As usual, Achilles comes out and does something dramatic to set the scene, the crowd gathers and Achilles clears his throat before beginning his speech...

I've been asking myself for a while now, just how strong are the district bonds?

Within each district and under each Godfather are the under bosses or sub-family/crew, they send up a tribute to their Godfather and the district as a whole is run under one governor and one family. Each crew leader then, you would imagine, would be a product of the Godfathers previous family before he made a move to get to the top. So their loyalty, again you would imagine, would be to their newly appointed Godfather. However, families seem distant and unconnected within the districts, there aren't as many as you would expect in some of the district coffee shops and instead people seem content with sticking to their own sub crew and talking between themselves within the Headquarters. It's clear in my opinion that there is a divide in these sub crews and the Family heads, or at least in some cases there are.

After witnessing recent events unfold and the acts of 2 leaders, it made me question further how strong the district bonds were.

The first of these being Tesla, an underboss to the recently deceased SammyGravano. Upon Sammy's removal and the removal of several of the Suburb upper structure, Tesla didn't react. No shots were exchanged after his Godfather was shot as well as his own Right Hand. Personally these actions, or lack of, made me think that maybe Families work differently in some districts. Maybe some underbosses feel that once they set up, they are broken away from the district head and are from that moment on an independent family. I mean, how can you let your Godfather just die?

The second of these being HandsomeBob. The guy who everyone assumed was stepping down but then told us all he wasn't stepping down, only to in the end, well, step down. To my shock I looked around for him and his bold suit earlier today but was unable to find him in south side. As I continued my search I found him in a completely different district than expected and housed under Mako, the Godfather of The Loop.

Achilles hears people mumbling to each other at the front of the crowd that had formed before him and someone mention "Odd". In the hope that they were talking about the topic on hand and not himself, Achilles resumed his speech.

Odd? I thought so too. Why not stay in south side with the rest of his ex family? I'm surprised that he jumped ship so quickly.

Bringing me to my original point, how strong are the district bonds?

Outside of my own, I look at districts such as Brooklyn here in New York and The Loop over in Chicago, both of these seem to run a tight ship as shown recently with the pickpocket challenge set up against each other and generally you can see them out here in the street, supporting one another, you may also hear and see them around the coffee shops shooting the shit.

Achilles takes a drag of his cigarette or drinks some drink out of a flask or some shit like that to bring a brief pause to his speech...

I mean, I don't claim to know the ins and outs of each district. I just feel that the majority of people don't seem to care about what's going on within the rest of their district and that the districts themselves aren't as united as I feel they should be. Some crew leaders seem to hide behind their HQ's and shut themselves off away from the rest of the world, hoping they won't be picked on by the big meanies!

Maybe I'm spouting shit as usual, or maybe some people agree, whatever your opinion let's have it bebz.

I'd absolutely love to chime in on this one.

My father was the Right Hand to Sammy, what we all know is that Sammy took a rogue shot and killed princess, sadly that lead to the death of a lot of good members in the district. Tesla knew nothing about it nor had anything to do with it. He was offered a chance to save people and thats what he did. He is a good leader and a great man and I am ecstatic to be working as his Right Hand. Our bonds were strong before with Sammy and Tesla but when it is an independent act and the person who is left hanging out on the clothesline has a chance to redeem the district and keep his people alive can you really fault him for doing that?

We have a lot of great plans to rebuild The Suburbs after what happened, we can only look forward and realize that this is a team effort, and one that we are excited for the second chance to have. 

Achilles I think your example of HandsomeRob is rather ironic, as I believe he originated from our crew. 

I think you are a bit confused on your specific example, but that's not your fault it just wasn't apparent to you, well I mean it wouldn't be apparent unless you stalk him like I do...

While I don't agree with this example, I do feel that there is a bit of a looser connection to your district mates. Why is this?

Personally, I truly believe that the inter-city ties that bond us all together are so strong - sometimes it is difficult to even differentiate from your district, or somebody elses. 

It might be cause I'm high a real lot of the time, but sometimes I forget I'm in a Delaware City, DE crew... I mean a Rainbow Island, New York crew, or if I'm from Danhattan.. Whatever, most of the time Cassi has to remind me of this stuff.

