Finger Lickin' Good
| Finger Lickin' Good | |||||||||||
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| Part of The C in UCAS is for Corruption | |||||||||||
 Slick Willy. Not a pimp or drug dealer...a facilitator. | |||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||||
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ShadowHaven Carleton Moreau Violi Mafia Family Imagination Foundation | Commisso Mafia Family | ET Transport Corporate Security | Knight Errant | ||||||||
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Brother Ellis Ka$hious Red Ribbon Timber |
Character1 Character2 | Basic Security Units | Swat Team | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||||
| None | |||||||||||
Summary
A Mafia Princess, a Triad, and an MBA walk into a fundraiser. Only the joke didn't have a funny punchline. Instead it ended with a spurned advance, spilled wine, ethnic slurs and the phrase "Gangster Blood Money". Maria Violi's desire for revenge was intertwined with her hope of forging an alliance with the White Lotus Triad. Of course there was also an opportunity to hurt the Commissos and help her beau at the same time. Time to hire some out of town talent.
Background
The general background for the run is the struggle for underworld dominance in Toronto. The Toronto Mafia is split into three different factions, two of which are controlled from outside the city. The two largest factions, the Commissos and the Violis, are fighting what looks like a trans-Atlantic proxy war for control of Toronto. The conflict between the Commissos and the Violis has led to a slow steady weakening of both groups, giving the other syndicates (mostly the Triads) the opportunity to make gains. Many lower-level members of the Commissos and Violis are getting fed up with what they consider pointless political infighting, and a few have begun to rally together to push for unification and independence from outside control.
The largest of the Mafia factions in Toronto is run by Francesco "Frankie C" Commisso of the Commisso ’ndrina, a branch of the ’Ndrangheta based in Siderno. Commisso controls most of the Mafia’s smuggling operations between the GTA and the rest of the UCAS, especially the drug trade. He also oversees protection rackets in (Italian neighborhoods) in the suburban areas of the GTA, particularly in his home territory of Markham, where the "Siderno Group" bases its operations out of an Italian supermarket.
The Commisso’s main rival in Toronto is Adrian Violi. Violi’s specialties are white-collar crimes, particularly involving the construction industry and labor unions, and smuggling across the UCAS-Quebec border. His power centre is actually in Hamilton, just south of the Toronto sprawl, but Violi moved into Toronto proper when he seized the opportunity granted by Commisso’s bad decisions. Violi made a non-aggression deal with the Rossi Family in Montreal, offering to throw his lot in with them in exchange for sharing power after the conflict was over, then proceeded to steal control of the Mafia’s protection rackets in Toronto proper, including Little Italy.
The only reason Violi was able to pull that off was because one of his cousins is an up-and-coming soldato in Buffalo, which gives Violi his own (indirect) links to the Five Families in New York. He used those to spin the conflict between Commisso and Rossi as a 'North American independence' thing because of Commisso’s loyalty to the ’Ndrangheta leadership in the old country, even though the Siderno Group has been active in Toronto for over a century.
The dominant Triads in Toronto are the Golden Pagoda and the White Lotus, making the Toronto sprawl one of the few areas where the Red Dragon Triad isn’t the most powerful Triad around. Since the Chinese community in Toronto tends to congregate in two different areas - Chinatown in downtown Toronto, and Thornhill in the suburbs to the north - the Lotus and Pagoda have each claimed an area as their turf, and they tend to stay out of each other’s way. The Golden Pagoda controls Chinatown, while the White Lotus calls Thornhill home.
Of the two Triads, the Golden Pagoda is larger, but less stable. They’re a North American affiliate of Hong Kong’s Ten Thousand Lions, and they keep a tight hold on the BTL trade into and out of Greater Toronto. A dwarf named One-Eyed Lee is the Lodge Master of the Pagoda, but he does most of his hiring through his Grass Sandal, Boa Chan - a Macau-born, Chinese-Portuguese ork. That’s because the Pagoda is the Triad faction that’s currently duking it out with Adrian Violi’s Mafia family over control of white-collar crime in downtown Toronto. Boa is on the lookout for talented deckers willing to run datasteals against Mafia-controlled businesses.
The White Lotus Triad is the de facto representative of the Red Dragons in the Toronto sprawl. They’re a bit of an outsider among Triads, partly due to a language barrier; their members are mostly Taiwanese and Singaporean, and use the Mandarin or Taiwanese language, rather than Cantonese like the Hong Kong-based outfits. Lately, they’ve been the ones attacking the Commisso ’ndrina on behalf of the Red Dragons in Montreal, coordinated by a Red Pole (military lieutenant) named Lucky Ma. They’re also involved in the drug and sex trades in the northern suburbs of the Toronto Metroplex, as well as various forms of gambling.
The Meet
The members of the team arrived at Cherry's Shakes from 1/2 hour early to exactly on time. At the appointed time they approached the limousine, After entering they were hesitant to accept refreshments so they and Maria Violi conversed while Alain ate a burger and drank a cherry milkshake. Maria explained the job: go to a poker game, rob a certain Eric Taylor Jr. of his money, a data chip, a maglock key and his dignity. A little roughing up is ok. Do not rob the triads. After humiliating Mr. Taylor go to the ET Transport produce warehouse, take control of 12 trucks and deliver them to the soup kitchen in the East York barrens. Collect 10,000 nuyen each, live happily ever after. The team expressed general interest but felt more information was needed to evaluate feasibilty and risks before accepting. Some of the team continued to question Maria while others talked to contacts and engaged in matrix searches. Once satisfied that they had enough information to evaluate the job they concluded that perhaps more money was appropriate. Maria told the team that this was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate some skills and told the team to convince her...Maria was very impressed with their combined efforts and added the 1500 nuyen she had previously set aside, told the team to keep the money acquired at the poker game and paid 5000 up front. Of course just as a favor she wants one of the team to wear a cellular glove to leave false prints. With arrangements concluded Maria and Alain drove the runners to their domiciles to collect gear and then drove to SeaTac for a private flight to Toronto.
