by Ryan Foley » Mon Aug 14, 2023 8:10 am
"Alright! Plus, y'know, you wanna be all goodie-goodie, right? So, yeah, here's a real opportunity.
The Ndrangheta don't want the bar because they're trying to make a tourist trap. It's the whole port they want, aye? We're getting in the way of their business. They want to redo the whole port; take over the whole commercial part of it. They want to dock and unload right here. While us little guys are around, they're out of luck, aye? They've either got to come here in smaller numbers, or keep sailing all the way to Gioia Tauro. And they go to Gioia Tauro, they gotta go through the other families, and they gotta cut them in on a share of the profits. Here at Imperia? They own everything; they control the whole business. And as long as there's some of us little guys holding out, they can't take over to the extent they want. Can't tear down and modernize the place to make it really efficient for the amount of volume they wanna bring.
"That means they have to bring their stuff in the long way, cruising outside the bay rather than just pulling up, docking and unloading right here. And they're not trawling for fish out there. They're bringing in drugs. And guns. And worse. The bring it in here; from South America, Africa, you name it. And then they distribute it out to the rest of Europe, without anyone else taking a cut. That's billions of euro, all for them. And that doesn't seem right, does it?"
Ryan took a pen and doodled a diagram of the docks on paper. "They still bring a couple boats a week in here. Bribe everyone they need to to avoid inspection. Unload and ship. Might as well get some of the cut of it without the other families chipping away at it, aye? Well, they might well stop if it becomes too much of a pain in their ass. If a shipment or two goes missing. Or a ship..."