America 1919

John had already discussed the West District with Donnie, who, after hearing it all, had no objections whatsoever.

After all, they had previously covered in detail the potential situations that could arise in the West District and the responses that John and his team would need to make.

As long as they could take control of all the gambling houses, bars, and boarding houses in the West District, and with Sean Be as their ace undercover agent, Donnie was confident this district would soon fall into his hands.

"Boss, there's something I feel I must tell you!"

Nate sought out Donnie again, wanting to discuss the matter of Charlie Luciano, who was locked up in the warehouse and had been for several days now.

Since Nate was unsure of Donnie's opinion on Charlie Luciano, he didn't know how to handle the situation. Most importantly, whether he wanted the man to silently die off, or what else to do?

So for the past few days, Nate had only given him some water to drink, not a bite to eat!

"We'll talk about it when I come back tonight, there are more important things to do right now!"

Donnie, along with Dwight, hurriedly left The Fuli Tavern. The preliminary work for the Atlantic City Post had been completed, and it was time for Donnie to start his plan.

"Well... okay then!" Seeing that Donnie was in a hurry, Nate swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue!

Donnie, Van Olden, and Dwight once again arrived at the headquarters of the Atlantic City Post.

By this time, there were already more than a dozen staff members present, and their spirits seemed to have changed, something that pleased Donnie.

"Boss, here's the article you asked me to write!"

The editor-in-chief of the Atlantic City Post, Robinson, looked eagerly at Donnie but was also somewhat worried.

"Boss, are the sources of this news actually true or false? If it's false, then we're in big trouble!"

Robinson's excitement stemmed from the fact that the article Donnie had him write was astonishingly explosive. The Atlantic City Post was about to claim that Charles Ponzi's company, celebrated by many and already a household name in Atlantic City, was in fact a fraudulent enterprise?

He had no real European postage stamp investments at all but was using the investors' money to support his extravagant lifestyle and to pay earlier investors with the new funds he garnered.

If all this was true, it would certainly be a scandal that would rock the entire United States!

And because of the potentially explosive nature of the story, if it turned out to be false, then the first issue of the revamped Atlantic City Post would be a complete joke!

Donnie did not respond immediately to Robinson's questions and instead began reading the content he had drafted about the Ponzi scheme.

Typically, such a report would require the Atlantic City Post to dispatch someone to Boston to investigate, in addition to interviewing those who had invested in Ponzi's company.

They might even need to travel to Europe to look into the European postage stamp scenario described by Ponzi.

The whole process would take at least a few months.

But now, the article was bereft of any such thing.

All the evidence in Robinson's hands had been supplied by Donnie.

Of course, Donnie could not possibly have done everything he had talked about on his own; he just didn't have the time.

Take, for example, the interviews with several Bostonians that appeared in the article.

One worker named George Monroe shared his story, being one of the first investors in Ponzi Company. In the early stages, the company did indeed return interest as promised each month, and it was precisely because of this that George Monroe increased his investment, totaling one thousand US dollars!

Now, more than a month had passed, and the promised returns from Ponzi Company never materialized.

There were at least five such interviews with different individuals in the entire article.

Afterward, the article also stated that the Atlantic City Post had dispatched professional journalists to survey various European countries. After months of investigation, no country was found where stamps could yield the profits Ponzi claimed through business operations.

In conclusion, the article also revealed Ponzi's previous fraud in Montreal, Canada, and his background.

Throughout the report, the interviews with workers from Boston and the supposed investigations by the Atlantic City Post's journalists in Europe were all fabricated.

But Donnie didn't care about this at all. What if it was fake?

Something counterfeit could sometimes be used as if it were the real thing.

As long as Ponzi's operation was a sham, everything else would fall into place.

"Relax, this is something I have investigated thoroughly and verified before deciding to have you write it. You can be assured that the contents are true!"

Donnie assured Robinson with conviction.

Seeing Donnie so certain, Robinson chose to believe him, murmuring, "If that's the case, the furious people of Atlantic City will surely beat Ponzi to death!"

