Chapter 2866: Staging a Play

Upon hearing this, Ni Dawei felt deeply ashamed.

He truly did not think highly of Qiang Zai, and furthermore, Ye Chen was a complete stranger who had appeared out of nowhere. He did not believe Ye Chen had the strength to help him, or help Qiang Zai, to revitalize the Chinese Gang under the oppression of the Burning Angels.

However, he had to admit one thing: Qiang Zai, this young man who had yet to see much of the world, was indeed braver than he was.

Although he didn't quite believe in Ye Chen's ability, Ni Dawei had his own worries. If he rejected Ye Chen, he would only be able to continue hiding and fleeing; he would never have a chance to turn his life around.

But if he cooperated with Ye Chen, perhaps there would be a glimmer of hope for a comeback.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look at Chen Zhaozhong, who was standing to the side.

In his eyes, Chen Zhaozhong was an extraordinary person.

Although he had been cooped up in this shop making roast goose for so many years, he was definitely the smartest person in Chinatown. Since even he believed in Ye Chen, it proved that Ye Chen must be more capable than he had imagined.

Thus, he made up his mind and said to Ye Chen, "Mr. Ye, I am willing to cooperate with you. Just tell me what you need me to do!"

Ye Chen said indifferently, "Give me an introduction to these Burning Angels, including what kind of background the Italians behind them have."

Ni Dawei hurriedly said, "The Burning Angels is a gang established just in the last few years. However, its predecessor was formed by the merger of several small gangs in New York. The reason they were able to merge was mainly because of the Italian Mafia behind them. The Italians are deeply rooted in the United States. After gradually 'cleaning up' their image over the years, they handed the dirty and tiring work over to the new gangs they supported. These new gangs have to hand over at least fifty percent of their profits to the Italians."

As he spoke, Ni Dawei added, "The Italian Mafia in the United States is mostly family-based. The Five Families were more famous in the past, but the most powerful one now is actually the Zano family, which is outside the Five Families. The Burning Angels are loyal to the Zano family."

Ye Chen said, "They have this Zano family as their backing, and then they split more than half of the money they earn with the Zano family. Strictly speaking, they are just a sub-brand specifically for the low-end market, and the Zano family is the absolute majority shareholder."

Ni Dawei nodded and said, "Mr. Ye, that is a correct way to understand it. The Zano family actually has many such gangs under their control. Most of the members of the Burning Angels are African-Americans with relatively low levels of education, so their main business is seizing territory and collecting protection fees. In addition, there are several other organizations engaged in slightly higher-end industries, such as those high-profit contraband items."

Chen Zhaozhong, standing to the side, introduced to Ye Chen, "The current person in charge of the Zano family has a very sharp mind. They have broken down the originally end-to-end business into multiple links, and then handed different links to different organizations to be responsible for. Then, the organizations cooperate with each other, check and balance each other, and guard against each other."

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow and said, "Uncle Zhong, please give me a detailed introduction."

Chen Zhaozhong explained, "My viewpoint is also something I synthesized based on some information circulating outside when I was here before, as well as what I have seen and heard myself. It may not be entirely accurate, but it shouldn't be too far off."

After finishing, Chen Zhaozhong said seriously, "Actually, the Zano family's largest source of income has always been the smuggling and sale of drugs. They have a gang specifically for smuggling, a gang specifically for sales, and many low-level gangs like the Burning Angels that seize territory all over the United States."

"The basic structure of this organization is to first send out a large number of low-level gangs to constantly expand their sphere of influence across the country. After they choose a neighborhood, they will entrench themselves there, and then use violent means to quickly obtain absolute control of that neighborhood. After they complete the occupation, the team specializing in selling drugs will expand their business into the territory newly occupied by the low-level gangs and directly monopolize the drug trade in that area. The low-level gangs that occupied the territory first will also provide cover and security for these drug dealers."

Ye Chen nodded and smacked his lips, saying, "I understand. It's like sending out robbers to hijack a car first. After the robbers ransack the people and property in the car, they drive the car, carrying another group of people and drugs, to the destination to sell them and earn greater profits."

"Correct," Chen Zhaozhong said. "However, it's not just drug dealers who hitch a ride. In addition to monopolizing drugs, they also monopolize the casinos and prostitution business within their sphere of influence. Within the scope of their monopoly, they do not allow others to open underground casinos or engage in usury; moreover, they will also import a batch of sex workers to monopolize the prostitution business in this area. Other prostitution organizations or individual practitioners must stop taking clients."

Ye Chen couldn't help but smack his lips and said, "This way of playing really can maximize the utilization of resources, and each link can check and balance each other. It is much more stable than letting one gang operate all these businesses. It seems this Zano family really has some tricks up their sleeves."

Chen Zhaozhong nodded and said, "The most formidable thing about the Zano family is that they almost never come forward to do any illegal or criminal acts themselves, and on the surface, they have almost no involvement with these illegal and criminal businesses. This is completely different from the Italian Mafia of the past:"

"The Italian Mafia of the past would jump out after killing someone and pat their chests to tell everyone, 'I killed this person.' But the Zano family's way of playing is: after ordering someone to be killed, they let the murderer throw the corpse at their own doorstep, then immediately call the police, tell the police that someone died at their doorstep, and even actively hand over all surveillance records to the police, making it seem as if they are more eager than the police to solve the case quickly."

Ye Chen asked curiously, "Uncle Zhong, are you telling me a true story, or are you using an analogy?"

"It's a true story," Chen Zhaozhong said. "Last year, the leader of another Italian Mafia family was riddled with bullets by four gunmen from two directions with submachine guns while waiting for a red light. Then, one of the gunmen actually transported the leader's corpse to the gate of the Zano family's manor. The Zano family called the police immediately. Not only did they actively expose the surveillance footage of the gunmen dumping the corpse to the outside world, but they even publicly claimed that the Zano family had been framed and offered a reward of one million US dollars to help the police capture the murderer;"

"But in fact, that family was the Zano family's biggest competitor. The two sides were competing for the source of cocaine from Colombia and the distribution agency rights in New York and even the entire East Coast. If anyone successfully obtained the agency rights, there would be at least hundreds of millions of US dollars in profit a year. So everyone knew that the person must have been killed by the Zano family, but no one expected that the people of the Zano family would drag the corpse to the gate of their own manor after killing the person, and use the other party's corpse to stage a play."

Ye Chen smiled and nodded, saying indifferently, "Since these people from the Zano family love to stage plays so much, then we will stage one for them too!" ===== CHAPTER 2867 =====