Sin Fan Laundry - 620 S French Hill St
Personalized, expert laundry service. Also a very profitable, illegal little gambling den in the basement of this place. Laundry is accepted from all comers; only Asians “in the know” are allowed into the rear gambling parlor. Two very beefy armed guards stand by the door at all times (more than one laundry customer has silently wondered about the two rough-looking Asian guys always standing there), and two more guards watch the den itself. Police have no idea about the place, but would quickly mobilize to raid the establishment if they did.
In the gambling den tempers have occasionally flared over losing bets, prompting more than one beating in the alley behind the laundry. In the cellar, below the concrete, four people are buried.
Sin Fan, the Laundromat owner and gambling boss, enjoys his dual-existence, with one foot in legitimate business and the other knee-deep in criminal enterprise. It’s rumored that Fan has contacts with Boston’s Chinatown gangsters and sends them tribute money. In return, he could call in their muscle if needed (so far he hasn’t) and also has several places in Chinatown to hide if necessary.
Sin Fan is in his early 60’s with thinning black hair going gray plastered to his balding pate. He is thin and cave-chested and smokes too many self-rolled, unfiltered cigarettes. Gold and jade charms hang about his neck, and he habitually wears loafers, white socks, tan Dickie pants, and white sleeveless (“wifebeater”) t-shirts. In colder months Sin will throw a warm gray flannel shirt over his top. Old, faded tattoos on his forearms tell of a previous life in Hong Kong’s underworld. His lined, smiling face conceals an avaricious and thuggish character. Though never a hulking bruiser, Fan is no stranger to violence and has done his share of harm with gun and knife.
Despite his criminal bent he is an excellent launderer. He is also deeply superstitious. Fan’s two grown sons serve him as enforcers and help him run the Laundromat and the gambling den. His wife Chun, a chubby Asian woman in her late fifties, is aware of her husband’s activities but turns a blind eye and ear to all.
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