During this period, Ponzi had also absorbed a considerable amount of deposits in Atlantic City.

Donnie laughed and said, "That's not something we need to worry about. As journalists, our duty is to tell people the true thoughts about the facts!"

"Yes!" Robinson nodded, then asked, "Boss, shall we run this report as the front-page headline for tomorrow?"

Donnie nodded. In reality, it was still a bit rushed for the Atlantic City Post to release such news at this time, but there was no choice. After talking to Nucky on the phone, Donnie had learned Nucky was already preparing to return to Atlantic City.

If he waited for Nucky to come back and meet with Ponzi, once Nucky found out about the $500,000 Ponzi had invested with him, then part of that money would definitely have to be shared with Nucky.
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This was not what Donnie wanted to see.

So there was no choice but to move ahead with it.

"Show me the newspaper edition you've already laid out!"

Before being sent to the printing press, the newspaper would always arrange a preliminary layout of the day's content because there were no computers back then, so everything had to be done through manual collage.

"It's already prepared for you!" Robinson brought out the version of the Atlantic City Post that was already prepared and handed it to Donnie.

"Following your orders, boss, our Atlantic City Post is divided into six major sections: politics, economy, entertainment, sports, local travel, and advertisements. However, due to the recent reformatting of our newspaper and past circulations, there isn't much in the way of advertising content."

Donnie flipped through the newspaper in his hand. Because of the Ponzi scheme, the economy section took up the majority of the paper.

In politics, there was analysis of several candidates for the upcoming U.S. election, along with some important figures in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

In entertainment, the focus was on the upcoming Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. In addition, there was news of a Broadway show coming to Atlantic City.

In sports, the hottest event in the entire United States was baseball. At the end of last season, the New York Yankees offered Boston's famous Red Sox superstar Babe Ruth a huge annual salary of $125,000, bringing him over to their team.

The local travel section was for those visiting Atlantic City, where it would tell them which tavern had the best environment, which had the cheapest liquor, and which had the fairest casino.

Of course, there were also reports on lodging apartments and hotels.

Seeing the content, Donnie finally showed a satisfied expression and laughed, "All right, let's distribute it just like this."

Robinson, feeling very happy to receive Donnie's approval, said, "Okay, boss, I'll go give the instructions right now."

Donnie continued to instruct, "Next, make a note of the main reporting focus for the Atlantic City Post!"

"Yes!" While Robinson was happy to have just received Donnie's praise, he was still somewhat dissatisfied with Donnie's excessive involvement in the newspaper's content creation. In his view, he was the professional when it came to newspapers. Shouldn't Donnie be selling liquor instead?

However, he also knew that in front of a bigshot like Donnie, he had no choice but to obey. If he didn't, someone else would surely take his place!

Donnie was unaware of Robinson's thoughts and frankly, Donnie didn't care about them. So he continued to issue instructions.

"For the economy section, after wrapping up Ponzi's issue, shift the focus to the stock market on Wall Street, New York. Since entering the 1920s, the stock market has shown a prosperous state, and I believe this situation will last quite a long time!"

Robinson, who had some doubts about Donnie, began to take him seriously after hearing this. That's because Donnie was speaking the truth. Last year, the transaction volume in New York's stock market was very large, with six days of trading exceeding two million shares—breaking the record at that time—and 145 days of trading volume above one million shares!

Although in the middle of the year, the Federal Reserve temporarily closed the New York stock market, and many newspapers gave negative comments.

But this couldn't stop the enthusiasm of investors, so when 1920 came around, New York's stock market became even crazier!

Places where money could be made naturally attracted attention!

"Understood!"

"In the entertainment section, focus on the upcoming Miss America pageant. Assign someone to go to various cities and make sure to get firsthand information on all the contestants!"

"Understood!"

"For sports, continue to increase coverage of the Baseball League and also pay attention to the boxing ring situation. I will need this information later!"

Although Robinson didn't understand why Donnie would be involved with the boxing ring, he took note of it.

"As for other matters, you can decide what to report!"