>>I think he's also spot on in predicting that
>>Chessani/Osip/Blake?/Catalast? are all in cahoots in slowly
>>muscling Frank out of Vinci.
>
>They aren't necessarily in "cahoots", but each is directly or
>indirectly responsible for Caspere's death and Frank's
>decline. Velcoro's tailing of Blake and subsequent beatdown of
>Rick Springfield highlights the different groups at play:
>
>1. Osyp (the Russian) + Blake (Frank's #2)
>2. Mayor Chesani + A.G. Geldorf + Vinci P.D.
>3. The Catalyst Group
>
>Additionally, Tony Chesani (the son) and Ben Caspere (the dead
>guy) are/were apparently liasons between the groups, and were
>stockpiling blackmail materials against Catalyst/politicians
>to leverage in their own political ambitions. And it would
>seem that a Mexican criminal organization was brought in to
>manage many of Vinci's illicit economies.
>
>Prior to the start of the show, Catalyst and the Mayor's group
>(along with Frank) were colluding in the creation of devalued
>land through waste dumping in order to produce the
>rail-corridor. Osyp was brought in by Frank as an investor in
>development of said land.
>
>At this point, it seems like each group is fighting to
>maintain dominance over the others, with Geldorf + P.D. likely
>in possession of the blackmail materials (as per episode 2).
>Osyp seems to have moved into the territory and is taking
>advantage of the sex trade operation and possibly expanded
>that into human trafficking.