Chapter 98: Respect for the Wise
After careful consideration, Zhang Ailun immediately woke up Dominic and asked him if he had heard of Modern Brothers, the Irish and the Bobtail.
Dominic woke up dazedly and rubbed his eyes. "Why are you asking about this? Modern Brothers? It seems that they are a team formed by local scavengers. They are a group of gamblers and smokers. They are real street thugs. They are often arrested and imprisoned for zero-dollar shopping and insurance fraud."
"The leaders are two white men from poor communities. They developed a family-run business model and owned more than a dozen streets and several ordinary communities. Outsiders who wanted to join Modern Brothers had to change their surnames. In the past, there were at most 30 people. Later, because they wanted to cross over to drug trafficking, they offended street gangs and had a fight. Now there are only seven or eight people left. One of the Modern Brothers was even run over by a garbage truck."
"The Irish are scavengers living in abandoned sewers. They don't have many fixed territories, but they often cross the border to snatch and hoard cans on other people's streets, relying on their numbers. They mainly occupy the automatic recycling machines on the streets and in shops."
In order to prevent malicious competition, the city government's can recycling machine is limited to spitting out $200 a day, but basically all of them are from Irish people because no one else can compete with them. Using automatic recycling machines also avoids the recycling stations making some price difference profits.
"Many of them are illegal immigrants and criminals from Europe. There are people with all kinds of eye and hair colors. I don't know why they always call themselves Irish." Dominic felt puzzled.
"The short-tailed dogs are a group of unemployed Mexican workers who have settled in unfinished buildings because they failed to collect their wages. They often engage in petty thefts, and the police can't drive them away because they stick to them like sticky candy."
"When a police officer accidentally beat up an unemployed worker, they blocked the city hall and police station gates for a demonstration and refused to leave, which caused quite a stir. The contractor on the construction site shirked responsibility, and the city government tacitly gave them the cold shoulder. Over time, no one was willing to take care of them anymore. Many of the zero-dollar shopping events nearby were proposed and planned by them, including the one the day before yesterday! They have the largest number of people, more than 30."
"These three teams are also well-known scavenger organizations in the Fifth District. They often have conflicts of interest in private, but they have nothing to do with us, so there is no need for us to provoke them."
Dominic was too uninterested in this, because before this, Lori Louis 19 had always been in the street social state of "I don't offend others if they don't offend me" .
If there are activities to do, they will just give in for the sake of face, but if there are no activities, they will just give up and be completely confused, which is also the daily mental state of many street groups.
"That's why if we want to make more money, we need to expand our territory and talk to them." Zhang Ailun said, "With so many of them, they should be able to get guns easily, right?"
"It's unlikely. There was a Japanese group that was arrested and sentenced to decades in prison for illegal possession of firearms. Most of them were deported back to their home country, and a few fled to San Francisco. If there were guns, it would have been gang-related, and there would be no need for others to report it. Other gangs would have taken action to destroy their lair!"
"Unless they have CCW certificates, but those people are all illegal Mexican workers and Europeans. They can't even get a gun license if their status is illegal, so how can they legally own a gun?"
Dominic explained: "The reason why so many people gathered together and were still peaceful was because they did not engage in drug trafficking, organ trafficking and various gang activities. At most, they only engaged in illegal zero-dollar shopping and begging by picking up cans, which was relatively non-threatening."
"It's the same with us at Lori Louis 19. Sig's situation is rather special. And we have a very good relationship with the police station now!"
At least the police officers rarely come here to shop recently, and when they come occasionally, they just go to the bridge tunnel next door to inspect.
The little yellow duck pattern of Lori Louis 19 is basically ignored.
But you'd better be sensible and not commit crimes on your own initiative. If you commit a crime, don't get caught by the police. Even if you are caught, you cannot admit that you are a yellow duck. You have to say that you are a good citizen, an ordinary homeless person.
Otherwise, the police will also feel a headache. If they want to find an excuse to let you go, they will be embarrassed by the law enforcement recorder they are wearing. Isn't this embarrassing? As long as the Beggar Gang disciples don't cause trouble for the police, and don't get close to them and deliberately cause trouble, the police will basically turn a blind eye to you.
After Zhang Ailun learned about the recent situation of the three scavenging organizations, he let Dominic continue to sleep.
He turned around and walked out of the RV, and found Sig who had moved to a tent under the bridge to sleep.
The other person had already gotten up, had just finished exercising and washed his face, and was sitting on the sofa struggling with the wheels, completely disassembling the Trek bicycle.
There was also a tactical chest bag on the sofa next to it, and the bulging contents inside were undoubtedly a pistol and a submachine gun!
"Boss, is there anything you want to tell me?" Sig asked curiously. He was no longer surprised by Zhang Ailun's arrival.
Basically every time Zhang Ailun came to see him, there was definitely something to arrange.
"Sieg, you don't have to pick up cans in the next few days. I want you to recruit some homeless people to join us. To advance the plan of expanding the team." Zhang Ailun stated his purpose.
In fact, he did not expect Xige to be able to attract many elite talents to the Beggars' Sect. He could not eat hot tofu in a hurry. People could be won over slowly, but their quality must be high.
"It would be best if it was an outstanding veteran like you who was discharged from the army and now lives on the streets. It would also be easier to obtain the CCW certificate later." Zhang Ailun pondered.
"If we weren't a team of scavengers, I would have thought you were going to start a rebellion, hahaha." Sig made a joke.
"There are indeed many people like me, but there are probably not many who are worse off than I was before, and who don't even have an identity. Many of my old friends, former schoolmates, and military subordinates have lost their jobs in recent years, and there are also many homeless veterans I have met recently. I can only try my best to persuade them to join us."
Sig found a way to be cheerful, waved the wrench in his hand and readily agreed, "I'll help you recruit people after I fix the bike. But I still have to think about how to persuade them to join the team. After all, I don't have the eloquence like you."
"Sincerity is the ultimate skill for everything. If there is really a talent that can impress you, you can send me a message and I will go and persuade him personally!"
In ancient times, Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang three times to ask him to come out of seclusion to help him achieve his great cause. Today, I, Zhang Ailun, run the Beggars' Sect business on the West Coast, and I can also be courteous to talented people.
But it would be fine if Sig himself was deregistered and became a homeless person, but even his subordinates and old brothers in the army are not doing well. Isn't this a bit too much?
Do you dare to say that you have no influence here?
(End of this chapter)
