The SandsBoard

They got themselves killed. I will never forget that night... they came into our home and shot everyone. My pa... my ma... all of them... except for me. Instead, they decided to take me in as a sort of prize, mostly as a way to torture me further. Shortly after they took me, they put me to into use. I was forced to clean the windows, help to transport the booze, and become a human shield when the opportunity presented itself. I didn't receive a penny for my work, of course. But eventually, the boss decided that after my years of service I was worth more as a full member than as a slave, and so he promoted me, even though they murdered my family, I embraced my new coat and gun. I grew more important by the day, mostly because I was a good shot. I remember that I could hit a cop from a mile away, not so much nowadays... Anyway here's where New Jersey and Atlantic City come into place... See the bootlegging business was getting short in the city, and even though we controlled it, we had to fight a lot for it. A lot of "good" men fell by the day, in fact during the last raid before what happened, we lost 20 men, which was 20% of our force. The boss decided it wasn't worth it anymore, and instead, he decided that we should focus on the business of illegal casinos and speakeasies instead, and so that's how we moved to New Jersey. The original sin city...

It took a while, but we did made it into the city. We rapidly set up a grandiose "club" called the "Little Guinea" and it had everything, it truly stood up to the name, it had a casino, a bar, a theater, heck it even had a library with over 700+ books. If that's what you were searching for, and it grew successful, crazy successful. Stars from all over the country came over... from the likes of Benny Goodman to Louis Armstrong, it was insane! however as basic physics might tell you, everything that goes up must go down... and we went down badly. See prohibition ended in 1933. Just two years after we decided to open this ludicrous thing, as fewer and fewer visitors came, the boss got desperate and begun to cut back on spending, including paychecks. I personally didn't care, since I knew I wasn't into this for the money, but those that were... let's say, they didn't take kindly to this. Common sense would tell you to never mess with people with guns, but I guess the boss didn't truly believe that somebody would ever betray him. Well, the fatso got what's coming to him, and Tony Marcelo his right-hand man was the one to do it. He shot him during a meal we had to discuss budget, everyone celebrated, myself included. Not because of the money, but because the guy was a scumbag, sadly Tony wasn't any better, in fact, he was ten times worse. See the guy was a total paranoid even before the boss ever reduced our salary. Logically killing the boss himself wasn't his best move, as it only increased his paranoia that people would betray him. To give the guy credit though, he was right about it in a way, but it was as a result of his actions. Whatever that's for later, here's what happened when he took power.

First he began ordering guards including myself to act as a "shadow guard" which would check anybody who came into the casino, including our own members, then he closed off the library as it was "useless" in his eyes, and the most outrageous of all. He began organizing "death parties" you can imagine what those were... but if you don't here's what happened in a nutshell. If he invited you, you didn't appear in the morning, you simply disappeared. As a result, getting invited to one of his "parties" was basically a death sentence. You either ran away and risked dying, or went and well... died. The invitations grew and grew, to the point, even members from the "shadow guard" were getting invited... and it finally came to me. He invited me, I'm not sure which was his motive... but I knew I wasn't doing that. I wasn't going to die to a megalomaniac, after surviving what I did, but I wasn't going to foolishly attempt to escape, instead, I was going to end this madness.

I sneaked up from the barracks we lived in, and ran as fast as I could to the "club" after I reached it, I forced open the door and threw all of the alcohol into the floor, then I pulled a cigarette and burned it all. The whole club went down in flames and in a mere 20 minutes, it was gone burned to ash. You might ask why I did this aside from a burning desire for "revenge" the reason is simple, it would work as a distraction to give me enough time to escape, but I also knew it was burrowed time because I knew that even if I went all the way west, he would still follow me... follow me wherever I go, and indeed he did. Just as I went into New York, 3 of his goons went in for the kill, they didn't have very good eyes, to say the least, after that I knew I couldn't stay in a place for so much time, and so I moved into my old home Pennsylvania our old stronghold... my old home, even though I had to leave fast. I knew I couldn't do it without paying respects to the place I spent my happiest days in. My home. I thought I would find it there... but sadly... it wasn't there anymore, it was another building now. I left sorrowful but determined that I would not give up, I would not give up for my family, and so I went... 20 years I spent here and there, I earned the nickname "Vaquero" across my travels, due to how I acted and my incredible aim with a gun, not gonna lie I kinda liked it, during that time I also gave up on alcohol and cigarettes, since those things remember me too much of days, I rather forget... Anyway, eventually, I came here to Nevada, as I was tired of traveling and wanted some stability in my life, besides it has been 20 years, Tony might as well be dead now.

So, I settled, not in Las Vegas, but in a small mining community called Boulder City. I lived there for 10 years, working as a miner mostly since that's the only thing the city has, other than well... nothing. Work was hard, but I got around. Sadly my vision got rugged due to all of those years underground, so I got out of it, with no income left. I took my gamble and moved into Las Vegas. It remembers me a lot of my old life... but I figured it was the only thing I could do at the moment, so I applied with the boss and well, the rest is history.