Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: Lethal Joke on <08-24-14/0100:09>
-
Organized Crime in the Twin Cities Sprawl:
All right, so I've established, previously, the most important gangs around the sprawl (http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=16206.0). While they have their place, more important are organized crime in the Shadowrun Twin Cities I've been building. As such, I've worked out – to the best of my ability – the varied syndicates of the city. That said, my research is far from complete on these organizations, and I would like to know what I've missed and what I've mistaken.
This thing is rather long, so sorry.
The TC Mafia:
The allied Italian/Irish-American Mafias are the strongest in the state. Their strongest family, in turn, is the Cabrinis. Their primary enterprise is protection rackets. It’s often said they’re paid almost as much as a security corporation is for the whole city. Most unaffiliated street gangs pay up to them. Any independent smugglers give the Mob a cut. Businesses below A-rank pay a percentage almost as if it were another tax – which it is, in a way. They are also the primary source for illegal and semi-legal weaponry in the city. If a runner owns a gun rated F they didn't steal from a legitimate authority, it probably passed through Mafia hands at one point or another. They don’t do bunraku/prostitution or talislegging due to an arrangement with certain other powers on this list. They have a fair number of Orks among their number. Presently, things are tense with the local Triads.
Headquarters: For any business that can be explained away, the gourmet Italian restaurant Famiglia della Mama. Other, smaller places scattered throughout the sprawl.
Leader: “Mama” Cabrini (overweight, gray hair, brown skin, wrinkles): the mob’s elusive Dona is, actually, a half-Italian half-Nigerian American who officially owns the above restaurant. Many of the Mafia would be stunned to hear who their leader is. She is the widowed wife of the previous Don, who was gunned down (with her son, an ork) in a drive-by shooting by the Vory v Zakone. She lost her hand in the same shooting – it was replaced by a deltaware synthetic cyberhand with retractable razors. As such, “Mama” Cabrini prosecuted all-out war on the Bratva, even manipulating the local Koshari, Yakuza, and Triads onto her side of the conflict. She maintains the illusion that she is a harmless, motherly old restaurant owner, even though she’s more vindictive than most of her people. Cabrini allows orks to join in honor of her dead son.
Contact: Mob lawyer Antonio Gillespie (real name Trevor Jackson – no, he’s not actually Italian) is the Cabrini family’s consiglieri. A corpulent, greedy, and cowardly little man, he does whatever Mama says both for money and for the free meals he gets at the restaurant. Any who meet with the man meet over lunch or dinner, where he treats them to lasagna, pizza or some other Italian dish. Regardless of his many flaws, he is a fantastic liar and a stellar negotiator noted for getting made men out of airtight cases with clever wordplay (and the occasional threat from his patrons.) He will always negotiate low, hoping to keep some of the money to feed his expensive tastes. Gillespie carries a hold-out he has never fired at anything more violent than a target.
Allies: Most of the gangs unaffiliated with the other syndicates also pay their protection in the form of low-end muscle that the Mafia can call on.
The TC Yakuza
The small but powerful Yakuza in the St. Paul/Minneapolis Sprawl moved in when Mitsuhama Computer Technologies did. It isn't uncommon to see Mitsuhama security guards with Yakuza tattoos, nor is it unusual to see those guards involved in some highly illegal Yakuza-related activity. This association allows the Japanese criminal syndicate to maintain quite a profit margin with minimal risk and few actual full-time members. This also means a criminal syndicate consisting almost entirely of non-criminal SINners. Their primary business is their bunraku parlors – parlors often within Mitsuhama boundaries. Everyone knows, but no one can really stop it. If they get found out, they move to another facility. They also deal BTLs. Their original protection business was shut down by a deal with the Mafia. They are eyeing the Triads’ territory, though they have been doing that and nothing else for more than two decades.
Headquarters: Their HQ is the main office of Mitsuhama.
Leader: The oyabun of the Yakuza is an executive on the local MCT board, Hayate Maki. He, a late middle-aged man born in Kyoto, Japan, serves as the COO for Mitsuhama’s Twin Cities division and the leader of the Yakuza. Hayate is the reason the two associated organization are practically one in the sprawl. A persuasive and functional sociopath who truly only cares about his own welfare, he is cold and ruthlessly calculating. This has taken him far. Maki is a little long in the tooth to fight, but keeps in practice with both his pistol and in piloting his helicopter.
