Marcus, four years ago…
As soon as he finished blowing a hole in Falco’s skull, Lucas’s men got to work dismantling his entire operation.
All of their guns were stripped from the corpses and the ammunition accounted for before being loaded up into various trucks to be hauled away.
All the records of Castellano’s dealings and information regarding his assets were documented so that they could seize them later. Not only that, but it would make it easier for them for all of Castellano’s associates to hunted down and killed including the smallest workers selling drugs and smuggling people.
While all of this was going on, Marcus pulled out a knife and started severing Castellano’s head from his neck.
“What the hell are you doing that for? He’s already dead,” Lucas asked, which caused some of the men to take notice and watch.
“I asked Romano if he wanted me to gift wrap his head to him in a box with a little bow on top. He didn’t say yes or no, but I’m going to do it anyways to get under his skin,” Marcus explained which caused Lucas to make a grossed out face but he didn’t voice his protests as he got back to work.
“You’re pretty fuckin weird, you know that right?” Robert said as he passed him by with a box of papers.
“Eat a dick,” Marcus retorted as he finished cutting off Castellano’s head and picked it up. He then carried it into his office and started looking for an empty box.
While he was looking, Lucas followed him inside and asked, “Be serious man. Are you actually going to wrap that nasty thing up and hand it right to Romano?”
“Yes. Got a problem with that?”
“Not really. I’m just confused as to why you would bother putting in the effort.”
“Romano knows me to be a very serious and literal person. Even if I say I’m going to do something ridiculous as gift wrapping Falco’s head, he’d find it realistic that I would actually do it, even if it is just for shits and giggles. Besides, it would sell the image even better that I wiped him and his organization out. It would put all the focus on me and draw attention away from you guys,” he elaborated further as his eyes lit up when he finally found a box.
Lucas sighed as he replied, “Yeah...I guess that makes sense, but still. I think the theatrics are a bit overboard.”
Marcus spun around and pointed his knife at him dramatically as he said, “No! That is where you are wrong!”
Seeing the knife, Lucas flinched slightly until he realized that Marcus was putting on a performance.
“Oh? Then do educate me O great wise one,” he said sarcastically which made Marcus smile a bit.
“Lets look at an outsider’s perspective and assume that real mobsters tend to detach themselves from the flair of mafia culture that’s shown in movies. Obviously you wouldn’t want to emulate that kind of behavior in real life because otherwise you would look too noticeable in the eyes of the average citizen right? In reality though, they love those movies. They love the overplayed dramatic flair given in those crime movies. Even though an act like gift wrapping your enemy’s head would be seen as disgusting and barbaric by you, Romano would certainly appreciate the overplayed part. He’d probably have a good laugh over it,” he explained while Lucas stared at him blankly.
“Robert was right. You are fuckin weird.”
Marcus let out an irritated grunt as he waved his hand at him dismissively while returning his full attention to the box.
“Anyways, you better hurry that up because as soon as we’re done loading all this up, we’re going to burn the place down to destroy the evidence. We don’t need Romano or Moroni sending people to look at the aftermath right away and see that something else is going on,” he said.
“Good point, but do you think it would be enough to satisfy them? I’m pretty sure they could hire a forensic specialist from the local police to take a look at it and notice that this place was attacked from multiple directions at once and that some people were killed all at once,” Marcus asked him.
“Unlikely that they would get a third party involved. Even so, by the time they would get suspicious about things happening here, we would already be moving onto them,” he said.
“Speaking of that, when do we start mobilizing on the Moronis?”
“You don’t want to go after Romano next?”
“No. I’ll save him for last. Besides, it would be better to take Moroni down right now while he’s likely still unaware that we exist. If we give him any amount of time to prepare, then it could be disastrous,” Marcus explained.
Lucas nodded and said, “Good point.”
“Before we do that though, there is something else I think we should do first,” he said as he put the lid on the box and stared at Lucas.
“What do you have in mind?”
“I think we should go kidnap the governor’s family as well as the police chief’s family here in town. If we take them both, then not only could we keep the governor from sending in the national guard, but we might be able to use the police as well to assist us,” he said.
