Does anyone remember the resect you used to have to earn to be someone in a family?  Now it seems that if your father or mother was someone of importance you too can be.  Does anyone know how to even be a true mafioso anymore or are you all treading using your parents waterwings?

I seen a goomba as a RHM today?  To me that is very disrespectful to the whole crew and to any other crew out there.  How anyone with such a low rank gets such a great position is beyond me.  It's pathetic to me to think that if I had son or daughter that they might not be able to do this on their own without me creating some sort of an existence for them.  I can only pave a way for myself and teach them what I know.  I would never raise them to be the spoiled brats that so many of you are!!

Townslave escorts Don_Vincenzo_Cocotti to a backalley and gives him the low down.

"Look man just because you got off that boat and think your the shit doesn't mean you actually are. You are a little fish that has to develop over time to have a voice in this place. Nobody here has offered you their protection so I suggest we don't go dipping around where we shouldn't. The best option for you son is to stay low and ride the waves with a school of sharks. Let's those sharks protect you as you get bigger."

Townslave slaps Don_Vincenzo_Cocotti on the shoulder and gives him a cigarette. He pulled out another cigarette and a match and struck it. Putting the cigarette in his mouth he lit his and Don's with the same match.

"Don't be to hasty to make a big name for yourself right as you get to a new place, most people don't like that. Disrespectful or not kid, you can't tell a Crewleader his Right Hand isn't good enough for you. That's a disrespect in itself. Take my advice and you will make it in this world. I wish you luck."

Inhaling the cigarette as he walks off from the backalley and exhaling the smoke as he turns the corner, Townslave has vanished from sight.

I may have to leave this pathetic world then...  My parents were people too, crew leader and more.  I always thought things had to be earned here but now I see that many are spoiled.  I could never work in a crew where the RHM was not just younger than me but had less experience.  How a Goomba speaks experience to you is not right.

I hope you won't leave Don_Vincenzo.  I think your ideas have merit.  People should have to earn the respect that many believe they are entitled to as soon as they get off the ship.  I too am new here.  I don't have family to rely on.  It's just me and what I do.  

But in your words there is something to think about - family.  Perhaps some families do have Goombas as RHM.  But I look at it this way.  If I'm a crewleader, and say I have a brother.  He's new to the business, but he's still my brother.  He may only be a Goomba in age, but he's the person I trust most in this world.  That's the person I'm going to ask to be my RHM.  

Trust is a major issue yes but it seems many have brothers and sisters and have forgotten what it was like the first time they came.  I have family that have been here for fifteen years.  I never use my fathers name to get me anywhere or a position.

I'm sorry, but are you seriously suggesting that someone of age and rank be the one and only reason they should be a Right Hand? The only other person aside from yourself to be responsible your entire families livelihood?

People have roads of success, it goes through trust and time with someone. I have never experimented with putting someone I can't trust into any Right Hand positions. Left Hand positions are a good source to allow someone to step up and become something bigger, with a possibility of being promoted to a Right Hand.

Simply judging someone for having a Goomba as a Right Hand, is rather brash and stupid, in my opinion.

How do you know that person hasn't recently passed on and had their ancestors come to their fathers aid? You don't.

Mr tarrantino did you even read the post?  That is what I am talking about.  People here depend to much on there ancestors and dont work for anything themselves.

And actually if trust is the issue then maybe leaders and the higher ups should be getting together and talking more to the whole crew.

This argument has been haunting our streets for a long time, personally I am of the school of thought that the crew hands should be of at least Made rank, but I understand the trust argument that is always put forward for having low ranks as hands. I guess its just a "each to their own" kind of thing and crewleaders are free to choose which side of the fence they want to sit on. 

Its all about integrity here and I see some of the crew leaders are weak.  They would have never survived in the old days but then again it was my father who killed many of the weak ones. It is good that he passed on years ago because if he would have seen what this world has become... Pathetic.

Anomaly listens to an ignorant drunk blabbing away. 

Just because you see someone in power, that you don't think should be there doesn't give you the right to shoot at them, point blank period.

Anomaly braces himself against a nearby wall waiting on the drunk to disappear. 

Doesn't it?  Funny... I miss my dad even more now.  Patheic how many pm agree and how few here disagree.

Mad Hatter shakes his head, in unbelief at Don_Vincenzo_Cocotti statements. walks over to his good friend Anomaly and shakes his hand.

My friend, I apologize for the actions of my former Associate.

Now Don_Vincenzo_Cocotti, you talk about Disgrace.. lets talk about disgrace for a moment shall we. What is disgraceful is the fact sombody who couldn't follow a simple family rule. A rule that every family no matter what has to follow.

since the birth of this thing of ours and furthermore a Boss has the right to pick whom his Right hand should be for two great reasons.

That bloodline is highly respected and trusted. Jealousy will get you no where in this life.

Althea listens at the back of the crowd nodding and thinking to herself before finally speaking up.

I, at the risk of sounding like an idiot, would like to say that to an extent, both parties have merit.

It took me a long time to learn people's names, and to make acquaintances here, and I'm still doing so each and every day. I wouldn't be an RHM myself if i didn't do that after all. Now I wouldn't want all of my hard work and friendships to be for naught throughout the future if I so happen to die, and I don't think anyone else want's that either.

That being said, however, if I die, then I die. It's part of life, and there will be a rebirth, and those friendships will last, but if everyone relied solely on previous friendships and ancestors, I would never have even had a chance to become what I am today.

Like I said, each point has merits, but I for one am thankful that not all positions are chosen by people's history alone, some folks are pushed forward for what they do, and who they become.

