Empire of Sin News

Enough time spent around clowns, swindlers and wild animals gives a person an advantage in navigating the streets of prohibition era Chicago. Maggie Dyer ran off to the circus at a young age, taming lions and throwing knives as a way to make a living. Skills easily transferable for use on gangsters around the city.

She left school early. For her, education wasn’t gained from a stale classroom, but learned through lived experience, doing what you can to survive better than the other guy. The best part was that these lessons didn’t need her to change herself, only to sharpen traits she already had until they launched her to the top of her game.

Sullen as she may be, Maggie has a way with words. A ringleader's charm goes a long way, and she subscribes to the philosophy that anyone can be bought. Some may come at a higher price, but Maggie’s not afraid to get her hands dirty in getting that price down. Along with the help of some caged friends, she can negotiate most everybody to accept her terms, and her terms only. It’s a good cop, bad cat scenario and no one's lived to get the better of them yet.

The decision to take up permanent residence with her circus in Chicago’s White City means more than just the entertainment of civilians. Maggie is set on broadening her horizons in enterprise, starting with a few rackets and a protection ring, and ending with her as Chicago’s Number One. Being a wildcard who’s completely at home in a city of renegades, Maggie’s claws are well and truly digging in.


[h2]An Interview With Maggie Dyer On A Local Radio Broadcast[/h2]


The following is a transcript of a radio interview conducted by popular Chicago South Side radio personality Gus Goldstein, with White City Circus ringleader, Maggie Dyer. The transcript was documented by the Chicago Police department on the night of the interview. Dyer is a person of interest to local P.D. and the interview serves as evidence of some recent allegations made against Ms. Dyer…

Gus: Good evening listeners. It’s a cold Friday night out there and you are tuned to Chicago’s most popular and reliable radio broadcaster, CSS AM. Tonight we have a guest talking about her growing business in Chicago’s White City. The White City circus took up a permanent residence near the city’s South Side some time ago, and it continues to draw considerable crowds to its regular shows. Here with me is the circus’ ringleader and owner, Maggie Dyer. Good evening, Ms. Dyer.

Maggie: Call me Maggie. Y’know I knew a Gus once before. Is that short for Gustavo?

Gus: No. My full name is Aengus. But please, let’s --

Maggie: Ah! Well, I knew a Gustavo. He was in the circus with me.

Gus: Charming, indeed--

Maggie: You remind me a lot of him.

Gus: Is that so? Does he still work with you?

Maggie: Nah, he passed on. Talented performer though, and loyal friend. I got his tattoo on my arm here, see? That’s him.

Dead air hiss

Gus: That… monkey on a bicycle?

Maggie: A Penny Farthing no less. Y’know how difficult that is to ride?

Gus: You’re saying I remind you of a circus monkey?

Maggie: Don’t look so offended, that’s high praise. He was smarter than most men I know.

Gus: Charming. [Clears throat] Let’s get to your um, vocation. As ringleader at the White City circus, your stature in this position is most unusual. Would you care to tell our listeners about it?

Maggie: Unusual? How’s that? Every circus I know has a ringleader, Gus.

Gus: Of course, I’m sure, but the position is mostly reserved for men, is it not?

Maggie: …I get it. [Sniffs] Much like your position as “Radio Speaker Guy”, huh?

Gus: Indeed.

Maggie: Then, I guess we’re just two anomalies to the rule, ain’t we?

Gus: [Coughs] Very humorous Ms. Dyer.

Maggie: Who says I’m kiddin’?

Dead air hiss

Gus: W…w…why don’t you uh, tell us how you found your way into the circus?

Maggie: I got into it young. It seemed to suit my personality more so than school ever could. That and the elephants were nicer.

Gus: And… they just let you in?

Maggie: Believe it or not, Gus, they did. Circus folk are a welcoming bunch… until ya cross us. Then it’s a whole other story.

Gus: I don’t doubt it, Ms. Dyer. Tell me, what was your act when you joined?

Maggie: Oh, I didn’t have an act for a long time. Nah, it’s a long way from the bottom to the ringleader’s coat. I started in backroom detail. Cooking, cleaning, shovelling shit, all that nice stuff.

Gus: Please, watch your profanity Ms. Dyer. This is a live broadcast.

Maggie: Awh Christ, Gus. How much starch you eatin’ every day to keep ya this stiff?

Gus: [Clears throat] Moving on, how did you breakthrough to performance?

