America 1982

Melonie watched Tommy Hawke take out a travel map of Massachusetts from the bedroom, spread it out on the dining table, and pointed to an island very close to Rhode Island:

"This is Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts. Even if you haven't been there, you should have heard of it."

"It's called a black...black-only resort." Melonie nodded, but in the end she did not say the word that was not friendly to black people.

Martha's Vineyard is an island in the state of Massachusetts. It has become a popular tourist destination since the 1960s. However, most of the people who travel there for vacation or even settle there are black people, rich and educated black people, and even foreigners. Many black people come to the United States for sightseeing, and they are also accustomed to visiting Martha's Vineyard.

Some white people’s vicious understanding of black people’s love of vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard is that before their ancestors officially set foot on the American continent, they first had to go to the Vineyard, where their clothes were stripped off, their bodies washed, and their bodies inspected like animals. The teeth were numbered and then auctioned across the country. Nowadays, these future generations of black people like to come to the Vineyard, but they just can’t find the feeling of being a nigger in the United States without taking a shower here.

Black people say exactly the opposite. After the anti-discrimination trend in the 1960s, they continued to come to the Vineyard for vacations and even to settle down in order to comfort their ancestors. They have transformed from American slaves to American masters now.

Tommy Hawke didn't have any taboos, so he opened his mouth and said the standard title: "Yes, it's the Nigger's Exclusive Resort. It's very convenient to get there. Buy a cheap ticket from Providence Airport and you can land in thirty minutes. On that island.”

"Do you think black people can help you avoid taxes?" Melonie looked at Tommy Hawke with some confusion.

"It has nothing to do with black people. There is an Indian reservation on the island. The Wampanoag tribal reservation is located in the town of Aquinnah at the southernmost tip of the island. It has a total of about 500 acres. There are casinos and resorts there. Every holiday While people from big cities such as Boston or Worcester go to have fun, our money goes to casinos on Indian reservations to pay taxes. It changes from cash that cannot be seen to anyone to a check that can be generously drawn out. book."

The history of Indians in the United States is of course bloody and tragic, and the same is certainly true of the Wampanoag tribe. When the colonists landed, the people of this tribe kindly taught the colonists how to hunt whales and helped the colonists choose settlement sites. They built houses, but then the colonists declared that the entire island belonged to God and them. The Wampanoag tribe was asked to leave the island and move to the remote western wilderness to fend for themselves. The Indians who had lived here decided to fight bravely. The end was tragic. The original tribe of more than 8,000 people was killed and only about 3,000 people remained. If the colonists and missionaries had not dissuaded them, the entire tribe would have been completely exterminated long ago.

It was not until 1924 that the Wampanoyag tribe, previously captive near California in the west, officially had U.S. citizenship. It was not until 1963, after even black people had achieved social status, that the U.S. government officially recognized the tribe. In 1972, the U.S. federal government and the Massachusetts state government approved the tribe's request to return to the Vineyard and establish a reservation.

However, it was only the fantasy of the Wampanoag people to turn the entire vineyard island of more than 200 kilometers into a reservation. In the end, the U.S. government only approved 500 acres of land on the island, on the grounds that the year was approaching anyway. The Wampanoyag tribe of ten thousand people has fewer than a hundred people, and five hundred acres of land is enough for them to live.

Most of these Wampanoyag Indians are illiterate and have no idea what reservation privileges are. They just know that with reservations, they can open casinos, bars and other leisure resorts to attract guests and make money. , in order to develop vacation business, they often choose to cooperate with white people to operate entertainment venues.

Paying taxes on reservations is a classic case of money laundering that Hawke learned in business school in his previous life. Legal money laundering began in reservation casinos in 1977, and it was not until 1994 that the U.S. tax department discovered that this only existed in Indian reservation casinos. Money laundering loopholes.

The process looks no different than going to other professional casinos for failed money laundering operations.

"The process is very simple and can be completed by two people. One person takes the cash to be washed to the reservation casino and receives two personal income declaration forms issued by the tax department from the casino. Of these two forms, one is used to record Winning money, one is used to record losing money, but after getting it, do not really record winning or losing, but exchange the cash in your hand for chips, wait for another person to come to the casino, collect the form, and then the second person compares the first person's Fill out the form with the opposite numbers, and then give the first person's chips to the second person." Tommy Hawk explained to Melonie seriously:

"It looks like the first person's chips were legally won by the second person in the casino, and the second person submitted a winnings return normally. The tax department can deduct taxes based on the money won by the second person. Or you can simply let the casino withhold it, and as long as the tax payment is completed, you can freely deposit the money in the bank, and it will be clean money that you have won legally."

Melonie looked at Tommy suspiciously: "So easy?"

