I’m Stealing from the Mafia
The Cadillac V16 was released in 1930 and discontinued in 1940. It was one of the most luxurious cars before World War II and the world's first mass-produced car with a 16-cylinder engine. It only accepted custom orders and had low production, with only over 4,000 units sold in 11 years, at an average selling price of $8,000.
Yesterday, when Josh went to buy a car, he also saw one at the used car dealership… which was one of the largest in Chicago.
The seller offered it for $9,000, twice Josh's net worth, and the terrifying price made him retreat.
Yes, it was a used car, but instead of losing value, it was appreciated. Moreover, this one in the garage was a silver convertible, full of artistic sense.
Compared to that, Josh's 1934 Ford 730 De Luxe was industrial junk.
Josh instantly fell in love with this powerful luxury car.
He didn't expect that a black market car dealer could get his hands on such a car.
Cadillac V16 owners were undoubtedly wealthy or powerful as it only accepted custom orders. After all, the high price of $8,000 was beyond the reach of ordinary wealthy people.
Therefore, theoretically, whoever could afford this car was not someone a normal car theft gang could provoke, and even car thieves wouldn't dare to steal it.
Therefore, the appearance of this car in this place was quite surprising.
However, Josh didn't care. Since he saw it here, it was his.
He didn't go out directly but first took off his coat, changed into a leather jacket from the system inventory, and put on a hood… who knows when he prepared it.
After preparing everything, Josh took out the Thompson he had just bought from the inventory and walked out.
"Who are you? Oh, sir, is there anything we can talk about?" Hearing the noise, the two people in the warehouse immediately looked over and rebuked.
But after seeing the Thompson in Josh's hand, the two of them instantly raised their hands, and their tone became gentler.
Josh was very satisfied with their attitude. These Italians were quite friendly, not as bad as in the movies.
"Don't worry, I just need a car. Where are the keys to this car?" Josh asked the middle-aged Mediterranean man in a muffled voice through his mask.
"Oh no, sir, you can't take this car. It belongs to Mr. Scaglione. If you take it, he won't let us live." Seeing Josh asking for the keys to the two Cadillac V16s, the middle-aged man became anxious.
"Scaglione? Who's that?" Josh couldn't help but ask, seeing the Mediterranean man's attitude.
"Mr. Scaglione is a senior member of the Moretti family, in charge of the business in the entire red-light district in the east of Chicago." The Mediterranean man replied, "This is his car, but it's temporarily parked here. Someone will be coming to pick it up this afternoon. If you take it, none of us will survive."
"Moretti family? Who are they?" Josh asked.
"Excuse me, sir, have you just arrived in Chicago?" The slightly chubby young man next to him spoke up.
"What if I did? Is there a problem?" Josh asked, and to some extent, he had just arrived in Chicago.
"The Moretti family is one of the largest Mafia families in Chicago. If you've been here for a while, it's impossible not to know their name. My friend, let me advise you, if you still want to survive in Chicago, it's best not to offend them," the chubby young man flattered.
"Oh? They do sound quite powerful. Can you tell me about the major forces in Chicago besides Al Capone? I don't know much about anyone else," Josh said thoughtfully.
"Hehe, Mr. Capone is certainly worthy of our admiration, but that was over a decade ago. Now in Chicago, it's the Moretti family, the Clementi family, the Vinci family, and maybe even the triads who call the shots," the chubby young man gave a brief rundown of the power situation in Chicago.
Although Josh wasn't planning on getting involved with the Mafia, he found it all quite fascinating. The other party's eloquence was quite good, making Josh feel like he was listening to a storytelling session.
"I didn't expect a car thief to be so well-informed. What's your name?" Josh asked after the other finished speaking.
"My name is Joe Barbera. Just call me Joe. It's Mike. Nice to meet you. Since we're all friends now, I can't let you leave empty-handed. As long as you don't touch this car, you can take whatever you want from this warehouse. And by the way, Mike's safe should have a lot of money. You can take that too," Joe's chubby face smiled like a daisy.
"You're a very clever person, but unfortunately, I just want this car. I'll say it again, give me the car keys," Josh's tone suddenly changed, and he didn't take the other's warning seriously.
Josh's words immediately wiped the smiles off Joe and Mike's faces. They had said so much, but this guy didn't care.
"Sir…" Joe wanted to say something.
"Shut up. Either give me the keys or die here right now. Don't think you can fool me. Since this car is here, it means you're either part of the Moretti family or working for them. Even if I don't take the car, do you think you'll just let me go after seeing everything else in this warehouse?" Josh sneered. "So what if it's the Mafia? That's who I'm stealing from."
It was true that getting involved with the Mafia wasn't a good thing, but ever since the other stole his car, the die was cast. Not taking this Cadillac would only make these two guys feel better, and it wouldn't mean much otherwise.
Moreover, since entering Italy Street earlier, Josh had been covering his face with a coat. Now he even had a hood over his head. With this era's tracking and surveillance technology, as long as he didn't reveal his face, who could find him?
Faced with a gun threat, Mike reluctantly took out the keys from his pocket.
"And the key to that car and the safe. Tell me the password," Josh pointed to his old Ford.
"You'll regret this!" Mike had no choice but to follow the order, but he didn't forget to threaten.
"I don't know if I'll regret it or not, but if you say one more word, I'll make sure you don't even have a chance to regret it," Josh sneered.
"Now, both of you get in the car!" With the keys in hand, Josh opened the door to the Ford.
After the two men got into the car obediently, Josh closed the door and locked it from the outside.
The car door locks of this era were the same as those of houses and could be locked from both the inside and outside.
If someone is locked inside and doesn't have a key, they won't be able to get out unless they break the window. But as long as they dare to break the window, Josh, though he has never killed anyone before, doesn't mind giving them a little scare.
After locking the two people up, Josh, being a jerk, added a pot of coffee to the fuel tank of the Ford car in front of them.
After doing all this, Josh began to search the warehouse. His main targets were naturally the desk and safe.
Opening the safe, there wasn't much money inside, only a few hundred dollars. But there were quite a few ration coupons.
They were for gasoline, candy, liquor, and coffee, all of which were rationed items, and there were only a few of them, but at least enough for four or five people.
In this special period, these things were more valuable than just money.
Without any hesitation, Josh pocketed these ration coupons.
He also searched the desk but didn't find anything good, except for an M1911 pistol, the same model he had bought before. Following the principle of taking feathers from a passing goose, Josh took it as well.
Then, in a corner where the two people in the car couldn't see, Josh took quite a few of the warehouse's tire collections and added them to the inventory in the system warehouse.
In this era, synthetic rubber practicality was only produced in large quantities by DuPont and Goodyear. All the tires in the United States were made of natural rubber.
In addition, Southeast Asia, an important rubber-producing area, was blocked by the Japanese, so the only source of rubber for the United States now was South America. This led to tires becoming a more important strategic resource than gasoline during the war.
In the end, after looting the warehouse, Josh drove the Cadillac away from the warehouse under the resentful eyes of the two Italian guys in the Ford car.