Chapter 4: Captain of the Garnier Crew
Whoever has the strongest fist rises to the top!
When Leon became strong enough, even if he didn't become the leader of the Garnier Crew, he could still establish his own crew, which is allowed within the Syndicate.
Therefore, for Leon at present, joining the Syndicate was more beneficial than harmful!
Under everyone's gaze, Leon nodded slightly, looked at Vidal and said in a deep voice, "Since Mr. Vidal thinks highly of me, then I, Leon, will follow Mr. Vidal!"
"Okay! Hahaha!"
"From now on, you're my brother!" Vidal laughed heartily!
Just then, a series of urgent sirens sounded in the distance—the police had arrived!
Everyone was used to the police arriving last, and with Vidal waving his hand, everyone scattered.
Vidal excitedly led Leon away: "Come on, Leon, let's go for a drink to celebrate your success!"
His current status was that of a Garnier Crew man!
In the last fight, Leon single-handedly took down six members of the Santoni Clan, earning everyone's respect.
Based on this record, he became a captain after joining the Garnier Crew.
In the newly occupied territory of the Opera quarter, he was allocated three bars and two nightclubs, and recruited more than a dozen underlings, thus barely becoming a boss.
The next day.
Leon officially started work.
Julien and Thierry came to pick him up in a truck. After a half-hour drive, they arrived in the northern districts and stopped in front of a large iron gate. Julien honked the horn.
A small peephole in the gate opened, and someone looked out. Julien waved at the person, and then the gate opened.
The truck drove in and parked in the yard, which contained a row of warehouses.
Julien smiled and said to Leon, "Boss, this is the Garnier Crew's warehouse. All the cigarettes and liquor are kept here."
"Every evening we get the order list from our bars and nightclubs, and the next morning we come here to pick up the goods and distribute them. The bars settle up with us once a week, and we hand in the accounts every Monday."
A burly man came over and greeted Julien and Thierry, then looked at Leon. Julien introduced him with a smile, "This is Leon, the new captain. He'll be in charge of our area from now on."
"Boss, this is the assistant warehouse manager, Marcel."
Leon reached out and shook hands with Marcel as they introduced themselves.
Entering the warehouse, Julien took out the list and began picking up the goods.
Wine, whisky, rum, vodka, cognac, pastis, liqueurs... For cigarettes, there were Marlboros, Camels, Gauloises, Gitanes, and various cigars.
People began loading the goods onto the truck while Julien and Thierry handled the tallying. Once everything was loaded, Julien had Leon sign the invoice.
Leon looked it over and found that the price actually reached over sixty thousand francs. You have to realize that in 1980, the monthly wage of an average worker was only about four thousand francs. These cigarettes and liquor were equivalent to more than a year's salary for an average worker.
And this was just one day's worth for the neighborhood they were responsible for.
After saying goodbye to Marcel and driving away from the warehouse, Leon asked Julien, "Are all these cigarettes and liquor genuine?"
"Of course, they're the good stuff," Julien said.
"Then how do we make money? Do we raise the prices for the bars and nightclubs?" Leon asked, puzzled.
Julien smiled.
"Of course not. Our cigarettes and liquor are even cheaper than the market price."
"Then what do we rely on to make money?"
"Smuggling and tax evasion. You have no idea how high the government's tax rates are on tobacco and alcohol—anywhere from forty to fifty percent at the low end, and sometimes even over a hundred percent. If we went through legitimate channels, we wouldn't make any money at all."
"For French tobacco and alcohol, we evade taxes; the imported stuff is all smuggled. Our crew has its own smuggling channels."
"Even gangs in other territories get a lot of their stock from us. Although the profits from tobacco and alcohol aren't what they were in the years after the war, smuggled goods are still profitable, and the more expensive they are, the more money we make."
In his previous world, Leon had been very interested in gangster movies, having seen almost all of them. He had even researched the underworld for that reason, and he knew that the rise of the Marseille gangs could be said to have been brought about by smuggling.
In the years after the war, the gangs ran massive amounts of American cigarettes across the Mediterranean, gaining sufficient funds and beginning to grow wildly.
Later, when that trade was broken up, smuggling remained a major source of income for the gangs, except they shifted to evading the taxes on tobacco and alcohol.
"Won't customs investigate?" Leon asked.
"Of course they will. Customs is much more formidable than the police. That's why we've always kept things very discreet. Besides, the higher-ups will handle the payoffs; that's not something we need to worry about," Julien said.
The truck drove to the entrance of a nightclub.
The manager came out, checked the goods against the list, and soon everything was moved inside. Both parties signed the invoice, and the delivery was considered complete.
