The restaurant Giovanni's was quite a sight to see in the quaint little town of Ponyville. It, just like the Silano House, really stood out from the rest of the buildings surrounding it. It had a very old-fashioned feel to it, with it's yellowish brown walls and visible bricks. Above the main entrance was the big green wooden sign of the restaurant's name in gold metal letterings, with the words 'Italian Restaurant' written below it is smaller lettering, and above the sign waved the Italian flag hanging from a metal pole sticking out of the wall.
The restaurant had many tables sitting outside it, all covered with red checkered tablecloths, usual things expected to be seen from an Italian restaurant. The outdoors section was the most popular spot for customers during the day, as they were usually the ones to get filled up first. Something about eating Italian cuisine outdoors in the sun just hit different, probably.
The inside of the restaurant was most popular at night, probably because it was a very ideal spot for new couples and herds to have a romantic dinner together. The restaurant had a very warm yellow light illuminating it, not too dim, but not too bright, giving it just the right mood for dinner dates. The walls really felt the inside of an old Italian building, with it's yellow and yellowish-brown colors painted onto them, and in certain areas, the walls were covered in wallpapers that depicted photographs of the many beautiful sceneries of Sicily and other spots in southern Italy, from the old colorful buildings, the green hills and cliffs, to the crystal blue sea and skies. There were many decorations on the walls too, such as many old black-and-white pictures of Italian and Italian-descent celebrities, photographs of the restaurant's founder, Giovanni Silano, and of the current owner, Roberto himself.
Past all the tables and near where the kitchen was was a door that read 'Employees Only', behind which was the room where Roberto and his men often met up, either just for a little get-together and lunch or dinner, or to discuss any business plans or problems. It was a very plain room, consisting of one long table with many chairs surrounding it, two hanging lamps above it, backdoors, and brick walls that weren't even painted over. One special feature of the room was the small kitchen resting along the wall not far from the table. It consisted of a simple stove, a sink, a few cupboards, and an empty reserved to place the cutting board. It was used by the Silano members to cook up a little lunch or dinner for themselves without using the restaurant's actual kitchen, since it would greatly disturb the cooks working there.
Today was a day where Roberto and all the important Silano Family members in Ponyville gathered for an important business meeting. Everyone took their seats around the table, with Roberto sitting at the end of table where he could see everyone, Gabriele and Ainsley sitting on either side next to him, and Vincenzo sitting next to Gabriele. The other members looked up at Roberto, and he looked back at all of them, keeping track of who sat with him today.
Next to Vincenzo was Al Pecci, a soldier who acted as the Silanos' hitman. He was a pretty quiet, round-faced man, often sporting a brown two-piece suit like he did today, with well-combed dark hair. Al was a very loyal soldier, rarely ever speaking unless he needed to, and was always quick and effecient in doing a hit. Unlike Gabriele and Vincenzo, who really made sure their victims suffered before their untimely demise, Al Pecci never wasted time or messed around. He comes in, delivers the kill, and immediately disappears like he was never there.
Across from him sat an old man in his early-60s wearing a turquoise tracksuit named, Paulie Sirico, another soldier, who was also often a partner-in-crime with Gabriele and Vincenzo. He was a thin tan-skinned wrinkled man, with two big white streaks going through his dark hair.
Next to him sat Salvatore Manzoni, also called 'Delivery Sal' by his friends and coworkers. A soldier in Vincenzo's crew who handled the deliveries of the Silano Family products, both legal and illegal. A man who wore a grey suit with a black tie, and wore a gold necklace over his tie, a fashion choice nobody around him understood, as well as several gold rings on his finger. Sal loved splurging all the money he earned, and liked making himself look richer than he actually was. He often got yelled at by Vincenzo to not spend all the illegal money he earned as to avoid suspiscion.
Finally, across the table from Roberto was Anthony "Tony Casino" Santoro. He worked under Vincenzo and often watched over their gambling rings, keeping book and kept track of anyone who was trying to screw them out of payment. Anthony was a master at gambling, and always went to Las Vegas as his favorite vacation spot. He often played in the casino owned by the Silanos, but he also very often played in every other casino he could find just to show that he could win anywhere and everywhere. It got to a point where many casino bosses suspected him of cheating and tried to teach him a lesson, but once they found out who he was with, they left him alone. Anthony did not just have a talent at winning, but he also learned every casino cheating tactics in the book in order to spot the cheaters better. A quick glance from Anthony was all that was needed to sniff out any jackass who thought they were smart enough to screw over the casino and gambling ring they were in. It made Anthony a very valuable asset for the Silanos for their gambling rings, as probably saved them from losing thousands of dollars many times.