Anyway, I think you're right. Loyalty strictly to your district is undermined (in some cases) whenever there happens to be an inter-city alliance. It's a natural thing, it's a bit amplified in my honest opinion, but that's because some present day (and a few past) alliances have been so widespread. I don't think it's a new phenomena but it's definitely an interesting one. 

In the past, it's been shown how district vs. district conflicts play out. Every single one has been different in my eyes. In the end it's all about the individual. 

I for example, have always bonded my life in this thing of ours to a single person. Once I accept an oath to an individual or family I feel it's my responsibility to die defending or avenging them, or to assist them in pursuing their criminal goals in any way I can. 

Back to HandsomeRob, now that I've rambled. His Godmother's killer and his closest allies have fallen. His members, in happy homes of their choice (I assume). His obligations, according to my personal beliefs, are more than fulfilled. And now he is home with Cassi and Bunny and Maria and everybody else that loves him to pieces. 

As far as what you say of Tesla?

I believe if I were in the same shoes I probably would've done the same. Sometimes mistakes are made, I know from experience obviously. As an underboss, or in other leadership positions, you have to do the right thing. You have the responsibility to carry on your district and remaining crew at that point.

Obviously, something happened that the majority of the people around these parts don't think was right. In (what I call) an 'old yeller' scenario with sammy - why would you put yourself and others in jeopardy, just to defend something you know was inappropriate or improperly executed? And to further end, maybe Tesla is in the same boat most are. Maybe their ties and relationships to other crews, cities, and godfathers compelled them? Friendships and alliances are never strictly divided by their geographic location.

But like I said, I don't know much and I'm not of sound mental faculties about 86.4% of the time, and I definitely can't speak for others! 

Achilles my Godfathers last wish was that I live and take command of the district. The most loyal act I could do with that would be to not shoot, to holster my gun and give the leap of faith that once my protection fell I wouldn’t be shot. The fact that he shot princess wasn’t revealed to me till well after the shot was taken, by someone outside of my district and city. So I ask you would you disrespect your Godfathers dying wish?

Mako comes forward and looks around to the crowd, then back to Achilles.

"I can't speak for HandsomeRob, but I can speak for why I found it acceptable for Handsome to come back to my family. HandsomeRob started off in my crew, I don't know if many people know that. I was approached about Princess in her interest to get HandsomeRob to help her and after a long discussion, I allowed it.

I'm not going to lie about things either, because the easiest answer I could give you is that it's none your business what The Loop or Chicago do behind closed doors and I would be well within my right to do that. However, I don't deem it fit at the moment as I don't mind this subject being brought up, to be fair. 

However, I didn't condone the way that things we done on the authing situation of South Side, I considered it none of my business because it didn't affect me in anyway whatsoever. After discussions with Princess, I informed her on my opinions about the situation and we reasoned a few things out and I told her if she had to step in to make the decision for someone, then do it. After a while it seems that HandsomeRob realized that he couldn't hold the responsibility as a CL and decided to do the best thing in his opinion to step down from the spot. I think he made a wise decision in doing so, knowing that sometimes responsibilities elsewhere are more important. I don't have to deny it either, I have a lot of time on my schedule for HandsomeRob and I enjoy getting to know the fella. 

After the news of him stepping down, I even approached HandsomeRob about coming back to what I considered his initial home here in The Loop. If I had to pay for him, then so be it. I let him know my offer and I left him to make the decision on his own. Now, if Princess hadn't died, I think the decision would've been a lot harder for HandsomeRob. After her death, I approached him again to let him know that the offer still stood on the table. He decided to take me up on it. 

We all have certain loyalties that it breaks down to at the end of the day. I have no doubt in my mind that HandsomeRob was loyal to Princess, but I have no doubt that he will be loyal to me as I was the first person to have HandsomeRob in my possession. At the end of the day, Tesla's loyalties laid where they thought it was the best decision to have the people from their district and not watch them all be killed to Sammy's mistake. A decision that I once again have to respect as one of fathers have been in the same shoes as Tesla a veryyyyyy long time ago. It was a very tough decision to make for all of us as I mailed Telsa, explained the situation, and respected their decision as a person. We had an idea who would go for strictly Sammy, because like I said, loyalties are different. I feel bad that Tesla had no knowledge of what their Godfather was going to do, and the situation it must have put him in. We decided to give Tesla the district while removing the Dons that Sammy promoted himself and those that we thought were there for strictly Sammy and not Suburbs or their district in general. 

