Manhattan Reborn 1978

Wildfire Bar.

David was at the bar, enjoying the excitement and relaxation.

Looking at Susan and Erica who are busy.

Watch the drinkers bragging, chatting, and laughing loudly.

At the door, Mike and Lavis walked in together.

David was a little surprised and said hello to Mike Bai and Ravis.

There are too many people in the bar.

There was no other way, so David asked Erica for a dozen beers, and they were going to chat by the car in front of the bar.

To David's surprise, Ben was standing next to his car in a suit.

He put the beer on the roof of the carport, opened a bottle and handed it to Ben.

"Hey Ben! Why don't you come in for a drink, Wildfire is closed tomorrow!"

"I saw there were too many people in the bar today, so I wanted to wait for you at the door."

Lavis smiled and strode forward: "Guys, look, Ben and I are very similar! We are brothers!"

Mike and David laughed together. The two guys looked very much alike.

Ben happily took the beer from David: "The first time I met Lavis, I also felt that this guy must be the illegitimate child left behind by my father after he had an affair outside. We really look too alike. !”

"Wow, you should be careful what you say! My parents have gone to see God! If they hear what you say, they will crawl out of the cemetery and settle the score with you!"

Mike Bai teased the two of them from the side: "Haha, maybe we can try to let Ravis wear a suit of the same cost, and then go to Ben's house and show his wife!"

"Hey! What a great idea, man!" Lavis thought this must be interesting!

"No, no, no, this is a terrible idea!" Ben quickly shook his head and refused.

Black Mike complained next to him: "Even if Lavis puts on a suit, he can't deceive Ben's wife!"

"How do you know if you don't try?"

"Maybe Ben's son will ask his mother if Ravis is his father's long-lost brother? Or has he found a new father who looks the same? Haha~"

David ignored their nonsense.

He pulled Ben over with a smile and told him about the Wildfire Bar: "This is the bar I told you about. The decoration team arranged by Polly should be arriving tomorrow."

"Oh, by the way, Black Mike, what do they say about those two stores?"

"No problem, they will find the store and move it out in the next few days!"

"Okay, as for their compensation expenses, remember to tell Polly that it will go to the film and television company's account!"

Black Mike gestured OK and continued to listen to White Mike and Ravis talking nonsense about their plan to transform Ravis. .

Ben, at this time, took out a small notebook from his suitcase and lay on the roof of the car to record.

"Ben, I have already bought this building. Please help me think about how to communicate with the tenants upstairs after the bar starts to be renovated and ask them to find another place to rent."

"Then we started the apartment renovation plan, tidied up all the rooms upstairs, and rented them to people from our security company. We just gave them the lowest price in the market."

"The top floor, I plan to re-plan it. That will be my new home from now on!"

"I want to add another layer to the rooftop ceiling to serve as our meeting and party venue in the future!"

"Please help me ask what specific procedures are required to complete the matter of adding a ceiling."

Ben, lying on the roof of the car, recorded all of this.

A few of them were chatting by the car when a man slowly walked over from across the street.

It's Auston.

David greeted him.

“Dude, let’s have a drink!”

After greeting Mike and Lavis, Auston took the bottle and said, "My colleague said you were looking for me. I just happened to be talking about something at Carl's place not far away. After I finished, I thought I would come over to Yehuo for a drink. I didn’t expect you to be here too.”

"Yeah, Wildfire will be closed tomorrow. I bought this building and plan to expand Wildfire and redecorate it!"

"This building?" Auston resisted the urge to spray wine.

How many days has this guy started his company?Have you started buying a property?

David looked at Auston and felt funny.

He still feels like he is dreaming.

"Haha, buddy, I just have a few things to ask you about. Our company is planning to open a discount store in Harlem."

"The black people there are very unfriendly to our store plan. Do you have any good ideas to solve this problem?"

"You want to find the gangs in Harlem to deal with it?"

"It doesn't matter, as long as this matter can be solved, it doesn't matter who you approach, right?"

Auston took a sip of beer and leaned against the car, thinking.

"There was a lot of trouble over there in Harlem a few years ago, David, do you know?"

David thought for a while and seemed to have an impression: "Is it the Frank Lucas thing?"

"Yes! It's him!"

Auston looked around and continued to talk about why he was talking about this person.

"Frank Lucas, he was a poor black kid from North Carolina who came to New York."

“When he came to New York, he followed the boss of Harlem at the time, Johnson.

He later became Johnson's bodyguard and bill collector. "

"In the winter of 1968, on Thanksgiving Day, after Johnson gave out holiday turkeys to the poor."

"Johnson and Lucas went into a corner store."

"In the store, Johnson, who had been in Harlem for 40 years, suffered a heart attack and died that winter afternoon."

