The following day, I received a call from senor Blanco in the evening as expected. The man that I had met in Zarraton before then, was in Harmony City, and he was here to deal with his family's enemies. After what was a very long day, filled with events, I was happy to be on his side and not against him.
He appeared to have prepared for the task ahead, when I met him in a penthouse in Victory island he already had a crew of four men all armed to the teeth with him. Victory island was where all the foreigners liked to stay, it was indeed planned and built for them if you ask me. Our governments have a way of reserving better, well-polished things for foreigners, they choose those motherfucers over their own citizens anytime. It was seven in the evening when I got to the penthouse and the whole place was full of weapons as the Blanco's men were getting ready.
"Hello, senor Balanco," I greeted him as one of the men let me into the house, after searching me and taking my p
A hundred million dollars, converted to local currency, it was four hundred and eleven million, five hundred thousand. The first thing I did was to buy us a house in victory island, yeah, a house, a real home with a large compound, a large dining room for our big family and pool at the back, things we thought only possible in our dreams, things we and others like us were denied. Funny how they always say crime don't pay, but the ones who say this all the time are the real criminals, they are in the business of stealing destinies and murdering dreams, taking what belongs to many for themselves alone, and discouraging others to take the same steps. That is a real gangster move, if you ask me.Gangsters, hooligans, hoodlums, varmints, knave, rogues, miscreants, criminals. Those are the name they call us, but when you push even the most peaceful of men to the wall, when you allow a man's survival instinct to kick in, then you have a beast to deal with. And that is all we do, we s
Chaos, havoc, confusion, commotion turmoil, unrest, mayhem, disarray, disorderliness. No matter the word used, the theory of chaos states that everything that happens in a particular moment is an accumulation of things that's come before that time, things as little as the flapping of the butterfly's wings could cause a tsunami across the world. Bad governance and negligence of the needs and welfare of a society would definitely lead to chaos, and with chaos comes pain, violence, and irreversible societal rot. When good values are not encouraged in a society, or encouraged under pretence, then the bad ones would become popular.But in every bad situation, there are opportunities, the type of opportunities limited to the ones in charge, the way they exploit the masses. Create a problem and profit from trying to solve it, without really solving it. It was no lie what Sun Tzu said, "in the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity." I had a plan to use the opportunity of the chao
We lived in Victory Island but Hell's Gaze was still our home, it was the sit of power, and base of operations. In a few weeks the number of street soldiers we had tripled, everybody was representing and most of the residents knew who to go to when they had problems. I did what I learnt during my stay in Zarraton. Give a hopeless people a sense of hope and belonging, give them stability, and watch them follow you into the worst hell. Since stability and hope is all they ever asked for and never got. "The Badurs will help" became the hymn of the day.The house became a kind of neighborhood court, people would show up to ask for favors, or report an injustice done to them. The type of injustice that would have gone unnoticed in the past. I remember the case of Mrs. Bassy, the old woman came to the house crying with a little girl that couldn't have be more than twelve years old behind her. When they let her into the house, she went down on her two knees, tears streaming down her
If you want to dine with the devil, you would need a very long spoon. In this game, it never gets easier, and there is no fucking light at the end of the tunnel. The more power and money you get, the bigger you get, the more vulnerable you become. Gloom and a violent fate are what probably await me. I would be doomed to face this reality one day, I knew this, and I accepted it. But what transpired in-between, that was what I had the power to influence. In the following weeks after I had Bammy killed in prison, things got tense, the remaining bosses of the old council went on the offensive, they hit back at us and hit back hard. I suspected this was Mr. Sarumky's doing, he was hiding somewhere in the city, and I had to find him and end the war once and for all. Finding Sarumky would be hard and I knew it, so in the meantime, I focused on the next big boss I could find and took them out.John Akin was the most powerful of the remaining bosses, he had earlier escaped an as
There is a saying that goes "When you're surrounded by vultures, try your best not to die." I woke up in the hospital, and my hand was cuffed to the bed. The doctor stared at me from under his glasses as if he was looking at a monster. Of course, I was a monster, gunshot victims were always viewed as monsters, and it didn't matter if you got hit by a stray bullet or not, sometimes they would be neglected until they eventually die. In this case though, the doctor was probably right. I felt trapped and alone, I knew I was in trouble, and this thought was further affirmed when agent Marx walked into the room. The doctor had left after checking me for a few moment, he must have gone to inform the agent. I looked around confusingly but I could not find Chuks, fear struck me as the scene of the shooting rewinded in my mind. "He was alive... He didn't get shot," I whispered. "Hello, Mr. Badur," Marx's voice interrupted my line of thought as he walked majestica
