Lanark

The city of Lanark was a small community until the end of World War II. At that time, the government installed housing for the returning men and women of the armed forces. With the influx of people came the need for work and food. Local farming communities, such as the Village, hired men from Lanark to work the very farms that were feeding their city. Manufacturers from Port City and River Town set up plants in the area to capitalize upon the need for employment. The small town soon became a city, complete with civil service departments and the problems that come with them.

The outward image of Lanark is one of freedom and the opportunity to make one’s mark in the world. The truth of the matter is that the city is filled with corruption and a lack of true leadership. The corruption is so deep that the chief of police has let a Eastern European criminal group set up a half-way house from bringing slaves into and out of the country. Sheriff Lucas has even gone so far as to bring the magistrate of the county in on the scandal, so that the magistrate can receive monies that allow him to stay in office.

For a town gripped in corruption, there is relatively little (reported) crime. The police are swift to crack down on any criminals operating independently and the courts are swift to look the other way when cries of police brutality are spoken. What crime that does get reported is low-end, usually non-life threatening: home burglaries, drugs, some prostitution (often with men from surrounding towns and cities), and the occasional barroom fight over a woman. What often is not reported upon are those crimes related to the Chakarova family.

What is hard for Sheriff Lucas to cover up are Markus Anthony’s gang bangers that drive up from Port City to hit Tiberius Chakarova’s family. Markus has learned he can’t take the family out when they are in their countryside homes, there is simply too much security. Instead, Markus has begun targeting Tiberius’ places of business within the city limits. These include prostitution dens with foreign girls working in them. Eventually, some of the girls are picked up by reporter s or police. They end up with the police if the reporters pick them up. The police will release them once Tiberius’ lawyer arrives to bail them out or simply represent them. Once released, the girls are taken to a country home and moved out of state to another community where they can be put back to work. Markus Anthony hopes that by attacking these locations, it will either scare Tiberius and his operation away or expose Tiberius to reporters who would dig into the background of the prostitution. Thus far, neither has occurred. In fact, Tiberius is in the process of bringing more muscle from Yugoslavia to America to help provide more muscle.