Tiospaye

## Tiošpaye in the Zone

   **-Affiliation:**The local *tiwahe* of the Tiošpaye  (the so-called 'Lakota Mafia'), responsible for all their operations within the Zone .

**-Leadership:**The *Misko-ziibi*tiwahe is led, inarguably, by the infamous Whiskey Jack (*Wiisagejaak*). Always has been. Rumor on the street is that when William Whiteclay reached out to form a tiwahe in the Red River area, he already found Jack operating there and brought him into the fold. Whiskey Jack does business mostly through his four lieutenants: Stands Alone Billy, Popcorn, Half Face Woman and Little Mica.

**-Territory:**The Misko-ziibi tiwahe controls all Tiošpaye operations in the Zone south of Winnipeg  (which is, by agreement, territory of the Algonquian 1323 or 'Mishibijiw Warriors' gang). In Region 3 of the Zone, their center of control is actually across the border in Maitomoni'ohe (West Fargo), although they operate in certain places and control certain operations, especially in the fields of magic, contraband and drugs, both inside and outside of Fargo by special agreements with the Underberg Family.

-**Membership:**While technically anyone loyal and useful enough can, with Whiskey Jack's approval, become a member of the Misko-ziibi tiwahe, most of their members are Anishinaabe-enrolled citizens of the Oceti Sakowin, usually with some sort of previous military or prison experience.

**-Rackets:** The main business of the Misko-ziibi in the Fargo area is selling contraband on the black-market, electronics, telesma, weapons etc. They also control gambling rackets in several parts of Underberg territory, leaving theft, extortion, prostitution and most other criminal activities to the locals. The Tiošpaye are especially famous for 'ohuyuhmunpi' a game played with two whirling bone pieces (commercially available as plastic, although serious players still use bone).

**-Legitimate Business:** The Tiošpaye controls a lot of land on the Oceti Sakowin side of the border, but within the Zone, their primary legitimate enterprise is their major interest in Scheels, the sporting goods and outdoor equipment supplier. After the Awakening, Scheels was hit hard when their home store was caught within the magical accident that created Wasted Acres and the elements that would become the Tiošpaye helped them survive the worst of the Ghost Dance, in return for a hefty percentage of the company in return. It is an association the protects Scheels businesses while providing the Tiošpaye with a secure channel to smuggle and store guns, as part of Scheels extensive hunting and sporting goods departments.

**-History:**The lore of the tiwahe usually traces itself back to the native fighters who occupied West Fargo during The Awakening ,  and there is some evidence that Whiskey Jack was there for that event, it wasn't until well after the Treaty of Denver that native gangs in the area came under the umbrella of William Whiteclay 's growing 'Tiošpaye' (or 'extended family') operation, an expansion into what was then UCAS territory that caused the Whiskey-Callahan War, the biggest gang war in the area's history, between the Tiošpaye and the Mafia, which ended with a sit-down between Whiteclay himself and Don Leo Catarone, head of the Twin Cities Combination. The agreement forged there allowed the Mafia to maintain primacy in Fargo, using the middleman of Ryan 'Buddy' Underberg and in exchange the Tiošpaye gained favorable terms as the Mafia's sole telesma supplier from the Oceti Sakowin, an arrangement that exists to this day.

**-Relationships with other organizations:**

* **The Twin Cities Combination**: There's no love lost between these two organizations, but they are bound to their agreement mostly through mutual profitability.
* **Underberg Family :**What holds for the Mafia holds for their representatives in Fargo , the Underbergs. Old Buddy Underberg always went out of his way to play nice with Whiskey Jack and his crew and they even worked together on a few business deals, but that relationship has gotten chillier with his death and the rise of his widow Florance 'Ma' Underberg , who is a more militant and less reasonable presence. They've been to war at least once with Ma's organization, which was again settled by the Mafia in the MSPlex, and led to her stepping back to give more of a leading role to her children.
* **Invierno Cartel (Winter Cartel "Cowboy Mafia"):**There's an old saying about a fox giving a scorpion a ride and being surprised when it stings him. That is not a mistake Whiskey Jack makes with this most northern of the Ghost Cartels , while they are allowed, for a sizable cut, to operate in Tiošpaye territory and often protected from Underberg retribution, the Tiošpaye still keep a close eye on them. They're business partners, not allies.
* **Heathens MC****:**There is a long-standing history of alliance between the Misko-ziibi tiwahe and the Heathens, largely because of a long-standing personal friendship between Whiskey Jack and the Heathens' founder John Mist-Calf, a friendship that has survived the occasional dispute over territory and the Heathens sometimes hiring themselves out to the Underbergs as muscle.
* **Lake Devils :**The Lake Devils are technically a separate tiwahe of the Tiošpaye, independent of the Misko-ziibi, but because of the strong economic ties and Whiskey Jack's infleunce in the agreements that are the underpinnings of their smuggling trade, they have effectively become the top smugglers under Whiskey Jack's control.
* **Tamanous** : If there's one thing that the Underbergs, the Winter Cartel and the Tiošpaye can all agree on, its the shoot-on-sight order they have out for the ghoul organ-leggers.
* **Moorlocks :**Years of dealing with (largely-Tamanous) ghoul rivals have given Whiskey Jack, and consequently the whole Misko-ziibi tiwahe, a distrust and distaste for ghouls and most people infected with the Krieger strain of HMHVV know not to stray too far west over the River to avoid Tiošpaye attention.
* **The Jacks**: Long ago and far away the Jacks apparently messed with Whiskey Jack and Jack messed with them back. Since that bloody day, the Jacks have avoided The Jack. They fear him, they tell bloodthirsty fairytales about him, they make little shrines and leave sacrifices to avoid his wrath and he lives as a part of their schitzoid folklore. Whatever it is he did to them, they never say and they'll never forget.
* **Gangs :**The Tiošpaye are forever reaching out to the various small gangs of the Zone, hoping to gain some influence and weaken the Underbergs' iron grip on the area.

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