Empire of Shadows

A middleman, a mediator—this special role often appears in the gangster world and plays an important part.

In fact, they are like brokers on the other side. It’s just that their titles are different, but their job is the same.

Get some benefits, help people solve problems.

Often, middlemen and mediators are those well-known figures who “possess a certain social status and influence.” They don’t have to be gang members—

For example, Councilman Wade and Councilman Williams. As long as someone could persuade them, they could also act as this middleman.

Having Figal act as a middleman to mediate their conflict with Lance was also a decision Bandy had made after careful consideration.

First, as the head of one of the Five Families, Figal had enough fame and influence.

Second, once Lance angered him, coupled with Bandy’s follow-up plan, there was a high probability that he could pull Figal over to his side.

Only by driving more people to stand on the opposite side of Lance would he have the confidence to win this war.

Yes, with fewer people, he really had no confidence.Fortunately, Figal agreed without him having to waste much breath.

After hanging up the phone, Figal sat down, lit a cigarette, thought for a while, and after sorting out his thoughts, he made a call to Lance.

The phone rang for a while before it was answered. Lance’s voice came from inside. “This is Lance.”

“Lance?” Figal took a deep breath, and a little smile appeared on his face, just a little, not much. “This is Figal.”

“Mr. Figal, hello. So… is there something?”

There was not much respect in Lance’s words. With the demise of the Cassia family and the war between the Kodak family and Lance not showing a one-sided situation, Lance had completely lost his awe for the so-called Five Families.

You will fear someone who can cause you pain, but you will not fear someone who cannot hurt you.

Whether it’s people or animals, they all learn the rules through pain. Without pain, without punishment, there will be no rules, and no awe.

In fact, it’s not just Lance. Other gangs also lack sufficient awe for the current Five Families.

Whether a person reveres you or not, you can tell from a sentence or two, whether he is careful or doesn’t take you seriously.

Lance used very ordinary language, not even using honorifics. Coupled with his seemingly casual tone, Figal’s brows furrowed slightly.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you…” Although he felt that Lance was not very polite, as the head of one of the Five Families, he needed to maintain his status.

This was actually just a polite greeting, just like when two people meet on the road, someone has to start by saying “Nice weather today.”

Lance’s laughter came from the receiver, a very slight laugh, just two or three sounds.

In fact, there was no problem with this, but it also made Figal feel that Lance was not very respectful to him.

He felt very uncomfortable!

However, he also adjusted quickly. “Bandy just gave me a call…” he said, and then stopped, not continuing.

“Uh-huh?” Lance’s reaction made him a little uncertain.

He said tentatively, “He hopes I can act as a middleman to mediate the conflict between you.”

“Lance, we’re all trying to make a living here in Golden Port, and there are no irreconcilable contradictions.”

“You sell your liquor, he runs his casino, and your territories are not together. I think we can completely sit down and talk about the problems and contradictions.”

“Blindly falling into a struggle now will only weaken each other’s strength. This is not a friendly society, nor is it a suitable time to start a war.”

“Internal and external contradictions and conflicts, we should temporarily put aside our hostility towards each other. Maybe soon you will become friends again.”

“Giving others a chance is also giving yourself a chance.”

“We don’t need to be at each other’s throats over some small things!”

“How about this, I’ll be the host. I know a restaurant that has good flavored lamb. We’ll sit down and talk, you, me, and Bandy, just the three of us.”

“How about it?” he waited with some anticipation for Lance’s answer.

But Lance was going to disappoint him.

“I refuse.”

Figal acted as if he hadn’t heard clearly. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said, I refuse your proposal, Mr. Figal.”

“Why?” Figal’s tone was a little unhappy. He felt that his good intentions had been betrayed, and he didn’t understand why Lance would refuse this proposal.

Compared to his voice, which had already clearly shown his emotions, Lance’s voice was still as calm.

“Do you know why we are at war?”

Although Figal had paid attention to this matter, he was actually not very clear about why they were at war, so he asked, “Why?”

The expected answer did not come, only Lance’s slightly mocking words. “You see, you don’t even know why we are at war, and you still want to mediate.”

“Just this, you can’t truly stand in a neutral position to judge the conflict between me and the Kodak Family, whose fault it is!”

“You claim to be able to mediate, but in fact, you are just an accomplice hired by Bandy. So I’m sorry, I have no interest in your proposal.”

“Don’t waste my time and yours. If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

Figal felt that he had been offended. He was just about to say something more when Lance hung up the phone directly.

This was one of the few times he had been hung up on by someone. In Golden Port, only he hung up on others. Not many people could hang up on him.

A person in a superior position must have some degree of self-restraint, but their self-restraint is not necessarily always good.

