Mafia Corruption
Stepping out into the light, you feel the warmth of the sun beating onto your face like the waves on the boat you called home for the last few weeks.
"Finally - the promised land. Opportunity is everywhere", you think to yourself.
With nothing but your fists and the shirt on your back, you start moving, following the crowd. You are starting your journey, walking towards your dreams. It seems like the further you walk from the port's relentless stench of octopus and damp wood, the more you forget about your troubled past. As you start to make your way across the city, you get lost in your thoughts. Images of grandeur and luxury flood your mind.
Suddenly, you feel a sharp tug and get dragged into the alleys. You feel a torrential rain of fists and kicks on your chest and head. Battered and bloodied, you fall onto the floor. You feel hands frantically going through your pockets.
"NO CASH!?", you hear a male voice bellow.
Your attacker gives you a good swift kick to the ribs - his way of saying thanks for nothing. You wasted his time.
The pain envelops you. You can feel you body throb in areas you never thought existed. Eventually you lose consciousness.
You come round and are still dazed from the attack. That slight metallic taste of blood in your mouth serves to remind you what just happened. As you get up and dust yourself, you notice a small bag. You look around, pick it up and open it. It's $1000!!
"What dumb luck! Maybe it slipped out of that guys pockets as he drop-kicked me", you think.
Gazing into the gray city streets, you realize - it's a dog eat dog world. It starts to form in your mind that while this might be the land of milk and honey, treachery and danger are everywhere. You see sweet old ladies getting mugged. You see stabbings in the darker corners of the city. You see pimps and hoes selling their "goods". Maybe those sacks of "white powder" that you saw on the docks were not the corn flour you thought they were.
This place is a crime-infested cesspool. Only the strong will survive. Your dreams are yours for the taking but it won't be easy. It is up to you to choose your own path to your goals. You don't know how, you don't know when. The only thing you know is that there will be no choice but to scratch and claw your way to the top. There is no turning back.
As you go about the city, you learn about the power players that rule the land - the Mafia, groups of people organized for money, power and respect - the three things you crave for yourself. The mafia controls things. They run the city. With their million dollar homes, fancy cars, crisp suits, wads of cash, resort-like islands and powerful midget-sized rifles, gang members are feared by some and loved by others.
A few blocks from where you were first attacked, you find an abandoned gym. The leather seats smell of the combined stench of the last 15 or so people who used the equipment. It bothers you slightly but you know there would be no way for you to get stronger without training. No way for you to defend yourself without pumping iron. Sticking to a training regimen would eventually catch the attention of powerful gang lords who could be your meal ticket out of the streets. You even entertain the silly thought of maybe being just like them - wealthy, untouchable and running the most powerful and respected gang in the country.
The $1000 in your hand suddenly looks small for what you want to achieve. You probably couldn't stretch that to save your life. You lay stretched out on your back, you start thinking: "What should I do for money? Should I get a job? Gamble? Run my own business? Jump on the petty crime band wagon? There would be consequences - Jail? Torture? Maybe death?" You make a commitment to yourself that the life of a Mafioso is the way to go. You have nothing to lose.
Greed and violence. Money, power and respect. These are the thoughts that fill your head as you lie on that sweaty gym bench. Drifting off to sleep, you take comfort in the fact that you have reached rock bottom - there really isn't any other way to go but up. For now you rest. Tomorrow you work to take over the world.