Lucas held his chin in his hand as he thought it over before saying, “Are you sure about that? If we use the police as our own pawns, that might be too great a risk. With them in the picture, outright killing the Moronis would be difficult.”
“Have you thought about adding them to our ranks? Taking the police chief’s family would put us into a position to control the rest of them for a short while, but if they get a leg up on us, then they could just as easily turn against us and try to take us out as well. Why not try to absorb them?”
Lucas shook his head no as he said, “That’s a bad call. I doubt that many of them are aware of the deep corruption that is happening on an institutional level and just do what they are told. Veterans who actually served overseas are a different story altogether.”
An old piece of information then came to the surface as Marcus said, “The current police chief is a veteran with family that served in Vietnam and has friends who were on the USS Liberty when it was attacked.”
Hearing that, Lucas paused and the two of them had a silent agreement about how to go about this.
Rather than go after his family, they would go after the police chief himself.
Marcus decided to wait a few days before dropping off the boxed head of Castellano to Romano and left it in a freezer while he and Lucas waited outside the precinct while a looped feed was fed to the cameras to hide their tracks.
When the chief finally came out, a man by the name of Daniel Whitman as displayed on his uniform, walked over to his car only to have a cloth wrapped over his mouth and restrained before being thrown into the back of Daniel’s own trunk while someone else drove their truck away.
The two of them then drove off to their main operations and sat him down in a room.
While they waited for Daniel to wake up, Marcus told him, “I want you to let me handle this.”
“What? Why? You’re not a vet so how could you possibly-” Lucas said but he held up his hand.
“Do you have a family?” Marcus asked him, which made him freeze up.
“Well...my parents are still-”
“No. I mean do you have a wife and kids? Do you have a family of your own?” Marcus asked.
Lucas went silent and shook his head no.
“Right. Him being a veteran who knows about the corruption in this country is good because he would be more understanding of the cause, but with him having a family, I can relate to him more than you can in that regard,” he explained as Lucas shrugged but didn’t try to argue.
As time passed, Daniel finally roused from unconsciousness and started turning his head to look around despite the bag on his head.
“Where am I? What’s going on?! Hey!” he started shouting.
“Well go on,” Lucas said and Marcus stepped into the room with Chief Whitman.
“Who’s there?”
He ignored him as he took off the hood and placed it on the table between them and Daniel focused his eyes on him, taking the time to memorize every detail of his face.
“It won’t do you any good to remember my face, but by all means, I hope you get a good eye full,” Marcus said to him as he took a seat.
“Who are you?”
“I’ll get to that in a minute, but before that, are you comfortable? We weren’t too rough with you were we?”
Daniel smirked as he said, “Oh no...its a real five star service you’re running here. I’ll leave a yelp review when we’re done here.”
Hearing that made Marcus laugh and replied, “You be sure to do that, but anyways, I’m guessing you’re curious as to why you’re here right?”
“Obviously.”
“Well, my associates and I were debating about whether or not it would be a good idea to go after you or your family, but for our intended purposes, I think this is better. If we went after your family, then sure, you would be more cooperative and easier to control if your family’s lives were at stake, but that’s not what I’m trying to go for.”
Daniel blinked in surprise at Marcus’s blunt honesty as he said, “Overplaying your hand a bit aren’t you? Is this your first time taking someone captive?”
“Yes actually. Usually I just kill them and be done with them. With you however, I want something from you.”
Daniel swallowed nervously as he realized that the man in front of him was a genuinely dangerous person and was not to be taken lightly.
“What could you hope to want from me?”
“For now, just a simple discussion. A conversation. I want to know your perspective on a few things that have to do with the nature of this country as well as the future of your family. In fact, I would argue it has to do with the futures of every family that calls this country its home.”
Daniel seemed more confused, but interested as he frowned and raised his head to pay better attention.
“Based on what I know about you, you’ve served this country and known others that have served. I’m sure you understand that this country is not perfect, just as no country is perfect. Would you agree?”
Daniel looked up while turning his head side to side, thinking it over and said, “I...guess. What is your point?”
“Were you sold on the idea of spreading American democracy and freedom to nations overseas suffering from oppression and corruption? Or maybe it was something else?”
Daniel sighed and asked, “Why are you asking me this?”
“Just answer the question. Why did you serve?”