Contact: The elf Ren “Greasy” Tachibana also holds positions at both Mitsuhama and within the Yakuza. Within the yakuza he is a kyodai, a senior member. In MCT he is a janitor. A man who loves old fashions from over eighty years ago far too much, Greasy makes up for in enthusiasm what he lacks in fashion. An aspected magician who follows shamanic totems as devoutly as any member of the NAN, he is more prized for his strange personal charms than for his actual spells. He grants instant superiority to any person he’s faced with, and Ren Tachibana exploits this with expertise and enjoyment. The elf’s nickname comes from the absurd amount of gel he uses to keep his hair styled properly.
Allies: “Greasy” is dating the sister (yes, an ork) of the Tusk street gang’s leader – with approval. The gang also strong-arms or bribes (with flamethrowers) the Halloweeners in town. And did I mention Mitsuhama Computer Technologies yet?
Lakota Mafia:
The Lakota Mafia would be a minor player but for one thing: magic. While the other organizations pay top dollar to keep theirs around, the LM have magicians to spare. They are almost the only game in major talislegging, and that is enough to keep them rolling in proverbial nuyen. This sweetened deal occurred due to the savvy Lakota leader noticing – being the only one to notice – the aforementioned Mafia Dona’s frame-up to get the other organized families fighting the Vory v Zakone. In the deal that followed, the only thing the man argued for was a monopoly on all illicit magical goods. Due to his blackmail material on the Cabrini family’s Dona, he succeeded. They are also noted for tearing apart debtors, trespassers, and double-crossers alike with their vicious but well-trained hounds. They ignore the minor infractions of the Dirt Devil go-gang, which does minor talislegging for the Hexers wiz-gang.
Headquarters: It moves with their leader. Said leader usually prefers the edge of the sprawl or near any wilderness – even abandoned, overgrown parks – that can be found. Looks like a magical festival or, more likely, a bazaar.
Leader/Contact: Mercer Red Dog is the leading Lakota ‘Mafioso’ in the city. An excellent negotiator and brilliant strategist, this shaman of the Eagle is an Oglala Lakota who moved for opportunity and found it in spades. His ‘headquarters’ in the wilderness often resembles a magical bazaar – an image fostered deliberately to wow the eyes of the authorities long enough to move their illegal goods elsewhere. Mercer is friendly and personable to spite his calculations, and usually does all contact work himself (under heavy, if clandestine, guard) when hiring. His cover is as a local – and colorful – performing shaman with the bazaar. With a dog named Red.
Allies: None. Their position is secured by their deal, which is secured by the blackmail material. There is no way to claim that, either. They’ve made many copies.
Vory v Zakone:
Though they originally moved into the Twin Cities sprawl like a wave of destruction on other organized crime syndicates, today one would be lucky to find a single remaining member of the Bratva anywhere in the sprawl. They were beaten out, brutally, three times by all of the other syndicates, led by the vengeful and bloodthirsty Cabrini cartel. In the sprawl, the mob war is still known as the Syndicates War. The Vory have, for the foreseeable future, given up. That said, there is still one man who can get word to them.
Contact: The Lone Star vice detective assigned to organized crime is a lazy, goldbricking, corrupt bastard of a dwarf named Eliot Munsh. He has his hand out to all criminals. This includes an information back door to the Vory in St. Louis. Pay him enough, and he’ll do anything – that doesn’t involve getting up out of his chair, anyway. Useless in combat, but he is still Lone Star, and thus can bring about some serious police backup if he needs to.
Local Triads:
The Triads, in spite of having the second-largest syndicate in the sprawl, is probably the least powerful one. The reasons are simple. One; they alone walked out on the truce deal between the other criminal organizations held after the anti-Vory mob war. This means they still do everything they used to do. Two; their ‘Dragon Head,’ or leader died without naming a preferred successor. The two most powerful Red Poles are leading their pieces of the organization in a covert civil war against each other as a result. Three; their part in the war included information provided by a defector – who is now one of the aforementioned Red Poles. Mama Cabrini doesn't really care that the man’s ex-Bratva, she still wants him and any who follow him dead. Still, the only business they aren't in is Talislegging, (more due to lack of infrastructure on their part than anything) and with that net they can’t gain strength while divided, but neither will they weaken any further without outside influence. The large Golden Dragon Triad focuses on drug production, counterfeiting, and general smuggling, while the slightly smaller Dark Mark Triad deals in protection rackets, a sizable chop shop, and a little discount bunraku prostitution. The Twin Cities Sprawl Triads are notably racist against any metatype but human, though they are accepting of nearly all magic.
Headquarters: For the Golden Dragon Triad, it is the Golden Dragon Chinese Buffet – though no illegal activity occurs there, just meetings and discussions of it. For the Dark Mark Triad, it’s a medium-sized abandoned garage which is the center of many of their illegal activities.
