Vincent’s decision to leave Little Havana wasn’t easy. It weighed heavily on his shoulders. All he knew about business was left there; albeit burned to the ground by Kenny Marino, a thwarted vendetta to avenge his father. Ending with both men sleeping with the fishes.

Vincent & Vito headed back to the airport to board the private jet and headed back to Los Angeles. Vincent had many plans to share with Vito, but for now he wanted to keep the thoughts to himself. Just over the past few weeks a lot of blood had been shed. The strategy for sure now was how Vincent could start generating income in a city that was unknown to him, occupied by some extremely dangerous men and the entire police force was dirty. It was going to be one tricky challenge indeed.

“We’ll make a success of LA Vito, I promise you. However we need to be smart, we can’t go around taking people out. I don’t know the bloodlines of this city, how far they run or any of the mobsters that control all the important places. Every decision we make needs to be calculated to the finest detail. We can’t be impulsive anymore. We took down Frankie, but in his place there’s just another punk ready to step into his shoes. I just can’t keep spending cash reserves; money that is soon going to run out if we’re not smart about this. We need to attempt to put feelers out, setup a network. We need to find people we can trust. It seems to be the hardest thing in this life.” Vito nodded at Vincent “You know I support all your decisions, I’m with you all the way. Whatever it takes to make things work. I have your back.” Vincent smiled at Vito knowing the words to be wholesome truth, as he looked at Vito still holding dressing over his shoulder. “Humf, just a flesh wound” chuckled Vincent to himself.

As the plane started its decent Vincent could see the city skyline starting to appear beneath the clouds. The sun was just starting to set and from up here it looked beautiful and calm. Every town had its violent parts. It was how risky Vincent wanted to be and where he wanted to go to start scouting potential sites for business. But needed to find out who needed to be on the payroll before anything was to happen. Vincent respected the life, and respected even more the mobsters that were in charge of the town. As they landed and got out the plane Marco was already waiting on the tarmac for them. “Welcome home boss..Vito good to see you too. What the fuck happened to your shoulder?” “It’s a long story, but put it this way, what we set out to do is done. But next time you can take the bullet & I’ll take the prostitutes.” He couldn't even finish the sentence before rolling over laughing. 

Vincent, Vito & Marco headed back to their tiny apartment on the outskirts of the town. It was far from anything and anyone. But it was a place to start, and even more importantly a place to plan. To find out what they could get away with. The finances weren’t going to be great, but Vincent had the time and patience to build his business portfolio one brick at a time. As they arrived Vincent shook hands with Marco “Good find this. It’s out the way enough that we’ll be left alone – for now. Let’s get established and find some connections.”

The first task Vincent had was to reach out an old contact,  Johnny "The Razor" Giordano. Johnny was a local mobster who controlled the drug game in the eastern part of town. Their apartment was located in the West so far enough from trouble, and any suspicion if the police ever seized goods. Vincent had experience in drugs. He knew that it was pretty taboo, liquor and gambling were far more acceptable. Drugs were a dirty business; but the warehouse Kenny burned down contained crates of cocaine. Vincent just needed to go back to what he knew – for now. Much to his own displeasure, it was the only option.

Vincent, Vito & Marco met with Johnny Giordano in a secluded Italian bistro in the suburbs of town. Vincent had no choice right now but to trust Johnny, although they’ve never worked together; both men could form and build an alliance which would be financially beneficial to all parties. Vincent shook Johnny by the hand and it was firm; was Johnny already trying to assert some authority over him? “I’ve heard many things about you Mr Moretti. I must confess I’m pleased to have your acquaintance. Miami’s loss, Los Angeles gain it seems.”

Vincent pulled out a packet of cigarette’s, offering one to Johnny who accepted. Vincent struck the match and lit both Johnny’s and his own. “I’m looking forward to this relationship. I need to start from anew here. If you’ve heard many things you will be fully aware that I have an ability to grow fast, think on my feet and strike if I think anyone is playing dirty. We can both benefit each other here; but let me set the agenda straight away. I’m nobodies errand boy.” Vincent wasn’t to be messed around with, after the subtle behaviour from Johnny already he needed to make sure they were on an even playing field. One was not going to ever get one up. 

Johnny leaned back in his chair and considered Vincents tone & proposition. He smirked back. “You know Vincent, you’re right. We need someone with your experience already in narcotics. Quite a setup you had back in Miami; let me start  off with something small. See how you get on. Make a success of this and then we can start to step up the tasks, and with that in turn the money. I see you already have two guys with you. So this should be a piece of cake.”

Vincent accepted the task; there was no easy way of building trust with an unknown. It takes one thing that he didn’t really have. It was time. He needed time to pass so that bonds could grow stronger; become unbreakable. Just like he had with Vito & Marco. Vincent was worried if the job was too small, would his cut even be enough to give Vito & Marco their cuts? It was very possible indeed that to keep his guys loyal he may need to even cut himself short; just to make sure his men could eat; but more importantly – drink the bars dry. It was the one vice all mobsters enjoyed more than anything else after all.