Chuks the mute, Chuks the brute, Chuks the crazy... One of the Five Badur brothers, and the most feared enforcer of the family. He retained his role of enforcer, even when the family reached the highest level of their power because of his unpredictability and violent nature. Coupled with him having (CIPA) congenital insensitivity to pain and anhidrosis, a condition that inhibits the ability to perceive physical pain, he was the blunt force directed to the enemies of the family. So when young Kunle Badur got shot in an attempt on his life, and was in the hospital, instead of waiting for orders, Chuks took it upon himself to unleash hell on those responsible. The events that unfolded that day would be told and retold for decades. It was even given a name by the media as it was one of the most violent crimes they had witnessed, even in a place as violent as Harmony city.They came at them and missed. That was their fucking undoing. The crew that tried to take out Kunle was of co
In these streets it's the animal kingdom, if you're not a predator then you're the prey. This is what societal deterioration reduces men too, simple animals trying to survive. If you're not eating smaller animals then you are food for bigger ones. Then you start to believe that being cruel is the only option, a kind of impression that whatever is not you are definitely out to get you, Just like crabs in a barrel. All the while, the real enemies watch and get fat on your suffering and further enslave the coming generations even before they are born. Kaz wanted to get a haircut in the morning of the attempt on his brother's life, so he went down to Marley's Grove where his barber, Marquel stayed. Marley's Grove was Baraka's territory, and he should have been safe. He walked into the always busy shop, and he was immediately given a chair, the person in the chair simply stood up for him."Hello, Kaz, it's been a minute since we last saw you around here," Marquel gre
Animals are most vicious when they feel cornered. This is the simplest example of how most down trodden people in a corrupt society feel. Marginalized, and wounded spirited people, walking these streets without any hope of surviving. These people who feel so helpless, and abandoned, they are then filled with rage, and desperation. Probably full of life and dreams, but now filled with disappointments, bitterness and broken dreams, willing to do just anything to change their stations in life. They are wounded, cornered animals.I felt helpless once again, I felt the world collapsing around me, and impending doom stared me in the eyes. The first man that barged into my hospital room wielded a machete, he swung the weapon as if his life depended on it... It probably did. He was haggardly dressed, and I could smell the heavy stench of his clothes. This man was not a gangster nor was he an assassin sent to kill me, he was just an homeless man willing to do the only thing he thought
Oh, how things can change in the blink of an eye. Big Shark had been living a quiet and uneventful life in prison, serving out his time for a murder he had committed twenty years ago. But now, as he sat in his cell, he was approached by a representative of an international criminal organization – a group so powerful that they could make things happen that others could only dream of.This organization had the means and the connections to get Shark out of prison, to give him a second chance at life on the outside. And they were offering him a deal – the kind of deal that he couldn't refuse.But Shark had been in the game long enough to know that nothing in life comes for free. There would be a price to pay for this newfound freedom, and he had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't be an easy one to bear.As he weighed his options, Shark couldn't help but wonder how he had ended up in this situation. It all went back to the night of the murder – a crime of passion that had changed the course
I appreciate you guys for reading this story, and as we come to the end of this chapter in the story, I am happy to inform you that we are going to make this into a series of books, with the second book already In the works. I'll inform you when I get it signed so that we can continue the stories of the Badur crime family, thank you once again. Please drop your comments and votes. Let me know what you like, and dislike, and let us work on it together. I would love to hear from you all, let's go! . 🙂
After taking the rest of the crime bosses off the board, I decided it was time to use the help of our newfound allies, I offered Dele, the new DSS district director another career-changing opportunity when he finally helped me to get the information I needed, the identity of the men who had been gunning for me and mine. He finally gave me the files after a long look and I was surprised when I opened them, this helped when I made my plans, the final stage was the sit down with the man who led the assault against my family. I had to look him in the eyes, I just had to. So, three weeks after taking out the other bosses, I called him, he was a captain in the army, named Captain Abubakar Lawan. I asked him to meet at a restaurant downtown named Dodo and he agreed. As I sat at the table in the dimly lit restaurant, I could feel the tension in the air. I knew that Captain Abubakar Lawan would not come alone, and I was proven right as he arrived with a group of armed members of his unit. T
