America 1919

Never mind Donnie's counter-move, Archido Bowen, as one of the trio in Atlantic City this time, if he made no progress on the investigation into Donnie, not only would he avoid the harsh criticism of the IRS, he would also be branded as inefficient. This would certainly have a massive impact on their prospects for promotion within the IRS.

Now, Donnie's offer to provide Archido Bowen with one or two people to turn effectively added more merit to Bowen's accomplishments.

In this way, even if later on Donnie managed to counter-kill Coshek Kevin, he would have completed the task assigned by the agency, ensuring that there would be no trouble on his end!

"Thank you, Mr. Block, but there's no need to rush with the candidate. I think it would be best to hand him over to me when you've finished your arragements against Coshek Kevin and have begun your counter-attack!" Archido Bowen said earnestly.

Donnie nodded his head, adopting Archido Bowen's suggestion!

"During this time, you should avoid appearing at the Surf Hotel. If there's anything from my end, I will have Robert get in touch with you. If you have any findings, just leave the information at Block Tavern on the boardwalk. Robert will then bring the details to me!"

Given Archido Bowen's delicate position, it was indeed inappropriate for him to be seen frequently at the Surf Hotel, even for secret meetings. Who knows if the IRS only sent their group!

After Archido Bowen left, Donnie asked Robert, "Aside from Archido's news, have we received messages from anyone else?"

While Donnie had sent 20 people into various government agencies, they were not distributed one per institution but rather several per institution.

So, the IRS had not only Archido Bowen but four others as well.

Robert, aware of Donnie's concerns, said, "Although the IRS is being very cautious with the investigation into you, sending out quite a few people, I think they will definitely take your influence into account, so the mission must be secretly executed and not disclosed within the IRS. Not all our people may be aware of this matter.

Plus, with Archido coming to Atlantic City, he was able to inform us of this matter in the shortest time. Others will surely need time, but don't worry, I will keep an eye on this matter. I believe that if other people are involved, we will hear about it in the next couple of days!"

Donnie nodded and said, "It's not that I don't trust them, but the human heart is unpredictable and these people have been outside our direct influence for a long time; it's difficult to ensure their continued loyalty. So you must always keep an eye on their movements!"

The heart of an undercover is hard to control. In "Infernal Affairs," when Liu Jianming had the chance to climb the ranks within the Hong Kong police, his first thought was how to break free from Han Chen's control, and in the end, he directly eliminated Han Chen.

Although that's just a movie, it well portrays human nature—no one wants to be controlled by others for an extended period, especially when they have the potential to become powerful. That's even truer for these people!

So even though Donnie had implemented measures to control these individuals, he had never deluded himself into thinking that they would certainly stand by his side in the future. Seeing this clearly, he was better able to steady his mindset and control them using various means.

Or perhaps offer a degree of recognition, shifting from dominance to cooperation, or promise greater benefits, but of course, the most important aspect in this process was to continually elevate his own status.

Only by maintaining a high position, always one that others look up to and cannot do without, can the loyalty of these people be assured! Find your next read on My Virtual Library Empire

Robert said, "I understand!"

.

Time flies, and 1921 passed by, bringing the arrival of 1922!

Donnie, having concluded the ABC defense battle on Wall Street, returned to Atlantic City and hadn't left since, instead focusing more on the management of the Surf Hotel. Of course, Donnie didn't let the business in New York run wild; almost every other day, someone from New York would come to Atlantic City to report ABC's operational status to Donnie.

Additionally, Mashang Evans would report the company's operational situation to Donnie via telephone and letter, and seek Donnie's opinion on major projects.

The going public of ABC, though somewhat turbulent, saw an undeniable success, with the company's market value stabilizing around 150 million US dollars by now.

Such a valuation might not count for much in the future, but at that time, it was certainly a towering figure.

This situation caught Wall Street's eye to the potential for commercial radio. In fact, Wall Street had seen the potential when ABC was preparing to go public, with plenty of capital flowing into the industry then.

However, with ABC's value rising steadily, it made the industry even more heated!

As the country's second-largest commercial radio station, KDKA also announced after the New Year they planned to go public this year, although a specific date had not been set.

Yet, such news alone had already caused a rush of capital into KDKA, allowing it to complete two rounds of financing within three months and start laying its broadcast stations across the US.

Faced with this development, Mashang Evans took a special train from New York back to Atlantic City to consult with Donnie on how to respond!

But Donnie remained much calmer.

For a media-based commercial radio station, the true core is content!

Indeed, for any media—newspapers, commercial radio, or even future television and internet—success might hinge on various forms of hyping, but the true core is always content!

Without good content, any promotional method can only be a flash in the pan.

KDKA might seem to be developing well, but what they lacked was content attractive enough for their audience.

In Donnie's view, KDKA's current popularity was nothing more than a usual Wall Street tactic: hyping up a company to the extreme before it goes public, with the goal of gaining investors for a quick profit post-listing.

So Donnie instructed Mashang Evans to just focus on creating quality content and to keep an eye out for any content changes in KDKA, ignoring the rest.

What truly pleased Donnie was that after a period of investigation, Robert finally brought back some information about Coshek Kevin. Moreover, these details contained something that interested Donnie!