6469/Massacre Gangland Blues: Massacre Debrief

Massacre Gangland Blues: Massacre Debrief
Date of Scene:	12 February 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Captain Quaid gets a briefing about the Punisher's return to New York; mercenary massacre included.
Cast of Characters:	Frank Quaid, Punisher

---

Frank Quaid has posed:
Captain Frank Quaid types away quickly, firing off emails to his superiors for the morning briefing. Sanitized, neat, ready for privacy request disclosures. Then he sends a few more and requests to get some vacant positions filled. Counterterrorism Bureau was never quiet these days, but a few recent events had gotten everyone's attention. The Bureau could never sleep.

Frank checks his watch and takes a quick sip of his cold, black coffee. He barely has time to flip open his large format notebook and jot down record of a few decisions before there is a knock at his door. He looks up to see the primary investigators for the recent Crocs massacre. Organized crime was not usually Frank's remit, and his request for a briefing raised eyebrows. But something struck him about this particular crime and he wanted to be on top of it.

Punisher has posed:
It's been a while since Detective Mcclarson has been on this beat... but it's been a while since there's been a potential Punisher attack in New York. With a brown trenchcoat and a beanie, the detective is otherwise the spitting image of professional with the crisp and clean tie and laundered shirt and pants.

"Captain." He gives crisply as he walks into the office, closing the door behind himself and moving to take a seat. "First off, let's get the big ones out of the way." Both hands come up, fingers forming into a 'checklist' as he lists them of. "By all accounts and current evidence processing, this was definitely Castle. Witnesses place him on a rooftop on the apartment complex on the south side of the street, along with about 20 spent brass. He's brought his war back to New York, looks like, and the lunatic did a very good job of it." A second 'checkmark', "All ten of the block party goers are dead. Majority of them were hit by 5.56, with witness reports suggesting the weapon was a scoped M4A1. A few of them were hit in the legs and arms... but most of them have heart or headshots. Where we can place entry from the back, it's usually from 5.56."

The third finger is 'checkmarked', "third, the perps from the van were all mercenaries. We've run them through the system, and most of them have a decent 200k in the bank, along with a number of fake IDs. Most of them are from the US, but we had two Swedes at least involved."

There's a pause, "If I were a bettin' man, this all looks like a coordinated double ambush. We're still working on how Punisher managed to get wind of it."

Frank Quaid has posed:
Frank nods to Detective McClarson and gestures to the seat when the man comes in. He listens attentively to the report and makes a few quick notes. "Castle back in New York. Not what we need," Frank says with a shake of his head. "I'll put some people on trying to track him down before this gets way out of hand."

Frank holds up a cautionary hand. "I'm not saying he's our problem, the man's a serial killer but Intel hasn't classified him as a terrorist. Yet. But we'll help out. I'm worried about these mercs, though, too. Whatever they were up to was enough to get Castle's attention, and they may be my problem. Anything on who they're working for or who the target was?"

Punisher has posed:
"Nothing so far. The latest deposits were cash only to an ATM on the outskirts, and whoever did it wore a hat that obscured facial recognition, so that's a dead end." McClarson pulls out a folder and puts it on the desk from his trenchcoat, "this is where it gets interesting, though. The Crocs are small time, but Organized Crime has then pegged as being in favor with one of the Mafia families as a rumor. They've working on stakeouts to confirm that... but so far nothing. They're using new people for messengers, or they're building new networks to bypass our usual surveillance." There's a mumble, "not sure which is more concerning..."

Then, another folder is pulled out. Or rather, eight of them, "all eight mercenaries had lacerations and bruises from when the cars went out of control -ballistics confirmed Castle shot out the tires himself, on one side, by the way- and crashed. Two were killed by massive gunshots wounds from small caliber weapons when the Crocs started to shoot back, but six of them went down with 5.56 through the head and heart."

Then, he leans forward with another folder, "and get this. One of the mercs took a hostage... and Castle headshotted the perp on the spot." There's a pause as his lips purse in concerns, "There's also the bright blue light things that came up during the whole massacre. A number of bystanders swear bullets from the crossfire were bouncing off of it, protecting them."

Frank Quaid has posed:
Frank taps his pen against his notebook in thought as he reviews the material in the folders. He looks over the top of his glasses at McClarson when he mentions the blue light. "I'm not an expert on Castle, but that blue light thing doesn't like his usual. Don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it would be good to know who or what did that. CCTV show anything yet?" Frank asks, knowing that reviewing video in these crimes alone is a massive undertaking that could take weeks.

"The Crocs must be on to something, because this doesn't make a lot of sense. None of the gangs in their class could afford mercs. Look, if you get any solid leads and are doing any raids, come to me directly, I'll clear one of the Critical Response Teams to do your entries for you."

"What do you think? The Crocs pissed off their mafia patron? Or they stumbled into something way out of their league?"

Punisher has posed:
His notepad is taken out, and he runs down the list on it. After a moment, McClarson nods, "one of the witnesses thought they saw someone flying. On a broom. According to them, the figure had some sort of bright bubble envelop them before the figure flew down to the rooftop. I dismissed it at first because the witness was high... but who knows? Maybe CCTV will get confirmation." Then, he shakes his head, "I'm not expecting miracles on that angle, though."

Then the detective leans back into the chair, his lips visibly licked as he wets them, "my instinct tells me it was probably a message. You don't do a hit and run in broad daylight against a block party unless you're willing to bring down serious heat, so the mercs must have been paid very well. We have people combing CCTV, and I've been trying down witnesses. Ballistics confirm most of them were killed by Castle, at least, and I have people looking for the van he used to get away. We have a confirmed CCTV sighting of it a block away, but it just... disappears after he gets in."

Frank Quaid has posed:
Frank exhales. "You know, your average mall shooter we can deal with. But a guy like Castle, if he decides he doesn't like cops, or school kids or whatever goes on in his head..." Frank trails off. He makes some more notes while he continues talking. "Tell you what, send anything you on this... witch or hallucination with blue bubbles to Perez in Special Crimes Unit. She'll put some people on tracking them down and figuring out who or what they are. You guys are stretched enough with Castle."

Frank looks across at McClarson. "Solid work on this so far. And thanks for taking the time to fill me in. Keep in touch on this one, okay?"

Punisher has posed:
"Will do, Captain. I should have a lead on the organized crime angle in a few days, the people over there are working on finding some sort of angle on why Castle would get involved with a gang this low on the totem pole. It suggests a connection they haven't seen yet, and Castle isn't inclined to share." McClarson stands, offering his hand for a handshake across the desk, "I've worked the Castle case on and off for years now, Sir... but one thing that's stuck out is the man /never/ goes after a target without cause. He's a sick man, but he's got a crystal clear MO."

Frank Quaid has posed:
Frank stands and shakes hands with McClarson. "Let's hope he never makes a mistake, then. For everyone's sake. Good luck." Franks sits back down as McClarson walks out of his office.

"Frank Castle is back. There's gonna be hell to pay."