Chapter 181: The alcohol must flow I

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Pov of German spy

5-July-1921

A head was slammed down in front of me while two of my men held him firmly by the neck and arms, pushing his head against the furniture.

''The matter is simple. I do not want to waste time, so you had better talk before I send you to someone who will make your death slow and incredibly painful. Who do you work for?'' I said, placing my hands behind my back while observing one of those small-time gangsters.

''Nobody'' the thug growled while still trying to free himself from my men's grip.

A knife stabbed down almost between his lips, sinking deep into the table while the thug's eyes opened wide and he stopped struggling.

''You son of a…! It is walnut. How could you damage this? One of these pieces of furniture is worth more than your entire yearly salary'' I shouted at my subordinate, who had damaged the furniture we had stolen. ''Anyway, last chance, idiot. Who do you work for? Or I will make sure your death looks like an accident'' I said while moving the knife in front of his lips.

''The bastard would kill me if I talked anyway'' the thug growled.

''And you think I would not? Unlike the others, I have the ability to investigate who your relatives are. That way I can have your father, mother, brothers, children or wife killed, if you have them. So decide: either you talk, or I send my people to find out who your relatives are so we can start preparing the coffins'' I said, after pulling the knife out of the table, passing its tip along his cheek.

''Fucking lunatic… Hey… okay, okay… Santis… Santis'' the thug said when I began driving the tip of the knife into his cheek.

''Santis? Who the hell is that?'' I asked, looking at Lewis.

''A small-time crime boss dedicated to producing low-quality alcohol. Direct competition with our interests'' Lewis replied while holding his clipboard and watching the thug's blood fall onto the table.

''Why were you watching us?'' I asked the thug while he breathed audibly.

''He wanted… he wanted to know where you were getting the liquor you sell to the bars. Sales went down… and he was trying to find out where you stored it so he could steal it or burn it'' he said, clenching his teeth.

''Problems. The guy seems to want to push us out of the business'' Lewis said while taking money from one of our boxes. ''Let him go. There is no point keeping him tied up and struggling anymore.''

My men released the thug, who quickly brought one hand to his face, where his fingers were stained with his own blood.

''You are not going to kill me?'' the thug asked, looking at the two of us, who still had our balaclavas on.

''No. You already talked. Your boss will probably kill you for us and we do not want to have to clean up a body because that is complicated and attracts attention. Although we could use some nearby pig farm or bury you somewhere, there is no point… Here, there are fifteen hundred dollars. Get out of the city and never come back'' Lewis said while looking at the thug, who slowly extended his hand and took the bundle of bills.

''I can go…?'' the thug asked while looking at the money, still seeming rather doubtful.

''Yes. Just remember not to try to win your boss's favor again. He is going to kill you for opening your mouth, so take the money, gather your relatives, travel somewhere else and rebuild your life… Now get out'' Lewis said while signaling to our men to take him away.

The guy disappeared as soon as he could.

''Are you sure about doing something like that? It could bring us problems'' I asked, looking at Lewis.

''With whom, the police? What is he going to say? That while working for a crime boss we kidnapped him? They will ask him questions and the police will end up discovering that the guy is a worthless thug who was simply sent to stand there watching us. Besides, I remind you that we are in the middle of Chicago. Getting a body out of here is not easy. We would have to clean carefully so no trace of blood remained and be careful with the police. The patrols are changing and we no longer have as much information about their movements because the wave of warehouse robberies is making them alter their patterns and hey… a widow, parents or children who would try to find out what happened. Better to pay him to leave and spare ourselves the headache'' Lewis said while removing the covering from his face.

''It would be difficult, but if he talks to his boss we will have problems'' I said while taking off my balaclava.

''And what of it? He will only know that we know about his plans. Sooner or later we were going to find out that something like this would happen. The difference is that now we know in advance because our boys notice certain patterns very quickly and recognize faces when they see the same person for more than two days in a row on the streets'' Lewis said with a slight smile.

''Fine. Considering that we still do not want to draw the attention of the police, at least not for another couple of years, I think we should simply ignore him. Any direct conflict with that man would probably end with several dead, that would appear in the newspapers and the police would have to start an investigation. And that would be very problematic for us'' I said while thinking about what we could do.

''Relax, I have already solved it, more or less. It was just taking a little longer'' Lewis said, looking pleased.

''What do you mean you have already solved it?'' I said, looking at my companion.

''I have been planting a mole inside the police for some time or, rather, a trusted source. The subject in question is fed truthful information obtained by our sources and the police are informed of some minor alcohol production operations belonging to tiny gangs that are not even worth mentioning. The police take care of eliminating our competition and, at the same time, fill the newspapers with those small victories, which greatly calms the need to go after the big dogs. Now I will simply give him… let us see, probably one of the alcohol production zones. If I am not mistaken, it was here… so the police will probably end up taking photographs with his alcohol production equipment'' Lewis said, taking out a map of Chicago and pointing to a place.

''It seems our informant network is working better than we expected'' I said, crossing my arms while looking at the map.

''Exactly. We have information from a large part of the city, although we can no longer extract such clear patterns because everything is moving. Our presence and the robberies have destabilized the city's normality and we are drawing the attention of many of the bosses, although many only want us to sell them our products. Even so, the problem over territory seems to be growing more and more'' Lewis said.

''I negotiated with Torrio. Well, the man we have representing us spoke with Torrio and, for the most part, we reached a division of territories to control the city. In itself, it is the best way to avoid conflicts: having clear limits with those people, while we concentrate our power in the northern zone, where we have our recruitment area more clearly defined since it is mostly German'' I said, remembering the latest deal.

''Yes, just remember that this puts us in trouble with the North Side gang because we are fighting over territory and Torrio only wanted to set us against those guys, who really do want a fight over the area. And now add another one who wants us out'' Lewis said.

