sporting a grin.

“I somewhat doubt that, more likely he’s trying to make some new friends, and it’s not like babysitting a handful of people is exactly resource intensive. I’m more concerned with why we got this assignment, if this is considered so important as to have the Emperor weigh in on it, I would have figured Fifth Division would have been all over this.”

The Officer’s word struck a note with the others; although they were well trained they were use to getting the low priority assignments, with the more important ones being taken over by the Imperial Guard’s 5th Division. For some reason beyond their knowledge, after the Emperor’s order had come through, 5th Division had tasked them with this operation, rather then sending a unit of their own.

“More importantly though, we should be landing shortly to pick up these three individuals, you know your jobs, but this isn’t Kilrany, apparently corruption is rampant, or some such, so don’t fucking trust anyone here. Kuprin, when we land we’re going to have to refuel, before they touch this aircraft, you use that little test kit to make sure what they’re putting into this aircraft isn’t contaminated.”

Officer Kuprin gave a quite nod and acknowledged the order, with that, Falk continued.

“No one comes near this aircraft unless they have a damned good reason and no one touches this aircraft unless we specifically let them. I don’t want to mysteriously drop out of the sky halfway home, got me? Additionally, orders from higher up state that lethal force is to be used only if absolutely necessary.”

Although they chuckled slightly they acknowledged the order, understanding that everyone’s safety, and their reputations, were on the line with this operation.

Forward of the cabin, in the aircraft’s cockpit, the copilot lifted up a radio as they began to approach Rastorian airspace, identifying the aircraft, requesting clearance to enter their airspace, along with requesting clearance to land at the appropriate airport.


************************************************************************************

Unfortunately, for the Kilrany Internal Security Ministries Close Protection Unit, The moles in the Internal Investigations Bureau were already sending back their information to their mob connections. These connections all reached back to one person Lono Demilo the head of the crew.

Lono had a plan to deal with the three undercover operatives that were trying to get out of the country to the Empire of Kilrany. The IIB had decided to send two vehicles out to transport the undercover agents to the respective airport. One of the vehicles was a decoy and the other was the real vehicle meant to get the officers to the correct airport.

The planning was brilliant the larger and well established civilian airport in New Rastoria was to be the decoy location and the fake transport headed over that way to confuse the Outfit. The truth was the actually airport was to be at an old abandoned airbase about thirty five miles out from New Rastoria‘s city limits.


The Rastorian Air force control center immediately sent the airports location the pilots of the Kilrany jet. The sad fact was the Outfit had already been warned about the location and they had already sent several of their men to the air base dressed in Army uniforms and gear. The goal was to blend into the security detail and get close enough to the incoming vehicle and hopefully take them out before they reached the protection of the Kilrany security forces.

The IIB did not want to include the military in this operation but as far as the situation would look. It would seem like the military had come to ensure the security of this place from the dreaded Outfit. The truth was the Syndicate had already bribed the officers of the security detail and managed to get their hitmen outfitted in military grade weaponry and gear. It was a giant set up and would end up being a blood bath. The whole deception started with the Outfit’s interception of the fake transport heading to the civilian airport. The black limousine that was supposed to have the undercover operatives was fired upon by an unmarked black van manned by a group of men wearing black ski masks armed with AK-47 assault rifles. It seemed like a legitimate hit and made the IIB think that the Syndicate had fallen for the bait.


The deceptive ploy had worked and now, the Bureau believed that the undercover operatives were safe from possible hits from the mob and thus the IIB let down their guard as they headed to the military base that was now going to be a bloody trap…

bump....

OOC: Oh man, my first reaction to reading your post concerning me, ‘Oh shit, this is going to end badly,’ heh. Apologies if I took to many liberties with landing or anything like that, if you have any problems, I can fix it.

As the aircraft came in for a landing on the old airbase’s runway, the men and women of the ISM had no idea what was in store for them. Personally unaware that the Demilo crew had infiltrated the military unit on the base, the only parts of this situation they had going for them was potentially their training, the fact that they were told not to trust anyone other then their own personnel, and that they too mostly had military grade equipment.

Taxiing to a stop on a tarmac, the ISM officers waited for the aircraft to come to a complete stop before they rose from their seats and prepared themselves. Those officers armed with a long arm attached a tactical sling to their weapons and made a quick check of them, before then checking their magazine pouches attached to their belts underneath their coats. Following suit those armed with just their sidearms made a check of them as well, although they were all fairly optimistic, they considered themselves as prepared as they could be should anything go wrong.

Opening the cabin door of the aircraft, which on private jets acted as it’s own steps the first one’s to exit the aircraft where the six more heavily armed ISM officers, followed by two of the officers only carrying sidearms, one being officer Falk. While those with heavier weapons took positions in pairs around the aircraft, the two officers with sidearms waited by the cabin door for the Inspectors as the aircraft engines shutdown.