The Plan
Before even landing at Pearson airport the team decides that the cheap dive that Maria has arranged for housing isn't suitable and decide to con luxury suites at the Royal York hotel in downtown Toronto. A troupe of famous circus performers from Europe exchanging free publicity for a suite for the night? Who could possibly doubt the story of the 12 foot giant, hanuman monkey man, and what's best described as a surged squid face? Besides those niggling little details can be straightened out on Monday.
Once comfort is assured planning and local recon and supply start. The team decides that breaking into the poker game with force is right out. Instead, seduction and drugs are the best way way to extricate Mr. Taylor from the game and the goods from Mr. Taylor, Once taken from the game the best way to humiliate Taylor is to dress him in the most outrageously horrible clothes possible and dump him to be found found with an unattractive sex worker and some novacoke. Ellis spent the day putting fashion design to practical use and...well start with a lime green and orange colorway, cheap thread count polyester bell bottomed leisure suit and work from there. Ka$h goes to the No Tell motel to buy laes, bliss from The Candyman who tosses in a free gram of novacoke,
While Ellis designs an eyesore and Ka$h buys drugs, Red Ribbon, Timber, and Brother reconnoitered the warehouse. First was a visual survey of external security systems. A detailed examination of the external systems via a flyspy drone was followed by internal examination after entry through an air vent.
As a last step the team phones Maria to see if she could arrange an invitation to the poker game. Since she had already done so, it was an easy ask.
The Run
After arriving at the Pai Gow poker game Brother remained in the vehicle while the rest of the team entered the house. After a security scan by a triad mage Ka$h and Ellis sat on either side of Eric Taylor while Timber sat across the table. Red Ribbon drank at the bar while laying down as many false finger and palm prints as possible. After several hands with mixed results the players made their move. Timber folded on a winning hand to distract the exuberant Taylor while Ellis nimbly spiked his drink. Ka$h vamped the woozy Taylor and easily convinced him to accompany her to the motel. While the team clambered into their Luxury van Taylor wondered if a human male could survive vigorous sexual intercourse with a 12 foot giantess. Ka$h made the point moot by rendering him unconscious and tossing him into the luggage compartment. At the No Tell Motel the team dressed Taylor in Ellis' garish costume and bribed Slick Willy to hook him up with Trixie [local talent] and another 2 grams of novacoke from The Candyman.
On the way to the warehouse Ellis used Accounting to forge a digital document outlining the audit required for a potential acquisition. The document identified Ka$h's fake sin as the auditor. Armed with a forged document and chutzpah the team fast talked their way past the gatehouse and into the warehouse. The warehouse was busy with automated equipment and drones but the only metahuman presence was the rigger jacked into a large console in a small room at the rear. The rigger was neutralized and trussed while Red Ribbon loaded the stolen data chip and then jacked in. The next hour was spent flitting among the fleet of 12 hijacked trucks and fending off increasingly worried queries coming in from the Siderno Group groceries. When the trucks were parked with open doors Red Ribbon jacked out.
Aftermath
Exiting the warehouse was uneventful as was the drive back to the Royal York. The team was eager to return to Seattle after getting paid and so they were in the air before the food riots peaked.
Rewards
Medium TL - 13 RVP
1,500¥ - negotiation bonus
1,500¥ - equal share of net poker winnings
10,000¥ - 5 RVP
8 Karma - 8 RVP
+2 Faction standing - Violi Mafia Family
+2 Faction standing - Imagination Foundation
2 CDP - Base Reward
all - opportunity to acquire Maria Violi at loyalty 1 or Loyalty 2 - 4 RVP or 5 RVP
Ka$hious Villionaire - opportunity to acquire Slick Willy Jefferson at loyalty 1 - 1 rvp
Ka$hious Villionaire - opportunity to acquire Alibi Quality at chargen cost
Red Ribbon - opportunity to acquire Subtle Pilot Quality at chargen cost
Timber - opportunity to acquire Honest Face Quality at chargen cost
Brother - opportunity to acquire Legendary Rep [Imagination Foundation] Quality at chargen cost
Ellis - opportunity to acquire Catlike Quality at chargen cost
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
"So no shit there I was, having a great time, living up my luxury suite with my crew, setting up to play high-stakes poker. Low and behold, Ka$hious Money Villionaire wins again. Raked us in a good profit, didn't piss the triads off too much by how much I kept winning, and then made the rest of the job an absolute breeze. Spend too much time on legwork and of course, things should go smoothly. Lo and behold, I did the most violence with just a couple of lovetaps. Easiest 13k of my life."
"A very smooth job, very little needed in the way of violence. Good information gathering, good planning, and the expertise of my team mates in influencing people means that Pathmaker is afforded a day of rest. It did occur to me on this mission, however, that perhaps it would be wise to learn to use my blandness of appearance as an asset, especially given the distinctive styles of many I will run with. Something to think about while tending to the plants tonight."
"Smooth like butter. Our target was with people who didn't care about him too much - he fell right into our hands, thanks to some smooth talking and sleight of hand. The same for the second half; the security was straightforward to circumvent, and I carried out my part without error. Honestly, my main takeaway from this? Get better at poker. Now I'm out five hundred Nuyen, and Brother is even worse off..."
"Very smooth job, I am very glad no one noticed or cared at any step of our plan. Couldn't have went better. Thought that costume isn't one of my proudest works but it did its job."
"I quite enjoyed my part in this little escapade - although being of assistance to a fellow charity kitchen takes precedence, I must say, it was a joy to work with these professionals for such a good cause."