Empire of Shadows

Bandy, picking up the phone, looked at the other family members in the dining room. “Did any of you arrange for a truck to hit Dale?”

The gentlemen sitting at the dining table looked at me, and I looked at you, and finally, they all shook their heads.

Wolfley even said with a smile, “That’s a good idea. At least it won’t get your hands dirty.”

Bandy turned his head again, “It wasn’t us.”

The mayor didn’t believe it at all. “That batch of liquor was just an accident!”

He seemed to be emphasizing the Kodak family’s reason for doing so. Because of that batch of liquor, Bandy reiterated, “I said, it wasn’t us.”

The mayor was so angry he laughed, “You think I’ll believe you?”

“Your liquor was just seized last night, and this morning Dale almost got into a car accident. You say it wasn’t you, then who could it be?”

Bandy also seemed a little impatient, “It’s whoever you want it to be. In short, I said, it wasn’t us.”

“It’s simply impossible to communicate with someone like you. I recommend you go see a psychiatrist. You have a problem with your brain, Sidney!”After he finished speaking, he hung up the phone and sat at the dining table. “Just now, Sidney said Dale almost got into a car accident. Go and find out what happened.”

Gorry stood up, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and walked to the phone.

And they, while enjoying their breakfast, talked about the events that had occurred in the past twenty-four hours.

“Those rumors are actually somewhat helpful to us now. I like what they’re saying: ‘better to destroy it ourselves than have it publicly destroyed.’ Did we really do that?”

Fleming’s gaze constantly wandered between Bandy and Wolfley. Only the two of them could have possibly done such a thing.

The others weren’t that bold, and the most likely one was still Bandy, because only Bandy had the authority to decide whether to sacrifice this batch of goods worth hundreds of thousands.

Bandy felt his son’s inquisitive gaze and shook his head slightly, “It has nothing to do with me. Hunter gave me a call. He said it might have been arson.”

“I don’t think this is a simple matter.” He picked up the silver spoon, scooped up a spoonful of thick soup, and put it in his mouth. “Tastes good.”

Fleming and Wolfley both began to let their minds wander, but they couldn’t think of anyone who could have possibly done this.

At this moment, Gorry returned from the phone, “Hunter said the driver is a terminal cancer patient. Someone gave him a sum of money to drive a truck into Chief Dale. Regardless of success, his family would be given $2,000.”

Bandy put down his spoon without a change in expression, picked up his knife and fork, took a piece of steak onto his plate, and began to cut it.

“It seems someone intends to ignite the flames of war. Who do you think it is?” He was asking Gorry here, not the two kids.

When Golden Port was full of turmoil, they were still young. Their memories of those years were hazy. Only Gorry knew what had happened during that time.

“It’s possible that some people are no longer satisfied with us holding onto the casinos for so long and want to use this opportunity to provoke a war between us and them to profit from it,” Gorry analyzed his thoughts very seriously.

And this idea was exactly what Bandy thought. He pointed at Gorry with his knife and fork, “You’re right. Some people are getting restless again.”

The casino business was very profitable, everyone knew that. The fact that the Kodak family could secure this exclusive business was definitely not because they were generous!

Behind this were years of firefights and gang wars. They fought until the last moment. They used blood and death to defend their rights, which is how they have the Kodak family of today.

In fact, sometimes they had already turned a blind eye to those illegal private casinos. As long as it wasn’t as blatant as the casino at the Empire of the Night, and the scale wasn’t small, they could pretend they didn’t know.

After eating alone for so many years, they gradually understood a principle: if you really don’t give others a taste of the sweetness, you will eventually become the target of public criticism.

The other four of the Five Families were not completely hands-off in this area. They actually also ran casinos, but not on a large scale.

They would, under the pretext of organizing private card games, invite some people to their territory to play cards.

What the Kodak family ruled was just the gambling industry of Golden Port, not the act of gambling itself. For people who knew each other sitting together and playing cards, they had no way to deal with it, nor could they have a way.

Compared to the early years, they had actually become much more lenient, but now, Bandy was a little annoyed.

He didn’t know who it was, or why they wanted to provoke a war between him and the outsiders, but he knew that if there was anything that drove them to do this, it must be the casino license in his hand!

People who are keen on the casino license are probably in this business themselves.

He stuffed the cut pieces of beef into his mouth. As he chewed, bright red meat juice faintly appeared between his teeth and lips, “Clean up all those underground casinos in Golden Port…”

Wolfley nodded, “I’ll arrange it.”

“I won’t be back tonight. I have to talk to my old friends. These outsiders are annoying!”

He needed to check in with the other families among the Five Families, discuss countermeasures. He couldn’t let the mayor keep pressing them like this!

After finishing breakfast, he went to his study. He had just finished calling two other families when Gorry pushed the door open and came in.