Althea stands and waits for a rebuttal and the subsequent abuse she knows she will take.

anima listens from the back of the room and decides to step forward

Don_Vincenzo, you contradict yourself in your various statements.  If no merit is given to what information may have been passed down from family, when would someone ever be younger than you and "have more experience"?  Basically what you are stating is that just because a gangster is young, they cannot have the merit to be a leader.  And I believe that is just plain incorrect.  A lot of what is learned and used is information passed down from a parent to their child.  This knowledge and familiarity cannot be displayed by some badge on your suit.

If you feel that your family has picked an undeserving leader, then maybe you are not in the right family.  However, in that some token maybe that person is more knowledgeable than you give them respect for.

As for the point of taking matters into your own hands, I cannot speak to how things were when your father was here.  In fact I can speak to how anything ran in these streets for much past my own fathers generation.  However, I do know we have a fairly structured society right now, and to get ahead in this world you must respect of the wishes of those that are above you.

Solastalgia glanced at a hastily written, one worded note that was handed to him by his bodyguard. 

From: Don_Vincenzo_Cocotti
Sent: Jun 18, '13 17:57
Subject:

Invite?

Originating from a young Petty Thief he had listened to earlier in the day, he shrugged and walked out of his café and traveled a few blocks south where the man was still speaking.

While I didn't quite care to join in on this discussion, I have to point out that it appears to be in hilariously bad taste that you're chiding us on the matter of respect coupled with nostalgic throwbacks to a better time when you, yourself, approach individuals like me without so much as a preamble as to why I should invite you into my protection.  Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but it seems as if your remembrance to earning your place in a family doesn't quite extend to securing what's arguably the most important decision in your life - joining a family.  

With that said, this debate has been tossed around more times than I can care to count, so to this end, I'm happy to boil it down to this:  Inside a crew, rank does not always translate into privileges in the crew's structure  There's a lovely, lovely woman who, for the majority of her life to date, sat at the rank of Wise Guy while she served as the right-hand of a Godfather.  It would have been highly, highly naive and foolish to question her integrity on the basis of her rank when she answered and represented her Godfather in his absence.  

Crewleaders choose individuals who complement their particular strengths and augment their weaknesses.  And, shockingly, the rank someone holds in a crew is hardly the most important thing to consider for such an important position when it comes to running an organization that can stretch into overseeing several dozens of members.

To be fair this brings up how backwards this world is. You get told that your next of kin is not you but when it comes to Right hand or Left hand and sometimes even Crewleader roles its more often the previous kin that its based on and not always the work the current relation has done. Interesting point. I will definitely have to think more on this.

Its all about integrity here and I see some of the crew leaders are weak.  They would have never survived in the old days but then again it was my father who killed many of the weak ones. It is good that he passed on years ago because if he would have seen what this world has become... Pathetic.

Bullshit. My great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, aunt, cousins... Et cetera... Were around back in "the old days" and were quite often Right Hand or Left Hand at lower ranks, some even straight off of the proverbial boat. They survived.. Hell, one was a hand "straight off the boat" to Ganelon and TheThirdDan.. The first of my bloodline was a Right Hand to Skywitch at the ripe ol' rank of Earner.

Once again, these positions are given to those the LEADER trusts. Not you, an unsponsored Petty Theif. Not the rest of the world. The LEADER. 

You seem to have lived in a different "old time" than my bloodline did.. Shit, next you'll say that people were not given "the nod" to start their own crews below Consigliere.

"The good ol' days" weren't much different than the current days.. So stop living in the past and get with the times. Your bloodline is no stranger to mine so I know you can do it. Some may say that "in the good ol' days" more effort was put into an invite request than the one you sent Solastalgia... You can't honestly expect "Invite?" to get you anywhere in this life.. Can you?

Get over it and while you're at it.... Get over yourself. You're fresh off the boat and shouldn't even be speaking in public about this kind of thing if we were to all follow your mindset and reasoning.. Or as an alternative, rub some bacon on it... Either or nothing's gonna change. Trust will always come before rank.

Oh.. And one more thing.. Now that I'm more settled.. If you don't like the leadership, don't join a crew? 

You are a mere Petty Thief out here calling out the people that run this world and expect to be taken seriously?

Yes, in a perfect world things would be perfect and go the way we all want them. This isn't a perfect world and you are still a mouthy, disrespectful, Petty Thief. If you follow in the footsteps of your predecessor you will not go far in this thing of ours. Your hot headed temper will just get you in trouble. YOU have to earn the respect of the leadership in the crew or family that you join. YOU are the new member, they're the bosses.. Regardless of their rank, if they are Right Hand or Left Hand you follow their instructions, you show them respect, and you keep in mind it's not YOUR choice who the hands are.. It's the leaders'. 

ALSO, the world in which your oh so great and mighty father lived in? This isn't it. This was never it. That world became a cesspool of, well.. You can imagine. Hell, you can go visit it if you want. Heard it's still in the same place as it was back then. 

In the end, and I so hate to do this, if you don't like it... Rank up and do something about it. Making an ass of yourself here and showing a complete lack of respect and regard for the way things are now is NOT going to paint a pretty picture of your illustrious family that you think is better than anyone else and who shit roses, pissed rainbows, and burped butterflies.

Its all about integrity here and I see some of the crew leaders are weak.  They would have never survived in the old days but then again it was my father who killed many of the weak ones. It is good that he passed on years ago because if he would have seen what this world has become... Pathetic.

With all due respect Mr Cocotti, don't like what's going on? Do something about it!  Maybe YOU should talk to your boss more, ever think of that?  If that boss wont talk to you, FUCK HIM move on to the next family/city.  And then when you do get to the top (and eventually you will with your gumption) fucking kill us weak bastards I'll welcome your bullet.