He was guilty of cheating at cards.

The next morning, Jimmy came home with a fat lip and a black eye. Flory rushed over to tend to him. “Ain't nothin'. Just a blinker... had a fight with a guy. […]

The tactics were more those of 1948 in Prague than St. Petersburg in 1917, consisting of the slow acquisition of positions in the army and the police, and the application of what used to be called “salami tactics” against other parties.

The snowmelt causes the river to flood.