The other four officers remained inside the aircraft’s cabin, the reasoning two fold, first they didn’t believe they needed everyone standing outside in clear sight of the aircraft, and two, they didn’t want o reveal their true numbers.

Still inside the cabin, officer Tatlin made his way to the back of the aircraft and pulled a large black case free from a storage compartment and opened it as he kneeled down before it. Inside was an SVD-K, a marksman’s rifle they took along incase they started taking fire from positions outside a three hundred meter range, although they new if any even semi-professional sniper started shooting at them from beyond eight hundred meters, they would have little chance of seeing where they were being shot at from.

Placing the handful of heavy magazines in pouches, he attached them to his belt and lifted the weapon free from its case. He was only to bring this weapon out into plain sight if everything went to hell.

Genco read the paperwork slowly and made sure to catch the fine print. This was part of his training to take into account all the information available and make quick and insightful decisions. The experienced agent thought about the benefits and the costs of trying to use these methods of hiding and blending into the Community. It seemed well thought of and provided plenty of time to come up with a better cover story. Genco smiled and started to sign his signature on the required pages and finally answered, “This seems reasonable considering the people I am trying to evade. I just hope you guys don’t have as many leaks in your security as my old department. I know there is a large contract on my head and the Maranzino Family is very angry with my undercover work. I named a lot of names and solved a lot of murders and other crimes because of my work, I would think that every would be hit man and contract killer is going to be after me and Jerry.” Genco looked at the man to see his reaction, The tactic was a common one to see if this man was lying in his response. If the man showed any signs of hesitation or started to blink heavily or looked away. It would confirm Genco’s feelings that he should watch his back carefully…..



"If I can promise you one thing, Mr. Montebello," the man said, smiling, looking at him. "its that not every contract killer is after you. And that is simply because at SIN, we train and employ a lot of killers. I won't lie, there have been some cases of certain individuals knowing things they were not supposed to, but I swear on my life that you will be perfectly safe so long as you are on SIN military property. In fact, we have yet to ever have a breach of the SIN compound."

"What we really need is someone who has a lot of on the ground experience. See, we've been having a lot of trouble in the north and the islands off of the coast, and absolutely no one will talk to the feds. Its becoming embarrasing."


Jerry quickly left his seated position and quickly headed to the door on the left. He was nervous that he would be killed after handing over his vital knowledge of the upper echelon of the Syndicate. It was a typical mob tactic and one Jerry had seen many times during his time with the Dons. Jerry was careful to take note of all the people around him as he exited out of the door……


Roberto Sanchez was a Mexican man with a heavy Spanish accent in his speech, “Well Senor, The Outfit is a massive criminal organization that controls everything from East Veron to New Dublin. It is controlled by the Italian Mafia but it’s main body is made up of other organizations that act as buffers like for example the Irish mob and the various street gangs that commit the daily devilry that the Dons want done.

I use to be part of the Outfit, I was a member of the Acosta Posse a notorious Latino street gang that controlled 7th Street to 2nd Street in East Veron. We were part of the drug trade in Rastoria on the distribution end of the trade. We had connections with Columbia and thus we rarely dealt with the Italians for our shipments. This lack of communication is what got us in trouble, We started to expand our turf and our operations without honoring Barlucchi Don. The Barlucchis sent a representative and he demanded that we pay a fifteen percent cut in our profits in order to pay for this insult to the Barlucchi Family.

The Acosta posse sent our response by sending their associate back in a garbage bag in bloody pieces. The Don Emilio Barlucchi ordered the local street gangs to shut the Acosta posse down. We were hit by so many rivals at once that we were surprised, We were suffering drive bys from the Vigilantes, The Black Guerilla Family, and the Ghetto Mob. We lost friends in massive shoot outs, and the cops suddenly started to suddenly hit our dealers in the streets. I noticed that these cops not only beat us in the streets they also used no restraint in combating our operations. It seemed the Barlucchis had connections with the local police department and that gave the local cops all the excuse they needed to attack the Acosta Posse.

I survived by going underground and so did my brother Sergio. I however heard that Pueblo Cortez our leader was killed by the Barlucchis personally. They sent a made man by the name of Carlo Sarrazana. Carlo killed our Boss with an Italian garrote. I heard this news from Jerry Ryman, I had after a week of laying low decided to fight back against the Outfit.

I purchased an Koch Mk.23 mod.0 US SOCOM pistol with silencer from a well known arms merchant called Shamus Harper.

I must admit Senor, I committed several acts that would probably get me a death penalty in most countries. To give you an example, I found Carlo in an Irish pub on 5th street about five days after he hit Pueblo, I went inside with the pistol concealed in my coat. I ended up shooting him at point plank range into his face. I ran out of the pub and luckily no one saw my face to make an accurate profile. It was noted by the investigating police that the shooter was Hispanic and that told the Barlucchis that the Acosta posse had retaliated for their actions..

