In fact, during several previous administrations, Mollenhauer had maintained a subsurface connection with the treasury, but never so close a one as could easily be traced.

He was too conspicuous a man politically and financially for that.

But he was not above a plan, in which Simpson if not Butler shared, of using political and commercial stool-pigeons to bleed the city treasury as much as possible without creating a scandal.
In fact, for some years previous to this, various agents had already been employed--Edward Strobik, president of council, Asa Conklin, the then incumbent of the mayor's chair, Thomas Wycroft, alderman, Jacob Harmon, alderman, and others--to organize dummy companies under various names, whose business it was to deal in those things which the city needed--lumber, stone, steel, iron, cement--a long list--and of course, always at a fat profit to those ultimately behind the dummy companies, so organized.

It saved the city the trouble of looking far and wide for honest and reasonable dealers.
Since the action of at least three of these dummies will have something to do with the development of Cowperwood's story, they may be briefly described.

Edward Strobik, the chief of them, and the one most useful to Mollenhauer, in a minor way, was a very spry person of about thirty-five at this time--lean and somewhat forceful, with black hair, black eyes, and an inordinately large black mustache.