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learned a little bit more about this city,’ Blackstone said.
    ‘So do I,’ Meade agreed. ‘We’ll talk about it over lunch.’

FIVE
    M eade had decided to take Blackstone to lunch at Delmonico’s Restaurant on Beaver Street.
    ‘Delmonico’s is the oldest restaurant in New York City,’ the sergeant said, as they approached the place. ‘And some parts of it are older than others. See those marble pillars around the door?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘They were brought all the way from Pompeii, Italy.’
    Blackstone grinned. ‘As you told me earlier, Americans just love neoclassical,’ he said.
    ‘And real classical – gen-u-ine classical – is even better,’ Meade said, smiling back.
    They entered the restaurant, and Blackstone quickly glanced around the interior. Even from the outside, it had been plain to him that this was not the kind of restaurant he could ever afford to patronize himself, and the splendour he was now confronted with only confirmed the impression.
    ‘Is the police department paying for this?’ he asked, trying not to sound nervous.
    ‘No,’ Meade told him. ‘I am.’
    They ordered two of Delmonico’s special steaks, which Meade promised were the finest steaks in the world, and when the waiter had left them, the sergeant began his lesson.
    ‘This city runs on two things,’ he began. ‘Power and money.’
    ‘That’s what all big cities run on,’ Blackstone said.
    ‘Maybe they do,’ Meade agreed. ‘But not like here.’ He paused to take a sip of water. ‘I have to start with Tammany Hall, because that’s where everything does start.’
    ‘All right,’ Blackstone said.
    ‘The Tammany Society was named after Tamanend, who was an Indian chief. It started out as a social organization, but about sixty years ago, it began getting political. The key to its power is its ability not only to get the voters out on polling day, but to get them to vote Democrat.’
    ‘How do they manage that?’
    ‘They have a political machine that would take your breath away. They started out by mobilizing the Irish vote – most of the Tammany leaders are Irish – but as there were successive waves of new immigrants – German Jews, Italians, Central Europeans, Russian Jews – they began working with them, too. You have to put yourself in the shoes of those immigrants, Inspector Blackstone . . .’
    ‘Call me Sam.’
    ‘And you call me Alex. You have to put yourself in their shoes. They’ve left their homelands behind them, and they’re in a new country where they don’t even speak the language. America is so very different, and they simply don’t understand how things work. So they go to their ward leader, who’s a Tammany man.’
    ‘And what does he do?’
    ‘He makes things work for them. If they need a pedlar’s licence, he gets them one. If they want to apply for citizenship, he goes through the forms with them. If they want a job, he usually finds them one. If they’re behind on their rent, he pays it. When they can’t afford fuel in winter, he sees to it that some is delivered to them. And all he asks in return is that they vote on a straight Democratic ticket.’
    ‘Which means that the people from Tammany Hall get elected?’ Blackstone guessed.
    ‘No, some of them do stand for public office, but more often than not, they don’t want to be elected themselves.’
    ‘Then what do they want?’
    ‘They want to be the people who choose the people who are elected.’
    ‘People who will forever be in their debt,’ Blackstone said.
    ‘Now you’re catching on, Sam,’ Meade said. ‘Tammany controls the people who have their hands on the purse strings of New York City, and it uses that fact to its own advantage. And both because Tammany Hall is corrupt, and because its web stretches everywhere, every public body in the city is corrupt, too.’
    ‘Including the police,’ Blackstone said, starting to see where Meade was going.
    Meade nodded. ‘Six years back, a special committee