Keep your heads down streetside chummers, we might have a mob war brewing.

Tensions are flaring again in Seattle's underworld. Looks like six young yak soldiers, got fairly toxxed at a yak bar downtown, and headed up to Casino Corner in Everett, which is of course one of Don James O'Malley's best little money makers and a hot target for rival syndicates. The kobun started throwing their weight around, knocking employees and customers about at the Lucky 7, and generally acting like they owned the place. As you can imagine, that didn't sit well with the local familia. About a dozen soldati escorted them outside when three black sedans pulled up, and hosed the mafiosi down with automatic weapons fire. Then things really went Yucatan. Somebody, probably a mafioso, started throwing grenades and the whole place turned into a war zone for about ten minutes before the authorities got involved. Just about the time the Star showed up, a DocWagon HTR team was rotoring in, seems some sindicate boys had coverage. Some wendigo-humping slot opened fire on their whirrly-girly and it crashed head on into the Lucky 7, the resulting fuel explosion set most everyone on fire. The final body count? Sources say ten dead family men, our six drunk yaks, fifteen to twenty civilians and the DocWagon HTR team. Plus the Finnigan family is going to have to spin some pretty fine PR to get the folks back up Casino Corner for a while, not to mention rebuilding half of the Lucky 7. All the rattle that Shadowland is getting puts the players at the following scores:

The Finnigan Family:
Don James "The Hammer" O'Malley: Is doing things quiet, which is, frighteningly, not his usual style. Considering how the Commissione pulled him from forced retirement and inserted him as capo of the Finnigan Family fourteen years ago purely to take Seattle back from the Yaks, and that they forced him to retire in the first place (he was Capo of Milwaukee until '31) was because he badly neglected business in order to make war on the yaks for killing his brother (Brian O'Malley, you will recall, was Capo of Seattle from '26-'30), everyone expects the Hammer to start another war. His standing policy over turf wars with the Yakuza is summed up as "every inch of territory costs a gallon of yak blood". He transformed Seattle's mob from a Yakuza victim to violent and bitter rival. They may be behind the yak as far as biz is concerned, (hell, they have been since the teens) but the Japanese know they can't expand anywhere without paying a horrible price in blood and profits. Since the running mob war of '43, there's been a nice comfortable stalemate between the two syndicates, with the Shotozumi Gumi on top, and the Finnigans snarling at their heels.

The Shotozumi Gumi:
Hanzo Shotozumi, Oyabun of the most powerful Seattle Gumi, is also keeping quiet regarding the mess at Casino Corner. Hanzo is an old-school yak who came in from Chiba and cleaned up after the Schism of '43 that ousted the Koreans and birthed the Seoulpa Rings. The word "inscrutable" may well have been coined to describe this man. He never gives anything away that he doesn't want to. Of course it's a well known fact that gambling and prostitution, two of Casino Corner's main attractions, are the most contested spheres of business between the Yaks and the Mob, and that Hanzo would love to get his hands on that little piece of land. However, reports to Shadowland say that the toxxed kobun who started the whole thing were neophytes fromt he Shigeda Gumi, which owes alliegience to Shotozumi. Whether Hanzo authorized this attack, or Takeo Shigeda is trying to push things into a full blown war is yet to be seen. The Yaks might be cleaning house, or gearing for war in the near future.

The Seoulpa Rings:
Nobody wants trouble for the yak as badly as the remnants of the former Korean lead Gumi that got wiped away in the Schism. These fanatics will do just about anything to cause harm to Shotozumi's operation, and since all of the yak neophytes died in the gun battle, a lot of people are wondering just who was driving those black sedans.

There is definitely something up at Fuchi Seattle. Word is that the explosion at the Trine Matrixware (a Fuchi subsidiary) building downtown might have been an inside job. Regional Director Samantha Villiers (and of course high flying Richard's ex-wife), was apparently whisked away to a panic room inside the Fuchi Industrial Electronics Compound, as her personal security feared for her life. From what I'm getting, either the Trine explosion was meant for her, or it was a distraction while someone (or something) went after Samantha herself. I'm getting all kinds of rumors about this, from the Yamanas and the Nakatomis gearing up for a hostile takeover of Fuchi Americas, to Samantha Villiers accidently fragging of a local dragon somehow. Either way, word is that Miles Lanier himself is flying in on the next semi-ballistic, so if you have any runs against Fuchi in the near future, beware. Fuchi's head of security is a dangerous man.

If any of you shadowfolk were in on the hit, sorry you fragged up, and I hope you have a nice quiet spot in the NAN to hole up in for the next couple of decades.

Things are getting crazy out in DeeCee. With the impeachment proceedings complete and the new election scheduled, looks like all the psychos are climbing out of the woodwork. So far the Republicans are the only major party to officially reveal their candidate, but a whole score of minor parties and policlubs are pushing their own people for the UCAS' top spot.

The scorecard so far:
The Big Three Corporate Stooges:
Republican: General Franklin "One Nation Under God" Yeats.
Democrat: Running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Technocrat: Insider info says they're actually thinking of running VP James Booth on the "I had no idea" platform.

The Crazy People:
Archconservative: So far they've hinted at nominating Seattle's own Kenneth Brackhaven of Brackhaven investments.
Libertarian: As usual, still arguing and threatening to kill each other.
The O.R.C.: has declared that it would back Senator Peter Miller (D-Mass) if he'll accept the nomination.
The New Century Party: A bunch of Technocrats that jumped ship after the impeachment proceedings has hooked up with a bunch of university hermetics to form this group of loonies. They're talking about nominating Dr. Rosalyn Hernandez from Georgetown University.

Anyway, I'll open it up to the forums. If anyone knows of any shadowbiz running around, feel free to post it.

CC out.

Testing, testing...

Shadowland Seattle is back online for 2057. You know the rules, boys and girls. Keep to the topic at hand, keep it civil, and keep it accurate.