After a few moments of silence, the large mob boss in the pinstripe suit spoke up. "Welcome, everyone. Nice to meet up like this again."
"It sure as hell is, bein' around normal fuckin' people again. These horses are such a pain in the ass to be around," Paulie commented. The old man wasn't exactly known for his cheery attitude. "You know how many times I've had the same cross-eyed mailpony crash into my fuckin' house?"
"Oh, believe me, I know exactly what you're talkin' about," Gabriele chimed in.
"Lemme tell ya somethin', Paulie," Sal spoke up this time, "these horses may be pretty weird, but they're probably some o' the least ball-breakin' clients I've ever had. I jus' still don't understand how the hell these fuckin' 'bits' they use for currency even fuckin' work! But, hey, I ain't complainin', these gold coins are fuckin' beauties!" he said as he admired a bit he held in his fingers.
"Yeah, yeah. We can discuss those kinda things later!" Roberto stopped whatever aimless coversation could've started. "Right now, I wanna focus on discussin' recent developments. I'm sure you all know why we're all 'ere today?"
The men around the table nodded and murmured 'yeah' in response.
"As you know, we've just recieved our shipment o' goods yesterday. We got the seed fa the crops we'll use fa our restaurants, which we'll grow near Sweet Apple Acres, on the property o' the Apple Family. An' most importantly, we recieved our first shipment o' narcotics through the portal. Millions o' dollars worth o' cocaine an' heroine! This'll really start the launch of our business 'ere in Equestria. Fa both the crops an' narcotics, Salvatore will be the one handlin' the shipments to the other cities we've established business in."
"You can count on me, Boss!" Sal smiled in response.
"The first shipments will go to Manehatten, our biggest hub. Then we'll do shipments to Canterlot, the to some other cities like Baltimare an' Vanhoover, and soon, anotha' city. This is where Anthony'll come in," Roberto pointed to the man sitting across the table from him. "Just like we did in Vegas, we're plannin' to open up a casino over at Las Pegasus. As soon as we strike a deal with the guys runnin' the place ova' there, Anthony 'ere'll be promoted to captain."
The men around the table all turned their attention to Anthony, all of them impressed with what they heard, and they clapped proudly.
"It'll be sad to see 'im go. That guy made me a lotta damn money," Vincenzo said after taking the cigar out of his mouth.
"Don't worry, Vinny. Maybe one day you'll be able to find some other poor gamblin' prick to do your books," Anthony chuckled.
"Hopefully he'll be less of a pain in the ass than you were," Vincenzo laughed in response.
"Something you should know about Las Pegasus," all eyes turned to Ainsley this time, "the guys running that place aren't exactly what you'd call...ideal business partners."
"What about 'em?" Gabriele asked.
"They're the Flim Flam Brothers, and those two are notorious con-artists. From what I've heard, they also have quite a bit of history with the Council of Friendship, especially with Applejack.
"The apple farmer? What the hell would two guys like that want with someone like her?"
"Well, they didn't always run Las Pegasus from what I know. They were once traveling salesponies, and they tried to take Sweet Apple Acres using this fancy cider-making machine. As you probably guessed, they didn't succeed. They tried again with some tonic and scammed Granny Smith, snake-oil salesmen style, and that old lady almost jumped to her death because she thought she was some athlete from drinking that stuff. After Applejack outed them again, they went over to Las Pegasus and worked under this stallion called Gladmane, who made them fight each other to keep them under control, until Applejack came along again and they actually worked together with her to expose Gladmane, after which they took over Las Pegasus. It didn't stop there. When Princess Twilight opened that school, they tried opening up their own friendship school to scam ponies out of their money, they had to return it all once they were found out by the Princess."
"How do you know all this?" Gabriele asked.
"I talk to the ponies around town. You should try it sometime."
"Jesus, conmen. Disgustin' assholes, all of 'em," Paulie commented. "Y'know what I do to fuckers like this? One time, my Ma got scammed by this jackass into buyin' this fake diamond ring from 'im, so I broke all this bastard's fingers an' kneecaps an' made 'im give my Ma three times the amount o' money that he scammed her out of."
"Jeez," Ainsley murmured. "Well, anyway, what I'm trying to say is that these guys can't be trusted easily. They turned on their previous boss, they've attracted the Elements' attentions multiple times, and they will side with them if the situation calls for it. I guarantee they'll probably try to screw us over one way or another sometime in the future."
"Relax, Ains. That's what ya got me for. No asshole's gonna screw me over. It's literally my job an' hobby to see past other people's bullshit," Anthony reassured with a smirk.
"Exactly," Roberto said, "once our casino is built, Anthony will be the one overseeing our business there, makin' sure everythin' goes smoothly, and no one, not even those Flim Flam Bastards, will try to fuck us."
"Shouldn't be too hard warming the ponies over there to the idea of a casino. The Las Pegasus resort owned by Flim and Flam is already filled to the brim with dumb tourists losing themselves in its endless arcades and carnival rides. The idea of an arcade where you can earn money? And for the Flim Flam Brothers, one where all their customers just give them their life savings for free? How could anyone resist an idea like that?" Ainsley asked with a smile.
"Yeah," Vincenzo agreed, "whoeva' came up with the idea of casinos was a fuckin' genius! I mean, jus' look at Vegas nowadays, all filled with a buncha demented old farts an' fat middle-aged fucks sittin' around like fuckin' zombies in front o' the machines hopin' in vain to become a millionaire while their life savin's get taken away without 'em realizin'. Fuckin' hilarious!" the fat man in the purple shirt laughed. "Still a shame what 'appened to Vegas, though. Used to be a much nicer place when us wiseguys ran it, but eva' since Howard Hughes an' all these corporations took over, it looks like fuckin' Disneyland with murders happenin' everyday on the streets," he said in a disappointed tone before taking another puff of his cigar.
"Well, that's one o' the best parts o' this project, Vinny. In a new world, we could rebuild our own Vegas, and it'll be jus' like the good ol' days when we ran things," Anthony said.
"If we can manage. These Flim Flam Brothers don't sound any different from any otha' corporate bastard out there," Roberto chimed in, before a smile crept onto his face. "Luckily for us, we've recently discovered the perfect thing that would get any greedy corporate bastard grovelin' at our feet an' doin' or bidding."
Roberto pulled up a sack from under the table and opens it to reveal a sack of golden apples, which made many of the men around the table's eyes widen and lean in for a closer look.
"Jesus Christ, it's like King Midas's daily breakfast," Paulie murmured in awe.
"W-Where did you get these?" Sal asked, who Ainsley noticed was easily the most fixated on the apples out of everyone, looking like he's seeing Heaven itself.
"Some of our guys an' a buncha ponies Vincenzo hired who were scoutin' across Equestria found these, an' we're gonna use 'em to buy out anyone we want. I mean, c'mon, who in their right mind would eva' say 'no' to these?" Roberto gestured at the fruits in front of him. "Doesn't matta' if Flim an' Flam are genius con artists who own an entire town, conmen are still greedy assholes, an' greedy assholes are some o' the easiest guys to influence."
For a moment, Ainsley noticed Sal frown and look down after Roberto said that, but a second later he shook it off and his expression returned to normal. Ainsley thought it was a little curious, but thought nothing of it.
"Anyways, back to the narcotics business," Roberto said, "our main hubs are gonna be Manehatten an' Las Pegasus. A big city, an' a sleepless vacation spot? No way, they'd turn these down. Then we have Canterlot, an' I feel plenty o' those posh elite assholes would pay good money to get a taste. Then we'll 'ave to figure out how to sell in Baltimare an' Vanhoover, an' see what otha' cities an' towns we can sell--"
"Hold on. Before you continue, Dad, I gotta say something," Ainsley interrupted, "I think there's two things we need to make sure we've thought about before we actually go through with any of this."
"An' what's that?"
"Okay. First of all, how do we even get a world that's never even heard of illegal narcotics before to wanna buy our products without dragging unwanted attention to ourselves? And second, how do we determine how much narcotics would be worth in a world where illegal narcotics don't exist?"
Everyone around the table went silent for a moment, which made Ainsley proud of himself since that meant what he said was really getting through to them.
"Y'know what? Your finook son raises a good point, boss," Sal broke the silence, pointing a finger at the feminine young man.
"You know what my name is, Sal," Ainsley said with a displeased expression on his face,
"Yeah, but you are a finook."
"But I'm the consigliere, so you should try to address me with a little more respect!"
"Alright, that's enough! Both o' youse!" Roberto interrupted before the argument could get more heated. "We're gettin' off topic! Ainsley, quit startin' a debate, an' Salvatore, watch what you say about my son! Anyways, Ainsley, those are very good questions. I've actually been ponderin' those exact things fa the past few days. It's true that it's gonna be a bit tricky gettin' a whole new world that's unfamiliar with narcotics to buy our stuff, so we gotta really approach this carefully. We gotta make it sound enticin' enough fa them to get 'em interested in buyin', but we also gotta make sure they know not to tell anyone about it, but not to the point it'll scare 'em off."
"I suppose it wouldn't be too different from tryna sell it to children," Gabriele spoke up.
"What would ya know about sellin' it to children?" his father asked.
"Well, I've neva' sold it to kids personally, but I knew some jackasses who did. Ya remember, Paulie?"
"What are ya lookin' at me for?!" Paulie asked defensively.
"I'm not accusin' you, ya idiot. Remember that one guy we whacked ova' at the river back on Earth afta' we found out he was sellin' drugs to one of our beloved chef's kids? The guy wore that dusty black hoodie, I broke 'is legs with a metal pipe, an' you shot 'im in the face an' dropped 'im into the water?"
It took a moment for Paulie to gather his memories of the event, but eventually it clicked in his mind. "Oh yeah, I remember! The guy had a really creepy fuckin' face. Paler than fuckin' Lord Voldemort."
"Yeah, anyway, while we were roughin' the guy up, I asked 'im how the hell did he even manage to convince kids to buy the stuff. I mean, how d'ya convince a kid to put a buncha white powder into their nose?"
"A lot of kids out there sniff glue all the time, Gabe. I don't think it'd be too hard convincing them to sniff a strange white powder," Ainsley told his big brother. "But we're not talking about kids here, we're talking about adult ponies. They may be ignorant to narcotics, but they're not stupid enough to just put in any strange substance into their body."
"Just because they're adults doesn't necessarily mean they're smarter about what they put in their bodies. If that was the case, we wouldn't have so many druggies out there, would we?" Gabriele retorted.
This time, it was Ainsley's turn to go quiet for a quick moment. "Okay, you've got a point there. But still, how do we advertise our stuff without drawing too much attention to ourselves?"
"Does it really need to be kept a secret? I mean, ya did say this world ain't never heard of drugs before, so it wouldn't be illegal since there wouldn't be any laws against it anyway. We could probably just sell the stuff like a regular fuckin' drug store," Paulie suggested.
"Yeah, but you're forgetting that Equestria has humans living here now too, and they'd know that cocaine is illegal and shouldn't be used. Plus, many ponies, especially all the high-ranking ones, including the Princess, have been to Earth before, so there's a high chance they'd at least pick up information that this stuff is bad," Ainsley shut down the tracksuit-wearing old man's idea down.
"And c'mon, Paulie, in a land this colorful an' magical? Why would anyone need to get high?" Sal joked.
"Stop tryna be funny, Sal," Paulie said unamused before turning back to Ainsley. "An' so what if they know it's bad? Our government knows it's bad, but the drug business is doin' just fine!"
"The difference is the Equestrian government actually gives a shit about its citizens," Ainsley retorted.
"Alright, alright, calm down. I don't wanna 'ave to keep makin' sure arguments don't 'appen on this table," Roberto said. "But you're forgettin' one important thing, Ainsley."
"What's that?"
"No matta' how good a government is, it's neva' perfect. Even the best governments won't be able to stop every bad thing happenin' in its own country. The Princess obviously would have loads o' things to do everyday. An' even if they did notice a drug problem, so what? America's been tryna fight drugs fa decades, an' d'ya think it's gettin' any betta'? Especially with all these cartels an' such? The most important thing to think about is gettin' the ponies to buy 'em, keep it unda' the radar, an' makin' sure it can neva' be traced back to us. An' I don't think it's gonna as hard as we think."
"Really?"
"Yeah. So here's the plan. Obviously, we focus our first sales in Manehatten. A big city like that is always the best place to start a business. Harder to notice, a lotta depressed assholes, also a lotta shady creeps everywhere, an' not to mention dance clubs, those places are always huge drug dens. We'll slowly introduce it there, an' it shouldn't take long before sales start to rise, we already 'ave a lotta guys who help distribute our narcotics to the streets. So we start out slowly an' let it spread, then we do the same with some o' the otha' big cities like Las Pegasus, Fillydelphia, an' Baltimare. Canterlot's one we'll 'ave to be a little more careful with since it's the Princess's personal neighborhood, so there's a much higher risk o' gettin' caught there. Then, once those are outta the way, we can try sellin' 'em at otha' places like Klugetown. I bet they'd be more than willin' to get their claws on the stuff."