Don Emilio Barlucchi tried to find the rest of the posse but we all stayed underground. We lost turf to our rivals but we could still deal in the shadows. I also learned how to really hurt the Outfit. We started to sell information on the other gangs to the G-men in exchange for immunity and protection. Jerry set us up with a clean contact and managed to convince the old Sicilian Dons to leave us off their hit lists.

This worked well for several months. I was gaining enough money and capital to begin rebuilding our gang to it’s original strength until the Syndicate decided to clean house. The Irish and Italians started to hit anyone they deemed not loyal to the Syndicate. The Outfit was efficient and brutal it’s usual tactics in getting rid of it’s enemies. The Outfit is once again under the Syndicate’s control but this time they have killed off all their competition, meaning the Russians, Columbians, and the Yakuza and all the informers and witnesses that ever tried or did break the code of silence. Omerta.”

Roberto meekly added, “Senior, I have heard rumors in the streets that the Outfit is dealing with Cassius through some character called “Claude.” Claude was rumored to have visited the Bosses a few months back and created a bridge between the Outfit and this mysterious Cassius figure. I have heard that the Outfit is trying to keep Cassius as it’s primary drug supplier to avoid having to smuggle in from the Columbians. The old Sicilian Mafiosi don’t trust us Hispanics to keep our mouths shut. Cassius seems to have some appeal to the Syndicate and they plan to keep him around as long as he is useful…”


Roberto was also dismissed into the next room, where both he and Jerry were issued Siapian birth certificates and a whole host of new identification paperwork. They were offered brochures offering plastic surgery and other means of chaning their appearances. They were also offered the option of living in several cities, notably Esmund, the capitol, Blake's Point in the North and New Chicago in the west.


Underground Bunker...


Lono grumbled curses as he slammed the receiver down, Lono looked up from his seated position and sent a call via his cell phone, “Santino, I need you and a small group of professionals to due a job in Siap. I know you don’t like the idea of being smuggled into the country but it’s going to have to be that way. I also want you and your boys to keep your hands to yourselves and don’t mess with the cargo inside the plane, I also want you to place a large bet on Mr. Topaz to the bookie located in the basement of the dry cleaners in Blake’s point.”


***********************************************************************************

4 hours later……..


Santino Barzini and his squad of four guys sat inside the cargo plane. The squad was dressed in traditional style dress for Rastorian hitmen leaving the country. They were all wearing trench coats, with matching black sunglasses, and military styled black boots. They all had gloved hands with black Italian leather gloves with a thick Kevlar vest concealed in the trench coats. They also had matching slick back hair with clean shaven faces. The final touch was the mixture of bowler and Fedora hats that the squad was wearing.


They all were armed with concealable pistols with silencers in a gun holsters with several clips of ammunition disturbed in different locations on their person. One of them had a suitcase with a dissembled sniper rifle, and another one had a suitcase with a remote controlled bomb, the other gangster had a special piano wire garrote concealed within his sleeves. The fourth hitman had a black suitcase with $100,000 Rastorian dollars to place the bet on Mr. Topaz. The last gangster had a dissembled AK-103 in a duffel bag. The team was assembled and they waited impatiently to land and get the job over with…


The large plane lumbered over the Siapian north and firmly planted itself on the Blake's Point International Airport runway. It slowed, but did not stop until it was inside a hangar. As soon as the plane stopped, the men were ushered off and the plane was quickly fueled. The hangar manager took one look at the five men and exclaimed, "Christ on a bagel! You must be here for a wedding."

The man pumping fuel into the plane shouted. "Lay off 'em Mickey. Sure they don't dress subtle enough, but I bet they're real nimble on their feet."

A third man checking the engine said something in a completely different and incomprehensible language. The only word that could be understood was "pantyhose." All the men working on the plane promptly ceased what they were doing and laughed uncontrolably.

"S-sorry man. He didn't mean nothing by it." The man who was evidently Mickey said. "Mr. D. was kind enough to leave you a van." He pointed to a small panel truck in the back of the hangar. "There's keys to a safehouse on the other side of town. Directions inside. There's also directions for uh, well, whatever he told you to do. So, we need to be getting along, and so do you. Cheers." He nodded at the five hitmen and continued working on the plane, conversing with the other men in the language and laughing occasionally.

The bookies was in a basement behind the dry cleaners. It was completely inconspicuous except for the fact that a dozen men stood out front at all times, some of the barking furiously into cell phones. Inside the cleaners, all one had to do was enter a small swinging door on the side of the counter and go down a flight of stairs into the basement. There were a dozen tv's with horse and dog races as well as sporting events, with odds written on a dry-erase board, and a small, fat woman taking the bets.