"Meyer Lansky, huh…He really is a troublesome figure," Josh said as he lightly tapped the table and sighed.
It wasn't that Josh was afraid.
It was just that, for someone of Austrian descent like him, the fact that the other party was Jewish made things very complicated.
Especially since Meyer Lansky wasn't just a Jewish mafia godfather — he also had another identity: that of an anti-Fascist vanguard.
During Roosevelt's New Deal era, Lansky had worked with the authorities to bring down the infamous American fascist group, the Silver Shirts.
So Lansky had not only underworld connections, but also extremely extensive political ties.
As a newly arrived immigrant — and an Austrian at that — directly clashing with someone like Lansky was very unwise.
But soon, Josh began to smile.
Why should he go up against Lansky directly?
The man probably didn't even know of his existence.
After all, from the very beginning, it had always been Lyndon Schneider and Dix handling production and sales.
Lyndon Schneider was also a German immigrant — but Dix was a true-blue Irishman!
And the seven people who were killed or injured when the goods were hijacked — they were all Irish too.
Before the rise of Black and Latino gangs, which three ethnic groups formed the major mafia factions in America? The Irish, the Italians, and the Jews.
And which group had the largest numbers and scale?
Not the Italians, and not the Jews.
But the Irish — the earliest of the three to immigrate to America — they were the true forefathers of American organized crime.
However, the Irish mob had a big flaw: they were overly fond of low-level violent crime and lacked organizational discipline. Their elite class was even more devoted to politics.
Over time, the Irish elite became the most dominant ethnic group in American politics.
By the time Josh had traveled back in time, 45 U.S. presidents had been of Irish descent, not to mention countless governors and senators.
But as the Irish increasingly took over the political sphere, the underworld — originally their turf — was gradually taken over by the more organized Italians and Jews.
"Heh…Schneider, I know what you're worried about. But have you forgotten? Dix and his brothers are all Irish. And from the beginning, the biggest gang population in America has always been the Irish. They just don't stick together like the Italians or Jews…But what if we could organize them?" Josh said, just as Schneider was wondering why he was smiling.
Lyndon Schneider was momentarily stunned, then quickly understood what Josh meant.
Actually, it wasn't that Schneider hadn't thought of this before.
It was just that, like many Germans of this era, raised with Prussian-style education and often quite capable, they naturally landed in the elite tiers of society — the military, business, politics, science.
These were their domains.
Even someone like Lyndon Schneider, a criminal, followed the path of an organized robber.
They typically looked down on street gangs.
Just like Schneider — though he'd been working with Dix all along, he always saw Dix and his men simply as muscle and labor.
That's also why, despite being the largest single ethnic group in America, you rarely hear of a gang that's primarily German.
Even when Germans did dabble in the underworld, it was more likely in the form of groups like the Silver Shirts or the SS…
But Josh was different. He didn't carry that inborn arrogance of the Germanic ethnic groups in this era.
So now he was imagining: What if he built a gang where the leadership and foot soldiers were Irish, but the middle management — the core backbone — was highly organized Germans?
He could even copy the structure of the Italian mafia, which had already laid out the blueprint.
If he couldn't even copy that much homework, Josh might as well go home and cuddle Margot to sleep.
Very soon, Josh summoned Dix… Schneider had kept him away earlier, fearing the hothead would cause trouble once he heard the news.
"Jews? Boss, just say the word — I'll take my guys and wipe the Jewish gang off the map!" As expected, the moment Dix heard who'd hijacked the goods, he jumped up.
If Josh, his benefactor and boss, hadn't been sitting there, Dix might have already stormed off with his crew to hit the Jewish gang.
"Calm down, Dix. Revenge will come in due time. Right now, I want to talk to you about something else," Josh waved his hand and gestured for him to sit.
"Whatever you say, boss!" Dix sat down at once.
"Dix, have you ever thought about becoming a boss yourself?" Josh asked directly. "Like Colosimo or Dean O'Banion once were."
He didn't mention Al Capone — because Capone was Italian.
Colosimo and Dean O'Banion, however, had been the big bosses in Chicago in the 1920s — true Irishmen.
Although both were eventually replaced by Capone and other Italians, a large part of that was due to bad luck — and the fact they weren't as ruthless as Capone.
After all, when everyone was using submachine guns, few were crazy enough to bring out a heavy machine gun like Capone did…
"Uh, boss, I don't quite get what you mean," Dix scratched his head. His straightforward nature meant he wasn't quite as quick on the uptake as Lyndon Schneider.
"It's simple. I plan to start a gang. Let's call it the Blackwater Gang! But I won't be the boss — you will. Mr. Schneider here will be your advisor. You'll also go to the refugee camps and recruit veterans to serve as instructors and officers. As for the rest, you handle it. Later, buy a plot of land outside the city and build a military camp. Every member will undergo military training. It might be a bit demanding, but I think as long as the pay is good, most people will go for it. I'll give you enough startup capital. Once the gang is formed, you'll keep distributing goods for me — I'll give you a 30% cut of the profits. Aside from that, I won't take a cent of the gang's other earnings. It's all yours," Josh laid it all out. "My only two conditions: no selling powder, no human trafficking."
Hearing Josh's proposal, Dix was thrilled. Though simple-minded, he wasn't stupid — he understood that in this setup, he wouldn't be a puppet, but a real gang boss with major autonomy.
Schneider, on the other hand, had a strange look on his face.
Because in his view, Josh wasn't building a gang — he was building a private army.
A militarized gang? That was terrifying just to imagine.
And if they had the right weapons…the Mafia and the Jewish mob wouldn't stand a chance.
And this kind of model? The Italians and Jews couldn't copy it even if they wanted to because they got into the mob to make money — not to go to war.
No gang boss would invest that heavily in training his underlings.