Chapter 7: Car Thief
_
Influenced by various mafia movies such as The Godfather and legendary mafia figures like Al Capone and the Five Families, it’s easy to get the wrong impression that people of Italian descent can easily make it in America.
But in fact, the reality is the opposite.
For a long time in America, Italians were the least welcomed white ethnic group, not the Irish people, as many thought.
In almost all mafia movies, the mafia bosses are usually portrayed as Italian-Americans, which in itself is a kind of discrimination.
In addition, in the movie “Green Book”, the police refer to the Italian-American protagonist as “half-black”, highlighting the awkward situation of Italian-Americans in the United States at that time. “Half-black” was a derogatory term used by the Anglo-Saxon white Americans towards Italian-Americans. It persisted for nearly a century from the 19th to the mid-20th century.
So why did the immigrants from Italy, once the center of European culture, encounter such a plight?
The reason is simple. Most of the Italian-Americans who immigrated to America came from southern Italy.
Like the North-South divide in America, Italy also has a North-South divide.
Northern Italy is developed in industry and commerce and is relatively prosperous. In contrast, the south is mountainous, with few resources, and is basically poor.
Wealthy Italians from the north would not choose to immigrate to America but rather choose South America because the Italian immigration wave was relatively late compared to other European countries. By this time, the resource allocation of various ethnic groups in America had basically been set. Wealthy Italians would rather choose to develop in South America and hire locals and blacks to pioneer and be their own bosses.
In contrast, poor Italians have no capital, so they choose to go to the prosperous North American region to work for the already-developed Americans.
That is to say, Italian-Americans who come to America are mostly uneducated and poor.
Additionally, as southern Europeans, Italians are more closely related to the Latin race, and the differences in appearance are more obvious.
Combined with the fact that Italians like to live in groups, are industrial workers, have low education, and are low-income, these attributes naturally make people have negative associations.
At the same time, Italian Americans faced the same situation as the neighboring Chinatown.
Especially during President Coolidge’s era, a 1924 Immigration Act was specifically enacted against Italian Americans.
This law may not be well-known, but its impact on Italian-American immigrants was no less than the “Chinese Exclusion Act” against the Chinese.
Naturally, this also caused a lot of dissatisfaction among Italian-Americans.
What to do?
Obviously, join the Mafia.
The original Italian system is relatively mafia-like, so it was transplanted to America, and the effect was surprisingly good. In addition to the original discrimination, Italian-Americans added a mafia attribute, which was both feared and rejected.
Under the influence of this reputation, Josh naturally also had a sense of fear for the Little Italy neighborhood.
However, after hesitating for a long time, Josh still decided to go in.
After all, the car he bought at noon was stolen in the afternoon. He had never suffered such humiliation in his life.
But before entering Little Italy, Josh pulled up his collar to cover his face and walked into a gun shop across the street.
There are many gun shops, and sometimes it’s quite convenient.
To enter the famous Italian neighborhood, Josh felt that just having an M1911 was not enough. He needed to bring two Thompsons and a shotgun.
Although he was a time traveler and had never been a soldier in his previous life, Josh knew how to use guns.
Whether it was a submachine gun, automatic rifle, bolt-action rifle, or shotgun, Josh had been exposed to them at a shooting club when he went to bear hunting in his previous life. He had also spent a lot of money on it.
Even before his previous life, Josh’s predecessor had been taken out hunting by his father and had used a rifle.
So he couldn’t say he was an expert in guns, but he knew how to use them.
Soon, Josh picked out a Chicago Typewriter, also known as a Thompson, which was the Mafia’s favorite at the gun store. In addition, he also bought an M1918 Browning automatic rifle, a shotgun, and the corresponding ammunition, all packed in a gun case. He spent nearly two hundred dollars on everything.
After purchasing the guns, Josh turned into an empty alley and assembled the firearms before storing them in the system’s warehouse with the gun case. After completing all of this, Josh strolled casually into Little Italy.
