Chapter 124: Being the Behind-the-Scenes Boss of the New York Underworld
Manhattan, New York.
The 38th floor of U.S. News and World Report headquarters.
In the office, Milo sat lazily in the boss chair with his feet on the desk. The back of the chair was bent by the force of leaning back.
The telephone line was very long, and Milo was holding the microphone and listening patiently with a smile on his face.
"Okay, Grandpa, I understand. What you mean is that it is indeed valuable, but you have to pay attention to the impact. Yes, I understand, and I will pay attention to it."
"Don't worry about that. After all, being a politician in the United States is easier than being a dog. I think as long as I can really master it, there will naturally be a lot of people willing to be my spokesperson."
"Eric Adams? He looks a bit strange, could he be that Adams?"
"Oh, I don't know his last name. I only remember his name was Roger. Paladin told me so."
"Then will this Eric hold a grudge against me? After all, I made his brother disabled."
"Okay, okay. Got it. I'll try to meet up with him in a couple of days then."
“…”
Milo hung up the phone, put the receiver away, stood up with a relaxed smile on his face, stretched his body and stretched.
He walked slowly to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking most of Manhattan.
He just had a long phone call with his grandfather.
He consulted his grandfather on some issues and wanted to hear his grandfather's opinion.
The Gambino family, the Mafia, the prototype of the movie "The Godfather".
But now he is being chased in New York and has nowhere to go.
They want to join Milo, who has conflicts with Giuliani.
Milo sent someone to contact them yesterday.
His grandfather had just told him on the phone that he could do it.
Because the Gambino family controls almost all the dock workers and fishing workers in New York City.
The first generation godfather, the founder of Gambino, even started his career by helping union workers.
You should know that the Marine Workers Association in New York State has about 65,000 members.
Not just New York, they're all over New York State.
Members include dock workers, fishermen, captains, sailors, and more.
After Giuliani came to power, he was determined to attack Gambino and several other Italian families.
Back in Massachusetts, he once served as whip for the Elephant Party.
But then he let his son jump to the side of the donkey party, old Blackburn, to judge -
Giuliani and the people behind him may really be targeting the guilds behind these Italian families.
Gambino was able to influence the Marine Workers Association in New York.
Bonanno controlled garment workers, cheesemakers, and some farm workers in New York State.
Although the Colombos are relatively weak, they are the Italian family with the greatest influence in the entertainment industry.
They were also smarter and were the first mafia family to use the law to fight FBI.
And Genovese was able to get construction workers throughout New York and New Jersey to listen to them.
If these Italians can be made obedient, then we can indirectly or directly control the unions that influence New York State or New York City.
This will affect approximately 200,000 to 300,000 votes in New York.
That’s a lot, considering New York City only has a population of seven million.
Then do it!
Manhattan was cloudy this morning.
By noon, the sky turned dark, as if it was accumulating strength in preparation for the heavy rain at the last moment.
Milo stood in front of the French window, looking at the dark clouds outside. It was the first time for him to stand at such a high place and feel the oppression of the sky.
"Boss, lunch is ready, you can eat now."
Monica came to Milo and spoke softly, bringing Milo, who was feeling the charm of nature with an expressionless face, back to reality.
"Um."
Milo turned around, responded softly, and went to sit at the large conference table in the conference area. Two sets of tableware were already placed next to each other on the table, with bread, steak, soup, several kinds of baked and fried seafood, and bone-in lamb chops wrapped in shiny tin foil.
While Milo was eating delicious food, he looked sideways at Monica who was eating lunch elegantly with small sips beside him.
He couldn't help but sigh that different living environments really have a huge impact on people.
When he first met Monica, she was already very charming.
But at that time she had just entered Hollywood and was actually very cautious in everything she did.
After all, he's still a small role, and hasn't even been a supporting actor many times.
But now, I have followed him for half a year, especially since I became his secretary.
This Italian national treasure-level beauty in a parallel universe has completed the adaptation stage from ordinary life to high-quality life.
She became extremely elegant, more confident and calm, without the timidity and inferiority complex that she had hidden so well in the beginning and the fear of being laughed at for making mistakes.
She is not as seductive as she was in the movies, but instead gives people a more dignified and elegant feeling.
"Are those two okay?"
He asked casually.
"Nothing unusual." Monica knew what Milo was asking.
Two days ago, two Hollywood actresses moved into 251 West 91st Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Unfortunately, Milo has been very busy these two days and hasn't been back yet.
He gave the task of taking care of and monitoring the two Hollywood girls to her personal assistant.
"They have been living in the apartment and have not left except to go shopping during the day."
After thinking for a while, Monica added, "But Jennifer Connelly asked me how you would arrange her."
"Well, I think I already gave Nicole Kidman a film contract?"
"Yes. She plays the lead role in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the second film produced by Paladin Films and 20th Century Fox."
"I remember Columbia Pictures bought a script from me?"
Monica nodded and answered, "Yes, it's a script for a romantic comedy. But Columbia Pictures wants to cooperate with Paladin Films."
Milo now has two female secretaries, one is her and the other is Megan.
Megan is mainly responsible for Milo's other business affairs.
And Monica, besides being his personal assistant.
She also handles secretarial work related to film companies, Hollywood or the entertainment industry.
After she finished speaking, Monica thought for a moment and added:
"This request was made yesterday. After Shakespeare in Love was released the day before yesterday, the North American box office on the first day was as high as 21.5 million US dollars, which shocked the entire Hollywood!"
You know, Angels and Demons had such a high box office.
