Media

Crescent City Sentinel

The paper of record in Crescent City is the Crescent City Sentinel. Once an esteemed institution, the paper was seen rapidly declaring circulation in recent years, and has turned to more and more yellow journalism as a result. The Sentinel has become known for running shocking crime stories, cheap political exposes and pages of cheap graphs and cheaper commentary.

Police

Crescent City Police Department

CCPD has long past caring about large swathes of the city they've sworn to serve and protect. Often welcoming the relative peace offered by mobsters, and dismissive of the needs of poorer neighborhoods, CCPD officers are often more interested in surviving the night than preserving law and order. Preserving something which doesn't really exist in half of the city seems like half a joke anyway. The police department suffers not os much from corruption as apathy, and the scores of unpaid overtime receipts from an often uncaring city government doesn't help. What little activity there is against crime in Crescent City is usually reserved for close to election time when the city government wants their numbers up.

CCPD Tactical Negotiations Team

If you want to shoot people on the taxpayer dime and play with guns, the TNT is for you. Little more than a collection of glory boys with high powered guns, the CCPD Tactical Negotiations Team is the CCPD's version of SWAT, and is known for overusing lethal force and having a fun time doing it.

Underworld

The Irish Mob

One of the most influential underworld groups in Crescent City is the Irish Mob, a loose confederation of Irish crime syndicates based out of River North, peppered with names like the O'Donnel Cyndicate, the South Side Boston Boys and the most infamous known simply as The Crew. Owing their influence to control over the flagging steel and railroad industries, as well as a firm foothold in the sin and drug business, the Irish Mob plays a tune that a lot of the city dances to, directly or indirectly. However, with the failing influence of the unions and the general despair of the city, newcomers have started threatening Irish territory, from black crime lords in Weston to Mafia imports to from New York City.

The Polish Mob

A lesser set of organizations than the aggressive Irish mob, the Polish Mob has existed in Krosno for decades, but has little influence in other parts of the city. The relationship between the two groups has vacillated between outright warfare in some years to makeshift alliances especially against outside threats. The Polish Mob runs some light drugs and meth, but mainly focuses on armed robbery, protection rackets, fencing and car theft. Often, certain organization specialize - The Elk Street Posse specializes in arms dealing and gunrunning, while the East Side Uglies runs protection rackets and gambling.

La Cosa Nostra

The Mafia has never seriously threatened the power of the Irish and Polish mob organizations in Crescent City, and has lost in most of its clashes with the well-entrenched Irish mob. However, small Mafia groups do exist in the Italian neighborhoods in Old City, and the Italians maintain their traditional hold on the local Teamsters union. Occasionally, the Mafia sends in young troublemakers to try and break the Irish hold on the Railroad Unions. It's unknown whether they really mean to be a serious threat, or are simply disposing of annoying garbage.

Weston Syndicates

At least three large black criminal syndicates operate out of Weston, waging war over the drug business in the area as well as the South Side and Old City - the Monroe Organization, the Freeman Organization and the Green Organization, as they are known by narcotics officers. Aligned with various gangs throughout the city, these are the flashy newcomers to the Crescent City underworld, and are the main targets of what police action there is against drug dealers. Some think this may be the doing of Irish mobsters trying to keep their rivals in check, but others just do the math - it's easier to convince a jury that blacks are drug dealers than whites and Crescent City's government needs whatever convictions it can get.

Street

The Northies

The largest and most organized gang in the city is by the far the Northies. Making their home on the streets of River North, the Northies are closely tied to the Irish mob, and do soldier work for them throughout the city. Known for their brutality and use of torture, the Northies are not to be tangled with, and are known to go after other gangs simply for not showing proper respect.

Weston Gangs

Weston gangs are overwhelming black, and carry names like the 8-Ball Crew, the 52nd Street Boys, and the like, while there are also factions of national gangs like the Crips and the Bloods. Tied heavily to the Weston Syndicates, these gangs are their soldiers on the ground as well as a terror on the streets at night. The gangs in Weston rose to prominence in the 70s and 80s, as street drugs became profitable and urban blight hit full steam.

Hispanic Gangs

South Side has recently seen an influx of Hispanic gangs, transforming once quiet immigrant neighborhoods into decaying ganglands. The Hispanic gangsters vary from the sons and daughters of immigrants who have become disillusioned and desperate in Crescent City, to ambitious arrivals from groups like the Mexican Mafia.

Skinheads

The poverty and despair of Colesville along with its proximity to the ghettos of Weston has given birth to a large number of Neo-Nazi and skinhead gangs. Some of them rose as responses to Weston violence spilling into Colesville intent on protecting their neighborhoods, but most of them deal in meth and other hard drugs amongst the desperate white trash of the Colesville area.

Bikers

Pennsylvania is biker turf, and Crescent City in no exemption. But the middle-class weekend warriors aren't seen much around Crescent City, at least not more than once. The Crescent City biker gangs are serious business, smuggling drugs and running guns throughout the city. Many biker gangs have a lot of crossover with the Colesville skinhead groups, but are mercenaries more often than not, working as hired muscle for underworld bosses and shady characters.

Industry

The Yard Unions

Railroad Workers United and the related unions are one of the most powerful forces in Crescent City politics, and are soundly under the thumb of the Irish mob. The Yards still thrive as a transportation hub, and the threat of a strike could seriously cripple what remaining industry and jobs are in the city.

United Steelworkers

Waning in power for decades, the United Steelworkers union still maintains control over Crescent City's floundering steel foundries. They haven't threatened a strike in years, but maintain strict control over their union shops, inhabited mainly by aging greybeards.

United Mine Workers of America

Another battered giant, UMWA has influence over the coal mines surrounding Crescent City. Faring better than United Steelworkers, the union is still suffering from increasingly vicoius union breaking by mine owners, lax safety and other disasters waiting to happen.

Transportation

Crescent River Transport Corporation

Founded as the Crescent River Railroad Co. as a subsidiary of Admiral Steel, it was spun off as the steel corporation's fortunes wavered. Crescent City Transport runs most of the Yards, and has a contentious relationship with the Yard Unions. The corporation has been pressuring the city to crack down on the Irish mob for years in hopes of gaining traction with the unions, but to little effect.

Health

Crescent City Mercy

The only operating hospital in the city any longer, though many abandoned ones are peppered throughout the town. Crescent City Mercy is a sad place, overtaxed with gang violence and the homeless, underfunded by uncaring local and state governments, and frequently screwed over by insurance companies. The staff is jaded and overworked, and often easy to pay off. The hospital is located on the south side of Old City.