Tough decisions amongst some of the toughest stretch of days that I've had to go through. But the people that I care about and care about me are what keep me going in this world, for better or worse. 

But more onto the HandsomeRob thing, I considered him mine regardless after the death of Princess. I'm happy to have him back home with us and I know the people within my district are happy to see him back here as well. We care about him just like we do each other, and as far as we are considered, HandsomeRob is back home again with his family."

Despite your stoner ramblings, I believe you're right Chris. I hear what you're saying on the point of Rob and it was one I wasn't aware of in terms of where he came from, but I felt worth mentioning as it seemed to back up my point of the district ties. Still though, in the instance that Mako and Princess would have warred, then what? It can definitely become complicated and like you say, each conflict appears to be different. I feel the districts need to be clearly divided into their own mini factions rather than a mixture of several families etc.

With your Tesla point, I suppose again you could be right. In order to save the masses he chose to holster his gun, despite only Sammy taking the shot several upper structures were taken out, having no real way to defend himself against that sort of army he would most likely struggle to come back but then at the same time, some of his own were taken and I'm not sure that would sit right with me. I mean who knows? He could be plotting right now. Heh. 

Again as said previously I think we need to clearly divide the districts in order to strengthen these bonds within them. Yes there are alliances throughout districts spilling over to others as it is with the 303 situation and in the current world there are only a handful of none 303 ran districts and given that Princess was one of these I would have expected it to have a stronger bond than one of it's ex leaders trotting off to their old district.

Cassi stands in the Street, listening as Achilles goes on once again about matters involving a city in which he is not affiliated with. She shakes her head, sighing.

I didn't say too much the first time you decided to involve yourself in Chicago matters because it had to do with another district. However I think it was quite rude to shit on someone's auth thread by questioning the actions of a Godmother in a district, nay a city in which you have no affiliations with. But now you're talking about my district. I won't bother to discuss what others have already brought to your attention and I won't be as nice as my Godfather. What is going on within Chicago and it's members is quite frankly none of your damn business. We don't need your permission to take in members that previously belonged to us in the first place. We don't need your permission to set up leaders when other families are not full. We don't need your permission to talk about a leader stepping down and then changing their minds. None of those decisions affect the way you conduct business in New York. Nor do they have any affect on how you may or may not conduct business when you visit any district within Chicago. 

How cities choose to run as districts, whether they be separate or aligned, is their choice. They are free to make that choice. However with the recent change by the gods where the central district can choose to be Godfather of the entire city, doesn't really support the idea of "separate but equal". I don't understand why you're really pushing for a city to be at odds with each other anyway. They share a space, shouldn't they conduct business in a manner that keeps them working in sync for the greater good of the city? As far as trading/sharing members? I see members asked for frequently from other districts, other cities to be given positions in the new district or city and most times the request is granted. Once again, that is not the concern of anyone outside of those families leaders. Should something happen, it has also been habit for those people to return to their home. Again, of no concern to anyone outside of that families leader.

While I agree with most, that street activity has been quite dull for some time now, I think that we can bring them back to life with topics other than one member of a city questioning the way another city is handling their business.

Firstly Mako, thank you for adding to what Chris had already said, I wasn't aware of that but still I felt it weird that it had panned out that way. Tesla, I agree, although it would be hard to comment until I was put in that position, but kudos to you anyway.

Cassi, you're right my permission is not needed, but the old it's none of your business spiel is old and played out. If you would like to speak about previous discussions in the street I'd be happy to speak in person to you, as I feel you do me an injustice since there were many others supporting my comments within that. For now, let's focus on what you touched upon with the current point I raised.

I don't understand why you're really pushing for a city to be at odds with each other anyway.

