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Influenced by mafia movies from later generations like The Godfather, and legendary mafia figures such as Al Capone and the Five Families, it's easy to fall into the illusion that Italian-Americans had it easy in the U.S.
But the truth is quite the opposite.
For a considerable period in the U.S., the most unwelcome group among white ethnicities wasn't the Irish, as many believe, but the Italians.
The fact that mafia bosses in nearly every gangster movie are portrayed as Italians is, in itself, a form of discrimination.
Moreover, in the film Green Book, the police refer to the Italian protagonist as "half a black," which aptly reflects the awkward position of Italians in America at the time—"half a black" being a derogatory term used by Anglo-Saxon Americans for Italians. This term accompanied Italian immigrants from the 19th century through the mid-20th century.
So why did Italian immigrants, who once came from the cultural center of Europe, fall into such a predicament?
The reason is simple—most Italians who immigrated to America came from southern Italy.
Just like the North-South divide in the U.S., Italy also has its own.
Northern Italy is developed in industry and commerce, making it relatively wealthy. In contrast, the South is mountainous, resource-poor, and thus quite impoverished.
Wealthier Northern Italians who chose to emigrate generally did not consider the U.S. as a destination; instead, they opted for South America.
Because the Italian immigration wave was relatively late compared to other European countries, by the time Italians started arriving, most of the resources in the U.S. were already divided among existing ethnic groups. The wealthy Italians preferred the broader opportunities in South America, where they could hire natives and Black laborers to clear land and become bosses themselves.
In contrast, poor Southern Italians had no capital and thus chose to migrate to the wealthy North America to work for the already-developed Americans.
In other words, the Italians who came to America were mostly poor and poorly educated.
Furthermore, as Southern Europeans, Italians had more Latin features, with distinctive appearances.
Combined with their tendency to cluster in communities, work in industrial jobs, low status, and lack of education, these traits made them easy targets for negative stereotypes.
This also meant that for a long time, Italians in America could only do the lowest-level jobs and had no access to the upper classes.
Chinatown next door faced the same plight.
Especially during President Coolidge's administration, there was even a 1924 Immigration Act specifically targeting Italians.
Though not as well known, the impact of this act on Italian immigrants was on par with the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act.
Naturally, this stirred discontent among many Italians.
So what to do?
Obviously, turn to the underworld.
The mafia system from Italy was directly transplanted to the U.S.—and it worked surprisingly well. In addition to being discriminated against, Italian-Americans now had a new label: gangsters. Feared but even more rejected.
It was precisely because of this reputation that Josh felt a certain apprehension about entering Little Italy but after much hesitation, Josh decided to go in.
After all, the car he had bought that noon was stolen by the afternoon—he had never been this humiliated in his past life but before entering Little Italy, Josh pulled up his collar to cover his face and walked into a gun store across the street.
Well, gun stores are abundant—sometimes, that's convenient.
To enter the infamous Italian district, Josh figured a single M1911 pistol wasn't enough. He needed at least a Tommy gun and a shotgun.
Even though he was a time traveler and had never served in the military in his past life, Josh did know how to use guns.
Be it submachine guns, automatic rifles, bolt-action rifles, or shotguns, Josh had handled them all at shooting clubs when he traveled to Russia, and he had gone hunting in the Far East, spending quite a bit of money on it.
Even in this life, his former self had been taken hunting by his father before he passed away—though he only used rifles.
So while not an expert, he could handle a gun.
Soon, Josh picked out a classic Chicago typewriter—the Tommy gun—plus a Browning M1918 automatic rifle, a shotgun, and matching ammunition.
Including the gun cases, it cost him nearly two hundred dollars.
After purchasing the guns, Josh carried the case into a deserted alley, assembled and loaded the weapons, and stored them in his system's warehouse along with the case.
Only after all this did he stroll into the Italian district.
Perhaps because it was broad daylight, the streets of Little Italy, though somewhat dirty and filled with the smell of sewage, weren't swarming with idle thugs. It was quite different from the black districts of later generations.
Though many Italians joined gangs, most were hardworking laborers just like those in Chinatown, busy making a living during the day.
It was only at night that things got messy.
So all of Josh's preparations turned out to be unnecessary.
But after patrolling two streets and failing to find the car, Josh felt a bit discouraged—it seemed the thief had only passed through Little Italy.
Just as Josh was about to give up, he suddenly spotted the rear half of a car peeking out from the entrance of an old warehouse.
Looking around and confirming no one was watching, Josh walked toward the warehouse.
As he got closer, he saw the full rear of the car—and the unmistakable scratch on the tail.
At that moment, he also heard voices coming from inside the warehouse.
"Listen, Joe, this is just a Ford from over a decade ago. Even on the second-hand market, it would only fetch two hundred bucks at most. I still have to deal with moving the parts, so the best I can give you is fifty—for the scrap. If you don't like it, go find someone else," said a slightly hoarse voice with a thick Italian accent.
"Come on, Mike, you know how tough things have been lately. At least toss in ten more bucks, just ten. What do you say?" replied a somewhat slick voice.
Sneaking closer, Josh easily saw what was going on inside the warehouse.
There were two people—one was a middle-aged man with a Mediterranean haircut and oil stains all over, and the other a short, slightly chubby young man.
From their conversation, it was clear: the young man was the car thief, and the older one specialized in buying stolen vehicles.
The piles of car parts scattered throughout the warehouse confirmed it was a chop shop.
Besides his stolen Ford, there was another car parked inside.
Josh's eyes were quickly drawn to it.
It was none other than the legendary Cadillac V16.