It can also be said that it was preceded by the popularity of the best-selling book "The Da Vinci Code".
After all, it is based on the super-hit novel, so it is normal that the box office is higher.
But now, Shakespeare in Love is not an original play.
It's even just an adapted screenplay.
It is still a very common romantic comedy type in Hollywood, with some costume and celebrity biography elements added at most.
But unexpectedly, its box office on the first day was more than 20 million US dollars.
Many people attribute its success to Milo's current fame.
This makes the Paladin movie even more difficult and hot.
There are so many people who want to work with Paladin Films.
However, Paladin Films is currently working with Disney on The Da Vinci Code.
The other films that have been announced to be filmed have not yet started preparations.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
Some people turned their attention to the scripts registered in the Script Guild in the name of Milo.
Fox was the fastest. As soon as the film Shakespeare in Love was released, they approached Paladin Films to continue their cooperation.
Because Milo has a good relationship with Murdoch now.
The two sides also made movies and produced variety shows together.
Milo nodded in agreement.
This led to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a collaboration between Paladin Films and 20th Century Fox.
Columbia Pictures was the second to approach Paladin Media.
They chose the script of "National Rival".
Even willing to spend 10 million US dollars to buy it.
A movie script worth $10 million is a sky-high price even in Hollywood.
Once released, it will definitely become the most expensive script ever.
But Columbia Pictures required that the film must be co-produced.
Each party contributed half of the money. Columbia Pictures paid for the script, and then the copyright belonged to them.
There is a sense of binding.
Of course Milo agreed to this kind of good thing that offered money and fame.
Anyway, the investment in making a movie doesn’t have to be thrown away all at once.
The box office revenue and returns from "Angels & Demons" are enough to support Paladin Films and other companies to cooperate in making these movies.
"Then let Jennifer Connelly play the female lead in 'Rivals'."
Milo said casually, and then he looked out the window at the gloomy sky of Manhattan, "Looking at the sky outside, I'm afraid the next rain will not be light."
As soon as Milo finished speaking, a loud thunder was heard.
Immediately afterwards, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the dark sky around it. After a while, raindrops as big as soybeans fell from the sky, hitting the floor-to-ceiling windows with crackling sounds.
Milo put down his knife and fork, wiped the corners of his mouth with his napkin, put it on the table, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and watched the heavy rain pouring down, turning the sky and the earth into a vast expanse of white.
"The rainstorm came suddenly. This kind of weather is best for sleeping..." As he said this, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he turned around to look at Monica who had been staring at him.
Monica was stunned for a moment, then reacted, her charming cheeks slightly warm.
She couldn't help but give Milo a blank look, knowing that it was impossible to go out due to the heavy storm outside.
Then, her world would also be filled with lightning and thunder! In the blink of an eye, it was two o'clock in the afternoon.
Snap...
The door of the lounge was opened, and Milo tucked his white shirt into his trousers, fastened his belt, and wiped his hair with the towel around his neck.
Through the gap in the door, one could vaguely see Monica, with a rosy face, sleeping soundly under a blanket and breathing evenly, on the bed in the lounge.
On the carpet, white chiffon blouses and black suits were scattered.
Therefore, Milo must add Megan, a female secretary who is very capable at work but whose age and appearance are not that good.
If all his female secretaries looked like Monica, they wouldn't be able to do their jobs properly!
Milo walked to the French window and saw that the heavy rain continued to wash the glass without any let-up, but the sky at around two o'clock in the afternoon seemed as if night had fallen.
He checked the time, walked to his desk, sat in his boss's chair, and pressed a button to notify Chris Carey, the temporary editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report, to come up.
"Boss, the press release about the Pulitzer family scandal has been compiled and can be sent out at any time."
"But I suggest waiting until next week to publish it, because scandals often take time to ferment. After the New York Post is published tomorrow, we can publish the special report depending on the situation."
"If the Pulitzer family had been sensible, we wouldn't have to post it. They would have come to you, the boss."
After coming up, Chris talked freely according to his boss's request.
Milo listened to Chris's report and nodded from time to time.
Some time ago.
Milo contacted the Pulitzer family through the owner of the New York Times.
He wanted to buy out the Pulitzer family's shares in Pulitzer Company.
But Mike Pulitzer refused without any room for negotiation.
If Pulitzer Company were just a newspaper company.
Then they just refused.
As the country with the most newspapers in the world, the United States has no shortage of newspapers that are on the verge of bankruptcy but are influential and worth buying.
Even if Milo wanted to be a newspaper tycoon, he had plenty of options to choose from.
There is no need to single out the Pulitzer family.
However, what really attracted Milo to the Pulitzer Company was their seat on the board of directors of Columbia University in New York.
That...even if Michael Pulitzer explicitly refuses.
Milo might have to try some tricks.
"Then follow the plan and see how Mark Berman's feature story performs."
Mark Berman is a famous New York reporter working for the New York Post.
This man has a grudge against the Pulitzer family and once worked for the New York Times.
Later, because he reported a scandal involving Michael Pulitzer's son Howard Pulitzer, Michael Pulitzer found the owner of the New York Times and fired him.
But this reporter is quite capable, and his style is very suitable for the New York Post.
He went to work as a columnist for the New York Post.
Milo asked someone to hand over to him some of the Pulitzer family scandals and evidence that he had collected.
Let Mark Berman launch the charge first, and then see how the Pulitzer family responds.
Who is Milo? He really wants a seat on the board of directors of Columbia University.
(End of this chapter)