Maggie: Well I got a pretty dab hand with a knife from cutting all those carrots for so long, and one night some schmuck came snooping around our camp for God knows what. Yours truly pinned him to the latrine wall from ten feet. Presto, Dyer’s Wheel of Death made it to showtime.

Gus: That’s… quite a sensational story.

Maggie: You having a hard time swallowing it, Gus?

Gus:[Clears throat] Your story is very entertaining. I believe you are an entertainer through and through.

Maggie: Alright, how’s this for entertaining?

Ruffling sound then a distinct ‘Click’.

Gus: Ho now! Ms. Dyer, I don’t see why you’d feel it necessary to bring a knife to an interview.

Maggie: You kiddin’? In this city, you need to bring a knife everywhere.

Gus: Indeed, w…w…well that’s where we’ll uh, agree to disagree perhaps.

Rapid thudding noise.

Maggie: How’s this?

Gus: [Voice shaking] Splendid, Ms. Dyer. Now please stop. You are ruining a perfectly good desk.

Thudding noise grows faster.

Maggie: How’s this? Now I ain’t even looking.

Gus: [Raising voice] Please, before you take a finger off.

Thudding noise stops.

Maggie: Alright. You wanna do a boring interview, fine. Where were we?

Gus: I…I don’t quite recall. I wonder uh, what is it that makes your form of entertainment so attractive to city folk?

Maggie: People wanna be thrilled, Gus. This is just another way to do it. And it’s suitable for the whole family.

Gus: And what must your family make of it all?

Maggie: White City Circus is my family, so y’know, they’re pretty supportive.

Gus: Hardly what one would deem a conventional family. Tell me, do you ever think you’ll…settle down?

Dead air hiss, then Maggie can be heard mumbling off mic. It is barely audible but sounds like she says ‘Strike two’.

Gus: How’s that, Ms. Dyer?

Maggie: Look, I’m a businesswoman first and foremost. Anything beyond that is irrelevant here.

Gus: Ah that’s right. I’m glad you brought this up, your ventures go beyond theater.

Maggie: That they do. I’m also heavily involved in… public relations around the city.

Gus: That’s what you call it, huh? Are you aware of some of the allegations made against you?

Maggie: Allegations are just that. I got nothin’ to hide, and I ain’t entertaining folks’ opinions and rumors about me.

Gus: This goes a long way beyond opinion, Ms. Dyer. Some of the accounts are uh, unsavory to say the least. They’d be of great concern to good citizens in this city if even an ounce of them are true. Allegations of violence, conspiracy to commit fraud… I even heard you linked to accounts of intimidation through the use of wild animals.

Maggie: [Sniffs] People sure do have crazy imaginations. Our animals ain’t wild, they do just what I say.

Gus: Perhaps you’d like to take the opportunity to set our good listeners straight?

Maggie: Look, this whole city is a goddamn circus. There’s wild animals and clowns everywhere. They’ll run riot without a ringleader like myself to keep everybody in check, cracking the whip, making sure it’s a smooth show. I don’t think that should be held against me.

Gus: That answer seems a little uh, rehearsed, Ms. Dyer. Am I not the first to raise such a public concern?

Dead air hiss.

Maggie: [Sighs] Your wife get you that tie, Gus?

Gus: Uh, matter of fact she did.

Maggie: She blind?

Gus: What? No…[clears throat] We’re going off--

Maggie: You got a little somethin’ on it. Let me just…

Ruffling sound.

Gus: What the--[grunts] Let go of me[choking noise]--
More grunting sounds off mic, then a loud thud. Maggie can be heard laughing.

Gus: [Off mic and shouting] What is the meaning of this?

Maggie: Ladies and gentlemen, your stuffy presenter is a little tied down at the moment--

Gus: [Off mic] Pull the knife out at once.

Maggie: Pull it out yourself, I’m broadcasting here. As I was saying boys and girls, if you wanna witness more high brow entertainment like this, with your own eyes, get down to White City circus. Running shows four nights a week and two on Sunday.

Off mic grunting then a loud tearing sound.

Gus: [Off mic] Ugh, you ruined my tie.

Maggie: I did ya a favor.

Gus: Is this any way to conduct yourself in a live interview? [Heavy breathing] I brought you on here to promote your circus--

Maggie: Nah, you brought me on here to look down your nose at me and try to catch me out for something I’m accused of. I’m the one promoting my circus. Entertaining the masses, using you as a clown.

