Chapter 141 - "Gold Rabbit" (3) (Note: Gonzalo's Story. A total filler for my quota. Y'all can skip if you want.)

1973

Because he made such a huge movement, Gonzalo and his organization were now back in the limelight. Gonzalo also realizing that staying anonymous is no longer as beneficial before, he decided to finally make an appearance to the bosses of the Italian and Jewish mobs in Nevada. 

With the threat of Gonzalo being able to touch the innocent family of the mob bosses, while the Italian and Jewish mob bosses do not even know where Gonzalo's house is or who his men are, they did not dare to ask for reinforcements from their friends in the other states. 

Gonzalo seeing the fear in the eyes of the mob bosses, felt like he has finally avenged his friends. He stopped his attacks and made a deal instead with Nevada's Italian and Jewish mobs for a peaceful co-existence. Knowing that Gonzalo could have taken over Nevada's underworld, the other mob bosses figured that a peace deal is the best they can make. 

1975

The 78 year-old Anselmo Opizzi was diagnosed with cancer and finally stepped down his position as the head of Opizzi family. He was disappointed that he was not able to take his family to the top of New York's organized crime world. The four families of New York have a tight grip on their power that prevented other crime organizations from rising to their level.

Being a retired Don, Anselmo's security also reduced. One day, while undergoing treatment in a hospital, he woke up and found himself transported to a different location, his intravenous drips still attached to him.

"How was your nap, father?" Anselmo was greeted by Gonzalo who was waiting for Anselmo to wake up.

"You!.. Who are you." Anselmo asked in confusion.

"Pleased to meet you again. I'm Gonzalo Coniglio." 

Anselmo, hearing this name could not help but feel afraid. He has heard rumors of Gonzalo.

Gonzalo has made a name of himself in the American underground world after rising in power in Nevada. The Coniglio is also unique as many of its known members are highly educated, earning Gonzalo the name "The Professor" among his contemporaries. 

"Ah. I worked for your Opizzi family as a young man under the name of Gonzalo Venezia. Remember? Juliana De Bacco's son?" Gonzalo reminded Anselmo.

Anselmo was shocked at the revelation. After a few moments of recalling almost lost memories, he finally got his emotions together.

"Gonzalo, my boy. I only ask you to spare my family." Anselmo calmly pleaded as he knows it would be his last day.

1981

Gonzalo in the past few years, led his organization to silently take over Las Vegas except for the territories of the Italian and Jewish mobs. Even though the other bosses in Nevada did not like Gonzalo's movements, the Coniglio has grown too powerful for them to stop. 

Gonzalo managed to expand his operations in other cities. In New York for example, with the demand of his safe recreational substances, he was able to secure a stable power in Long Island. 

Nobody knew how it started, but New York entered a chaotic time. New York's biggest Italian families including Anselmo's Opizzi family entered wars against each other. The mafia wars not only had casualties amongst their members, the bystanders which are the good people of New York also suffered.

The US Government, denying the existence of these mob organizations for a long time, was finally forced to make a move. The FBI, finally making use of technology, planted bugs and surveillance cameras in the houses of some of the biggest mobsters and bosses. 

Gonzalo was watching all of these events through his spies in the FBI. With his Coniglio Organization's expansion to New York in the past few years, he had the power to jump in the fray. However, he made the decision of waiting for the crucial time when the government itself would make the move.

After the arrests and raids made by the FBI to the New York's Italian mafia families and their operations, Gonzalo could no longer wait and finally made a move. 

Seeing the Italian mob families starting to resort to their legitimate business for finances, Gonzalo finally went into action and made as many buy-outs as he can. He bought out the businesses of former powerful families like the Opizzi and organizations their level. It did not take long for the Coniglio Organization to finally make it to the level of New York's four families. 

Coniglio's power should have made the "Four Families" into "Five Families", but with Coniglio composed of people from varying ethnic backgrounds, they are out of place among the four Italian crime families.

1984

34 years after the establishment of the Coniglio Syndicate, Gonzalo finally suppressed other crime groups in Las Vegas. The groups like the Italian and Jewish mafia were now confined to their old territories, away from the numerous rising business districts within the city and the state. 

