The Russian Roulette [The Mafia Chronicles #2]

Chapter XIV

"The only shame is what would happen if someone dared to come near her in the first place." Alexi reared in his emotions. He had lost enough control and the French man was purposely looking to vex Alexi; the Russian Don would not be giving Sebastian the pleasure of a reaction. Talking to him was enough of a disgrace.

"Let's hope we don't encounter the day someone does." Sebastian spoke through his teeth before entering the conference room. Alexi followed and made sure to seat himself the farthest from Sebastian; it was for the croissant's safety. And because I don't want to smell his suffocating cologne that's straight out of a perfume commercial.

"Thank you for attending. I would like to start this meeting with statistics. Income, soldiers, weapons, etc." Leonidas turned on a projecting screen that showed charts with each mafia's 'supposed' data. They all knew none of them gave accurate numbers; no one wanted that information to be used against them, especially if it was used against them by a fellow leader.

According to the statistics, the Italian mafia had the largest income coming from its legal companies. This information had a hidden undertone. If the Italian mafia decided to end all its underground operations, they could thrive through the legal companies they own. It has always been something Leonidas Gambino's late father thought of, making all the other leaders wonder if the Italians were truly loyal to the union or loyal to whatever brought in the most money.

The South Korean mafia had the most influence on its country and the neighbouring countries in south-east Asia, gaining the most income from deals within that region. It included interacting within the black market and partaking in human trafficking. The Mexican mafia generated the most income from the drug production, trade, and export in Mexico, along with controlling the country through smaller cartels and gangs.

The Lebanese mafia had the most income from its weapon production, smuggling, and export while the American mafia gets most of its revenue from laundering money for illegal businesses and companies in the states and other countries. The French mafia profits largely from controlling the trade, export, and import in France; the government has been losing millions simply for importing goods into France.

When the Russian mafia's statistics were to be displayed, the screen only contained two words: Information unavailable.

"Is this one of your sick jokes?" Leonidas seethed. The information was transferred to one of the Italian Capos and he would gather the information into one file; the Italian boss did not check the file beforehand.

Alexi opened a folder that contained a stack of papers. "I couldn't risk the information leaking by one of your careless minions. My statistics are on these papers and on these papers only." The Russian Don thought of all the potential threats of passing on that information, even if the degree of accuracy of those numbers wasn't high.

Leonidas snatched the file from in front of the Russian Don; Alexi wondered if he could get anymore petty. As Leonidas started reading the values on the paper, his eyes turned wide. He looked up at Alexi, "Are these accurate? Did you increase any of the values?" It wasn't every day that you could see so many zeros besides a one. It was almost like someone dozed off while placing their finger on the zero number key.

"Decreased, in fact." Alexi did not raise his eyes from the papers he was looking over. The leaders did not understand the reasoning behind Leonidas's surprise until they looked at the files. The information on them meant that the Russian mafia officially surpassed the Italian mafia in rights to the leadership of the mafia union and could claim that position at any time.

The Russian mafia had the largest number of soldiers, weapons, and income. They controlled the most cybercrime and hacking organisations along with the most organized gangs and mercenaries that would do their bidding. They had the most support from the faux government in their country and the people along with having largest number of allies in the underground and in the legal industry. They had the ability to simply take over the Italian mafia's rule.