Gus: This is an outrage. [Heavy breathing] You have squandered your opportunity to--

Maggie: Ah save it. People know where to find me.

Gus: Ladies and gentlemen, [coughs] my sincere apologies. We will promptly go off air until this interruption is resolved. Do not adjust your sets, a weather report will follow.

Click sound. Dead air hiss.

End.


Watch the Chicago Chronicles video on Maggie Dyer here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In the last Chicago Chronicles stream, Capone and the crew ran into Stephanie St. Clair. What will happen this week? Find out as we head to Chicago on Thursday, at 17:00 CEST on twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive!

Stephanie St. Clair is a well-dressed tornado, blown into America from an island in the Caribbean called Martinique. The whirlwind she unleashed when she arrived on the streets of Harlem, somewhere between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three, carved a path of annihilation and domination, unmooring well established gangs from their foundations and flattening anything that came up against her.

St. Clair earned her riches and her nickname, “The Queen of Numbers,” through policy banking rackets in Harlem. With a title like that, it’s no surprise that her contemporaries describe her as aloof, though Stephanie has never forgotten where she came from. Her work benefits herself first, of course, but she never hesitates to give back where she can. She is vocal against injustices and quick to remind people of their rights. Her philanthropic nature ensures that those she’s helped will have her back when she calls on them.

Despite this, Stephanie has always had more of a “do it yourself” mentality. Anyone unwise enough to move in on her territory must be prepared to watch as she lays their crumbling empire at their feet. She has no qualms about doing the dirty work herself either, and in fact, relishes it. Rather than diminish her involvement in any destruction, she doubles down, taking out a newspaper advertisement stating her responsibility for it and warning antagonists not to go any further. After a spat with a New York mob boss that wound up with said boss dying in hospital from a gunshot wound, St. Clair sent a telegram to his bedside that simply said: “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

Enforcing your own law on cease-and-desist cases is the kind of badass disregard that owns cities before too long. Chicago, as far as Stephanie is concerned, is primed for new leadership. It has just the type of wildness, wickedness, and “take what you want” attitude that suits Stephanie’s mannerism, and presents a whole new challenge she’s just dying to rise to. This is something that the city’s gangsters would want to consider when making room for this newcomer. There is no enemy Stephanie will not step up to, disgrace publicly, and then brag about in the following morning’s paper. The only question is: who’s big enough to go against her?



[h3]PAID NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL THAT STEPHANIE PUT OUT ABOUT HERSELF UPON MOVING TO CHICAGO[/h3]


To whom it may concern;-

Consider this the announcement of my arrival in Chicago. Do not think for a second that you hold any more stake over this fine city than I, solely because you have lived here longer. Such beliefs will prove inconsequential in matters relating to my business ventures, and public relations there in.

In truth, I have grown tired of New York and its endless bickering for pennies. The real money lies in the future of Chicago. Some men hope for the luxury of believing I was run out of Harlem, and to this I say fairytales are for children, and you are not children, are you? Simply, I have conducted all the business that Harlem can muster, and now I have my sights set on expanding my horizons here.

There are many who believe that I am penniless. This may have been true at the start of my life, but I assure you all, that I have built myself to the very antithesis of poverty through my proud work as a policy banker. Still, attempts have been made to frame me by some of the bravest and noblest cowards to ever wear civilian clothes. They cannot touch the sensibilities or fortune of I, an honest and most upstanding businesswoman.

I have had enemies telephone my private line every night since my arrival. They said they plan to write me off, to take me for a ride that I won’t come back from. To them I say, thank you for making me laugh. I have been so busy with business of late, that I had forgotten the benefit of humor to the human spirit. Make no mistake, such threats do nothing but make me smile. They sound so silly to me. Especially coming from such simple and ineloquent men. Now, they say they will report me and say that I carry a gun in my possession.
There are many more things they are planning to do, but they will not be successful. I have an ear to sources that they do not have the capacity to imagine, and so I will hear about such attempts, three to seven days in advance. Let it be known here, that if such thinly constructed threats continue to annoy me over my private line, I shall publish their names and letters in this very newspaper.

Many people say how they fear for me and my safety and how I ought to be careful in how I have been conducting my actions. Please, do not fear for me. I ask only that you listen to my advice and do as I told you.