"Okay, but wait, you still haven't answered my second question. How much could we actually sell our drugs here for? How much would they be worth?" Ainsley asked again.
Roberto though about the answer for a moment. "Well, like I says, I'm not too good with US Dollars to Equestrian Bits conversion. But since we'd naturally keep the price the same, coupled with the fact that there are no narcotics source available 'ere in Equestria and the fact that we 'ave to ship all our goods though the portal from Earth, I'd say we'd sell 'em fa maybe...fifty percent more."
"Fifty percent?"
"Woah, fuck! We'd be triplin' the money we already make!" Sal exclaimed.
"Don't get too excited too quickly, Salvatore. We 'aven't even started yet. But yes, we would," Roberto said. "An' as you all know, we'll be storaging all the narcotic products underneath our farm ova' at Sweet Apple Acres. All the shipments, packagin', processin', an' shipments, will be done from there along with our otha' crops fa our restaurants, afta' we finish buidin' it all. Any more questions?" the mob boss asked.
Everyone around the table shook their heads and murmured 'no' or 'nah' in response.
"Good. Guess that concludes the meetin' fa today," Roberto said, relaxing back into his seat and taking a puff of his cigar. "By the way, I 'ave some otha' interestin' news. Some o' you probably already know about it. Besides the Apple Family, my sons an' I 'ave been gettin' pretty close with each o' the Council o' Friendship members."
"No shit! You three 'ave been befriendin' these horses?" Paulie asked in disbelief.
"They're not jus' any horses, they're the personal friends o' the Princess 'erself! Which means we 'ave a good chance at gettin' close to 'er, an' it could help a lot fa the business. I struck a business partner with the horse who saved my life, Pinkie Pie, an' anotha' one with this nice little unicorn named Rarity. My sons 'ave been befriendin' a couplea them too."
"No way. You too, Gabe?!" Sal asked.
"Unfortunately, yeah. This crazy yellow bitch named Fluttershy, who runs her own personal zoo or animal sanctuary as she calls it. Apparently, she wants me to come ova' there an' help 'er take care of 'er animals with 'er. But I won't do it alone! If I'm goin' down, I'm takin' one o' ya with me! Paulie, ya comin' with me!" Gabriele pointed at the old man.
"Ohhh! Why am I the one who has to help you shovel animal shit?!" Paulie exclaimed.
"Uh, because I'm the fuckin' street boss, an' I jus' said so."
"Oh yeah, that's true..." Paulie murmured to himself. "But why can't you jus' get Sal or Al to do it?!"
"Sal's got betta' things to do than that. An' d'ya reall think I'd waste Al's talents an' energy on somethin' that stupid?"
"He don't even do much every day!"
"On the contrary, Sal. I do a lotta imporant things every day," Al Pecci chimed in, the first time anyone heard him spoke throughout the entire meeting.
"Oh, yeah? Like what?" Paulie asked.
"I don't gotta tell you."
"Ugh, you cocksucker," Paulie grumbled under his breath.
"I got to spend the day at the spa with my pony friend," Ainsley said smugly.
"The spa?! Aw man, why couldn't I just've been doin' that?"
"Cuz we can't always have nice things in life, so stop complainin'!" Gabriele ordered.
"Yes, Gabe," Paulie answered while rolling his eyes, like a frustrated bratty kid answering an upset parent, despite the fact Gabriele was around forty years younger than him.
After that whole argument, Vincenzo checked his gold watch, put his cigar out, and got up from his chair. "Well, now that the meeting's ova' with, an' it's nearly lunchtime, whaddya all say I go into the kitchen an' get 'em to cook somethin' for us?"
Everyone around the table agreed, all of them more enthusiastic than they were before.
Usually if any of the members wanted to eat, they just cooked in the small kitchen beside the table, but that's usually when there's only one or two people cooking something for themselves. But right now, for a room currently filled with eight men, it was better to just order straight from the restaurant's kitchen.
"Thank fuckin' Christ we're still able to eat meat in 'ere. I'm gettin' tired of seein' all the fuckin' horse food everywhere in this town, an' I could really go for some gabagool right now," Paulie said.
"It's capocollo," Roberto corrected.
"The correct way to pronounce it is capocollo. That's the Italian way."
Paulie stared at his boss for a moment and chuckled. "An' you say Ainsley's the smartass."