He then leaned back in his chair for as much as he could and thought about it before saying, “I guess I could say it was a little bit of what you mentioned. Spreading democracy and freedom, patriotism and all that.”
“That’s good. I think if I had lived a life like yours, I might have done the same. Although, I think for my case, my reasoning might have been a bit different. I’d have served to make my sister proud. It would definitely been a better look to come home as a hero in her eyes rather than what I actually became later on,” Marcus said wistfully as he looked up at the ceiling.
“And what would that be?”
He returned his gaze on Daniel as he said, “That doesn’t matter right now. Either way, you and I can understand each other in that regard, yes?”
“Sure.”
“Then I have to ask, knowing what you know about this country, and from your experiences serving and hearing what others went through, would you ever recommend anyone else to join the military? Would you be able to send someone off to serve the same way you did?”
“Probably not...no.”
“Why?”
“I guess…because of the people in office. They sell the younger generation on the idea of serving their country but hide the real reasons for doing so behind a veil of propaganda and lies.”
“So it seems that you are already well aware that the politicians in power are not in the business of actually helping the people they were elected to help improve their lives, but in reality, are there to sell Americans on the idea of more wars to fund their lifestyles?”
Daniel shrugged and said, “That’s one way to look at it, yeah.”
Marcus nodded as he could tell that the conversation was going smoothly before he continued, “We could probably go on about this for a while but I think the message is clear about where we both stand on that issue. I guess all I want to ask next is, why did you choose to become a police officer?”
Confused, Daniel hesitated before answering as he said, “I think...its because I felt like since no significant change was ever going to happen from those in office, that I would take matters into my own hands in the best way I could.”
“And you thought that being a cop was the best way to go about that?”
“Its the closest thing I could do that felt even somewhat similar to being a soldier, except I’m protecting the people at home and not fighting over there where it made no difference.”
“I see. By being here and helping the people closer to you, you figure that its the best way to actually contribute to making a change. I can understand that,” Marcus nodded.
A silence dragged on between them before he said, “I’m sure it would come as an even greater disappointment if you wee to hear that being a police officer would make just as little a difference as being a soldier.”
“What?”
“I mean, there’s corruption in the precincts too. Plenty of cops I know are paid off and working for people like the Moronis. For decades even.”
“That’s a load of bullshit!” Daniel yelled defensively.
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve been on the force for fifteen years and in all that time, I’ve never…Well...there’s been a few beat cops but…,” he said as his voice trailed off and he realized he was lying to himself.
“But you’re clean, right? You’d never submit to a wad of cash in exchange for letting a few criminals off the hook, yeah?”
“Of course I wouldn’t!’
“That’s admirable, and I don’t doubt you on that either. I know for a fact that you’re clean since to my knowledge, you’ve never worked for the Romanos, the Castellanos, or the Moronis. You’re about as clean as they come compared to quite a few of your former, and current, subordinates.”
Daniel then glared at him, as hearing about his fellow cops being corrupt offended him on a personal level.
“Look Daniel, the same kind of corruption that’s present in the government is the same kind that plagues the cops in our cities. Sooner or later, you’ll always find someone in power who’ll crumple in the face of money and power. Those that resist long enough and maintain their values, those people are truly worthy of respect, but it makes their fall even harsher. When they fall, it isn’t because of money or power leading them to corruption, but rather dissatisfaction with the status quo that leads them to taking drastic action into their own hands. That kind of action brings with it the attention of those in power who want to maintain their position and will make those people disappear,” Marcus elaborated and Daniel listened intently.
He continued as he said, “The Moronis and the Romanos both hold enough power over this city, its police, and even its judges to make problems disappear. The law bends to such men and no amount of words or wishful thinking would be enough to change that. I’m sure you are well aware of that fact given your past actions of speaking out against the government only for those words to fall on deaf ears.”
Daniel looked down at the table as he couldn’t muster up any words to refute what Marcus had said, only accepting it in silence.
“Now Daniel, I’m sure that if you tried going after men like them hard enough, you would attract their attention and end up on the front page not as a murder victim, but as an ‘accidental death’. Your family as well would fare no better. In fact, before I went about this whole business, I had to send my only one family away for her own safety under the guise of it being a little vacation. I couldn’t take the risk of my little sister caught up in all this.”