In conclusion, I will say that I do not fear anyone. I respect most everybody and shall expect respect in return. Chicago is my new home, and I plan to keep it so. It just needs some redecorating, and certain people better not get in the way of that.

MME. STEPHANIE ST. CLAIR


Watch the Chicago Chronicles video on Stephanie St. Clair here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Stephanie St. Clair is a well-dressed tornado, blown into America from an island in the Caribbean called Martinique. The whirlwind she unleashed when she arrived on the streets of Harlem, somewhere between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three, carved a path of annihilation and domination, unmooring well established gangs from their foundations and flattening anything that came up against her.

St. Clair earned her riches and her nickname, “The Queen of Numbers,” through policy banking rackets in Harlem. With a title like that, it’s no surprise that her contemporaries describe her as aloof, though Stephanie has never forgotten where she came from. Her work benefits herself first, of course, but she never hesitates to give back where she can. She is vocal against injustices and quick to remind people of their rights. Her philanthropic nature ensures that those she’s helped will have her back when she calls on them.

Despite this, Stephanie has always had more of a “do it yourself” mentality. Anyone unwise enough to move in on her territory must be prepared to watch as she lays their crumbling empire at their feet. She has no qualms about doing the dirty work herself either, and in fact, relishes it. Rather than diminish her involvement in any destruction, she doubles down, taking out a newspaper advertisement stating her responsibility for it and warning antagonists not to go any further. After a spat with a New York mob boss that wound up with said boss dying in hospital from a gunshot wound, St. Clair sent a telegram to his bedside that simply said: “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

Enforcing your own law on cease-and-desist cases is the kind of badass disregard that owns cities before too long. Chicago, as far as Stephanie is concerned, is primed for new leadership. It has just the type of wildness, wickedness, and “take what you want” attitude that suits Stephanie’s mannerism, and presents a whole new challenge she’s just dying to rise to. This is something that the city’s gangsters would want to consider when making room for this newcomer. There is no enemy Stephanie will not step up to, disgrace publicly, and then brag about in the following morning’s paper. The only question is: who’s big enough to go against her?



[h3]PAID NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL THAT STEPHANIE PUT OUT ABOUT HERSELF UPON MOVING TO CHICAGO[/h3]


To whom it may concern;-

Consider this the announcement of my arrival in Chicago. Do not think for a second that you hold any more stake over this fine city than I, solely because you have lived here longer. Such beliefs will prove inconsequential in matters relating to my business ventures, and public relations there in.

In truth, I have grown tired of New York and its endless bickering for pennies. The real money lies in the future of Chicago. Some men hope for the luxury of believing I was run out of Harlem, and to this I say fairytales are for children, and you are not children, are you? Simply, I have conducted all the business that Harlem can muster, and now I have my sights set on expanding my horizons here.

There are many who believe that I am penniless. This may have been true at the start of my life, but I assure you all, that I have built myself to the very antithesis of poverty through my proud work as a policy banker. Still, attempts have been made to frame me by some of the bravest and noblest cowards to ever wear civilian clothes. They cannot touch the sensibilities or fortune of I, an honest and most upstanding businesswoman.

I have had enemies telephone my private line every night since my arrival. They said they plan to write me off, to take me for a ride that I won’t come back from. To them I say, thank you for making me laugh. I have been so busy with business of late, that I had forgotten the benefit of humor to the human spirit. Make no mistake, such threats do nothing but make me smile. They sound so silly to me. Especially coming from such simple and ineloquent men. Now, they say they will report me and say that I carry a gun in my possession.
There are many more things they are planning to do, but they will not be successful. I have an ear to sources that they do not have the capacity to imagine, and so I will hear about such attempts, three to seven days in advance. Let it be known here, that if such thinly constructed threats continue to annoy me over my private line, I shall publish their names and letters in this very newspaper.

Many people say how they fear for me and my safety and how I ought to be careful in how I have been conducting my actions. Please, do not fear for me. I ask only that you listen to my advice and do as I told you.

In conclusion, I will say that I do not fear anyone. I respect most everybody and shall expect respect in return. Chicago is my new home, and I plan to keep it so. It just needs some redecorating, and certain people better not get in the way of that.

MME. STEPHANIE ST. CLAIR


Watch the Chicago Chronicles video on Stephanie St. Clair here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Are you ready for Chicago? Ol' Scarface sure is... Join us for another Chicago Chronicles stream on Thursday with Brenda, Ian and Maciej! Stream starts at 17:00 CEST, on twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive