"...What I want to say is, that's it, as you can see, everyone knows what I used to do..."
On the counter of a bar, on an old TV screen, Roy Brown took a violin box out from under the table and put it on the table. Then he opened the lid with a click, revealing a gun inside.
"I'm from Chicago. Yes, I was a gang leader there, a member of the mafia as you know it..."
"This is my weapon, see? This beautiful little baby, you call him a typewriter, but I like to call him Hef..."
"Where do you think this is? What do you think I am doing now? Do you think I should be sitting in the mayor's office drinking tea? I want to tell you, this is not a threat..."
"I was born and raised in Chicago, as were my father and grandfather. At that time, they said that this place would become the second Golden Mountain. Many people came here and they all had dreams of getting rich. There were many big companies and big machines working all night long.
…”
"But these people left, leaving behind a fire and a lot of pollution. After Prohibition, what was left in my hometown? A mess!"
"The riots are rampant and everyone is in danger. What can we do? We must take up guns to defend ourselves..."
"So you say, oh, there are gangs in Chicago, it's a fucking hell, and I'm going to tell you right now, it's a hell! A hell that can eat you bastards alive!"
"When those immigrants came here with guns and killed people, the governor would just tell everyone to calm down. After the gang problem became rampant, the police department? Ha! You still have the nerve to mention this?"
"I want to ask you, where does the funding for the police department go? Why is it that Chicago has the largest police training school in the East, but no new police officer wants to stay here?"
"Can you believe it? A year ago, on average, every three police officers in Chicago only had one gun, and some even had to use sticks to protect themselves!"
"Is this what you call a law and order bill?"
"Why are those damn public housing streets there? Because there are so many unemployed people!"
"Why are they losing their jobs? Who is to blame for the economic problems? What did those old men sitting like fat pigs on Capitol Hill do? He left the people of Chicago to fend for themselves! That's all!"
"Now you are sending out messages of condemnation on the phone, saying that Gotham allowed a gang boss to become the mayor. I want to tell you that I will be the best mayor here!"
"Because I am a member of the gang. If you don't solve our economic problems for us, then we will solve it ourselves. I can do whatever I want!"
"I know, some people say Gotham is worse than Chicago, oh, who else? Miami? Bludhaven? Imperial City?"
"Yes, we in the eastern cities are just a piece of shit in their eyes, but they just have to watch this piece of shit in front of them. Have we gotten any help from them?"
Roy directly took the Chicago typewriter out of the box, then slammed it on the table and said: "Don't expect me to listen to your nonsense, those comments about being a good baby, you go talk to the people on the West Coast.
Bar!"
"The East is like this. There is only one thing I have to do here. Get a gun, kill everyone who blocks me, and then lead everyone to make a fortune together. I don't care if they are gangsters or others.
!”
After the speech, the screen of the TV on the bar flickered twice. The bartender patted the TV and said, "Okay, it seems this old guy is broken again."
The guests complained dissatisfiedly, and a big black man sat on the side of the bar with a wine glass and said: "It seems that the new mayor is not bad, he is a tough guy, he said what I wanted to say..."
"I was born in Gotham, yes, just two blocks away. You know, our boss took me out once before. Where? Oh, yeah, it's Metropolis. People hear I'm
Coming from Gotham, it's like I saw something dirty..."
"If you ask me, this mayor is quite special. The person who sat in the mayor's office in the past would only shrink back when faced with the rebuke from reporters."
Then he sneered and said: "Then he died. He had a car accident more than a month ago..."
"Oh, it's him. I don't even remember his name, but I heard that he is the second-longest living mayor of Gotham."
"I think this one will definitely break the record now. He is the godson of the old godfather, and he is much better than those weak mayors."
The black man also said: "What he said makes sense. Whether it's Gotham or Chicago, this hellish place was like this before we were born. We live here and want to make more money. What's wrong with that? They just do it all day long.
They will call us bastards..."
"If I could be like those people in the metropolis, who studied and went to college since childhood, and wore a suit and tie after graduation, and used the air conditioner in the office, I would have lost my mind and wanted to be a gangster and get shot!"
"He was just talking." Another black man came over and ordered a glass of wine and said: "Is it possible that he can really be a mayor and lead all the gangs to make money together? How can there be such a mayor? Even those reporters
If we don’t scold him, the state government won’t agree..."
"I don't ask him to help us make money. I just hope he won't be like those mayors in the past who always come up with civilized city regulations and anti-gang security laws and talk about them every day..."
