| From: | TopCat <topcat@******.net> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Killing in Shadowrun... |
| Date: | Fri, 24 May 1996 05:08:32 -0500 |
>>Funny, those terms were present back at least to the 1920's (I'm thinking
>>more along the lines of the mid-late 1800's). Fifty or sixty years apart
>>from what you describe. And the infamous Untouchables were created solely
>>to stamp out the Mafia presence in Chicago by several prominent businessmen
>>in the area.
>That last sentence is wrong. They were created to stop bootleggers.
Actually, they were created as a direct result of the murder of a newspaper
reporter who worked for a paper owned by one of the people who would
eventually get the funds together to form the Untouchables. That is fact.
That they were also involved in bootlegging is merely part of it. Murder
was the key, as was the fact that acts such as that and assaults and
robberies and dozens of other crimes were being committed and scaring off
many people from coming to Chicago. Which was hurting the business magnates
who more or less owned Chicago. Who put pressure on their friends in the
justice system. And eventually were formed the Untouchables.
>I rechecked my references. Yes, there was mention of the Mafia in the
>20-30's, however, not in the public. Yes, there were the untouchables, but
>they weren't anti-mafia, they were anti-bootlegger (almost exactly the same,
>but with some differences) They wouldn't have been around if it wasn't for
>prohibition. Now, if you doubt my sources, go read "Boss of Bosses" its
>about Paul Castellano, written by the two agents that caused his downfall in
>the Mafia (one did a lot of footwork and information gathering, the other
>managed to get a bug planted in his house.)
There are many other sources than "Boss of Bosses", although I don't doubt
the validity of that particular source. Check out multiple sources and then
see how they compare to that book. I don't know the names of any of the
sources that I've looked up over the years on the subject of organized
crime, most were books borrowed from friends or from a library. This is how
I got what knowledge I have.
>The Mafia in SR isn't going to be the same as the Mafia today, which isn't
>the same as the Mafia of the 20's. Things are different now than they were
>them, and are even more different than they would be in 2050. The thing
>that will remain the same is that a Mafioso might be arrested, but he won't
>speak, cause the Mafia will have him killed, and you may get people on the
>street on to the stand, but they won't testify, cause the Mafia will have
>them killed, same goes for info on who broke who's legs. Thats how the
>Mafia works. If they were as sloppy as you seem to think, they wouldn't
>have made it out of the 20'.
They made it out of the 20's pretty easily but had a great deal of trouble
in the 30's and 40's. Come the 70's they were in their finest hour and the
beginnings of a major decline. Today they aren't even a shadow of what they
were in the 20's. In 2057 they would probably have hefty influece in
Chicago and the East Coast, but none on the West Coast (despite what Seattle
Sourcebook says, they would've been run out by the Triads, Yakuza,
Organizatsiya, and other groups long before then in a world where the UCAS
has only Seattle on the west coast). The number of criminal organizations
in the US is too big to allow for any one group to have absolute power and
the Mafia's finest days have come and gone already in the US in the 1990's.
In Italy, they'd probably be godlike. Just like the cartels in Aztlan (they
are the countries official leaders now and they control the largest corp in
the world), Triads in China, and the Yakuza in Japan. That's where the
organizations are based, that's where they'll have their greatest influence.
The UCAS is a source of a great deal of influence and cash to any and all of
these, but nowhere near as great as they have in their homes.
-------------------------------------
"I was thinking of the immortal words
of Socrates, who said: I drank what?"
-- Real Genius
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TopCat at the bottom...
