The man didn't know the full extent of the abduction operation, but he knew enough to give Ashley a general picture.
According to him, the White Serpent Brotherhood had spent the past few years recruiting aggressively. Most of their recruits came from small-time gangs operating throughout the Red District—men accustomed to doing dirty work for anyone willing to pay.
Then, the White Serpent began buying establishments and rapidly established a foothold in the district. They operated clubs and restaurants and even ran a loan-sharking business. On paper, everything was legal. In practice, every enterprise skirted the edges of the law.
They absorbed both large and small gangs from the surrounding districts and commercial neighborhoods, resolving the usual territorial disputes by bringing everyone under a single organization.
Some resisted.
However, against an organization as powerful as the White Serpent Brotherhood, the smaller groups never stood a chance.