Perhaps because it was daytime, although the streets of Little Italy looked somewhat dirty and emitted the smell of sewage, there weren’t many idle hooligans on the road. There were quite a few differences from the black neighborhoods of later times. Although many of Italian descent were involved in the Mafia, like the neighboring Chinatown, more hardworking and diligent working-class people were trying to make a living during the day. Only at night would things get a bit chaotic.
Therefore, Josh’s preparations along the way were unnecessary.
However, after patrolling two streets, Josh didn’t find the car he was looking for and became somewhat discouraged. It seemed that the other party had merely passed through Little Italy.
But just as Josh was about to give up, he suddenly saw the back of a car protruding from the entrance of an old warehouse in the distance.
Josh looked around and ensured no one was paying attention before walking towards the warehouse. As he approached, he also saw the full appearance of the car’s tail, with the conspicuous scratch on it.
At this time, he also heard voices coming from inside the old warehouse.
“Listen, Joe, this is just an old Ford from over a decade ago. Even if I were to sell it in the second-hand market, I could only get two hundred for it at most. I still have to fix some of its parts, so the most I can offer you is fifty based on the price of the used parts. If you’re not satisfied, go find someone else!” said a slightly hoarse voice with a strong Italian accent.
“Don’t be like that, Mike. You should know how hard this job is these days. At least give me a little more. Just add ten bucks; how about it?” Another voice, somewhat oily, said.
Carefully approaching the warehouse, Josh could easily see what was happening inside. There were two people inside. One was a middle-aged man with Mediterranean features covered in oil stains, while the other was a slightly chubby, short young man. Their conversation made it easy to determine that the young man was a car thief and that the middle-aged man specialized in selling stolen cars.
All the various car parts scattered around the warehouse also indicated that this was a black market for stolen cars. Besides his old Ford, there was another car parked there.
Soon, Josh’s attention was drawn to the other car.
It was a famous Cadillac V16.
Chapter 7: Car Thief
_
Influenced by various mafia movies such as The Godfather and legendary mafia figures like Al Capone and the Five Families, it’s easy to get the wrong impression that people of Italian descent can easily make it in America.
But in fact, the reality is the opposite.
For a long time in America, Italians were the least welcomed white ethnic group, not the Irish people, as many thought.
In almost all mafia movies, the mafia bosses are usually portrayed as Italian-Americans, which in itself is a kind of discrimination.
In addition, in the movie “Green Book”, the police refer to the Italian-American protagonist as “half-black”, highlighting the awkward situation of Italian-Americans in the United States at that time. “Half-black” was a derogatory term used by the Anglo-Saxon white Americans towards Italian-Americans. It persisted for nearly a century from the 19th to the mid-20th century.
So why did the immigrants from Italy, once the center of European culture, encounter such a plight?
The reason is simple. Most of the Italian-Americans who immigrated to America came from southern Italy.
Like the North-South divide in America, Italy also has a North-South divide.
Northern Italy is developed in industry and commerce and is relatively prosperous. In contrast, the south is mountainous, with few resources, and is basically poor.
Wealthy Italians from the north would not choose to immigrate to America but rather choose South America because the Italian immigration wave was relatively late compared to other European countries. By this time, the resource allocation of various ethnic groups in America had basically been set. Wealthy Italians would rather choose to develop in South America and hire locals and blacks to pioneer and be their own bosses.
In contrast, poor Italians have no capital, so they choose to go to the prosperous North American region to work for the already-developed Americans.
That is to say, Italian-Americans who come to America are mostly uneducated and poor.
Additionally, as southern Europeans, Italians are more closely related to the Latin race, and the differences in appearance are more obvious.
Combined with the fact that Italians like to live in groups, are industrial workers, have low education, and are low-income, these attributes naturally make people have negative associations.
At the same time, Italian Americans faced the same situation as the neighboring Chinatown.