After unloading the alcohol and cigarettes at the nightclub, they rushed to deliver goods to the bars. Julien kept the books while Leon signed, and they were busy until 10 o'clock before everything was delivered.
"Boss, shall we go get something to eat?" Julien said to Leon.
They hadn't eaten breakfast yet.
"Sure, let's go eat."
They found a small café and ordered sandwiches and coffee. While eating, Julien said, "We can rest for a bit now. Usually, the bars and nightclubs open around three or four in the afternoon. We'll head over then to look around and be responsible for their security."
In plain terms, it was just watching the turf.
"If someone causes trouble, we step in and kick those damn drunks out. It's usually easy to handle. We mainly keep an eye out for members of other gangs who might come to cause trouble, though that rarely happens. Every gang has its own territory, and people from other gangs usually don't cross the line."
"At night, we make another round, ask about liquor sales, get the orders for the next day, and usually finish work around one or two in the morning," Julien said in a relaxed tone.
In Leon's view, they were really just earning hard-earned money.
But in this society, who isn't working hard?
"What about debt collection?" Leon asked.
"We only have one fixed account, which is collecting the powder share from the Italians who sell in our bars," Julien said, looking at Leon.
"There's also collecting debts for the casino and the loan companies. Those involve going to the company to take on tasks and finding work yourself. I think it's best to wait until you're familiar with the current business before doing that."
Leon understood a bit more. Collecting debts for the casino and the loan companies was essentially a side job—you took on tasks to earn extra money, and it was optional.
As night falls, neon lights illuminate the streets of the Opera quarter. A few days later, in a bar called 'Blue Ocean'.
Countless beautiful women were dancing wildly, their short skirts barely reaching their thighs, turning the night into paradise.
Leon sat in a booth, refusing several attempts by beautiful women to flirt with him, and simply watched the noisy and frenzied crowd with a calm expression.
Aside from what was handed over to the gang and distributed to the underlings, a significant portion of the takings ended up in his own pocket, earning him far more money than he had as a cook.
Moreover, he found it easy and comfortable, and in just a few days, Leon adapted to gang life.
However, he dared not relax, since half of the Opera quarter originally belonged to the Santoni Clan, but now it had been completely swallowed up by the Garnier Crew, and the Santoni Clan could not swallow this insult.
They could come looking for trouble at any time, so Leon had been coming here every night to keep watch these past few days.
The atmosphere inside the bar was lively; men and women who had worked all day were indulging themselves to the fullest.
Not long after, Leon's henchman, Julien, ran over and said, "Boss, Ferrand has been discharged from the hospital!"
"Oh? He's been discharged from the hospital!"
Leon nodded slightly, not surprised at all. After all, although he had hit them quite hard, none of their injuries were fatal.
However, Ferrand's two arms were now useless, and he probably wouldn't be able to lift a knife again!
"Moreover, rumors are circulating that Ferrand is looking for assassins, and it's very likely that he's targeting you, Boss!" Julien hurriedly said, cold sweat dripping down his forehead. This was the key point.
Assassins!
There are unspoken rules among Marseille gangs: in normal fights, people usually use machetes and iron bars, and guns are only used as a last resort.
After all, that would attract police investigation, and even if you killed the other party, you would still get yourself into trouble.
But this time, Ferrand clearly didn't care about anything else. He had been crippled by a newcomer like Leon, and he would never be satisfied unless he got rid of Leon.
"This is forcing me to eliminate them completely!"
Leon remained outwardly calm, but a cold glint flashed in his eyes. Now that he had entered the gang, he had no mercy left.
He then turned to Julien and said, "Do you know any connections to get a gun?"
As someone who had experienced war, Leon used to always have a gun with him; he never felt safe without one.
Now that Ferrand was hiring assassins to deal with him, it certainly wouldn't be by ordinary methods.
Julien's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. After thinking for a moment, he honestly said, "Boss, guns are strictly controlled in Marseille, so they're not easy to get."
"However, I know an arms dealer named Hugo. He may not have good stuff, and the prices are very high!"
Although Julien used to be a low-level hanger-on, he had been around for a few years and knew more than Leon.
"Forget it, I'll think of a way!" Leon said in a deep voice.
He didn't have much money, and buying guns from those arms dealers was not only expensive, but also not guaranteed to be of good quality.
Most importantly, it's easy for information to leak because they are all people on the police's list.
If a shooting and murder occurs in Marseille, the police will arrest them all, and under interrogation, it's hard to guarantee that no one will reveal anything.
At 10 p.m., Leon left the Blue Ocean Bar and prepared to go home!
But when he walked out of the bar, there were two men in a car right across from him, comparing a photo with his face!