''Yes, but that is temporary. We have good income, we have informants and we have a good number of thugs watching the streets of our territories. All we would need is to get our own weapons and we would be fairly well off, because otherwise we will have to depend on local armament. Although I suppose that is for the best, since anything that is clearly a German model could get us into trouble with the Puppeteer'' I said thoughtfully while looking at Lewis.

''That is the least of it, in any case. Let us go check on the chemist they sent us and see what happens and what we will do later. We already have problems with two gangs, but I want to avoid bloodshed for now because, if we have to show muscle, we will show it properly and strike hard. But we have to know when to do it and, above all, prevent the authorities or the newspapers from being able to link us directly to whatever happens. Too many dead in a row or all at once could provoke a much more serious police response and that would be the end of the operation in the area'' Lewis said.

''Yes, let us go'' I said while calling the attention of the most important of our local subordinates.

''Yes, boss?'' the American said while lowering his head.

''You know what to do. If someone wants to speak with the boss, you make sure everything is calm and secure before speaking with them. And speak the way I taught you: it has to be formal, but threatening at the same time. Remember, you are earning more money than anyone, but that is no use to us if you let someone blow your head off because you go speak with everyone who asks you for a meeting'' I said, looking at the false boss of our organization.

''At your orders, boss'' the American said while nodding.

We left the building and got into a vehicle.

''We will take a few turns through the streets and get into that covered truck on the other street. We will use route four'' I said while settling into the seat beside Lewis.

Once the car was moving, it did not take us long to see the first watchers from the North Side gang, which had some men keeping watch over our streets.

''Start turning. We do not want them to know which vehicle we use to reach our hideout'' I told the driver.

We took several turns through streets and avenues until we reached our second vehicle, a truck parked on a side street. We quickly got out and climbed into the back, where the canvas covered us completely. The automobile continued on its way and we continued on ours, leaving Chicago and traveling toward our mill.

When we got down at the mill-bakery, the many workers now moving all over the place could be seen.

It did not take us long to enter the cellars, which were separated from the official operation of the mill and bakery, since that part was a completely legitimate company with its own income, even if much of it was false. Since the American economy at that moment was not exactly at its best and there were not too many large buyers, it was relatively easy to invent numerous small buyers spread throughout the city and thus lie about part of our income.

Once inside, we found several dozen thugs of multiple origins practicing how to quickly draw a pistol from beneath a coat.

''More fluid… The movement has to be fast, faster than someone can react'' I said while watching one of the young men we had working for us practice with a wooden pistol to get used to the movement.

''Do not bother too much, we still have to get weapons for all of them. We will see if I can plan some job against an armory or steal some shipment of weapons far from here, in another southern State'' Lewis said.

''They may be thugs, but they have to be taught properly'' I said while going down into the cellar.

''We also cannot teach them to fight like soldiers against insurgents. We have to seem normal. If we show up using war tactics the Americans saw in France, do you think they will not suspect anything?'' Lewis said, rolling his eyes.

''On the contrary. I know there are some books that talk about the beating we gave them in Dijon and we could always say we are simply replicating what is written there'' I replied.

''Bah… well… when will we have this ready?'' Lewis asked while looking at the group of German chemists we had brought inside and who were working on distillation.

''For the most part, everything is ready. All that remains is to have a constant source of materials: water, hops and grain. We already have the formula ready, where we have managed to isolate a good part of the agents that produce the bitter flavor, leaving a uniform liquid with a good taste. Although the flavor formula may need more work, I think we are much better than our competition'' he said, leaving a corked bottle in front of us and another similar bottle.

''Which one is our…? Shit!'' I said, throwing the bottle to the floor while covering my nose.

''What happened?'' Lewis said while bringing a hand to his pistol.

''Oh… shit, something burned my nose, badly'' I said, feeling a strong burning sensation in my nose.

''That is the drink the competition produces. It shows quite poor knowledge of distillation techniques or simply that their equipment is not the best, leaving the alcohol percentage far too strong, which causes those ethanol vapors that give that burning sensation… The famous moonshine. It is meant to get people drunk quickly because it is cheap… one of those should easily give you the feeling of being drunk… although dying from drinking it is also possible'' said the chemist leading the project.

''Damn it, how the hell do they even drink it? Just smelling it already burned my nose'' I said while still covering my nose.

''Cheap… Many people can barely find work, so this is the best they can get. Whereas this is what we make… We can make moonshine too, of course, but much more controlled and add flavors to it. For example, that over there is my own version of caramel moonshine, using pecans and caramel'' he said, pointing to the other bottle while someone began cleaning up the remains of the bottle I had thrown.

''Let us see… oof… it is still a kick…'' Lewis said after taking a sip and moving his lips. ''But yes, you can taste the flavor.''

''Let me try, I want some'' I said, taking the bottle and taking a sip. Although it had a strong taste, what the chemist had mentioned could clearly be felt. ''Yes, much better.''

''Well, it is a matter of practice, but considering there are people drinking that…'' he said, pointing to the remains still on the floor. ''I suppose that even if we still do not have the best recipe, we can work with this. This is the beer using a Bavarian recipe, I do not know if it is completely correct, and we also have a whisky recipe and another for brandy… In theory, we have everything needed to reach the markets regardless of socioeconomic level. If you get me the materials, I can produce this without stopping and we could manufacture tons of liquor a week'' the chemist said while pointing to the multiple work areas.

''Good, then it is my turn to do my job and find buyers. You, Lewis, plan that robbery of some armory in another State. We need American weapons… or buy them if there is no way to find a large shipment. I am going to speak with the American so we can start moving, get more clients and try to fight for the north side of Chicago'' I said while clasping my hands.

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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.

Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.

I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.

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