Chapter 27 – 27 Swapping Goods

Chapter 27: Swapping Goods

“Your boss?” Hardy asked in surprise.

“Yes, the real boss of the Austrian gang, the controller of the Los Angeles underworld, one of the founders of the Mafia, Mr. Benjamin Siegel, is my boss.”

When Fred mentioned Siegel’s name, there was a hint of emotion in his tone. .

When the Mafia came to Los Angeles to start their business, Fred was Siegel’s right hand man.

After the Austrian Gang established a foothold in Los Angeles, Siegel retired behind the scenes, and Fred became the apparent boss of the Austrian Gang.

“Benjamin Siegel”.

Hearing this name, Hardy suddenly remembered a movie he had watched before called “The Great Love.”.

This movie is also a relatively famous gangster movie, telling the story of Benjamin Siegel’s experience in investing and building Las Vegas.

Siegel was one of the Mafia bosses and the head of the Mafia Killer Group. In the 1940s, the organization sent him to Los Angeles to expand its territory.

Siegel used thunderous means to clean up other gangs in Los Angeles and establish his gang. The Austrian gang became the largest force in Los Angeles in a short period of time.

However, after establishing the gang, he did not stand at the front. Instead, he pushed Fred to manage the gang. He bought a film company and became a Hollywood celebrity, working with many top film company bosses, film producers, directors, and stars who became his friends.

Siegel was a romantic guy who had relationships with many actresses, female stars, and socialites. Later, he met Virginia Hill, a beautiful woman and an unknown little actor in Hollywood. Siegel fell madly in love with her.

When building the Las Vegas casino, he even appointed Virginia Hill to manage the finances. In the end, the casino failed, Siegel was killed, and Virginia Hill also committed suicide.

This is also the reason why the movie is named “The Great Love”.

While Hardy was thinking, the car arrived in front of a luxurious manor in Beverly Hills. The door opened, and It drove into the garden and finally stopped in front of a three story villa.

The butler led Fred and Hardy to a luxurious office, where they met Benjamin Siegel.

“Fred, come sit here.” Benjamin said with a smile and then looked at Hardy, “Is this the Hardy you mentioned on the phone?”

“Yes, Mr. Siegel, this is Hardy.”

“Siegel Sir!” Hardy said it respectfully.

Siegel smiled and nodded. “He is a very strong young man. Come and sit with us.” He picked up the whiskey on the table and poured a glass for each of them.

Siegel has a handsome appearance, a pair of blue eyes, and looks gentle, but Hardy knows that Siegel is a truly murderous guy, even a somewhat crazy guy who once planned to assassinate Mussolini.

Siegel was very interested in Hardy. He saw Hardy’s actions on the day of the robbery. He admired the little guy’s ability to do things.

Crisp and neat, with strong field control ability and high quality subordinates, he definitely has a talent for big things.

“You know, I was at the Spanish casino yesterday.” Siegel said.

Hardy was slightly stunned, “I’m sorry for disturbing your interest, Mr. Siegel,” Hardy said.

Siegel laughed. “I don’t care, but Virginia was shocked. I calmed her down for half the night after I came back.”

“I saw all your actions yesterday. You acted quickly, accurately, and efficiently. Your subordinates are of high quality, not killing innocent people indiscriminately but shocking the whole crowd. It can be said to be the most perfect robbery operation I have ever seen. Who are your men?”

“They are all my comrades from the marine corp.”

“After the conflict with other gangs, it was getting more and more dangerous, and I felt that I was short of manpower, so I contacted my comrades, who are all brothers in the Marine Corps,” Hardy said.

Siegel understood after experiencing the brutal world war, those who survived were all elites, and this Hardy is also very smart, he knows how to take the initiative to increase his strength just after the conflict with other gangs broke out, he smelled the opportunity to make money.

“How much money was robbed in total?” Siegel asked again.

“$210,000,” Hardy said.

“Oh, it’s indeed a lot.”

