Since her arrival on these shores, Maria had been hearing plenty about goats. 'Why goats?', she had thought. 'What the fucking hell is so special about goats?'. In her experience, goats were slightly irritating creatures who ate everything in sight, smelled slightly funny and produced a rather putrid milk. She couldn't understand for the life in her why Godfathers of this world would want to declare themselves to be goats. Unless... but no. None of the Godfathers that she'd seen speaking about goats seemed to be especially hairy, for a start. 

After a little digging, Maria had been enlightened as to the true meaning of all this goat talk. GOAT - Greatest Of All Time.

This had set her about thinking. Sure, plenty around now felt that they were the GOAT. And maybe they were. Or at least, maybe they were up there. But in all the years of history in this world, could this be true? She thought of all the leaders that were referenced in her bloodlines journals, and all the ones her ancestors had been told of by friends with much longer lines in this world. What were the chances that the Greatest Of All Time were products of this particular era? It was worth a discussion at the least, surely. 

So, after a long day spent travelling around the great city of New York, trying to earn herself a living, she set out to the Streets to ask her question of the world. 

"Ladies and gentlemen,"

She had begun, clearing her throat in an attempt to sound more confident and to expel some of the nerves that had suddenly come over her,

"I see a lot of talk, as I'm sure we all do, of who is the Greatest Of All Time. My purpose for being out here on the streets is very, very simple, and I'll come straight out with it: Who is it that you would personally consider to be an all time great? Going back as far as you like, name as many great people as you like. Leaders, Godfathers, people who have had a particular influence on you, people who have had a particular influence on this world, people who's style you may have admired over time. Which individuals and which bloodlines have stood out to you and yours along the way? 

I understand that this will not be the first time that this question has been asked, and I'm damned sure that it won't be the last. I don't think there's any harm in that, I think it's good to bring back old discussions from time to time and put a fresh perspective on them. So I hope you'll share here today: who are your GOATs?

MakoGOAT was walking down the street before he heard something satisfying that caught his attention. Of course the mention of the word goat made him turn his head in a heartbeat, and when he approached the discussion, it was about exactly what he was thinking. He listened to Maria in detail for a while, looking around to the crowd to see if anyone was going to speak up. Mako rolled up the sleeves on his shirt, looking at all the tattoos that covered his body and remembering that each one told a story.

He stepped forward pointing at a certain tat located on his forearm, that led all the way up his arm.

"This tattoo represents the angles that my father flew with not so long ago. Well, seems like a fuck ton long time ago to me, as I've had many relatives born before my time."

After he rolled down his sleeve, he stepped forward a little more and smoke to Maria.

"Of all the stories I've read through and listened to over the years, my favorite has to be the old Godmother of L.A., Innocence. She might not have been on top for her time, or had the a rocket launcher attached to her arm, but to me, that's what makes it just as much important. She built a city out of love. Nothing but love. Even the relatives that lived there might not had the best relationships with some of the others, but in the journals it says that they sucked it the fuck up. They found a way to work together for the Godmother and it became one of the greatest cities that my grandfather had seen. Everyone played their part and they played it well.

It was a greatness that didn't need to be noticed off winning a shit ton of wars. The residents didn't have to come to the streets and cause a storm to get noticed. LA didn't need a bunch of hitmen to thrive as a city and yet, they all loved each other dearly. It ended, just like all things eventually do, but the city went down in a blaze of glory. They fought their way against four other cities attacking and it took little over a day to completely clean the city completely of its organized crime. They all held their heads up high and fought for each other, knowing that after that war they would've been nothing more than mere angles finding their way to heaven, and they accepted that. They lived together and died together. All it took was a Godmother that they all loved and wanted to fight for."

Mako catches himself and looks up awkwardly at Maria.

"She was another GOAT in my eyes. She was a great leader, a great person, and a real friend. And she fought proudly for the ones she loved."

BoomBoom was strolling casually along the sidewalk as he heard Marie talking. He paused for a moment and took in what she had to say, followed by Godfather Mako's response. With a drag of his cigarette, he stepped forth and spoke.

Greetings Marie and Mako. Now, personally, my bloodline has been here a while. Perhaps it hasn't been as long as some others, but a while, nonetheless. During this duration of time, I've seen several of leaders who have been, in my opinion, great. Now, I'm not going to waste my breath ranting about who those bloodlines are and/or were or stroke egos basically because that's just not how I get down, BUT there's a recurring event which befell all of those "great" leaders and it was, what?

