Hardy received several calls. The first one was from the Godfather, who told Hardy that Basini was going to convene a meeting of Mafia families to discuss matters in San Francisco. Hardy and the Godfather talked on the phone for nearly an hour.

Hardy then received several calls in succession, including from the patriarch of the Casey family in Michael, the patriarch of the Bruno family in Philadelphia, the patriarch of the Marcelo family in New Orleans, and so on.

They are all shareholders of the Venetian Hotel and are very concerned about what might happen.

Hardy smiled and explained, "It's not that the Los Angeles gang wants to take over the territory. It's mainly because the Selden family is having internal strife, and there is a vacuum in the territory. Those Latino guys want to take advantage of the opportunity to occupy it. Do you think I can just sit there and do nothing?"

"Although Los Angeles Company is not a member of the Mafia Committee, it is still derived from the Mafia. I always think that we are a family. What do you think?"

Hardy asked back.

The mafia family leaders felt comfortable hearing Hardy express his desire to become a part of the mafia family.

"But you know, the committee has always been unwilling to accept people other than Italians. I can understand this, but it also makes me sad. I always think that if a business wants to grow, it should be open to all. If possible, Los Angeles Company would like to become a part of the committee."

......

It was not easy for the Mafia to convene a full committee meeting. After all, it was necessary to gather the patriarchs of more than 20 groups, and these patriarchs gathered in New York a week later.

Vito Corrion led Tom into the conference hall. When other family patriarchs and military advisors saw the old godfather coming in, many of them stood up and greeted them.

"Vito, how are you feeling lately?" someone asked with a smile.

"Yes, very good. Cuneo often invites me to go hunting, and I even shot an elk a few days ago." The old godfather said with a smile.

The Cuneo family patriarch smiled and said, "That was the biggest deer on my farm. He killed it with one shot. I think the herd of deer will run far away and it will be hard to hunt them again."

The others laughed along.

Tom followed the old godfather.

He had only one feeling.

respect.

These family patriarchs have come to respect the Godfather more than before.

At the last committee meeting,

The Godfather was like a wounded lion, facing the siege and biting of a group of hyenas, but now, all these people put on smiling faces.

Tom knew very well why it turned out like this.

It's all because of Hardy.

Although Hadi is not on the Mafia Committee and is not even a member of the Mafia, he has a strong influence on the Mafia.

The Corrion family’s recovery to its current state can be attributed entirely to Hardy.

The head of the Bassini family, Emilio Bassini, the head of the Tattaglia family, Philip, the head of the Strachi family, Colobo and others walked into the conference hall. When they saw the old godfather talking and laughing with others, their faces became even more gloomy.

Basini is the rotating chairman and he sits in the chairman's seat.

The other family heads took their positions and the meeting began.

Basini glanced at the twenty or so tribe leaders, and finally glanced at an empty seat and said, "Have you noticed that there is one less tribe leader on our committee?"

Everyone looked at the empty seat at the same time. They all knew that Basini was talking about Leib Seldon from San Francisco. They also knew why this committee meeting was held today.

Basini said with a sullen face, "Someone has seized the Selden family's territory. I know you all should have received the news. It is the Los Angeles Gang in Los Angeles. I called this meeting to discuss with you how to take back the territory in San Francisco."

"The Selden family is a member of the committee. When we first joined the committee, the charter we established clearly stated that the committee would resolve disputes within the family and establish offensive and defensive alliances. If any external forces infringe on our interests, we would work together to deal with the enemy."

"The Selden family was wiped out and their territory was taken away. I called the committee members here to discuss how to deal with this matter. I am ready to go to war with the Los Angeles Gang!"

Basini said and looked at everyone.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was somewhat silent.

None of the clan leaders who can sit here are fools. They all know who is involved in this matter. Is it really that easy to declare war on the Luocheng Gang?

The Los Angeles Gang belongs to Hardy.

More than half of the people here invested a large amount of cash in the Venetian Casino, several million, which was all the cash of their families. They would not be so stupid as to lose their investment just because of a quarrel between Seldon and Hardy.

Many people looked at the old godfather Vito Corrion intentionally or unintentionally.

The old godfather looked at Basini and asked calmly, "Bassini, I want to know why you declared war on the Los Angeles Gang?"

"Because they attacked the Selton family and seized territory in San Francisco," Basini said grimly.

The old godfather pursed his lips and shook his head slightly. "But the news I heard was that the Selton family had an internal conflict. The Seltons fought with the second-in-command Trotto's people. After a large number of casualties, the rest were all arrested by the police. It seems that Los Angeles has nothing to do with this."

The patriarch of the Lucese family nodded and said, "That's what I heard. It seems that the second-in-command Trotto wanted to usurp the throne, and Seldon sent people to kill him but failed. Then the two sides started fighting."

Speaking of this, the patriarch of the Lucas family curled his lips and said with disdain: "It is really unbearable for Seldon to manage the family like this."

Basini said sullenly, "I suspect the whole thing is a conspiracy of the Los Angeles Gang."

"Why do you say that?" asked the old godfather.

"Because they benefit the most from the whole thing," said Basini.

The old godfather shook his head. "Bassini, this reason cannot convince us. After the internal strife of the Selden family, the land was vacant. Some Latinos wanted to move into the land. The Los Angeles Gang saw this situation and sent people to take control of the land."

"It's better for the territory to be in the hands of Los Angeles than in the hands of Mexicans, don't you think?" said the old godfather.

