Arthur decides to take out the Gandolfers, who have always regarded the Lucianos as a stumbling block, as well as Massino and Gigandi, who have betrayed the Alliance. In the past few days since returning from Long Island, Arthur has been thinking about the future route of the Luciano family. The issue of route is very important, once the direction is wrong, the farther you go, the more miserable you will die.

Whitewashing must be whitewashed, the key is how to deal with the black part, whether to completely abandon or have reservations?

The so-called gang organizations, to put it bluntly, are desperate poor people who do not want to eat hard food, do not want to go through the normal social upward channel, and use violent means to realize their interests through organization, looking for oil and water in the gray area of society. With the rapid development of the economy and the improvement of the social system, on the one hand, the criminal field that gangs can be involved in is becoming narrower and narrower, and on the other hand, the mass base of gangs is constantly weakening. Gangs in many fields are no longer able to get involved, there are fewer and fewer people who are really poor, and a new generation of young people are reluctant to join gang organizations.

Even the gang bosses have sent their children to college, hoping that they will live a normal life, instead of inheriting their father's business and continuing to be in the underworld.

But Arthur believes that the black part, especially the violent part, cannot be given up in any way. Any society is a hierarchical society, even in the so-called free and civilized modern United States, the hierarchy is still strict and distinct. Everyone is equal in law, but people's skin color, income, education, residence, consumption, conversation, and clothing are divided into three, six, nine, and so on, and everyone is labeled and thrown into different classes.

If a person wants to face up to people who are higher than himself, in the final analysis, there are only two ways: first, climb up, abide by the prevailing rules, and through talent, hard work, marriage, and luck, cross to a higher level, sit on an equal footing with the other party, and become "his own person"; Second, force the person above to bend down and bow his head and look at himself at the level of the self below, and the best way to do this is through violence.

Everyone is equal in the face of violence.

There is no human life that cannot be solved by a bullet, and if there is, another one.

The former method is whitewashing, which many gangs have been doing; The latter method, the black part, is the ultimate means for gangs, or any organization, or even natural persons, to rebel against injustice and hierarchy.

A certain great man in the East once said, "Out of the barrel of a gun comes political power," but in fact, there is not only political power but also equality from the barrel of a gun. Arthur could foresee that in the future, as he climbed all the way up, he would definitely encounter a lot of inequalities. In the face of such inequality, the means of violence in our hands are the best weapons to break the inequality. Everyone in the United States can carry a gun, but not everyone has the ability to shoot.

Arthur finally decided to both grow and control the black part.

New York is his base, and if he wants to grow, he will have to take out the Gandolfil family who are in the way, as well as the back-up Massino or Gigandi, so that he can have room to exert his strength. At the same time, the process of eliminating the Gandolfil family is also a process of exercising the organizational and combat effectiveness of the Luciano family. After the change of the boss, the Luciano family is weak, but the more this time, the easier it is for opponents to take it lightly, the easier it is to unite within the family, and Arthur is more familiar with and control the entire family.

On the way to the Cross, Arthur and Abramo discussed the war against the Gandolfer family in general, and he reminded Abramo, "Don't worry, this is not a simple blow to the opponent, killing their leader will be the end, but to really annihilate them, from the roots." Not just the physical annihilation, but the complete destruction of them organizationally and economically. Only then will they not relapse. ”

Arthur didn't want a few successful assassinations, and for a gang, the death of the boss would indeed lead to chaos. But the boss is gone, and the next one is that as long as the organization is still there and the economic resources to maintain the organization are still there, the family will exist. They will only decline, and will not wither with the death of their leader. Only by cutting off their economic resources and destroying their organizational structure can we completely eliminate them.

It takes a long time to prepare and set up, and Arthur is going to do something that neither the FBI nor the New York State Police can do, destroy a family.

"Then Marcino and Gigandi, who are the inner ghosts and cooperate with the Gandofil family?"

The two marched to St. Peter's Basilica, the final destination, where they were about to say goodbye, and Abramo asked Arthur one last question. He had to find out who was secretly communicating with the Gandofil family, so that they could prepare for the funeral of the Gandofil family and Vera.