Especially during President Coolidge’s era, a 1924 Immigration Act was specifically enacted against Italian Americans.
This law may not be well-known, but its impact on Italian-American immigrants was no less than the “Chinese Exclusion Act” against the Chinese.
Naturally, this also caused a lot of dissatisfaction among Italian-Americans.
What to do?
Obviously, join the Mafia.
The original Italian system is relatively mafia-like, so it was transplanted to America, and the effect was surprisingly good. In addition to the original discrimination, Italian-Americans added a mafia attribute, which was both feared and rejected.
Under the influence of this reputation, Josh naturally also had a sense of fear for the Little Italy neighborhood.
However, after hesitating for a long time, Josh still decided to go in.
After all, the car he bought at noon was stolen in the afternoon. He had never suffered such humiliation in his life.
But before entering Little Italy, Josh pulled up his collar to cover his face and walked into a gun shop across the street.
There are many gun shops, and sometimes it’s quite convenient.
To enter the famous Italian neighborhood, Josh felt that just having an M1911 was not enough. He needed to bring two Thompsons and a shotgun.
Although he was a time traveler and had never been a soldier in his previous life, Josh knew how to use guns.
Whether it was a submachine gun, automatic rifle, bolt-action rifle, or shotgun, Josh had been exposed to them at a shooting club when he went to bear hunting in his previous life. He had also spent a lot of money on it.
Even before his previous life, Josh’s predecessor had been taken out hunting by his father and had used a rifle.
So he couldn’t say he was an expert in guns, but he knew how to use them.
Soon, Josh picked out a Chicago Typewriter, also known as a Thompson, which was the Mafia’s favorite at the gun store. In addition, he also bought an M1918 Browning automatic rifle, a shotgun, and the corresponding ammunition, all packed in a gun case. He spent nearly two hundred dollars on everything.
After purchasing the guns, Josh turned into an empty alley and assembled the firearms before storing them in the system’s warehouse with the gun case. After completing all of this, Josh strolled casually into Little Italy.
Perhaps because it was daytime, although the streets of Little Italy looked somewhat dirty and emitted the smell of sewage, there weren’t many idle hooligans on the road. There were quite a few differences from the black neighborhoods of later times. Although many of Italian descent were involved in the Mafia, like the neighboring Chinatown, more hardworking and diligent working-class people were trying to make a living during the day. Only at night would things get a bit chaotic.
Therefore, Josh’s preparations along the way were unnecessary.
However, after patrolling two streets, Josh didn’t find the car he was looking for and became somewhat discouraged. It seemed that the other party had merely passed through Little Italy.
But just as Josh was about to give up, he suddenly saw the back of a car protruding from the entrance of an old warehouse in the distance.
Josh looked around and ensured no one was paying attention before walking towards the warehouse. As he approached, he also saw the full appearance of the car’s tail, with the conspicuous scratch on it.
At this time, he also heard voices coming from inside the old warehouse.
“Listen, Joe, this is just an old Ford from over a decade ago. Even if I were to sell it in the second-hand market, I could only get two hundred for it at most. I still have to fix some of its parts, so the most I can offer you is fifty based on the price of the used parts. If you’re not satisfied, go find someone else!” said a slightly hoarse voice with a strong Italian accent.
“Don’t be like that, Mike. You should know how hard this job is these days. At least give me a little more. Just add ten bucks; how about it?” Another voice, somewhat oily, said.
Carefully approaching the warehouse, Josh could easily see what was happening inside. There were two people inside. One was a middle-aged man with Mediterranean features covered in oil stains, while the other was a slightly chubby, short young man. Their conversation made it easy to determine that the young man was a car thief and that the middle-aged man specialized in selling stolen cars.
All the various car parts scattered around the warehouse also indicated that this was a black market for stolen cars. Besides his old Ford, there was another car parked there.
Soon, Josh’s attention was drawn to the other car.
It was a famous Cadillac V16.