I knew we would have to leave town for a while at least, but I wasn't going to leave without putting the house in order. I knew I was betrayed by some of the bosses, and I wasn't going to let the betrayal slide. It would have been a nail in my coffin. I had two problems, the first one was how to punish my betrayers and the second was how to make sure that others never even try to betray me again. What came next was a sort of cleansing, both spiritual and physical... the sort of shit I needed Chuks and Akeem for. Betrayal in this game comes with a heavy price - for those who cross the line, there's a one-way ticket to the Colosseum. Just ask any ancient Roman emperor how they dealt with disloyalty - heads roll and blood spills. Loyalty is rewarded, but betrayal? That's a one-way ticket to a brutal end. After the election, when the parties and the candidates argued and battled in courts about the results, and tried to prove all sorts of rigging and criminalities perpetrated during the
They say politics is a dirty game, but I say it's just like being a gangster. You have to be cunning, fearless, and willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top. The only difference is that in politics, the weapons are usually words and the battlegrounds are mostly hidden from the public's eyes.... Well that is just until the guns are drawn and bullets fly, in these parts, the difference is not that much, elections are always full of murders and blood. As I sit in my dimly lit office, surrounded by smoke and the whispers of power, I can't help but draw parallels between the two worlds I had just started to inhabit. In both, you have to be able to manipulate, lie, cheat, and murder your way to the top. It's all about who has the most leverage, who can cut the best deals, and who can eliminate the competition with finesse.My father used to say, "In politics, you either eat at the table or you're on the menu." And let me tell you, I've never forgotten those words. They ring true
The attacks against us were not only physical, but most of our businesses had stopped, Basheeru, the leader of the bikers, my loyal friend was betrayed and killed, and the other bosses were already in hiding. Most of them were also betrayed by men close to them and they barely escaped assassination. Everything was crumbling around me, but that was not the worst of it. A blogger started publishing stories about us... He used different names of course, but the details were so accurate that all it needed was for anybody to pay attention and they would know who the publications were about. One of these publications goes... The scorching sun hung high in the sky, sending waves of intense heat across the vast lands of West Africa. The dunes stretched endlessly, mirroring the desolation that was cloaked beneath the surface. This harsh environment had become the playground of drug cartels, where illicit trade thrived under the watchful eyes of corrupt officials and desperate souls seeking fo
After hiding out in Hells' Gaze and perfecting my plans, I decided to share it with the family. "We are going to leave town for a while," I declared. They all stared at me as if I was going crazy. "Where would we go," Kaz asked. "The question is, where can't we go?" I said. "I have already gotten all of our passports ready." "But the business, everything you have built, we can't just run... This can't be it. " Akeem stood up from his chair and I could see the sadness in his eyes. "Oh, the business is going to be fine. We are going to leave the running to people we trust," I smiled. "But we are at war, and we're getting beaten, let me get the men together... We can still take this fight to them.""Oh, we are going to win this fight, but we're not going to go win it in the streets, we need to bring in the big guns, " I began to explain my well-thought-out plans. "We are going to meet with Ahmar Thubr and the DSS district officer tomorrow when they come here for their campaign, a
Sulaiman had become an enigmatic figure in the neighborhood, revered as a modern-day godfather, he commanded his men with an air of authority, as we ventured into the heart of Hell's Gaze, our infamous home. The warlords' gang, had become a tightly-knit brotherhood bound by loyalty, trailing behind him, a cacophony of voices raised in infectious chants and haunting melodies. As the people spilled onto the streets, their faces alive with fervor, it became apparent that this was more than a mere escape, it was indeed a homecoming.It was on the morrow of this triumphant return that I felt a yearning to inspect the underbelly of the neighborhood that had birthed and nurtured us and our empire. Eesha, my tempestuous flame, was by my side, her eyes aflame with a thirst for adventure. She was no stranger to the ghettos so, everything we saw didn't surprise her much. Together, we stepped onto the desolate streets, our footsteps swallowed by the decaying asphalt beneath us.Hell's Gaze, a nam
I did the things I did, and do not regret doing them. I am guilty of a lot of bad things, I am a very bad man, but I am what I am as a response to my environment. I did all the things I did to survive and push my family to a better life. Now imagine what I did when that family was threatened, I let all hell break loose, the monster free, and the chaos took over. The screeching sound of tires filled the air as the Jeep's engine roared to life, propelling us forward with an urgent intensity. Our hearts pounded with adrenaline-infused fury as we raced through the city streets, desperately trying to shake off the relentless pursuit of the DSS.The darkened alleyways and dimly lit streets became a blur as we weaved in and out of traffic, narrowly dodging oncoming cars and pedestrians. The eerie glow of the moon cast a haunting shadow over the chaos unfolding around us, adding a surreal touch to the frenzied atmosphere.Ahmad, my driver maneuvered the Jeep with a cool precision, his hands