America 1919

So Harry was very concerned about the private liquor business!

"Regarding the police departments in each state, there's still some trouble with that, but I believe, no one can refuse in the face of interests!"

The most important issue now facing Donnie and Harry D'Agostino was not actually the production of bootleg liquor, but its transportation!

After all, U.S. law stipulates that each state has a high degree of autonomy, and their police systems actually originate from their constitutions.

State police and city police are separate systems, unaffiliated with the federal government in a direct hierarchical relationship.

This also leads to many problems in terms of transportation!

Donnie said, "The most important thing is not how to deal with the police in each state, but to deal with the Prohibition agents!"

Prohibition is part of the entire U.S. constitution, and Prohibition agents are from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the U.S. Government, with no ties to the state governments or City Hall!

"I believe, aside from our line, there must be other bootleggers with their own lines. If we can ally ourselves with the Prohibition agents and strike effectively against all other bootleggers outside our own line, it would be very beneficial for our business."

During this time, Donnie had also investigated the bootleg market in the United States.

The U.S. bootleg market could basically be divided into two main categories!

The first category is naturally the bootleg alliance led by Donnie... which is actually the cooperation between Donnie and the Family Alliance in the United States.

However, since the Family Alliance in the United States was only recently established and not yet operating at full capacity, not everyone has got this machine up and running smoothly yet.

The second category consists of bootleggers from each state, each city.

Their business is confined to their own turf, and to keep their operations from investigation, they bribe the local Prohibition agents and police, who in turn protect them!

What Donnie now aimed to do was essentially to make most of these second-category bootleggers disappear, then introduce his own liquor into the local market!

Given that Prohibition agents are not locals, and because they have only been there a short while, their relationships with local bootleggers are based solely on simple financial interests.

Just as long as the Prohibition agents could be swayed to Donnie's side, they could act in the government's name to go after bootleggers who did not cooperate with Donnie!

The significance of Harry D'Agostino in all this was self-evident!

After all, nominally, the Prohibition agents were under his jurisdiction.

"To accomplish this is not easy. We must ensure these people are compliant and also make sure not to get ourselves implicated in the process!"

Harry quickly understood Donnie's intentions, but he also had his own concerns.

If they went through with this plan, they'd first offend the police systems of various states, since Prohibition agents were new and had no solid foundations.

But the local city police were deeply entrenched.

Take Atlantic City, for example, if there were Prohibition agents there, and they wanted to make a move against Donnie, Eli Johnson would definitely not agree.

Without the help of local police, it would be very difficult, almost impossible, for Prohibition agents to tackle local bootleggers.

Donnie nodded, "So we need Hoover's help. I believe that as the assistant director of the Bureau of Investigation, Hoover must have lots of intelligence we're unaware of, which might include information on leaders of police forces in state governments and City Halls."

"If we could learn their weaknesses, many things would be easier to deal with!"

"The way you put it, Donnie, this Hoover does seem quite useful!"

Harry mused.

Donnie nodded and said, "What we need to do now is to ensure Hoover firmly stands with us. Only then can we better control our business!"

Harry asked, "If Hoover dares to defy my orders, that shows he's very difficult to control. Donnie, do you have any strategy for that?"

Donnie replied, "Harry, through this current affair, have you noticed something? That is, the U.S. Government actually lacks a very effective supervisory organization over state governments. Although the BOI has certain authority, it lacks a strong director, which prevents the BOI from exercising its powers to the fullest extent!"

(BOI, now the abbreviation for the Bureau of Investigation, which was mistakenly thought by Mr. Huang to be the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In reality, the FBI was renamed after Hoover took office!)

Harry looked skeptically at Donnie, whose suggestion was clearly aimed at promoting Hoover to the position of director of the Bureau of Investigation, recalling their earlier private meeting, making it hard for Harry not to doubt whether Donnie had told him the whole truth previously!

"What if Hoover can't be turned to our use?"

Harry asked tentatively.

Donnie said nonchalantly, "Then we'll just replace him. The reason I'm favorable towards Hoover now is entirely because his personality meets our requirements. But the most important thing is that he should be thinking of our mutual interests. If not, I believe there are many within the U.S. Government system suited for the position!"