American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

After all, Chicago is the third largest city in the United States, and its area is quite large.

Public transportation in the United States is terrible, so it's very inconvenient not having a car.

As for stealing cars, Josh had already figured it out. He would park in secluded places and store the cars directly in the system's warehouse. How could they possibly be stolen?

It's just that taxis aren't so easy to hail. He was lucky yesterday and got one right away, but today he waited for more than ten minutes and still couldn't find an empty taxi.

But just as he was getting a little impatient, a Ford sped past him.

Although cars from this era all looked pretty much the same, Josh recognized the one that had just driven past at a glance—the one he had just bought yesterday that was stolen.

Because this car already had a very obvious scratch on the rear when it was bought, exactly the same as the one in front of us.

On a whim, he chased after them.

Although cars of this era could travel at speeds exceeding 70 miles per hour, this was because it was in the city, and Roosevelt had ordered a ban on high-speed driving during the war. Even on highways, the maximum speed limit was 35 miles per hour.

So the opponent's speed wasn't fast, only around 20 yards per minute.

Thanks to her youth and strong will, Josie managed to keep up for a short time.

However, as the car turned the corner, Josie stopped.

Because what lies ahead is not a peaceful place, but rather Little Italy, an immigrant area, and just two more streets away is Chinatown.

Unfortunately, unlike Little Italy and Chinatown in major American cities in later years, which are renowned tourist destinations and bustling markets, Little Italy and Chinatown in this era were still synonymous with slums, not much better than the segregated black neighborhoods.

In the original owner's memories, his parents had repeatedly warned him not to go near Little Italy or Chinatown.

So Josh is quite hesitant right now.

Chapter 7 Car Thief

Influenced by later Mafia films such as The Godfather, as well as legendary Mafia figures like Al Capone and the Five Families, it's easy to get the wrong impression that Italian Americans have an easy time in America.

But the truth is actually quite the opposite.

For a considerable period in the United States, the least favored white ethnic group was Italian, not Irish as many people assumed.

In almost all gangster movies, the gang boss is portrayed as being of Italian descent, which is itself a form of discrimination.

Furthermore, in the movie "Green Book," the police refer to the Italian-American protagonist as "half-Black," which aptly illustrates the awkward situation faced by Italian-Americans in the United States at the time. "Half-Black," a derogatory term used by white Anglo-Saxon Americans to refer to Italian-Americans, accompanied them for nearly a century from the 19th to the mid-20th century.

So why did immigrants to Italy, once a cultural center of Europe, encounter such a predicament?

The reason is simple: most Italian immigrants to the United States come from southern Italy.

Just as the United States has a North and a South, Italy also has a North and a South.

Northern Italy is relatively wealthy due to its developed industry and commerce, while the south, being mountainous and less resource-rich, is generally poorer.

Wealthy Italians from the north, if they were to immigrate, would generally not choose the United States, but rather South America.

Because the Italian immigration wave came later than that of other European countries, the distribution of resources among various ethnic groups in the United States was already largely established at that time. Therefore, wealthy Italians preferred to choose the more expansive South America to develop, hiring natives and blacks to pioneer the land and becoming their own bosses.

In contrast, poor Italians lacked capital, so they chose to go to the wealthy North America to work for the already developed Americans.

In other words, the Italian Americans who came to the United States were mostly poor people with very low levels of education.

In addition, as Southern Europeans, Italians are also closer to the Latin lineage, resulting in more obvious differences in appearance.

In addition, Italians' tendency to live in groups, their industrial workers, social habits, lower social status, and low level of education all combine to easily evoke negative associations.

This also meant that for a long time, Italians in the United States could only do the lowest-paying jobs and had no access to the upper class.

The same thing happened to the Italians in the neighboring Chinatown.

In particular, during President Coolidge's administration, a special immigration law, the 1924 Immigration Act, was enacted specifically targeting Italian Americans.

This law is not well-known, but its impact on Italian immigrants was no less significant than that of the "Chinese Exclusion Act" targeting Chinese people.

This naturally aroused dissatisfaction among a large portion of the Italian-American population.

How to do?

It's obvious, he's involved in organized crime.

Italy's existing system was somewhat Mafia-like, and when this was copied to the United States, the results were surprisingly good. In addition to the discrimination they already faced, Italian Americans gained a gangster-like aura, making them both feared and further ostracized.

It is precisely because of this reputation that Josie naturally feels a sense of fear towards the Little Italy neighborhood.

However, after much hesitation, Josie decided to go in.

