In Dark Chicago, vice ain’t just a sin — it’s a system. It oils the gears behind every ward handshake, cop bribe, and midnight deal. You don’t need to look hard to find it. You just need to ask wrong — or be owed by the right kind of people.   Gambling, girls, drugs, drinks — it’s all in play. The Outfit runs the heavy tables. Local boys run the back rooms. The Veil runs under it all, whispering luck and luring ruin. Every street’s got odds. Every corner’s got a dealer. The only difference is what they’re selling — and what it’ll cost you in the end.  

Gambling

If there's a bet to be made, someone in Chicago is taking it. Dice rattle in alley pits. Poker hums in smoke-filled parlors. Bookies answer phones that never stop ringing — until the feds raid, or the Outfit decides someone’s skimming too deep.   Numbers Games Big in Black neighborhoods like Washington Park and Grand Blvd. Street runners take dimes, and winners get cash fast — if they’re still breathing when the payout hits.   Poker & Dice Rooms Back rooms in taverns, barbershops, even funeral homes. The Outfit runs the biggest ones — usually with a "silent partner" in CPD.   Fight Bets Above-ground? The Vic, Marigold Gardens. Underground? Basements in Fuller Park and the rear of the Iron Hook Gym. Bare knuckle or Veil-juiced — take your pick.   Horse Racing & Tracks Horse racing is king for working stiffs and Outfit lads alike. Big tracks just outside the city — Hawthorne Race Course and Sportsman’s Park — pull in daily crowds. Every bookie worth a damn runs track odds. On race days, Canaryville taverns go quiet during the call to post.   Off-Track Betting Not legally yet. But Outfit-run bars let you place bets just the same — and sometimes let you ride deeper than you meant to.   Veil Gambling Only for the brave, dumb, or damned. Games like Mirror Hands, Red Dice, Black Blood, and the Dead Man’s Deck offer high stakes and stranger payouts. Lucky streaks get long. So do shadows.  

Sex Work

Vice districts don’t wear red lights anymore — they wear suits. The Outfit keeps a tight grip on brothels and “chapels.” Some independents still work corners, but it’s riskier than ever. Veil-touched brothels are the newest horror: the clients aren’t always alive.   Chapels Code-named after saints and storefronts. St. Delilah’s Tailoring, The Book of Ruth Café. Don’t ask for a price — ask for a prayer.   Veil Houses Rare, illegal, dangerous. Services include dream-feeders, lust charms, Veil-twinned intimacy. People walk in for a good time and leave hollowed out.  

Booze & Smoke

Liquor’s legal now, but not always safe. Bootleg distilleries still push product — cheaper and more potent than shelf stock. Weed’s creeping through Bronzeville and Englewood jazz clubs, amphetemine and heroin are being pushed on street corners and there are a few opium dens in Chinatown. But the real money’s in Dust and Velvet, two Veil-cut drugs that mess with memory and time.   Gin Mills & Ghost Bars Old speakeasies still operate — legally or not. Some have Veil back doors that never close. If your drink tastes like smoke and dreams? Don’t finish it.   Veil Smoke Cannabis cut with dried herbs from the other side. Gives visions, clarity, nightmares. Sometimes all three.   Devil Dust Snorted, smoked, sometimes smeared on skin. Binds you to hunger and truth. Addictive, painful, and whispered to open the soul like a blade.  

Policing & Payoffs

Vice cops don’t clean house — they rent it out. The Outfit pays precincts from Bridgeport to Back of the Yards. Everyone else pays to be ignored. The real danger is the Fed boys from downtown who can’t be bought — only delayed.   If you’re small-time, pay your dues. If you’re big-time, you already got a badge in your back pocket.  

Veil & Vice

The deeper the vice, the thinner the skin of the world. Lust magic, luck charms, desire curses — they all flow beneath the surface. Some gamblers sell years instead of chips. Some prostitutes trade in names. Some clients don’t even realize they’re feeding something else until it’s too late.   Where money flows fast and pleasure flows faster, the Veil doesn’t just flicker — it feeds.  

Notable Vice Locations

  The Gilded Ace (Near 26th & Albany) Hidden beneath an old Polish social club. Poker, roulette, Veil blackjack. Run by the Fear Crew. Cards bite. Sometimes the dealer bleeds.   Debi’s Diner After Midnight (Ashland Ave) Wholesome by day, hot sheets and hash by night. Ask for “The All-Nighter Special” to book a room upstairs — hourly rates, no questions.   The Velvet Room (somewhere off Cicero, never the same door twice) High-tier brothel where every lover looks like your fondest memory. Veil-heavy. Some clients never wake up. Those that do are different.   Corner Gospel Fire (Fuller Park) Usually a tent, sometimes a basement. Offers “redemption rituals” for sex workers, addicts, and gamblers — but not all the spirits that come to help are holy.   The Dead Pool (Bridgeport rail yard) An illegal betting ring run by three crews, where odds are placed not on races or games — but on deaths. Who dies, how, and when. Prophets and killers attend. Nobody speaks above a whisper.