Arthur shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter, since it's either Masino or Gigandi, it will never be wrong to kill them all." Careful preparation, do a good job of intelligence work, don't worry, we have to understand each other thoroughly, more than you know your family, understand? ”

Abramo nodded slightly, the two did not say goodbye, and blended into the crowd very tacitly and separated.

……

After the Passion Road, Arthur hailed a taxi and returned to St. James's Cathedral to pick up his motorcycle. After getting out of the car, he walked to the parking lot and was about to ride away, but he saw an old priest in a black robe standing not far from him. He looked very old, very old, and his face was wrinkled, like the bark of a dry old tree. The huge bags under his eyes drooped down like his shoulders and neck, and he stared blankly at Arthur like a piece of dead wood.

It was almost noon, the sun was shining overhead, and the shadow of the church became very short. The shadow of the cross at the top casts on the ground, and the old priest stands right at the intersection of the cross, as if standing on a marker. Arthur glanced at him and thought of the shaking and crumbling sensation he had just felt when he had just closed his eyes and prayed in the church. Arthur was accustomed to his anomaly, and he withdrew his gaze and stepped onto the motorcycle.

When I looked up again, the old priest was gone.

The sun is still slowly rising, the shadow cast by the church is getting smaller and smaller, and the shadow of the cross is getting shorter and shorter.

Arthur started his motorcycle, left St. James's Cathedral, and drove towards Queens, a fast-food restaurant called Roll-Stone.

Like the rest of New York, Queens is divided between rich and poor, with upscale neighborhoods of the wealthy, cleanliness of middle-class neighborhoods, and decaying slums. Roll-Stone is located on Queens' West End, near Queens Bridge, not far from the Hudson River, just across the river from Manhattan. But it's one of the poorest and dirtiest areas in New York.

That's the case in New York, the closer you are to Manhattan, the poorer you are, and the best neighborhoods are far from downtown. Except, of course, Manhattan is not only the center of New York, but also the center of the United States, and even the center of the world in the eyes of some.

Arthur saw the red sign of Roll-stone from a distance, and he and Artest made an appointment on the phone to meet here at 11:30 p.m. Arthur slowed down, parked his car on the side of the road near the fast-food restaurant, and opened his helmet mask to take a look. It's not that he doesn't trust Artest, but he's always very cautious these days.

Soon, he saw Artest's tall figure, standing under the telephone pole in front of the restaurant, and next to him was a black guy in a jacket and with dirty braids, who should be Artest's friend. The two men paced up and down under the telephone poles, visibly restless.

Determined that nothing was out of the ordinary, Arthur got out of the car and walked towards the two of them.

Artest saw Arthur from a distance and patted his friend next to him, and the two of them came forward like saviors.

Arthur said hello to Artest, who pointed to his friend next to him and introduced, "This is Tru, my friend, he... He's in some trouble and may need your help. Let's go to the store and talk? ”

Artest is very sophisticated, he is only 15 years old this year, he is already more than 1.9 meters tall, half a head taller than Arthur. Arthur approached Artest, smelled a smell of wine from him, and frowned, "You drank?" Artest spread his hands and said, "Oh yes, drink some, today is a day off." ”

Arthur didn't ask much, and entered the restaurant with the two of them, and as soon as he pushed the door, the eyes of the entire restaurant people gathered, and all the people sitting inside were black. Arthur's half-blooded face was very eye-catching inside, and he immediately led Artest and Tru out and said, "We won't talk about it here, go to the bridge." ”

So, the three of them walked to the Queen's Bridge, and at the deserted river beach under the bridge, Arthur asked the two to explain what was wrong with finding him and what trouble they were in. Roosevelt Island, which stretches across the Hudson River, can be seen under the Queen's Bridge, and an island aerial tram glides past the trio's eyes across the river.

After the cable car passed, Tru took out a large paper bag from the inner pocket of his jacket, handed it to Arthur, and said, "I picked it up the day before yesterday, near a gas station." I was passing by and saw someone throw out a bag of stuff into the grass nearby, so I picked it up and ......"

Arthur took the paper bag and opened it to see that there were small plastic bags containing white powder.

Arthur knew that what this generation was pretending to be trouble.