Basini looked at the old godfather and said sternly, "Vito, do you want to violate the rules originally set by the committee and support an outsider?! I know you have a good relationship with Jon Hardy."

The old godfather was not in a hurry at all in the face of Basini's accusations.

"I did speak to Hardy on the phone after what happened in San Francisco, and he told me that he didn't want to see the Mafia's territory fall into the hands of others, which was the only reason he sent people into the Selton family's territory."

"Haha, would he be so kind?!" Basini sneered.

"Why not? Los Angeles was born out of the Mafia. We could have been a family. Hardy told me that if the committee agrees, he would like to let Los Angeles join the committee." said the old godfather.

At this time, the Lucasse family patriarch said: "Los Angeles is now the largest gang on the West Coast. It is very powerful. If they can join, it will definitely be a boost for our Mafia."

The head of the Bruno family in Philadelphia also nodded and said, "Yes, we are too weak on the West Coast. We almost have no family left. The strength of Los Angeles is obvious to all. If we want to develop business on the West Coast in the future, we need a powerful partner."

Many family heads also spoke up, thinking that the Los Angeles Gang should be absorbed. Basini's face turned very ugly. The purpose of his meeting was to resolve the issues in San Francisco and eliminate the Los Angeles Gang, but these guys actually discussed letting the Los Angeles Gang join the committee.

This made Basini very angry.

Basini stood up suddenly and said in a deep voice: "I strongly oppose this. All the families here are of Italian descent, and the committee families must also be of Italian descent. Others cannot be trusted at all."

The old godfather also stood up, looked at Barzini levelly, and said in a hoarse voice: "Barzini, I think you should change your mindset."

After that, he glanced at the other family heads and said loudly: "The Mafia originated in Cicily, there is no doubt about that. Later, in order to survive, we came to the United States and developed our own business. At that time, there were families of all sizes in every city. Later, in order to develop better, we formed a committee."

"The original intention of establishing the committee was to resolve disputes and promote our better development. This is not a reason to stand still."

"There are many non-Italian people in our families, many of whom have reached high positions. Many of us were born in the United States, such as Alcapone, who was born in Brooklyn, New York. How do we count him? Are we Americans?"

"If you have to limit the region, you have to exclude non-Sicilians. Bassini, I remember you are from Naples, right? Tataglia, you are from Carabinieri, right? And many people here are like this too."

"Basi, the times have changed. We must learn to keep pace with the times. Only by accommodating more capable people can we have better development. Some outdated ideas need to be changed. All the rules that hinder our development and hinder us from making money must be eliminated."

Basini stared at the old godfather in a daze.

I thought Vito's words sounded so familiar.

It seemed that he had said something similar when he forced Vito to release political resources to support the drug business.

Today Vito used it to attack himself.

Originally, the purpose of convening this committee today was to jointly deal with the Los Angeles Gang, and then he would take the opportunity to regain control of San Francisco.

Basini's idea was simple. Although Los Angeles was powerful and Hardy was strong on the West Coast, as long as all members of the Mafia Committee put pressure on him, Hardy would definitely be timid and give up San Francisco.

Unexpectedly, Vito changed the topic to another direction and discussed whether the Los Angeles Gang should be included in the committee.

What surprised him was that there were so many people supporting him.

Especially those families that have cooperated with Hardy.

At this moment,

Basini felt a strong sense of powerlessness in his heart. He was afraid that these guys would not listen to him anymore.

They're all a bunch of greedy bastards.

They will listen to whoever can bring them benefits.

The Mafia Committee meeting ended in unpleasantness.

Naturally, there was no agreement on jointly dealing with the Los Angeles Gang, and of course, the proposal to allow the Los Angeles Gang to join the committee was not passed.

The committee was now clearly divided into two camps.

One is the power group headed by Basini, and the other is the power group headed by the old godfather. Now these two forces are evenly matched, and neither can influence the other.

But in general.

Basini failed.

Unable to unite the Mafia Committee to deal with the Los Angeles Gang, Basini had to rely on his own strength. Even if he called on a few of his most diehard supporters, he would not dare to go to war with Hardy.

So he lost his San Francisco turf forever.

After the meeting, the old godfather called Hardy and told him what happened at the meeting. "I'm afraid the matter of Los Angeles Gang joining the committee needs to continue."

"Haha, don't worry, our goal is to cooperate and make money. Now we have more than a dozen families, which is more than enough."

"Mr. Vito, I need your help?" Hardy said.

"How can I help you?"

"Please help me contact all the families, including the cooperative families and the families that have not cooperated with us before. Tell them that Hardy wants to do business with them and has the idea of ​​opening a casino in Cuba recently. Ask them if they are willing to invest." Hardy said.

"Opening a casino in Cuba?"

“Yes, if we can contact more families to open a casino in Cuba, I believe it will be much easier to promote the development of the committee to accept new families.” Hardy said.

"Okay, I will contact them." said the old godfather.

After hanging up the phone, Hardy had a wicked smile on his face.

He deceived the old godfather.

In fact, Hardy's real purpose was not to invest in Cuba, but to set a trap for Bassini. However, he did not tell the old godfather because only by doing it seriously could he avoid being exposed.

There has not been a revolution in Cuba yet and it is still under the control of the United States. The current prime minister is Fulgencio Batista, who has some relationship with Bassini and can be considered a good friend.

However, Hardy knew that three or four years later, a young man named Cuban would emerge and turn Cuba upside down. All the US investments here would be wasted. Hardy wanted to lure Basini into this quagmire.

It’s just a matter of words and you don’t have to put in much effort.