With a brief pause and drag of his cigarette, he continued.

Yep, you guessed it, they all eventually took a nice dirt nap. Each and everyone of those "BAD A$$ MOTHERF*CKER's" died eventually. So, with that said, no one will ever be the "greatest" because not everyone will agree that they WERE the greatest and its only a matter of time before someone inevitably surpasses them and/or puts a bullet between their eyes.  In short, to say one is "Greatest of all time" or a GOAT, if you will, is truly laughable and in an "other worldly sense" just downright sad.

Maybe I'm just a cynical asshole, maybe I'm not. Call it what you will, but that's just my two cents.

BoomBoom nodded to both Marie and Mako before walking to a nearby bench, taking a seat, finishing the remainder of his cigarette and watching passersby.

Man, there's too many to mention or remember off the top of my head. First you have to question what makes a leader great and in response you can come up with several answers.

My memory is quite jaded after the many years of being here and the times of being absent and returning so forgive if there are some things out of place...

In older times there was a chap called Ganelon, I considered him to be one of the greats. Much like another guy called Sly, he commanded well and even whilst on the losing side you had to admire the way things were ran under him. As well as that you had some of the best hitters going back then working alongside him in the Unicorns coffee shop.

Other greats I considered were Lia Vazzi, he understood that this was all about business, rather than personal friendships. Fakeman, he also understood what this world was about, he always took a realistic approach to this world and was often hated for it. Some disliked his methods but I felt he was an entertainer and someone who brought life to this place. I never felt he got a fair crack at things while my family were around, it's a shame.

Brian Arao was legendary also. Although eventually wiped out, his crew of ship mates were the most hilarious people to grace these parts. They kept it fun and light hearted in a time when it was all doom and gloom and seriousness.

Only 2 of those mentioned here my family served under, so this isn't a bias opinion, I can imagine many will list only those they served under.

Oh shit, how did I forget FlyingPig...That guy was a serious GOAT. Hands down one of the best!

Rose doesn't really have to think long about who is her favorite and the most awesome GOAT.  

He has been there for her since that very first day she met him.  Always calm and patient no matter what disaster she was currently experiencing.  Always there when she needed to talk about whatever.  Answers questions nonstop, and she has  plenty of them.  He has always encouraged, and supported her.  

A caring leader and friend.  Looking back over the last 5 months, He was one of the major reasons she didn't give up and retire when things got bad.  Whatever the problem that she had going on, they were able to talk through it, and find a solution.  He is very easy going, and easy to talk to.

Everyday is filled with fun and laughter, but when it is time to be serious though, he is very serious.  He recognizes the work when people work hard, and putting in the efforts.   He is protective of his friends and family.  He has worked hard to get where he is.  He sets a good example for his crew on what hard work is, and reaching goals.

She realizes she hasn't been here for long so she doesn't know a lot of the great leaders of the past, and she hears about quite a few of them too, but she knows a great leader after being in her Bossman's crew.  

He is my Mentor.  He is my Godfather.  He is my dear Friend.

Godfather Cantillon <3

---,---'---{@

Having listened to the words of others, Maria finally felt as though it was time for her to speak herself, to share her own personal list of "GOAT"'s. One name had already been mentioned and she was sure she'd touch upon it again, but she had more herself to share. These were people whose names she'd grown up hearing, who's accomplishments had been inspirational to her own line, the people who had helped her line out particularly over the years. 

Thank you all for taking the time out to come and speak here. I do appeciate that there is the argument for any kind of listing of the greats to be seen as an exercise in vanity, although since a dirt nap awaits us all, I also think there is a case to be made for keeping old names and the most influential names in our histories alive. Without any more ado, I'd like to share with you some of the greats that my line has had the pleasure of knowing.

The one that has already been mentioned, is that of Innocence/Silk. There really isn't all that much of anything I can add to what Mako said about her, except to say that she's missed in this world, and I wish I'd had the chance to get to know her better, because what she built in LA was genuinely something special. For that, I will always respect her hugely. My line was never part of LA, but they spoke highly of how it functioned. 

My own personal greats would mostly be friends, people who taught my line something, people who showed us more about how we wanted to work around here. The bloodlines of Mikus, TeQ, tiggy, Eric and Manny will never be forgotten by mine in this regard, and all are sorely missed.