Coniglio also doing rational business and is known to never have engaged in protection rackets, earned Coniglio's territories as having the reputation of being safe for entrepreneurs and investors to build their businesses in. 

While having wide territory is good, Coniglio's territory has become very big that it made it hard for Gonzalo to manage. To solve this, Gonzalo convinced many of his members to break off from the Coniglio and make their own families and take over some of his territory. While such move is very risky for Gonzalo, his members were loyal enough to make him not worry about being usurped. 

Along with some of the top members breaking off, Don Gonzalo let go of some of his legitimate businesses and distributed them to his most loyal and longest serving members. While some mafia bosses would have also done so to prevent dissent in their own group, Gonzalo has done so out of respect.

Meanwhile in New York, the Coniglio also solidified its status as the biggest crime organization in the city. While Gonzalo decided to stay in Las Vegas, he made the 39-year-old Sylvio become the young Don Silvio Coniglio of the New York Coniglio Family. 

While many has been skeptical of Sylvio's abilities at first especially when Sylvio started following the mob structure of the other Italian crime families in New York, Sylvio proved to them that he at least inherited some talents from his father. Sylvio was able to get many New York politicians to his side and have them do things that would benefit Coniglio's legal business endeavors. 

Even though the Coniglio finally has plenty of legitimate businesses, their drug trade is still their biggest slice of their business pie. Mary Jane, Acid, and magic mushrooms has seen a boom in popularity among  Americans. This boom led to the Coniglio's drug empire to earn more than a billion dollars every year in USA alone. 

New York however is a place that is difficult for the Coniglio's drugs to get into. But with Sylvio's cunning and acquisition of some territories in the docks, Coniglio's drugs managed to break through New York's barrier.

Sylvio also entered into the securities fraud business which included investment frauds, Ponzi schemes, and late day trading. These white-collar operations netted the New York Coniglio close to two hundred million dollars a year. While these crimes are very profitable, they are also very risky and is closely watched by the government. 

With Sylvio's management however, he was able to erase connections between his fraudulent companies and the Coniglio. 

Sylvio has also done well in the legal side. He bought parcels of land that are very cheap due to the poverty and violence of their locations. Using the ever expanding 'paramilitary force' of the Coniglio, he was able to clean up the neighborhoods he bought out and raised their real estate values two or threefold its purchasing value. 

With the real estate properties cleaned up of violence and filth, Sylvio transformed them into various businesses like motels, bars, liquor stores, and branches of Coniglio's own Italian fast-food chain, DeBacco. 

Regarding DeBacco, named after Gonzalo's original surname, Sylvio followed McDowell's model of expanding the franchise. Their fast-food chain is making money more from franchise purchases and rents than actually selling food. 

With Gonzalo establishing the power of Coniglio, and Sylvio maintaining it and growing it in the East Coast, Coniglio has become a multibillion-dollar organization. 

2000

After his 50-year reign as Coniglio's boss, and his co-founders either weak or dead from old age, the 80-year-old Gonzalo finally planned on stepping down. He knows however that Sylvio alone cannot take over the Coniglio due to its sheer size so he had to make plans before finally retiring. 

Gonzalo broke the original Nevada Coniglio apart into different families. The spies, the members, and the businesses were then divided and distributed amongst the newly formed families that branched out from the organization. Gonzalo however still kept his hospital, one hotel, one casino, and his paramilitary force for himself, for his and his blood family's wealth and protection. 

With the Nevada Coniglio no more, Gonzalo transformed into a totally legitimate Nevada businessman.  For the first few months after Nevada Coniglio's end, Gonzalo quietly fled to New York to Sylvio's care in case the former Nevada Coniglio members would start fighting against each other. 

Fortunately, for Gonzalo, the former members of the Nevada Coniglio still kept their brotherhood amongst themselves. They never forgot that their grand fathers, together with Gonzalo, were blood brothers in the second world war. That their fathers and uncles were blood brothers in the Vietnam and Korean wars.

They never forgot that Gonzalo has never wronged their loved ones and has only brought them good fortune like wealth and prestige. 

Those younger members who had thoughts of taking over Gonzalo's properties were kept in check by their own blood family.