Chapter 7

Influenced by various Godfather movies and the legends of Al Capone and the Five Families, it's easy to get the wrong impression that Italians had it easy in America.

But the reality is quite the opposite.

For a long time in America, the least favored white ethnic group was the Italians, not the Irish as many people think.

In almost all gangster movies, the gangster bosses are typically portrayed as Italian, which is itself a form of discrimination.

Moreover, in the movie "Green Book," the police refer to the Italian-American protagonist as "half-black," which aptly illustrates the awkward position of Italians in America at the time—“half-black,” a derogatory term used by Anglo-Saxon whites for Italians, persisted from the 19th century to the mid-20th century, spanning nearly a century.

So why did immigrants from Italy, once the center of European culture, face such a difficult situation?

The reason is simple: most Italian immigrants to America came from southern Italy.

Just as the United States has a North-South divide, Italy also has a North-South distinction.

Northern Italy is industrially and commercially developed, so it is relatively wealthy, while the South is mountainous with fewer resources and is generally poorer.

Wealthy Italians, if they were to immigrate, would not typically choose America but rather South America.

Because the Italian immigration wave was relatively late compared to other European countries, the resource allocation among various ethnic groups in America was already established. Therefore, wealthy Italians preferred to develop in the more expansive South America, employing indigenous and black people to clear the land and running their own businesses.

In contrast, poor Italians, lacking capital, chose to go to the prosperous North American region to work for the already developed Americans.

In other words, the Italians who came to America were mostly poor and had low levels of education.

Additionally, as Southern Europeans, Italians have a more Latin heritage, with more noticeable physical differences.

Furthermore, Italians tend to live in groups, work in industries, and have low levels of education. These characteristics combined naturally led to negative stereotypes.

This also resulted in Italians being confined to the lowest jobs in America for a long time, unable to access the upper echelons of society.

Similarly, the Chinese in Chinatown faced similar challenges.

Especially during President Calvin Coolidge's term, a 1924 immigration act was specifically targeted at Italians.

This act, though not as well-known, had a significant impact on Italian immigrants, comparable to the Chinese Exclusion Act.

This naturally caused a great deal of dissatisfaction among many Italians.

What to do?

Obviously, join the mob.

The Italian system, which was heavily influenced by the Mafia, was simply transplanted to America, and the results were surprisingly effective. In addition to the original discrimination, Italians gained a gangster attribute, which made them both feared and even more ostracized.

Under this reputation, Joe naturally felt a sense of fear about Little Italy.

However, after much hesitation, Joe decided to go in.

After all, the car he bought in the morning was stolen in the afternoon, and he had never felt such frustration in his previous life.

Before entering Little Italy, Joe pulled up his collar to cover his face and walked into a gun shop across the street.

Well, having many gun shops can sometimes be quite convenient.

To enter the notorious Italian district, Joe felt that just one M1911 was not enough; he needed at least two Thompson submachine guns and a shotgun.

Although he is a time traveler and never served in the military in his previous life, Joe knows how to use guns.

Whether it's a submachine gun, an automatic rifle, a bolt-action rifle, or a shotgun, Joe had experience with them at a shooting club during his trip to Russia and had also hunted in the Far East, spending a considerable amount of money.

Even in his previous life, Joe's predecessor had been taken hunting by his father before his father's death, though he only used a rifle.

So while he is not an expert, he at least knows how to use guns.

Soon, Joe picked out a Thompson submachine gun, which is the favorite of the Mafia, an M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, a shotgun, and the corresponding ammunition at the gun shop.

With the gun cases, it cost Joe nearly two hundred dollars.

After buying the guns, he turned into an empty alley, assembled and loaded the weapons, and then stored them in the system warehouse.

After completing this, Joe slowly entered the Italian district.

Perhaps because it was daytime, the streets of the Italian district, though dirty and smelly, were not filled with idle thugs, quite different from the black neighborhoods of later times.

Although many Italians were involved in the mob, like the Chinese in Chinatown, most of them were hardworking laborers who were busy making a living during the day.

It was only at night that the area became more chaotic.

So all of Joe's preparations were unnecessary.

However, after patrolling two streets, Joe did not find the car and felt somewhat discouraged, realizing that the car had only passed through the Italian district.

But just as Joe was about to give up, he suddenly saw half of a car's rear end sticking out from the door of a distant old warehouse.

Joe looked around to make sure no one was paying attention, then walked toward the warehouse.

As he got closer, he could see the entire rear of the car, with the distinctive scratch clearly visible.

At this moment, he also heard voices coming from inside the old warehouse.

"Listen, Joe, this is just an old Ford from over a decade ago. Even on the used car market, it's worth no more than two hundred dollars. I have to deal with the details, so I can only give you fifty dollars for the parts. If you're not satisfied, go find someone else!" said a slightly hoarse voice with a heavy Italian accent.

"Don't be like that, Mike. You know how tough it's been lately. At least give me a bit more, ten dollars, just ten dollars, okay?" said another slightly slick voice.

Carefully approaching the warehouse, Joe easily saw the situation inside.

There were two people inside: one was a middle-aged man with a balding head and covered in oil stains, and the other was a slightly overweight, short young man.

From their conversation, it was easy to deduce that the young man was the car thief, and the middle-aged man was the one who specialized in fencing stolen cars.

The various car parts scattered around the warehouse also indicated that it was a black market car shop.

In addition to Joe's old Ford, there was another car parked there.

Joe's attention was quickly drawn to this car.

It was a famous Cadillac V16.