55 CHAPTER 54
Over the past few days, Selina and I had been talking and got to know ourselves a little more. I've been paying occasional visits to the bar and I was no longer a strange face there.
The glow of my laptop screen illuminated the dimly lit room as I sat on the edge of my seat. My mind raced with excitement as I prepared to dive into the murky depths of Gotham's criminal underworld. I couldn't resist the urge to peek behind the curtain and uncover the secrets of the city's notorious gangs and crime families.
With a few keystrokes, I accessed the GCPD database, eager to uncover some juicy information. My heart pounded with anticipation as I scrolled through the files, searching for anything that could shed light on the dangerous world that lurked just beneath the surface of Gotham.
My heart skipped a beat as I scrolled through the GCPD database. Just when I thought I had seen it all, I stumbled upon a piece of information that sent a chill down my spine. There was a Gotham City Organized Crime Family, a shadowy collective of criminal syndicates that had managed to fly under the radar of the authorities for years.
My curiosity piqued, I delved deeper into the files, desperate to learn more about this elusive criminal organization. The more I read, the more intrigued I became. These crime families operated with impunity, spreading corruption and fear throughout the city with no consequences.
As part of the Gotham Underground, the syndicates are a loose association of criminal groups. The larger of which share a common organizational structure and code of conduct. Each group claims sovereignty over a territory in which they operate their rackets. While generally divided between the Italian, Sicilian and Russian mafias, the Gotham Families generally keep to their own territories and businesses within the city.
The Families also share business with groups such as the Triads, Yakuza and the Irish mob, who also operate within Gotham. At some points in the Gotham Underground's history, the entirety of the Families, mobs, groups and gangs were controlled by a single boss, known as Carmine "The Roman" Falcone. He was called "The Roman" because of his ruthless strategy in his criminal operations.
According to the police database, he was now dead and Vicent Falcone was now in power. Drugs, weapon trades and human trafficking, were the main trades that fetched money for the top mob bosses.
The more I learned about this shadowy underworld, the more my heart raced with excitement. It was a dangerous game, but I was determined to see it through.
Stealing from banks and auction homes has become a bore, an old hobby that no longer intrigued me. I would love to steal things with more value than the price placed on it, and work on other jobs apart from heists… I'd like to get in contact with one of the mob families here in Gotham, earn some smooth cash and help get my name out there.
As I watched the villains operate from the shadows and while observing them at the bar, a new realization dawned on me. Wanting to be the mastermind behind other people's heists was me thinking too little when there was a much larger picture right in front of me, I could be the one planning my own schemes with my own team and taking full glory for it. But first, I would need enough cash and a solid reputation before I'll be able to do that.
My current task was to make contact with one of the major crime families in Gotham and offer them Ghost's services. But getting through their walls of caution and distrust wouldn't be easy. However, I knew that gaining even a little trust could go a long way and have a huge impact on my future prospects.
If I could just get my foot in the door and prove my worth, the family would eventually come to me for more jobs and even refer me to others. This would help me establish my reputation in Gotham's criminal underworld and give me the boost I needed to climb to the top.
But making that initial connection was easier said than done. The crime families were notorious for their secrecy and reluctance to trust outsiders. My first family of interest is the Marconi family.
As I delved deeper into their world, I began to understand the true extent of their power and influence. They controlled vast networks of criminal activity, from drug trafficking to extortion to contract killings.
*Sigh*
I came upon an email which was one of the few ways the dirty cops used in contacting the Falcone family. I reached out to them as Ghost and I was sure I was talking with one of the subordinates, maybe one in charge of deciding who he deemed worthy to talk with the man at the top.
My sudden email was skeptical but I was able to bypass that as I made references to my previous jobs and asked him to use his connections to do a little digging of his own.
The next day I received an email from him which said he would like to put me to a test and see if I was really who I said I'm. After a while of talking and negotiating, a deal was made.
After making the deal with the Marconi family, I needed to get to work on creating the perfect plan.
The current issue they were having was how to move a truck full of drugs to one of the docks under their control, without getting caught or noticed by the police.
They initially intended to move the drugs batch by batch until they had fully transported it, but that system was extremely slow and would probably take them at least half a month to completely transport them.
Then a question lingered in my mind: why don't they just pay off some officers and move forward? I thought about it and it seemed like a tempting solution, but the risks were too high. Dirty cops could allow a certain amount of smuggled drugs to slip through the cracks, but anything more than that would jeopardize their careers if they were ever caught. Despite the potential payoff, the danger and uncertainty made it a gamble not worth taking.
The first step was to find the safest route to the harbor, one with the fewest police checkpoints. I scoured every possible path, searching for a way that wouldn't arouse suspicion, but unfortunately, the best option I found required us to make a half-circle arc, taking us far from our starting point and towards the docks.
With the route mapped out, I hacked into the city's security system then surveyed the area for every surveillance camera that could potentially capture footage of the truck we planned to use. Each camera was a ticking time bomb, a potential threat that could blow our entire operation. As you might have guessed, I already had that one covered.
I thought hard on how to move the drugs in the truck in a way that even if it was stopped and searched by an unprecedented officer the job wouldn't be compromised, after all one can never be too cautious.
I went over every detail in my mind, weighing the risks and potential consequences of every possible scenario. I considered hiding the drugs in a secret compartment, but that could be risky if the officer had a K9 unit with them. I thought about disguising the drugs as something else, but that could be too conspicuous and draw unwanted attention.
But before that, the outside needs to be inconspicuous. Unlike some certain people who would just get a black truck or van, then put a flower logo by the side hoping it wouldn't be thought of as a suspicious vehicle.
No no, that's an old trick from an extremely old book and it doesn't work any more. Especially not on the cops of Gotham. It had to be designed to look like a standard cargo truck to avoid arousing suspicion. So, I instructed the team to create a convincing facade that would fool even the most astute observer.
They got to work immediately and came up with a plan to design the truck with a neutral color and no flashy graphics. They also came up with a company name that sounded believable and added it to the truck's side panels.
When the team had finished, they sent me a photo of the truck, and I was impressed. It looked just like any other cargo vehicle you would see on the road, with no indication that it was carrying anything other than ordinary cargo. It was perfect for our needs.
Now, it was time to load the truck and get moving. I knew that every minute counted, and the stakes were high. If we were caught, there would be no coming back from it. But I trusted in my ability to navigate this treacherous world.
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