Declan McBride
Declan picked up a stool and pulled it from against the wall so that he could sit at the table and gestured for the group to grab similar stools set to the side of the room. Putting his elbows on the table you seen the blood stains that rim his rolled up shirt sleeves. Declan didn’t own many shirts that didn’t have those telltale blood stains in odd bands down the sleeves.
"Two nights ago, Johnny brought somethin to my attention." Johnny was a shrewd old Irishmen who ran one of the renowned speakeasy The Peach Club. Declan looked at each member off the group as he talked, emphasizing some underlying gravity of his words.
"Johnny says that a man dropped off two cases o’ new booze to the back door… He says the man didn’t ask nothin fer it… Just said he’d be back later to talk afters Johnny sampled the hooch…" Declan paused and smacked his lips slightly. An annoying habit the boss had when he was excited about something.
"Johnny took the man fer a fool, but took the cases inside. Now you all know how Johnny gets… An you know I’ve asked him not to get that way no more… So Johnny gave a sample o the hooch to Ginger and Toots. They’s said it was good and so Johnny start’s sellin it…" Again with the lip smacking.
"Johnny says he’s never seen anythin like it. People ate the stuff up… They just kept comin’ back fer more n’ more. Johnny says he can’t walk two steps now without gettin asked when he’ll have more o’ the stuff. I asked aroun’ and learned that one o’ Whelan’s guys made the drop at the Peach. I had a meetin’ with the delivery man this evenin."
Declan paused and impassively looked at the group, but a glint in his eye belied his excitement.
"It seems Whelan has a new line on this whiskey. It’s a brand new distillery in some backwater ho-dump. They apparently have been makin’ tons o’ this stuff with a banner crop they had. Least ways, Whelan thinks he’s to be the sole distributor o’ this new whiskey." Declan paused again, smacking his lips and looking around.
"So… I’ve a simple task for yous. Yous’re to go straight to the source. We’re to politely tell these hillbillies that they no longer sell to Whelan, they sell to us. Manny, yer to try to set up the contract. I want this business to have all the red tape around it. Lenny n’ Mickey’re to be there if people need persuadin…" Declan turned to look at Mickey directly,
"Now listen, Mickey. I knows you’ve had some dealins with some people in the past… but that needs to stay in the past. This booze is the ticket we need to get into New York, Atlanta, wherever. We get this booze an’ the Sicilians… they’ll be beggin us to come to their hometowns. The hillbillies that started this distillery… It’s the Carmody brothers…" Declan paused, staring at Mickey.
Finally, Declan reached reached over and put his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder.
"Jimmy. I can’t go on account of the meetings I have to call. You need to go to show these hillbillies we mean business." Turning back to the group as a whole, Declan said,
"So… you tell me what you need. You leave tonight. Oh, an I had Johnny send over some of the hooch. I want you all to taste it, so we all know what we’re lookin to secure." Declan gestured to the bottle on the table.