“Our casino has been raided.”

Bandy looked at him as if he hadn’t understood, “Are you talking about the unlicensed ones, or the licensed ones?”

They actually also had many unlicensed casinos, also in the form of private gambling games. Federal law did not stipulate that it was illegal for friends to play cards together.

But in reality, it was still a casino. They provided the tables, the games, the dealers, everything related to gambling.

The people playing cards needed to pay some fees. If they were willing to be the house themselves, then the Kodak family people would only be responsible for dealing the cards.

But if they didn’t want to be the house, the Kodak family people could also be the house.

The premise was that this kind of game needed a house.

He subconsciously thought that the ones being raided were those unlicensed private gambling games. If it were these, he would have a lawyer handle them.

But Gorry told him with a grim face, “It’s the House of Good Fortune.”

The House of Good Fortune was one of the most popular casinos of the Kodak family in Golden Port because its grade was relatively moderate.

This place was not like “Golden Castle,” which only received upper-class guests, nor was it like “High Victory,” which only welcomed guests of the middle class and above.

At the House of Good Fortune, as long as you had more than a dollar in cash, you could exchange for four chips and go in to play.

There were many middle-class or upper-class guests here. They liked the lively environment here, liked the feeling of being surrounded by poor wretches and their envious, jealous, and hateful gazes.

No need to be surprised, there was never a shortage of these people in this society, and this also made the House of Good Fortune one of the most popular main casinos.

In the peak season, it could bring in hundreds of thousands or even millions in gross profit every day!

But now, it had been raided!

“Why?” he asked.

Although his tone was still calm, Gorry, who was very familiar with him, knew that his brother was angry.

“The people from the Bureau of Hazardous Materials said someone reported that the casino was serving liquor.”

Of course, this was also a fact. If they didn’t provide liquor, how could those people get worked up faster?

Otherwise, how could they rely on their feelings to bet against the dealer’s skills?

A casino couldn’t possibly not provide liquor!

Even though Bandy knew that someone was fanning the flames on both sides, when the raid on the House of Good Fortune happened, even if he knew everything, he had fallen into the trap!

A large number of agents in gray uniforms had already surrounded the House of Good Fortune. Many gamblers were driven out of the casino by them. At the same time, boxes upon boxes of liquor were being moved out.

The Kodak family was also one of the major consumers of liquor in Golden Port. Plus, they didn’t think Chief Dale would rashly raid the House of Good Fortune, so a lot of stock had been piled up here.

Looking at the boxes once again piled up into a small mountain, the agents knew that they had caught another big fish, although they had always known.

Wolfley and his men had already rushed over. He pushed through the crowd and walked directly to the middle of this group of people, his eyes locking onto a senior agent, and he walked straight over.

“Do you f—king know what you’re doing?” he asked.

That senior agent couldn’t help but laugh, “I think I’ve heard someone say that before. You’ve said it more than once.”

Faint laughter sounded from the surroundings. Wolfley’s eyes turned slightly red; he seemed to get emotional easily.

The person next to him quickly pulled him and persuaded him in his ear. He stared intently at that person, pointed his finger at him, “That skin on you can’t protect you!”

The senior agent sneered, “You’re not the first person to threaten me.”

The casino was temporarily shut down for allegedly openly selling intoxicating alcoholic beverages, and the entire city of Golden Port was in an uproar.

How many years had it been? Had someone started to challenge the authority of the Five Families again?

Even Councilman Wade and Councilman Williams put down what they were doing and made phone calls to inquire about the cause and process of the matter.

The mayor also called Chief Dale. Chief Dale had not contacted him about this operation.

“You should have told me first,” the mayor’s tone was calm, but you could hear a hint of complaint.

Chief Dale, however, ignored his words and the meaning he expressed, and spoke of his morning’s encounter, “Did you know?”

“That truck hit my car directly. If I had reacted a little slower then, you wouldn’t be seeing me!”

“You didn’t come to the scene to see. The entire wall was knocked down. I couldn’t even get out of the car myself. It was deformed!”

“The Grim Reaper’s scythe scraped past my neck, Sidney!”

“They really want to kill me, not the joking kind!”

“My hands were shaking all morning after I got back. Now, this isn’t a matter between us and them, it’s a matter between me and them!”

“Since they really want to kill me, let’s see who dies first!”

Hearing his resentful words, the mayor had a bit of a headache, “You need a drink, and then calm down!!”

“They said it was just an accident!”

Chief Dale asked back loudly, “Do you think this was an accident?”

The mayor fell silent because he also felt it was not an accident.

But this was also good. At least Chief Dale wouldn’t switch sides at a critical moment!

“Dale, I believe your judgment, and I support you. Is there anything I need to do?”