Fred looked at Siegel and said, “Boss, the gang’s share should be 63,000. This money has not been recorded yet, and no one else knows about it. How do you think it should be handled?”

When he got the phone call asking him to bring Hardy over with the money, Fred already had a guess in his mind, so he asked.

“Leave it with me. I have a big funding gap right now. Don’t let other people know about this money.” Siegel said it straightforwardly.

“Okay, boss,” Fred said.

“By the way, how’s the investigation into the red wine going?” Siegel asked.

Fred paused slightly. “I don’t have a clue yet.”

Siegel’s face darkened. “I found a friend to smooth things over with the customs. The best result is to pay back the taxes and make the wine legal. The tax for imported goods is 200,000 $, and that batch of goods can at most be sold for 250,000 $. Do you think we want this batch of goods or not?”

Siegel said it with some displeasure.

Fred lowered his head.

Speaking of which, it was his responsibility, as for whether he still wanted this batch of goods, he hesitated for a while.

The tax is so high, and gangs’ takeout prices are generally cheaper than regular import channels. Even if the goods are brought back, with other expenses on transport and protection they won’t make much money. Counting the Mafia 15% share, the may end up losing money instead.

Fred didn’t want to make this losing transaction.

Siegel was a little disappointed with Fred’s hesitation. Fred was an obedient guy, which was why he was originally chosen to be the official person in charge of Los Angeles. However, Fred’s pioneering ability and decisiveness were obviously lacking.

When he handed over Los Angeles to him, the Austrian gang was of this size, and it was still the same in the past few years, without any major development.

Turning to look at Hardy “Hardy, if you encountered such a thing, how would you solve it?” Siegel looked at Hardy and asked.

Hardy thought for a moment “I will not choose to pay taxes. If my goods got seized by the customs, I can regard the business as a failure. If I pay taxes and take back the goods, I will not only make no money but also waste a lot of time. It is not worth the gain. It is better to smuggle in a new batch.”

” But there is another way. If there is a chance, maybe we can get those goods out.

“Oh, how to get them out?” Siegel became interested.

Fred also looked at Hardy.

“The customs warehouse is not too strict. We can steal that batch of wine. A $250,000 business is definitely worth it.”

Siegel shook his head “Many people know that the goods are from the Austrian gang. If they get robbed, everyone will guess that we did it, And I have already found someone before. it will ruin our relationship with the customs”

Siegel rejected Hardy’s method.

Hardy thought for a while and continued:

“There is a safer way, you can use the exchange strategy, get a batch of empty wine bottles, fill them with worthless and inferior red wine, pack them in boxes, and then bribe the customs people to swap the batches.”

“Customs procedures only seized a batch of smuggled red wine, but they didn’t say whether it was real or fake. Even if they were found out, they would have no responsibility.”

Siegel’s eyes lit up.

He felt that Hardy’s proposal was indeed a very good idea, The seized red wines were all top notch French red wines, and the price of each bottle was tens or even hundreds of dollars. The price of inferior red wines was even only tens of cents.; the value comparison is negligible.

As for the matter of bribing customs personnel to operate, Siegel is also confident that he can just give the director of customs a sum of money.

Siegel looked at Hardy with a smile.

“Your idea is very good, Fred. You should have the documents for that batch of goods in your hands. Prepare the fake wine according to the documents. I will contact the people at Los Angeles Customs. This matter should be resolved. If it is done well, we can avoid most of this time business losses.”

After speaking, Siegel looked at Hardy, his eyes becoming more appreciative. This young man is not only strong in combat but also very flexible in mind.

He is a rare talent.

“Hardy, are you interested in movies?” Siegel suddenly asked.

Hardy didn’t expect that Siegel’s topic would change so much, and he almost didn’t react.

“Movie? I like it very much.”

Siegel smiled.

“There will be a party at my manor tomorrow night. There will be many movie company bosses, agents, celebrities, and some high class people. You can come over and have fun.”

“By the way, if you have a female companion, you can bring it with you.”

Hardi thought, Is this a reward for himself?

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