Dimensional Trader in Marvel

patreon.com/AHumanMadeMOFO.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Influenced by various mafia films such as The Godfather and legendary figures such as Al Capone and the Five Families, it's easy to develop the illusion that Italians have it easy in America.

But the reality is quite the opposite.

For a long period in American history, the least favoured white ethnic group was not the Irish, as many might assume, but the Italians.

In almost every Mafia film, the Mafia boss is typically portrayed as Italian, which in itself is a form of discrimination.

Moreover, in the film Green Book, the police refer to the Italian-American protagonist as "half a Negro", which illustrates the awkward situation of Italians in America at the time - being called "half a Negro" by Anglo-Saxon Americans became a derogatory term that followed Italians from the 19th century to the mid-20th century.

So why did immigrants from Italy, once a cultural centre of Europe, find themselves in such a predicament?

The reason is simple: most Italian immigrants to America came from southern Italy.

Just as the US is divided into North and South, Italy has a similar division.

Northern Italy is economically developed and relatively wealthy, while the south is mountainous, resource-poor and generally poorer.

Wealthy Italians from the north rarely chose to immigrate to the United States, opting instead for South America.

As the Italian wave of immigration came later than that of other European countries, the distribution of resources among different ethnic groups in America was already established. For example, wealthy Italians preferred to go to South America because of the greater opportunities there, employing natives and blacks as labourers while taking on managerial roles.

Poor Italians, on the other hand, lacked capital and chose to go to the more prosperous North America to work for already established Americans.

This meant that Italians arriving in the US were primarily uneducated, impoverished individuals.

In addition, as southern Europeans, Italians have closer blood ties to Latin groups, which makes their physical appearance markedly different.

Combined with traits such as a preference for communal living, working-class status and low levels of education, these characteristics easily led to negative associations.

As a result, Italians in America were long relegated to the lowest paid jobs and denied access to the upper echelons of society.

The Chinese in neighbouring Chinatown faced similar problems.

In particular, during President Coolidge's administration, a special immigration law was passed in 1924 targeting Italians.

This law may have been little known, but its impact on Italian immigrants was comparable to that of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Naturally, this caused considerable resentment among many Italian Americans.

What to do about it?

The obvious answer was to turn to organised crime.

The existing Italian mafia simply moved its operations to America, and the results were surprisingly effective. In addition to facing discrimination, Italians now acquired a reputation as gangsters, which both intimidated and further alienated them.

Under the influence of this notorious reputation, Josh naturally felt a sense of fear as he approached the Little Italy neighbourhood.

Nevertheless, after much hesitation, Josh decided to enter.

After all, his car had been stolen just hours after he bought it, and he had never experienced such humiliation in his life.

Before entering Little Italy, however, Josh adjusted his collar to cover his face and went into a gun shop across the street.

Gun shops are plentiful and sometimes quite convenient.

To enter the notorious Italian district, Josh felt that an M1911 wouldn't be enough; he needed at least two Thompsons and a shotgun.

Although he was a time traveller and had never been in the military, Josh knew how to use weapons.

In his previous life, while travelling in Russia, he had practised on shooting ranges and had even hunted in the Far East, spending a considerable amount of money doing so.

Furthermore, even in his past life, Josh had gone hunting with his father before he died, although he had only used a rifle.

So while he wasn't an expert with firearms, he could at least handle them.

Josh soon settled on a Thompson, the mob's favourite, along with an M1918 Browning automatic rifle, a shotgun and ammunition.

He spent almost two hundred dollars.

After buying the weapons, he ducked into an empty alley, assembled the firearms and stored them in the system's warehouse.

Once that was done, Josh calmly walked into Little Italy.

Perhaps because it was daytime, the streets of Little Italy seemed a little dirty and disorganised, with a smell of sewage, but there weren't many idle thugs around; it was a far cry from the notorious neighbourhoods of later generations.

Although many Italians were involved in organised crime, as in Chinatown, the majority of the hard-working lower-class residents were busy making a living during the day.

It was only at night that the area tended to become chaotic.

Josh's preparations were therefore unnecessary.

But after checking two streets, Josh couldn't find the car and was a little discouraged when he realised that the thief had only passed through Little Italy.

Just as he was about to give up, he suddenly spotted the back of a car poking out of the entrance of an old warehouse.

Josh glanced around to make sure no one was watching before he headed towards the warehouse.

As he got closer, he could see the entire back of the car, complete with the distinctive scratch.

It was then that he heard voices coming from inside the old warehouse.

"Listen, Joe, this is just an old Ford from over a decade ago. Even on the second-hand market it would sell for two hundred, tops. I still have to deal with the joints, so the best I can offer you is fifty. If that doesn't satisfy you, find someone else," said a gruff voice with a thick Italian accent.

"Don't be like that, Mike. You know how hard it is to find work these days. Come on, add ten dollars, just ten dollars. How about it?" said another smooth sounding voice.

As Josh cautiously approached the warehouse, he could easily make out the situation inside.

There were two men: one was a middle-aged man with a Mediterranean hairstyle covered in oil stains, and the other was a slightly overweight, short young man.

From their conversation it was easy to deduce that the young man was the car thief, while the middle-aged man specialised in selling stolen cars.

The various car parts scattered around the warehouse confirmed that this was a hub for the stolen car trade.

As well as his old Ford, there was another car parked inside.

Josh's attention was soon drawn to this other vehicle.

It was a famous Cadillac V16.