The first task involved a shipment of high quality Morphine. Vincent would provide the logistics and Johnny would take care of the distribution around the city. He already had his dealers around the city so this part was easy for him. Vincent meticulously arranged and coordinated the logistics. Getting Vito and Marco to secure the transportation routes, they mapped out the police routes to ensure this would go uninterrupted but needed to pay off a dock worker at security. The shipment upon arrival was tightly secured in crates and they were all placed on a flat-bed truck. Vito drove it straight out the dock, passing the dock worker an envelope with dollars “Plenty more where this came from kid. We’ll be back again soon. Keep this to yourself capiche?” Vito drove the truck without a hitch straight to Johnnys distribution warehouse. This was a piece of cake for Vincent, nothing went wrong. But how could it? They’d already mapped the east of LA, knew the quiet roads. Maybe they were a little too quiet. “Best to never use the same route twice, rule number 1 in business never get complacent” Vincent thought to himself. 

Upon arrival Johnny was there waiting, distribution went off perfectly. He had many men waiting for Vincent & Vito. It wasn’t going to take long to get this Morphine on the streets. Johnnys guys started to unload the truck with extreme care, ensuring nothing was broken before it was divided up to all the dealers in the city. Demand for Morphine was high in Los Angeles; not surprisingly most by the doctors, who would often use it to patch up mobsters injured in fights that hospitals wouldn’t handle without tipping off the feds. All but a few doctors were part of a dirty game; they could earn 1 months salary in three hours work if they could patch up someone injured in the fight.

The financial rewards offered to Vincent were acceptable to him. It was obviously nowhere near what he was used to receiving. But for a start it meant he could slide equal shares to Vito & Marco, he could take care of himself and look forward to what was coming next for opportunities. They headed back to the apartment with 3 bottles of whiskey and packets of imported Cuban cigars. For tonight it was a celebration due. For the first time in what seemed like forever. All 3 men had money in their pockets and nobody needed to die to get it.
 

Vincent saw this initial meeting and subsequent job as more than a collaboration with Johnny; it wasn’t just a business deal. Sure – he got paid. Enough that he could get by for a few weeks and keep both Vito & Marco happy with their cuts. What Vincent was doing now was building a business alliance. One day there would come a point where Vincent knew he’d no longer need to do small time work. Shucks, maybe he could get so close to Johnny they could end as equal partners. Vincent after all did have an incredible amount of experience when it came to narcotics. Vincent parted ways with Johnny with a firm handshake and embrace. Compliments were shared from both sides with a job well done with each mobster contemplating in their own minds what future could be built together as a team.

As time passed by, the money kept rolling in. As Vincent opened his safe in the apartment and divided up the money in three equal stacks, he told Vito & Marco “We’re not buying a yacht anytime soon men. But these green bills are the key to our future. Just be patient, give it time. More will come and we will make a success of our time in LA. I promise you that.” Vincent had started to be introduced to more of Johnny’s network. He met the dealers, the distributers but most importantly he was sharing drinks with corrupt officials in the city, men that knew what they needed to do to stay alive. Anyone that crossed Johnny – be it a civilian, mobster or fed. It all ended with one result; sleeping with the fishes. 

Vincent started to move more and more product for Johnny, he was impressed with how seamless he, Vito & Marco had the city streets mapped out. How they kept the dock workers away from the Morphine coming in. It was time for Johnny to introduce Vincent to his boss. A mobster so powerful in Los Angeles he carried the title “Don” – A title given to so few men, respect was instantaneously given. Johnny reported his line of work into Don JimmySilver – An extremely powerful individual in the Hollywood district, and he ran his own family operation. Namely “The Silver Bullet Society.” 

JimmySilver could be a crucial ally to Vincent. He owned several bars & casino’s across town. It had potential to provide the perfect cover for Vincent if he could get a network inside these businesses. But Vincent unaware of Jimmy’s stance on drugs. Things could get nasty, and very fucking quickly at that. Narcotics was a dirty business. Many mobsters refused to be involved. It often went against family values. It was as to no surprise to Vincent that Jimmy had bars & casinos. Far away from any drug networks. But providing it didn’t touch the Dons family. He may let it slide - for the clients gambling and drinking away their life savings. “If I can give them a high, they’ll just pour more money into Jimmy’s empire. This could really work” Vincent thought to himself.

Vincent picked up the phone to Johnny and dialled the number, after a few rings Johnny picked up. “Johnny – it’s Vincent. I’ve been thinking about your offer to meet the Don. It would be my honour. Can we meet in the casino? Vito & Marco have spent all fucking week telling me their lucky numbers. They want to hit the roulette wheel. They’ve worked hard, they deserve some leisure time whilst we talk business. I have an opportunity of some Cocaine that’ll be arriving in the docks in the next couple of weeks. An old contact from Miami. Needs me to move it. I’ve expanded your Morphine trade with all the doctors, the time is ours now to capitalise. We can talk cuts – but I need Don Jimmy to sign it off first.” 

The phone went quiet for 10 seconds; “Moretti you’ve got fucking balls. You know what that drugs done to this city over the past decade? That’ll be one tough sell to get the Don to sign off on that. But I must give it to you. Our income is up exponentially since I got you on board, and you are right there’s not a doctor in town now that’s not buying our Morphine. You’ll only have one shot at this. So you better bring your best dinner suit. First impressions can only be given once. So nail it. – leave it to me and I’ll set it up.”