After all, he bought the car at noon and it was stolen in the afternoon. He had never suffered such humiliation in his previous life.

But before entering Little Italy, Josie first pulled up her collar to cover her face, and then walked into a gun shop across the street.

Yes, there are many gun shops, which can be quite convenient sometimes.

To get into the renowned Italian section, Josie felt that having only one M1911 was definitely not enough; he needed at least two Thompsons and a shotgun.

Although he was a time traveler and had never served in the military in his previous life, Josie knew how to use a gun.

Whether it's submachine guns, automatic rifles, bolt-action rifles, or shotguns, Josie had encountered them all at shooting clubs during his trip to Russia in his previous life, and he had even hunted in the Far East, spending a considerable amount of money on them.

Not only in his previous life, but also in his father's previous life, Josie had been taken hunting before his father's death, but the only guns they used were rifles.

So while I wouldn't say I'm an expert with guns, I can at least use them.

Soon, Josie picked out a Chicago typewriter, also known as a Thompson, a favorite among the Mafia, along with an M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, a shotgun, and the corresponding ammunition at the gun shop.

Comes with a gun case.

It cost Josie nearly two hundred dollars.

After buying the gun, I carried the gun case into an empty alley, assembled and loaded the gun, and then put it into the system warehouse along with the gun case.

After doing all this, Josie leisurely walked into the Italian section.

Perhaps because it was broad daylight, the streets of the Italian district looked somewhat dirty and smelled of sewage, but there weren't many idle hooligans on the streets, quite different from the black neighborhoods of later generations.

Although many people of Italian descent are involved in gangs, just like in the neighboring Chinatown, there are many more hardworking, low-income people who are busy making a living during the day.

It only gets more chaotic at night.

So all of Josie's preparations along the way were completely useless.

However, after searching two streets, Josie couldn't find the car and was a little discouraged. It seemed that the other party had only been passing through the Italian district.

However, just as Josh was about to give up, he suddenly saw half of a car's rear end sticking out of the doorway of an old warehouse in the distance.

Josie looked around to make sure no one was watching before heading towards the warehouse.

As he got closer, he could see the entire rear of the car, with a conspicuous scratch clearly visible on it.

At that moment, he also heard voices coming from the old warehouse.

“Listen, Joe, this is just an old Ford from over ten years ago. Even on the used car market, it would only fetch two hundred dollars at most. I still need to fix some parts, so I can only give you fifty dollars at most, based on the price of used parts. If you're not satisfied, go find someone else!” A slightly hoarse voice with a heavy Italian accent said.

"Don't do that, Mike. You should know how tough this job is lately. Give me a little extra, ten dollars, ten dollars more, how about it?" another slightly slick voice said.

Carefully approaching the warehouse, Josie easily saw what was inside.

There were two people inside: one was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and covered in engine oil stains, and the other was a slightly overweight, short young man.

It's easy to tell from their conversation that the younger man is the car thief, while the middle-aged man is a dealer in stolen cars.

The various car parts scattered throughout the warehouse indicate that this is an illegal car trading factory.

Besides his old Ford, there was another car parked there.

Soon, Josie's attention was drawn to the car.

That was a famous Cadillac V16.

Chapter 8 I'm Stealing from the Mafia

The Cadillac V16 was released in 1930 and discontinued in 1940.

One of the most prestigious luxury cars before World War II, the world's first mass-produced model with a 16-cylinder engine, it was only available for customization and had a low production volume. In 11 years, only a little over 4,000 units were sold, with an average price of $8,000.

Yesterday, when Josh was buying a car, she also saw one at that used car dealership... That used car dealership is one of the largest in Chicago.

The seller initially asked for $9,000, which was twice Josie's current net worth.

The exorbitant price forced Josie to back down.

That's right. They're both used cars, but while other used cars depreciate, this one appreciates in value.

Moreover, the car in the garage is a silver-gray convertible, full of artistic flair.

In comparison, Josh's own 1934 Ford 730 De Luxe was practically industrial junk.

Josie fell in love with this imposing luxury car at first sight.

I never imagined that an underground car dealer selling stolen cars could actually get his hands on this kind of vehicle.

The fact that the Cadillac V16 is only available through customization means that its owners are definitely wealthy and powerful, since the high price of $8,000 is not something that ordinary rich people can afford.

Therefore, theoretically, people who can own this kind of car are definitely not someone that ordinary car theft gangs can afford to mess with, and car thieves wouldn't dare to steal it.

Therefore, the appearance of this car in such a place is quite abrupt.

However, Josh didn't care. Since he had seen the car here, it was his.