January 24th – 15:27

Faint January sunlight illuminated the late morning goings on in the main Race Street offices,  A few secretaries typed out invoices for the legitimate side of the operation; import of meats and hams for the markets, supplies for the clubs and building materials for the lofts.  The clattering of keys kept the chatter to a minimum and the eyes on the typing allowed people to walk through who wouldn’t normally have access.

The postman walked through the Race Street headquarters without being challenged up until the point he got within view of Louis who tapped Kalinic on the arm to go talk to him.  Kalinic strode quickly out of the room and over, taking him by the arm and moving into a side office. He had been working on his people skills, two weeks ago there was a 80:20 chance the postman would have been shot for venturing any further.  It was only 50:50 now, so maybe today was going to be a good day after all.

“What can I do for you fella?”

“I’ve been given a letter by a young man called Joey_Pavanno.  He asked for it to be delivered, by hand and in person to Don Mezzo.”

Kalinic glanced back through the windows to see Louis slightly shake his head

“Don Mezzo is busy, I can take it.”

The postman was sent back the way he had come and Kalinic brought the letter through.  Louis reached for a letter opener and carefully opened it.

Don Mezzo

I see South Philly’s notoriety and underworld celebrity rides high.  Detroit is catching up with you.  My family will have gotten three cities to the most celebrated level.

Dropping his head into his hands, Louis sighed.  There were some things that just were…gravity, sunrise, sunset, death, taxes and the long term criminally creative presence of South Philly.

Was this distraction needed? Pride may come before a fall but all of this was built on hard work and dedication.  It was not going to fall due to one man's ego.

February 01st – 08:00

Louis walked around the streets and business of South Philly with two of his most trusted faces Isabella-Luciano and LondonHolmes.  The diversity of people visiting, perusing and using the facilities was turning South Philly from a district of criminality into an attraction where the whiff of notoriety was attached to everything visible and even just being seen there attracted a certain…cachet.  Louis was impressed at the work going on, not just the visible nature of things but within the seedier underbelly that was kept out of view and discussed about in coded messages.  He turned to them both,

“Has there been anything really coming out of Corktown?”

London looked up.

“Challenge wise or apology wise?”

“Both I suppose…”

Louis figured an apology from young Joe Joe would be hard enough to garner given his propensity for taking a beating instead of backing down.  Bella took a copy of the most recent copy of Criminal Digest and opened it to Celebrity Corner.  There in the middle was a crudely drawn artist’s impression of London at number one.  The only thing they had correct was the name…

“Bella, I think Aurora could do a better job than that, hell even little William and his crayons!”

He saw Kalinic walking on the other side of the street, keeping a respectful distance but not taking his eyes off of the group.

“Kalinic, come here.  I want you to take this down an pass it on to Mr Pavanno.  Dear Mr Pavanno, you have until the 10th of February for your ambitions to be realised or accept that anything attained after that will be because we have allowed it to happen and not due to your efforts.  Your individual accomplishments are to be applauded however one man alone can never defeat a well organised machine.  Yours blah blah blah, Louis.  Make sure he gets that.”

Bella passed the Digest over…

“They have your scowl just right though Louis…”

Joe sat back in his office, he noticed a newspaper on his desk, he remembered the news that had been given out in the day, he needed to get his own places sorted. It was until February 8th that he had started to do some business, he moved his own weight, getting involved with a corrupt Politician, killing his lover, and then starting to figure what the fuck was going on with an Amulet that he had gotten from the Vilmont Jeweler in Detroit, he was still figuring out what was going on with it. It was only the news that had hit him now, the business of the day was that Joseph Ligambi had been gunned down.

Now though, resting at his side was a glass of rum, a cigar resting in an ashtray to the side of him. He looked down at the papers, he had gotten a preview of the work, the newspaper of Seattle in his new home of the Bates Motel was already getting his things from Corktown, Detroit. He took a cautious sip from his glass, he smirked before chuckling.

"One more City to the top as promised and only two more days let us if they can pull out the victory that they declared they would."

Pioneer Square, Seattle: Most Celebrated City!

In a surprising turn of Events, Pioneer Square has reached a status that many people have dream of, it is indeed surprising. For a city that was only in the top ten has now been recognized in it's efforts with the cover man himself, Joseph Pavanno.

One can only wonder, is this the effect of David Vs Goliath? We will see in the coming days as we continue to report on this struggle between the district of Pioneer Square and South Philadelphia.