"Later, Johnson's son supported Lucas's rise to power and made him Johnson's successor."

David sat directly on the front hood of the car and listened to Auston's story.

When Frank Lucas' accident happened, it was around 1975, not long after David had just started working at the Wildfire Bar.

He remembered the name because the news at the time used to play all day long: "Frank Lucas. . . . . . . . . . . . "

"This Frank Lucas was once the biggest powder dealer in Harlem."

"He called all five brothers from his hometown in North Carolina to come to New York and became his right-hand men in business."

"He bribed the military at that time to use military aircraft that transported the coffins of soldiers killed in the Vietnam battlefield to transport powdered medicine."

"The blue magic powder in his hand has a purity of over 70%!"

"The purity of ordinary products on the market is only 25%-40%."

"So, as soon as blue magic came out, it attracted the favor of all drug addicts!"

"No one knows where Lucas got the supply."

“Some people speculated that the goods were from Mexico, but it was later confirmed that only 60% of the best goods came from Mexico!”

"Those Mexicans don't have such good stuff!"

"Lucas's blue magic was made into a powder fashion brand in New York!"

“It took all of Manhattan by storm during those years.”

David was also amused when he heard this. Lucas is such a talent. How did he think of using a coffin to transport powdered medicine?

"His powder is sold from 55th Street to 110th Street. All drug addicts regard blue magic as a holy product!"

“Later, due to the establishment of the Special Narcotics Administration in Washington, New York and New Jersey established investigation teams under the Narcotics Administration.

Agent Richie Roberts of New Jersey, who has his sights set on Lucas.

In 1795, important evidence of Lucas's drug trafficking was seized, and a total of 100 kilograms of [-]% powdered medicine was seized! "

When David heard this, he knew what happened to Lucas.

"Is that why there were so many news about anti-narcotics police officers being arrested on TV in 1976?"

Auston smiled and drank his beer.

"Yes, because of Lucas' report that year, three-quarters of the anti-narcotics police in New York were arrested, and they all took black money from Lucas."

"And it was at that time that I was promoted from a patrol police officer to a plainclothes police officer."

David was a little confused.

"Wow, how much money does this Lucas make from selling drugs? Can he bribe so many police officers?"

"Haha! Guess David! You won't be able to guess it!"

"Uh... [-] million dollars?"

"No, it's 5000 million dollars!"

"wharfxxx!"

"Auston, is it so profitable to sell medicine?"

"How the hell do I know! This money is not counting the assets in his brother's name, and there are also some real estate in his name."

David took a breath. Lucas became a billionaire in a few years by selling drugs in this era.

It seems that times really make heroes!

Ok.

He's not much of a hero either.

However, he deserves a thumbs up for his reporting on the criminal police!

"David, Harlem is very chaotic. The gang leaders are hostile to each other and fighting constantly. The situation is very complicated. When Lucas was here, there was a certain order there."

"Because I am a black man, I was temporarily transferred to patrol there before."

"We sit in the police car and don't patrol all day long. We just brag and chat."

"If a day goes by and we don't hear gunshots in the streets, we just sit around and don't go anywhere."

"Harlem is not under police control!"

"If you want to open a store in Harlem, the gangs and the police can't help you!"

David looked at Auston and understood. The old black man got into chaos after saying that there was no Lucas in Harlem.

"You mean, I need to get Lucas out of jail? So we can open our discount store into Harlem?"

Auston shrugged and raised his eyebrows: "I just told you that Lucas is the last maintainer of order in Harlem. As for what you do, I don't care. I can't think of any other way. Come on. Solve the problem of affordable stores.”

David sipped his beer and thought about it.

Write down this Lucas thing first, and talk to Hardman about it tomorrow.

"You're not Lucas's distant cousin, are you?"

"Go away! If I were his cousin, I would have been in jail a long time ago! Do you still need to be a policeman?"

"Haha, okay, the nightclub opens tomorrow. Hardman and I will talk about your promotion and taking over the job of street informant. You should also be prepared."

Auston nodded: "Tomorrow, the police station has notified all the police officers. Starting from tomorrow morning, they will start 24-hour surveillance around the nightclub!"

"Are you going to cause trouble?"

"We want to ensure safety tonight! Asshole!"

"Well, there are more important people coming tomorrow night?" David didn't understand.

Auston squinted his eyes: "Mr. David Coleman, you are very important right now. Don't you have any self-consciousness in your heart?"

"I?"

"Tomorrow, all the signatories of the Bonini Agreement will be there for the opening, as will many of the gang members who were not there on Bonini Day."

"Tomorrow night's nightclub has become a big party for all the gangs in New York!"

"What?" David was startled!