Daniel nodded slowly as he said, “Yeah…that’s part of why I haven’t gone after them. I can’t risk anything happening to them.”
“Even if you never went after them, they would come after you because you refused to get in their pocket. I know men like them because I worked for a man like that for a long time and I know that nothing would change unless I took action.”
“And what kind of action did you take exactly?”
Marcus leaned forward and locked eyes with him as he said, “I killed Falco Castellano and tore down his entire operation in a single day.”
Daniel’s eyes widened as he said, “You did what?!”
“Its true, but I don’t intend to stop there. I want to rid these streets of all the criminals that have plagued it for so long. The Romanos, the Moronis, and anyone else and I want your help to do it.”
“W-what me? Why would you want my help?”
“Because I know you Daniel. I know that you are far from happy with the way things are progressing in this city. I know that you want real change, but the obstacles standing in the way of that are so great that the law itself is being implemented to help those who deserved to be crushed by it. Unless you take the law into your own hands, nothing will change. I’m sure you can understand that. The way that things are set up right now, good and honest people like you have no hope of cleaning up the place that you call home while the bad guys run around like they own the place.”
Daniel scoffed and looked away from him as he said, “That’s a lot of wishful thinking you’ve got there, thinking that I would be able to help you. What could one man like me do to change things around here?”
“All you have to do is keep the police out of our way so that we can get rid of the real bad people. You do that for us, and you can rest easy knowing that your family would be safer with these people off the street. The bad people already pay many of your fellow officers off to keep them from reporting on their wrongdoing, but you would be keeping them from catching onto us removing them entirely,” Marcus offered.
Daniel sighed as he asked, “Lets say I agreed to do this, what would even be the endgame? If you get rid of these people, it will just leave behind a power vacuum that demands to be filled by someone else.”
“I’m aware of that. Whether its corrupt Politicians, the CIA, or a foreign country wanting to take advantage of what we have here, there will always be someone that installs a chess piece for them to move around and sow dissent and discord.”
“Right…so if you already know about that, then what do you really hope to achieve?”
“Taking action against these crime families and all the others is just a stepping stone. As soon as that is finished, then we have an area that we alone control. In reality, we want to rip out the corruption in this country by its very roots and tear it down completely,” he said, to which Daniel’s mouth hung open in disbelief.
“Could you...really manage to achieve all of that? Are you organized and coordinated enough to pull something of that scale off?”
“We are. The only question is, do you want to be a part of that? Our constitution essentially obligates the citizens of this country to arm themselves and rise up against those that would commit tyrannous acts against them, yet that has not happened. I look around at people toiling away their lives, soullessly looking down at their phones and working for corporations that don’t care about them while their taxes are used for the most inhumane acts of violence and terrorism both overseas and within their own borders. These people should be going after these bastards with chainsaws, but they do nothing. They’ve been convinced that everything is fine and that they shouldn’t demand better, or even if they wanted to, its wrong to use violence to get their point across but I’m sure you feel differently about that, don’t you?”
Daniel nodded as he knew full well that no amount of words would change a thing. Only real action would make a difference.
“Can we count on you to help make a real difference?”
He was silent for a while as he thought things over until he said, “For the longest time I’ve been waiting for some kind of call to action that could serve as real change for the betterment of this country…”
He then looked up at Marcus and said, “Let me do my part.”
When they had let the police chief go, and they were making their way back to the others, Lucas whistled as he said, “I gotta hand it to you. That was a rather motivating speech you gave. I didn’t expect you to think that way.”
“To tell you the truth, I don’t care much about the politics of this country. I just figured that wording it that way would be enough to convince him.”
“It convinced me. Do we go after the Governor now?”
“Yep. Better do it now because after Moroni’s dead, all of the men under him will scatter and chaos will ensue. He would likely send in the national guard to bring things under control and we don’t need that kind of heat.”
“Agreed.”
“Aside from that, I need to ask. Do you have others in your cause across the nation, or even the world for that matter; or is it just localized here in New York?” Marcus asked.
Lucas nodded as he said, “I’ve got more than a few people in high places all across the world.”
“Good, because you’ll need all the help you can get.”