It was 1931, and gambling'd been legalized. Before then, the games were run by locals. After 1931, the Mafia moved in. They'd had control of the gambling in Reno in the meantime, and after the relegalization they came dancing in to work on off-track betting, number-running, stuff like that. It was pretty small-time for a while: just enough to keep the money flowing due East. See, at that time the big action was elsewhere - 90 miles South of Florida to be exact. That was when Batista was running Cuba. The American Government was backing him, and to hear some say it the New York Mafia had his brown ass in their hip pocket, too. Havana was pretty happening back then, but there was more money to be made and Batista wasn't quite sure how to do it. So Meyer Lansky, who a lot of people rightfully credit as "Lucky" Luciano's financial braintrust, went down there in 1938 to spread a little of his know-how. It must have worked, 'cause after that Havana was just rolling in cash. Lots of Americans liked to go down there to spread the wealth and whoop it up, and not just the mafiosos. It was sort of like a high-stakes Disneyland for the cream of the American crop. It was a sweet deal for Lansky. He got the
chance to try out some of his theories in a place where the cops
weren't going to raid him every month or so, and he was being
put up by the most powerful man on the island, who his backers
owned like a two-dollar floozy, just to make money that he could
skim for himself! Now, they talked about Of course, by that time there was some major action of a different kind going on somewhere else. Some Kraut with a bad haircut and a silly mustache was stomping all over Europe, and here in the States, after the fun we'd had in World War One - we'd just gotten involved in the end, see, and that's one thing that we do remember - didn't want to get involved again. Then the Japs decided to turn Pearl Harbor into chop suey, and before you could start a reprise of "over there," that's where we were. 1941: ka-boom. The war came at a time when we needed the
economic boost. I guess you could say we fought our way out of
the Great Depression? Heh, sorry... anyway, Las Vegas was doing
fine all along, like I said, but while the war might have helped
most other places it was a real killer for us. It stalled growth
like you wouldn't believe. But there was this And then, of course, there was the Las Vegas
Army Air Field, opened up in 1941. It's Nellis Air Force Base
now. They made it to train B-29 gunners for the war. That same
year Basic Magnesium Incorporated was opened up, and it provided...
what else... magnesium during the war. Mostly materials for incendiary
bombs, the way I hear it. And The war was pretty interesting for those of us on this side of things. There were less men in town to get Juice out of, but overall it was good for the Hierarchy. Lots of relics came over during that time, and the ranks swelled up like balloons. Of course, guess whose ranks were swelling?
The Grim Legion. If the Civil War and The Great War Where was I? Oh yeah, after Hitler went and
saved us the bother, we were still knee-deep in shit in the Pacific.
I'm sure you know what's coming next, but let me tell you...
it's worse than you might think. On the other side of things
they always crank out the pictures of babies with their skin
burned black and show you photos of people's shadows The nihils all spewed out stormfronts and
the Spectres came running like bats out of Hell, eager to get
some more licks in. Stygia came under direct attack, as always,
but this time it was a little different. I guess the two bombs
shook things up so much that it actually awoke one of the big,
nasty things that lurk in the Labyrinth and stay asleep most That really messed things up. See, before, there was Charon up at the top of things, and there were the Deathlords underneath, and no matter what went on you could be sure Charon would put his scythe down if things got out of line. But when he was gone and the others knew he wasn't coming back, there was no deterrent against them but them, and that's no way to run a government. Yeah, yeah, that's treason, General Jim. Suck my cock. It's the truth and everyone knows it. Since then it's been seven idiots all scrabbling for loose change. No one wants to sit in the big chair because they know everyone else will screw them from behind, so they all pretend to be equals. But me, I think I got an inkling on who's got the power. Oh..., that would be telling, my friend. That
would be telling. Back |