A gang leader who had proven himself through fighting, to be hung up on like this, he was also full of anger!

If the person who hung up on him was someone of the same level, then he might not be so angry.

Sometimes, when he had a falling out with the heads of other families, they would even curse at each other over the phone.

But this time, the Lance on the other end of the phone was just a “minor character.” He had only been around for a little over two years since he started. On what basis did he not give him face?

On what basis did he hang up on him?

Since he had inherited the position of family head, it had been a long time since he had encountered such a thing.

Before, the Bear Gang had indeed not given him face. The two sides had fought for half a year, and in the end, the Bear Gang had to get out of Golden Port.

Every step of his was stained with blood. He had the qualification to be respected!

And Lance’s words did indeed “sting” him a little. In his view, the so-called mediation was to speak for Bandy and make Lance and his Lance Family back down.

He had never considered doing this fairly and justly from the very beginning. After all, he and Bandy were the Five Families. What was he and Lance?

At most, they were competitors. Lance’s business in the Empire District had attracted some of the drunks from the city center. Although it wasn’t a lot, it did have an impact.

Like all whores, they have no psychological burden when they are doing it. The time when they have the greatest psychological burden is the moment when others point out their identity.

He could sit down with a crooked ass, but you couldn’t say it, even if you saw it.

Lance’s reaction made Figal curse. He picked up the phone and called Bandy back. “I can’t persuade him. He even gave me a piece of his mind. Fuck, are all the young people so arrogant these days?”

Bandy laughed. “If he’s not willing to mediate, then forget it. It’s not like I’m really afraid of him!”

He laughed a couple more times, looking very relaxed. “We haven’t seen each other in a while. How about we go out for dinner tonight?”

“I’ll call the Tita family’s people. The three of us, and we can also chat with that guy.”

Figal hesitated for a moment. He understood Bandy’s purpose in doing this, which was to make him take a stand, to make him side.

However, he was not very disgusted with this kind of siding. Lance had indeed not given him face just now, and they had indeed not seen each other for a long time, so he agreed.

He thought that maybe he could also learn a little about what was going on here at the dinner table, why they had suddenly started fighting.

After Figal agreed, Bandy contacted the new leader of the Tita family. The Tita family’s losses were also quite heavy, and they had not fully recovered yet.

After the new family head took office, he was also willing to connect with the other two families of the Five Families. The recent changes in Golden Port were becoming more and more difficult to understand.

If you don’t understand, you will feel afraid, and you will have a sense of crisis.

Sitting down and chatting with everyone, getting closer, on the contrary, can make people feel some sense of security.

Instead of choosing another time, it’s better to just put it today. They set the time for the gathering in the evening.

As for why they didn’t look for Francisco, they all knew in their hearts.

The Pasoretto family was already in decline.

In the evening, in a quiet restaurant in the Starlight District, there was only one table in the center of the restaurant. Bandy had arrived early and was chatting with the new head of the Tita family.

After waiting for about ten minutes, Figal also arrived late.

“Sorry, something came up at the last minute and slowed me down,” he took off his hat and coat, handed them to the person next to him, and then strode to the table and sat down.

Just as he was about to leave, someone in the family said that it might be someone from the Lance Family who had entered the city center.

In the afternoon, he had just had an unpleasant conversation with Lance on the phone. In the evening, he saw Lance’s men in the city center. He didn’t think it was a coincidence.

He had someone keep an eye on them for a while. After confirming that the other party had just driven around the city center twice and then left, he didn’t bother with it anymore.

But even if he didn’t think about it, some thoughts would inexplicably come to his mind, which made him a little frustrated.

When had he ever been so angry?

Bandy’s eyes had a hidden smile. It was very simple to impersonate someone from the Lance Family. All you had to do was add a red armband to the left sleeve.

This was the simplest feature that could be used to identify them, without any difficulty.

He had sent the people over, just to make the unpleasantness between them continue to escalate and eventually turn into friction.

Bandy stood up with a smile and went over to hug him. “It’s okay, we were early.”

The man from the Tita family also hugged him. After the three greeted each other, they sat down separately.

The chef in the restaurant had already prepared the ingredients. After everyone had arrived, the food was served after a simple cooking.

Relaxing and soothing music was playing in the restaurant. Everyone else had left, leaving only the three of them.

Bandy raised his wine glass and clinked it with the other two. After everyone had taken a sip of wine, he put down his glass and sighed with some regret. This sigh made the other two look at him.

Figal asked, “Are you still worried about Lance?”

He thought that Bandy’s sigh was because he had not been able to mediate the matter, and his dissatisfaction with Lance grew.

