| Predictable Leftovers The smaller 'Organised' gangs in Denver's FTZ are worthy of mentioning, because when grouped together, they count for a good 1/2 of the Zone's drug and chip traffic. There are the Mexicans, operating mainly in the Aztech Sector because ACS likes to get their jollies beating on anyone who looks like a gringo. There's the Triads, who stick to (how predictably) China Town mainly, and run their chips, pills, powders and low grade protection rackets. Dont think they're pussies, though, because here in Denver the Traids have a heavy reliance on magic, much more so than the big guns in town. They generally go for magic first, and everything else after that. This fits with the rumour of a dragon in one of the three gang's ranks, which are the White Lotus, the Golden Triangle, and the Red Dragon. No prizes for picking which gang the rumour is supposed to be about. The rest of the market in vice is generally made up of independant operators and other such 'Unorganised Crime', street gangs selling a good time to make sure their personal stashes are kept stocked up, and whatnot. |
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| Stick Jockies Finally, we come to the smugglers. Odd how you'd think that they'd be number 1 in the FTZ but they're all the way down here? The smuggler groups tend to be small groups and independent operators...crazy folk with fast cars or trucks with secret compartments, or even the T-Bird maniacs who run the Pipeline. Whats the Pipeline, you say? The Pipeline is what the T-Bird guys call the Rocky Mountains. Due to the poor radar coverage, this is generally the best path across the americas to use for airborne smuggling. Of course, the governments know this and keep an eye on the place too, so its getting harder to blast along there. Denver is on the Pipeline, so its a very important city. Another reason it is so important is because its the nexus point of several countries, too. So many borders to cross, so little time! Smuggling is its own little world full of shifting political alliances. There's essentially two types of smuggling : Blackmarket (totally illegal/stolen/sector-illegal) gear, and shadowmarkets (legal gear smuggled illegally, or legal gear destined for other countries where they're not legal). The blackmarkets receive the most attention from the enforcement types, the shadowmarkets are left alone to an extent. This is due to the sector laws making it hard to move even legal gear around, and sometimes you'll even have t-birds moving perfectly legal gear to avoid taxes and paperwork. As well as legal sector issues, some countries are quite happy for smugglers to operate when not smuggling into their sector. It helps them economically, either through buy goods and taking them elsewhere, or illegal goods weakening the other sectors. The best example of this is Pueblo's sector, who pretty much look the other way if you're smuggling anything bought in Pueblo to somewhere else. They dont even mind if you blast through their sector taking gear to Aztlan, but careful, they're very anal about you taking gear FROM Aztlan. |
| Tune in next issue, when our very own SOF reporter, Mike Lerando, publishes his article, "A night with the Sinatras" |
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