Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 146
Whoa!
While Luciano was speaking, the audience around Polo Stadium suddenly cheered. It was the Yankees legend Babe Ruth who hit a home run in the game.

"nice shot!"

Turning his head to look at the baseball field, Luciano took a sip of his cigar, his drooping eyes showed a smile, and he turned his head and nodded to the bodyguard behind him.

Then, a few minutes later.

The home run baseball that Babe Ruth hit out of the field appeared in Luciano's hands.

"Tell Mr. Rupert for me that I want to invite Babe Ruth to dinner and get him to sign a baseball."

After playing with the baseball in his hand, Luciano handed it to the bodyguard behind him, and explained at the same time.

Rupert, the current owner of the Yankees, was also one of the big names Luciano came into contact with.The two even talked happily at the same reception.

After dealing with the trivial matters in front of him, Luciano turned his head and set his eyes on Colin in front of him again.

On the other side of him, Colin also looked at him calmly.

The ability to upgrade during this period gave him the confidence to retreat from most dangerous situations, including this meeting with Luciano in front of him.

Seeing Colin's calm and composed expression, Luciano couldn't help raising his drooping eyes, sat back on his original seat, and said slowly: "Frankly speaking, Mr. Colin Luper, I didn't intend to use Such an 'offensive' way to invite you over."

"For newspapers like the Courier that dare to expose the truth of society, I have always expressed my support. It is because of your existence that New York City will become a better place, reducing corruption and poor law and order problems."

Considering the real identity of Luciano, the person who said these words, Colin felt that the scene in front of him was inexplicably ironic.

An existence known as the "father of modern organized crime in the United States" discussed the security of New York in front of his face.

This may also be Luciano's brilliance. Who would have thought that the middle-aged man in front of him who went to the upper class and was well-dressed, the real identity behind him was the godfather of crime in New York City.

"It's just that there may be some misunderstandings..."

After expressing affirmative attitude towards Colin's exposing the mayor's bribery scandal in the "Courier", Luciano changed the subject, showing obvious regret in his tone: "Perhaps, Mr. Colin Looper You exposed the scandal of the mayor of New York out of the media's own job, but obviously, there are some ulterior motives behind this, or political parties take advantage of this. Turn it into a means of attacking each other, so as to eliminate dissidents ..."

After a brief foreshadowing, Luciano finally revealed the purpose of his trip.

No, you were wrong. I never reported news because of the illusory existence of a sense of justice.

"what do you mean?"

Replied silently in his heart, on the surface Colin still made a puzzled expression and asked.

"Tammany Society..."

Taking a puff of the cigar in his hand, Luciano slowly said a name that was no stranger to Colin.

"The Tammany Association has always been committed to the improvement of New York municipality, and it has also achieved considerable results, including the Manhattan Bridge and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which were completed under the strong leadership of the Association. The Munich Association has not forgotten its investment in charity. During the Great Depression, the Association spared no effort to help those orphans who were unemployed or impoverished. The hardest part of the depression."

The Tammany Association that Luciano mentioned seems to be a charitable organization that actively promotes the construction of New York City government and is dedicated to helping the poor.

However, from LaGuardia, Colin got a completely different situation from what he said.

Although the Tammany Association has made achievements in New York City, Luciano intentionally or unintentionally ignored the fact that the Association itself used various methods such as contracting government contracts, inflating costs, and collecting kickbacks to amass money.

Not to mention far away, let's take the Manhattan Bridge as an example by LaGuardia.

After the Tammany Association took over the construction, the construction started in 1909 and was not fully completed until 1923. It took a total of 14 years.During this period, the Association spent $6 to bribe the New York Assembly, claiming more than half of the private shares of the bridge company.

Because only private shareholders have voting rights on the company's board of directors, the project and its costs are controlled by Tammany, regardless of how much the governments of New York and Brooklyn spend.

Another well-known example of the Tammany Association is the New York Court Building approved for construction in 1858. Its budget soared from the initial $25 to $1 million in the second year. According to estimates by the Budget and Appropriations Committee, the total cost is between 1914 million and 1100 million US dollars, which is almost double the cost of the United States purchasing Alaska from Russia during the same period.

Although it is impossible to accurately calculate how much money was made, we can get a glimpse of the figures from several well-documented bills: a mason's two-day wages are 133187 US dollars, which is almost 2 US dollars in later generations. There is not much carpentry in the courthouse, but the project paid a "carpenter" a month's salary of 360751 US dollars, which is a full 5 million US dollars.

And these are just the tip of the Tammany iceberg.

"...And a group like the Tammany Association has been called a political opponent by the Republican Party because of its connection with the New York City government, and even used the content of Mr. Colin Looper's report to slander the association. "

It's not clear that Colin's understanding of the Tammany Association far exceeds his imagination.

In front of the auditorium of the Polo Stadium, Luciano said with an outraged expression.

"If the facts are really like what you said, Mr. Luciano, it is indeed my negligence."

Seeing Luciano's performance, Colin nodded and said with a serious face.

"But as far as I know, the Tammany Association has always been controversial, especially when the New York Times reported many years ago that the chairman of the association and his associates had a lot of evidence of embezzling public funds."

"As you said, Mr. Colin Luper, the Tammany Association did have a bad past. The previous chairman, Tweed, led the association in the wrong direction because of his own greed. However, everything has already It is a thing of the past, and since Tweed there has been a reform movement within the Tammany Association to try to reverse the false image of the past."

Facing the question raised by Colin, Luciano seemed to be prepared. He lowered his head and smoked a cigar, and then explained.

(End of this chapter)