Los Decas
Written by: Tahoma
As infamous as the 'butchers of the border' are, I wouldn't have thought they'd merrit an article in a data-cache about North Carolina of all places, but little did I know they had enough tangental connections to current forces in Raleigh that our decker though it was worth pestering me to write 'em up, so here we are. Los Decas was a cartel operating along the border of Aztlan and the CAS, primarily dealing in the businesses of narcotics and smuggling. What they lacked in numbers, they made up for in having friends-of-friends in a few of high places and a tendancy to preemptively shut down competition with overwhelming violence. It's hard for me to acknowledge any moral highground from a megacorp, especially Aztechnology, but considering the things Los Decas did over the years, we can probably say it was for the best that the Azzies caught wind and promptly got rid of them.Structure
Los Decas followed a clan-based structure, with Don Victor and his Decas family acting as don and giving orders to underboss-famliies, who in turn deligated to subordinates further down the chain.
Public Agenda
Money and power were all the cartel cared about. Their public messages promised peace if they were left to their business, and overwhelming retaliation if anybody tried to stop that.
Assets
At its height, the cartel had their territory locked down tight. Three compounds off the grid, a fleet of armored luxury cars and all the weapons you could ever need, including ties to manufacturers and distributors of military-suplus gear.
History
Los Decas had their start in the Fifth World as an offshoot of the larger Milenia Cartel. Instead of being a cartel in their own right, they served as Milenia's dedicated attack-dog, a group of dedicated sicarios and enforcers to deal with any impediments to business while the rest of the cartel could focus on making money. Its head enforcer and namesake Juan Decas took pride in the efficiency of its attacks, making it a point of pride to make an attempt on a target within 24 hours of the order regardless of distance or defence.
The beginings of Los Decas' independance started after the Awakening, when goblinization and the birth of metahumans really started to kick in. The Milenia cartel saw the coming of magic and trolls and orks as a blessing, but Juan Decas was a stickler for tradition, in the 'way of things' of regular human joes like him being on top. An argument broke out, someone's nose got bit off, and then Juan realised: He was in control of the majority of Milenia's tough guys, why should he have to kowtow to anyone else?
Milenia's execution was quick but brutal. Twenty-nine seperate assassinations and multiple overwhelming attacks on Milenia compounds and homes, all in 24 hours of eachother. The Milenia's talent of staying off the radar worked against them, as the new Don Juan was able to completely usurp a small chunk of their territory and assets with most people simply assuming the Milenia dissapeared as a result of Aztlan's crackdowns. The myriad of hitmen and legbreakers under Juan didn't have the same expertise in the finer parts of the business as their predecessors did, but with a monopoly on violence in the area they had plenty of time to work out the kinks.
For a few decades, Los Decas cartel ruled their tiny chunk of the border with a distant but iron fist, even as Mexico became Aztlan and the government became Aztechnology they were able to stay under the radar for decades, and refused to budge from their small but consolidated seats of power or consider changing the old cartel traditions they treated with an almost religious significance. Everybody in the cartel was living it good, as long as they were an unawakened human male.
When Don Juan finally kicked the bucket from a drug-induced seizure in '55, his son Julius inherited the position. Because Julius was only in his late twenties at the time, he didn't initially inspire much confidence in the older underbosses, who wanted him to take a more hands-off approach to leading the cartel until he had more experience under his belt. But Julius' ego didn't take to that one bit, and like a snarling chihuahua surrounded by german shepards, he wanted to get rid of any doubts about his worthiness as heir of the cartel.
We all read up what happened next. Rival cartels had their cargo swiped mid-transit, uniunists and undersireables were made into horrific examples and the local authorities were threatened into silence instead of bribed. The kid calmed down afterwards, but the damage was already done: Los Decas spilled enough blood and caused enough outcry that they couldn't even hope to maintain any sense of secrecy. Aztlan was now aware of a cartel that was killing citizens, dealing in arms and most dammingly, cutting into their profits.
Disbandment
Things quickly went downhill for Los Decas from that point onwards. Aztlan began rooting in force, cartel-members were leaving in droves and some outright made attempts on Julius' life to curry favor with ORO. And to top it all off, Julius got divorced.
In the end, Julius didn't even get the satisfaction of going down in a blaze of glory. He was arrested in Dallas, having tried to make off with what little he could take with him in his Mercedes, extradited back south and supposedly still plays stool-pigeon for Aztechnology in exchange for protective custody. What little else remained of Los Decas split up, either finding new lives far away from Aztlan or getting picked off one by one. Hard to feel sorry for any of 'em, really.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
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