"No, this is just the first step, and if this method is used in professional casinos like Las Vegas, the U.S. tax department can easily see through it, because no casino will bear the pressure of the tax department for gamblers, as long as the casino Obediently hand over your normal business data and compare the data from three parties. The tax department will immediately be able to find out clearly whether the gamblers come to gamble or launder money. Compared with gamblers, the data provided by the casino to the tax department is more detailed. There are many details, including which gaming table, who is the dealer, table number, chip number and other data. In other words, no casino will fully cooperate to help you modify the casino's cumbersome record data. Gamblers want to use American professional casinos It is a fantasy to complete money laundering and avoid being pursued by the tax authorities." Tommy Hawke shook his head, took a sip of coffee, stared at the small island on the map, and said in a fluent voice:

"But reservation casinos are different from professional casinos like Las Vegas. First of all, most of their bets have an upper limit. The U.S. government does not want Indians to become billionaire casino tycoons, so reservations generally Casino guests are Americans with average wealth who only go to nearby reservation casinos if they want to play a few hands on weekends. This also makes these reservation casinos very inconspicuous next to the large casinos."

"Secondly, although the indigenous Indians have U.S. citizenship, they have a separate agency to manage them, the American Bureau of Indian Affairs. This agency has been almost unchanged for more than a hundred years. In short, all matters on Indian reservations have not changed. This department is in charge, including casinos and financial accounts. In order to show lenience to the Indians, the managers of this agency are almost all the leaders of the Indian tribes.”

“If the tax department wants to check the data of a certain reservation casino to determine whether someone is laundering money, the procedure first needs to contact the Department of Indian Affairs, which has the account number of all reservation casino funds, and this Department of Indian Affairs controls the money laundering. In the hands of the Indian headmen and their children who are highly educated and close to the white people, the casinos are also opened by them in cooperation with the white people. Most of the money earned by the casinos is divided up by the shrewd white partners. What the leaders really pocket is not many."

"In order to make money, the Indian chiefs have devised a set of money laundering services. If you want to clean a small amount of cash, you only need to donate a sum of money to the cultural donation office for protecting Indian tribes set up in every reservation casino. If a donation matching the money to be laundered is used as a handling fee, the leader can ask the Indian Affairs Bureau to provide the tax department with the return data provided by the gambler or directly withhold the tax to ensure that the casino and the two The data submitted by gamblers to the tax department is exactly the same and consistent among all three parties."

“At that time, our money completely turned into legal income, and although the donation was nominally donated to the Wampanoyag tribe, it was actually still controlled by the leader, which was equivalent to the leader’s cash bag. , we got clean money, the leader got the donation, and everyone was happy." Tommy Hawke finished explaining his money laundering and tax payment methods in one breath, then exhaled and stopped.

It took more than ten years for the U.S. tax department to discover this loophole. First, because the amount involved was too small in comparison to attract attention. After all, at that time, major casinos in Las Vegas and Hollywood movie companies were busy paying for the mafia or corrupt politicians. There are various ways to launder money, and the amount of any one case is almost as much as the annual turnover of a reservation casino. Secondly, the tax department probably never realized that after the simple Indians were contaminated by white people, The eating habits will also become so greedy and ugly.

Noticing that Melonie didn't respond, Tommy retracted his gaze from the map and looked up at Melonie opposite, only to find that she was staring at him with a dull expression.

"What I said was too general, you didn't hear clearly?" Tommy tentatively asked Melonie: "Melonie, are you listening?"

Melonie nodded slowly with complicated eyes: "Of course, of course I'm listening."

"I can't step into the casino now, and I need you to understand the situation." Tommy Hawke smiled after receiving the other party's reply: "You can go to the casino for a vacation, show some goodwill to the Indian tribe in advance, and get to know it better Approximately how much donation they need to help us withhold taxes. If it can be achieved, this is the most convenient way. Otherwise, you can only choose Plan B, which is slightly less confidential and convenient, and the handling fee is relatively high."

Melonie was silent for a long time. She now probably understood the efforts behind Tommy's words, "I just want to be safe." This guy had thought everything through very clearly, and it sounded like he even prepared a plan B.

Neither he nor Tony seemed to just need to be like an assembly line worker and complete the work according to his established plan.

Thinking of the end, she couldn't help but feel curious and asked Tommy:

"Did those Penthouse magazines and comic books teach you this? Of those books of yours, I've probably only read those two categories."

"If you want to read it, I can dig it out from under the bed and lend it to you." Tommy said with a smile: "As for what you learn, it depends on your personal understanding."

Melonie sighed: "I went to college, why do I act like an idiot in front of you, a high school student?"

After finishing speaking, she turned around and walked towards her bedroom. After walking a few steps, she turned around and walked to Tommy who was packing up the map. She spoke in the indifferent tone of an elder:

"Bring me the magazines and comic books, I'm going to test my understanding."