After hours of discussions with Benedetto, he wasn't as disappointed as he expected himself to be. The Fanucci crime family lost a lot, but still managed to keep some of their main businesses such as; restaurants, a brew at the outskirts of the city, a warehouse at the south city port and an antique bookshop in the central district. Most of the goods in the warehouse and equipment in the brew had been stolen during the crisis. The only good news was the $3 million in savings from the family account. It seemed that the family worked on a very strict hierarchial system which all the money made by the family was passed and belonged to the boss with his soldiers working for nothing giving in return. This was the major reason for dissatisfaction amongst the members and the cause of the family's downfall. Leo planned to change all of that when the time came, but he currently had to think of a way in which to use this money, in order to gain enough returns to support the family and allow it to achieve a basic structure for management, future development and growth of the family.
They were currently lacking a lot in man power so lots of the business ideas he could come up with could not be undertaken by the family. He wasn't really hopeless because he had a very big advantage; reincarnation. The technology and social structures of the people in this world was very solid and developed but the economy was neglected because countries only focused on territorial and military might and development. This in turn created a global open market for anyone to explore and easily monopolize many aspects and parts of the market which led to the appearance of various tycoons and flourishing of different crime families within the confines of the law, which means, it looked like they ran legal businesses but they didn't and the law could not touch them.
With his extensive business knowledge and an economy with resources and potential nobody cared about, he was practically a fish in water, but he couldn't really play his biggest cards due to the family's lack of man power and talents to control and manage the business ventures he had thought up. They needed something small, easy to manage, but still able to bring back huge returns for future funding and expansion and as he kept on going through the information before him he noticed something quiet peculiar. He got an idea and it fit the criteria for what he was looking for, but he still had to do further research and gather more information on the topic to be sure of it's value to the family.
He quickly got up and picked up his coat heading out. He informed his uncle about his plans and got into the car with the bodyguard assigned to him. It was a youth that looked to be in his early twenties. The youth got into the drivers seat then turned around to ask,
"Where to boss?"
"The best bar in the vicinity would do quite nicely", he replied while asking,"What's your name and how come you didn't join the others in looting and leaving the family?"
"It's Antonio boss. I was originally an orphan picked up by the previous head. He saved my life and help me get revenge against the people who killed my parents. I gave my life to the head and promised to return his kindness any way I could"
"Oh!? But the head's dead and you are free of your promise, why did you still stay even after that?"
"It was a promise to the family not just the head, and beside, the man saved my life and gave me a new beginning, I believe that I owe him that much loyalty even after his death; protecting and taking care of what he cherished the most in the world"
"Doesn't that mean you should also swear a new oath of undying loyalty to both me and the family", said Leo with a smirk on his lips at the young man's answer to his question.
The car came to a sudden halt at the side of the road, and Antonio turned around grabbed Leo's hand and kiss his ring before saying,"Se mai dovessi disonorare la famiglia o andare contro i suoi interessi, la mia vita andasse persa". ( Translates as: If I ever dishonour the family or go against its interests, let my life be forfeited)
Leo was quiet surprised, but he still managed to reply to this oath saying," Accetto la tua avena e la tua lealta". (Translates as: I accept your oath and loyalty)
The car soon started again and continued its journey right into the city entertainment district. With a bit of happiness and loyalty brimming from Antonio's face due to his oath which was accepted by the new boss, he did not notice the slight glint of an idea flicker in the depth of Leo's eyes as he laid against the back seat of the car looking through its window waiting to arrive at their destination. And unaware to both individuals that their little demonstration would come to be known as; the 'Giuramento di Lealta', placed as the highest honour in the family and a chance to become a made man working under the 'Undead' Leonardo Fanucci.
..................
After a drive which lasted for an hour, the car finally made its last stop in front of a bar called the 'Gentlemen's Meet'. It was a classy bar, but was stilled open to all sorts of individuals and thugs, but even with the mixture of so many different and disagreeable people there were hardly any incidents taking place here, this showed the prestige and authority wielded by the owner. It was actually an information relay post for the Morretti family used to gather, support and deal with the various gangs around and to expand their influence in the area. The Morretti's were currently the ruling family over all other families in the city, except the north Luciano family. And with a major control and influence on all activities and businesses within the city.
As Leo got out of the car and stepped through the doors with Antonio right behind him, everyone seemed to stop what they were doing to take a look at the two new characters who came in. Noticing it was just some rich (not recognizing who they really were), they lost their interest in the new people and went back to their businesses. Leo walked up to the counter to place his order with the middle aged bartender who seemed to recognize him show him a slight more level of respect as compared to the other customers. He ordered the best alcohol they had and found for themselves a table in a corner of the bar, with Leo taking off his coat before taking his seat next to Antonio. He could feel subtle gazes from a group a few tables away checking them out. They seemed to notice the expensive suit he was wearing and the pocket watch he liked to carry about. He just choose to ignore them acting as though he didn't notice their stares, while also observing those in the bar as they waited for their order.
Right after they had their seats another person came into the bar. He was a very unique individual in a bar such as this one, made up mostly Italians and some group of Russians who continuously downed their rum like water while laughing hysterically at jokes told to them by one of their group members. The guest seemed very interesting to Leo because he was an American teen who looked like a nerd with his rectangular glasses and his rough and unkept hair. He also seemed to be carrying something rapped in a brown piece of cloth as he walked up to the counter and tried to get the bartender's attention, only to be ignored, but that didn't stop him as he kept being persistent and tried to present what he had rapped up to the man. By this time one of the server girls finally arrived with their order and Leo was now more interested in the bottles before him than the boy. He tasted all the drinks but none of them could compare to the whisky and vodka from the earth he was from, the alcohol concentrations were so small it would take almost six bottle to get someone tipsy at most. He was glad that his conjecture was at least true, because from the information he was able to get, the memories of the previous Leo and the fact that the bottles before him were of the best quality alcohol in the whole state, he realized the brewing techniques of this world could only make grape wines with low alcohol concentration and nothing more. But with his knowledge on distillation he could revolutionize the entire alcohol industry with distilled liquor, there was only one problem that bothered him. He needed someone who was very knowledgeable in wine making and could take charge of the production process while he ran family activities.
It was then he noticed the commotion at the bar between the teen that just walked in and a huge bear like Russian man. There was a broken bottle with shards around the floor rapped in brown cloth at feet of the boy, and the Russian man was laughing disdainfully at the boy before him, who was trying to act tough although he was obviously scared. Leo moved closer to have a look at what flowed out of the broken bottle cause it looked rather familiar to him but was of very poor quality to the original thing. When he got closer he could hear the people talking and giggling at the scene and was able to understand what was happening. The boy had still been trying to get the bartender to pay the slightest attention to him when the Russian came to pick up another round of orders for his table. He was drunk and the boys constant pestering got him really annoyed, so he grabbed the bottle from the boy an threw it to the ground and warned him against trying to sell fake goods while he was picking up his orders.
By now Leo was already beside the broken bottle, when he bent over with his finger dipping into the small puddle and tasted it. Immediately his eyes sparkled at the interesting thing the boy walked into the bar with.