Leader(s): Raymond “Sharps” Lin runs the Golden Dragon Triad, and is one of the favorites to become the new Dragon Head. He tries to follow the rules, and is often over-cautious in his dealings, making his profits small for the significance of his triad. A problem Lin faces is that he is an elf in the middle of a human-centric organization, though he does look more human than the majority of his kind. Aleksi “Mecho” Sterenko (remember him?) (http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=17472.0) is an ex-Vory bodyguard who still acts the part and treats his Triad as if he never changed organizations. This unconventional method has allowed him some success in his fields, giving him the top profit margin and the strangely feverish loyalty of his triad. That said, his election chances are harmed by his being not of Chinese descent, by his being a traitor to his last organization, and just from his cruel and brutal methods. There are numerous whispers that if Aleksi loses, he may try to take the position of Dragon Head by force instead.
Contact: Good luck with that. They're in shambles and not taking calls at the moment. For the top two, the leader are likely to handle all hiring themselves.
Allies: The large Waterways street gang is firmly behind the Triad; they hold similar anti-nonhuman views, and sometimes the odd ganger is allowed to graduate to a Triad 49er (foot soldier.) Their ideologies also line up enough to the Humanis Policlub and its nasty offshoots to allow for decent political protection and handy, threatening reinforcements.
There you have it. Again, any mistakes, missing pieces and amusing comments you would like to add?
-
Nothing after a week? It's fine, then?
Huh.
-
It looks good to me. :)
-
Cool.
Now I just need to think of a name for that anti-Vory v Zakone war...
-
Now I just need to think of a name for that anti-Vory v Zakone war...
It probably would have been given a name after it was over. Some things that would probably inform a name would include: how the war was initiated, popular forms of assassination during the war, or the aftereffects of any important battles of the war.
Red Dawn would be amusing for a variety of reasons.
-
It probably would have been given a name after it was over. Some things that would probably inform a name would include: how the war was initiated,
The Bratva did a drive-by shooting (with rigged guns) on the Don of the city's Mafia and his only son. His wife (Mama Cabrini) took over as Dona (thought the number of people who know is barely a score) and started attacking back - in the process, framing, blackmailing, and cajoling the other criminal syndicates into joining the war. Don't know how to turn that into a name.
popular forms of assassination during the war
Name it. The Triads, the Mafia, the Lakota Mafia, and the Yakuza going to town of the Vory v Zakone? Yeah. Bodies were dropping in all sorts of creative ways. And uncreative ways. Hell, sometimes the war thing was very literal.
or the aftereffects of any important battles of the war.
The main one there would be the treaty. The Criminal Syndicates (besides the Bratva, who were wiped out, and the Triads, who walked out) lined out who got what profitable criminal enterprises. Everybody gets their corner, and their profits. Lower death rate among the membership. The Triad was the only group that refused to sign on - their Dragon Head was killed in the war and the possible heirs only agree on not being a part of it. Also, there was quite the upswell in the budget of Lone Star and Knight-Errant's organized crime divisions.
Red Dawn would be amusing for a variety of reasons.
...yes, it would. But one of my players is likely to focus on that and nothing else if I put that down. Maybe more than one of them.
-
With the Mafia retaliating and kicking things off... assuming your Mafia is Italian based, you could call it the Erede Ricordato War. According to Google Translate, it roughly means Heir Remembered.
-
One question, one comment.
Question: How did a Yak get permission to date a Tusker? Some serious power dealing going on there?
Comment: Not all wars are given romantic names. Some are called exactly what they are. You could call it the Vory Extermination or Vory War. A more romantic option could be The Red Exodus.
-
One question, one comment.
Question: How did a Yak get permission to date a Tusker? Some serious power dealing going on there?
Comment: Not all wars are given romantic names. Some are called exactly what they are. You could call it the Vory Extermination or Vory War. A more romantic option could be The Red Exodus.
The Yakuza in this city is pretty permissive. Mostly because the Oyabun couldn't give less of a crap.
As to the Tusk leader giving permission, his sister could kick every square inch of his ass if she wanted to. And "Greasy" the kobun is very, very persuasive.
With the Mafia retaliating and kicking things off... assuming your Mafia is Italian based, you could call it the Erede Ricordato War. According to Google Translate, it roughly means Heir Remembered.
Nice. I would go with this, but the fact that Mama Cabrini is in charge of the Mafia is not common knowledge. Like I said, barely a score know.