The head of the Tita family was the brother of the previous head. He had also participated in some similar gatherings with the previous head and knew the relationship between the Five Families very well.

Through Figal’s simple words, he seemed to understand something.

He didn’t speak, but put some vegetable salad in his bowl.

But at this time, Bandy shook his head. He swirled his wine glass. “I’m not sighing because of Lance, but because of ourselves.”

He sat back a little. “The Five Families, what a glorious title. We were once so glorious in this city.”

“From the mayor, Councilman Wade, Councilman Williams, and those dignitaries and celebrities in the Bay Area, they all had to give us face.”

“Maybe we couldn’t order them around, but as long as we opened our mouths, they had to respect us!”

In his simple description, the other two people at the table were in a daze, as if they had returned to the most prosperous period of the Five Families.

They and the Bay Area co-ruled the world (Golden Port City)!

The daytime belonged to them, and the night belonged to the Five Families.

Compared to the glorious past, there was the decline of today.

Even the Five Families had become the Four Families.

Bandy took another sip of wine. “Now a young man can embarrass us. Sometimes I really wonder if we are old and our era has passed.”

“Why has this city become so strange?”

His words resonated with Figal and the head of the Tita family. Now it was indeed not like before, when people respected them.

Those small gangs would actively try to curry favor with them, revere them. Just a phone call, and the person they wanted to see would be brought to them.

They could decide the future of a gang in a casual conversation, and also the life and death of some people who were big shots in the eyes of ordinary people.

Now, it was different.

Those small gangs were not so reverent of them anymore, and sometimes they would even resist them.

Their own business had also shrunk a lot, giving up some profits or space to those small gangs that they wouldn’t even have given a second glance to in the past.

Just as Bandy said, the times had changed.

It had become strange, and also made people not like it so much.

Figal raised his wine glass and drank all the remaining wine in one gulp. The brandy with ice cubes was not so spicy, and it didn’t give people the feeling that it was very strong after it went down.

He took the initiative to pick up the bottle and poured some more for himself. “These young people are getting more and more unruly!”

Bandy showed a listening expression at the right time, and he couldn’t help but start to complain.

The city center is definitely a very attractive territory. There are huge profits here, and the environment is relatively stable, which will definitely attract the attention of some gangs.

“They are opening bars everywhere, destroying the price of liquor. They all learned from Lance!”

“Lance’s bar in the Empire District lowered the price to almost no profit. He stole a lot of my customers.”

“Those small gangs are all fucking learning from him, forcing me to lower the price.”

“Others can earn twenty or thirty from a bottle of wine, but I can only earn ten!”

“Damn it!”

He raised his wine glass again and took a sip, then let out a heavy breath, as if to spit out all the depression in his chest.

The head of the Tita family also quite agreed. Behind the decline of the Five Families, many small and medium-sized gangs began to grow wildly.

It’s just that there are fewer fights now. Most of them are fighting for time to make money, opening bars, etc.

The fight has changed from a fight between people to a commercial fight.

If you lower the price by five cents, I’ll lower it by ten. In the end, no one makes any money, but you have to lower it.

Only the Starlight District and the Bay Area are a little better. The operating costs are too high, and small gangs can’t squeeze in.

The beginning that Bandy made quickly manipulated the emotions of the two. He sighed lightly. “It would be great if it were still like the past. If anyone disobeyed, we would just wipe them out.”

“Now…” he shook his head. “Everything is different from the past. Maybe someday we will withdraw from this big stage.”

Figal drank some more wine. He drank very quickly. He slammed the table, and the plates on the table jumped. “We can’t go on like this, brothers!”

“If we don’t seek change, we will soon be submerged by those small gangs. People will forget the Five Families, forget us.”

“Today Lance can shout at me without giving me face, and tomorrow he can ride on my head!”

“We have to show them some color, let them know that in the gangster world, it belongs to us!”

Bandy’s eyes lit up. “But the Lance Family is very strong…”

“I don’t believe that the three of us combined are no match for him!”

Figal interrupted him. “And I’m not saying we should start a gang war. What I mean is, we let him realize that this is not his Golden Port City, let him learn, and understand to respect us.”

“Give him some pressure and so on, so that other small gangs will also restrain themselves a little.”

The head of the Tita family actually didn’t think this was a good plan, but now he was kidnapped.

If he didn’t join, he would be excluded by these two guys, and at the same time, he couldn’t join the new generation of gangs.

If he really encountered any trouble, these two guys would probably not lend a helping hand.

So he could only bite the bullet and agree with their views, and emphasized, “We just want them to understand who is in charge of this city!”

Bandy glanced at him and smiled and nodded, but in his heart he was thinking, some things, once they start, are not something you can stop just by saying so.

(End of a Chapter)