"Damn the anti-gang security law, is there anyone in Gotham who is not a gangster? Why didn't he just say that he would just blow the city to pieces?"
Everyone in the pub burst into laughter, and some even made gestures like a nuclear bomb going off.
The next day, Roy's speech made the headlines of major newspapers on the East Coast and even across the United States. You know, this is no longer the period of Prohibition. Most of the Mafia is scattered and the gang culture is mostly scattered.
The glory is gone.
At this time, a mayor comes out and says, I am a gangster, I am a mafia. I not only admit that I am a gangster, but I also say that I want to make money with the gangster. Of course, it will cause verbal criticism from major media.
Metropolis Daily commented that this was an "appalling throwback to the times", and the Global Times said that Roy was a "vulgar and brutal villain". However, in any case, the name "Gangster Mayor Roy Brown" became popular almost overnight.
Reverberated throughout the United States.
However, what is a little strange is that several cities have tacitly agreed not to speak out about this. Some of their leaders even deliberately suppressed public opinion and showed an ambiguous attitude, including Roy who mentioned
Those East Coast cities that I have visited.
In fact, every city with illegal industries as its main industry knows that Roy is telling the truth.
The histories of these cities are similar, and the reasons for the emergence of gangs are also problems left over from history, either to fight against immigrants or the consequences of the Prohibition period.
Most people in these cities find Roy's scolding very relieving, because no matter who they are, they only give orders and urges every day. Apart from verbal condemnations and warnings, there are no practical actions to improve the bad situation in these cities.
Most people will only say with a condescending sense of superiority that people born in these places are born bad, and it is their evil that creates these crime cities.
But in fact, the economic situation is the root cause of all this. Except for Gotham, which is slightly special, most of the other gang cities have become what they are now because of the high unemployment rate caused by the economic recession.
People who live in this kind of environment are born to be gangsters. If you say you want to use public security laws to eliminate gangsters, you might as well just use a nuclear bomb to destroy these cities.
Many of the gang leaders in these crime capitals, including Gotham, are very dissatisfied. It is already not easy for us to put our heads in our belts and trade our lives for money, but these talkative people still scold them all day long.
, they are even more afraid to invest, and the economy is even more depressed.
In the past, gangsters also felt that they were in the wrong. After all, the illegal industry was indeed not on the table.
But now, Roy's speech reminded them that they are not the ones who bear the main responsibility for what these cities are like now.
Putting aside the reasons left over from history, the inaction of state governments and Congress is also the main reason why the current situation has not improved.
I was born here, but I have nowhere to go. I joined a gang, and you said I was a villain. My heart is bright, but those verbal condemnations and law and order bills cannot give me bread. If I don’t join a gang, I will starve to death.
?
Then why can't I suck? I just suck!
The most important role of Roy's speech is to give these gangsters who have not read much a relatively centralized guiding ideology, that is, it is not my fault that I am so bad now, but the fault of the world.
In fact, if we look at the current situation in Gotham, there is nothing wrong with this idea. People born in Gotham cannot choose their birthplace, but once you are born in Gotham, you can only choose this hell mode.
life, otherwise you won’t be able to survive.
Geniuses and supermen are the minority in this world, and ordinary people who are unable to change their class are the majority.
In fact, those who condemn may not be unaware of this truth, but Roy put this matter on the table and pointedly pointed out that it is precisely because of the inaction of all parties and the weakness and incompetence of violent law enforcement agencies that the crime rate is the highest in the United States.
In several cities, this is undoubtedly like tearing off the last fig leaf of those politicians.
This speech naturally caused a huge backlash in the orderly society. The state government legislators who were bribed by the Wayne Group were also unable to withstand the pressure. The state government ordered the mayor of Gotham City to be suspended for review and planned to reopen the mayoral election.
process.
In the past, this process in Gotham was just a formality. Basically, whoever Wayne said could do it, and the gangs didn't care, because the mayor of Gotham City actually had no power, and the gangs wouldn't listen to the mayor.
it's the same.
But the state government feels that Roy has gone too far this time. Even the federal government has issued a warning. You will die if you die, but you can't die so confidently. How embarrassing will it be for us?
So they plan to hold a new mayoral election.
This is a method they often use to quell similar troubles. As long as the election process is restarted and the person who did the wrong thing is completely defeated in the new election to prove that his views are not what the people want, they will naturally be able to calm down most of the public opinion and
Anger from superiors, in past experience, this trick can be said to have been tried and true.
Until, the state government lawmakers saw that the top candidate among the new candidates was named Carmine Falcone.