Believe it or not, that's the complete opposite of what I want to see. I want a stronger bond within the districts, I'd prefer this to be city wide but I feel people are content with residing within their own HQ's and not uniting with the other crews within their district or cities. I only say a clear divide within the cities because of the affiliations to organisations such as 303. It's hard to unite a city when not everyone, specifically all district heads, are affiliated with the 303. They are the power within this world and while they may work alongside non-303 district heads in peace, surely it would be hard to be loyal to a city head when their loyalties lie with a group that cover a number of cities. In this instance, Princess died and all of 303 reacted, it wasn't just Chicago. This was out of a 303 loyalty though and not a city loyalty. It's instances like these that would make it hard to unite a city where not every district head is 303 affiliated and so as said previously, I'd like to see a clear divide between these districts and a stronger affiliation with the Godfather family, rather than it appear there's 3 separate families running around a district.

After listening to everyone speak, Curtis decided to chime and attempt to get back on point.

"This is a very interesting subject. Without getting bogged down in the particulars of any given city and it's districts, the general principal of togetherness that is being raised is something I have felt quite strongly since I came back.

This is the first time my line has seen more than one Godfather per city. A notion that I still find truly ridiculous and about as unrealistic as it is possible to get but hey, I don't make the rules. One thing that is certain is that there used to exist a city-wide bond and family togetherness that does not exist anymore. Everyone would always congregate in the city coffee shop and all the families from each city would talk in there together. Activities and projects would all be worked out together, everyone under one roof, all limbs of the same tree.

Now the situation we have with division you could say is down to districts but I don't think that is the case. Districts are each lead by their own Godfather so there is no natural cause for each family's members to look past that district's Godfather for instruction or unity or anything else. With only one Godfather per city and Street Bosses (as used to be the adopted term) running each district, there would still exist a natural desire for everyone from all districts to congregate under the one roof of the city's Godfather. 

I don't think any one or group of individuals can be blamed for the fractured and disjointed lack of collective unity and fun that is missing from a world that used to be so full of it. I think it is much more an inevitable consequence of structural design.

Go back to one Godfather per city and in a couple of months, all this disjointed separation will dissolve. Collective activities will increase exponentially, enthusiasm and healthy creative competition between cities will flourish and our entire collective society will benefit."

Curtis walks over to Achilles and steals a nip from his flask of alternative action.

"Thanks for bringing this subject up man, it's a very good question of social structure."

Not to appear facetious but is there actually any requirement for district alignment or loyalty at the moment? Listening to JohnnyNoName's recent explanation regarding the demise of SammyGravano, it would seem that all of the most powerful Godfathers, and therefore virtually every city, is affiliated in some way to a separate group which maintain their own hierarchy, principles and standards which respond to events in conference. Given that one group holds this much sway across the country, I think it is surprising that we don't see more member transfers, from what appears to essentially be, one large syndicate. 

I don't understand why you're really pushing for a city to be at odds with each other anyway. They share a space, shouldn't they conduct business in a manner that keeps them working in sync for the greater good of the city? As far as trading/sharing members? - Cassi

Just to touch on this for a moment, cities have, in theory at least, grown larger with individual districts within them being segregated. This should allow for separate entities to compete with each other, rather than having to work in sync as was traditionally the case here. I would much prefer to see a time when each individual family works independently from others, despite their relative proximity, because more families should mean more interaction, which should mean more interesting events. When everyone in one city works together, other cities move to do the same and rather than having say 20 families, we end up with 5. This only serves to make our world smaller and makes everything take much longer to happen (which is boring), so I actually think it would be a wonderful thing if we had healthy competition within cities.

I've thought about what you've said for a couple of hours now. I was in deep thinking and otherwise didn't comment until now. I can say in Brooklyn for example, our Godmother Amethyst, she attempts to make our entire district of now, 4 families, into really one big family. We're one district, we are all a team. I know some may not view it the same way, but I personally do.

Regarding Tesla? From the outside world, this man, the underboss of Sammy Gravano, lived despite his Godfather and his very own right and left hand man being gunned down, along with the majority of his families ranked members. It is a rough world. Sammy had hoped that we spared Tesla should he ever die at our hands. While we didn't really care all that much for a rogue of sorts words, Tesla came from JohnnyNoNames family and Johnny does in fact remember how loyal the man was and how much work he had done in Queens. He was going to survive. Is it bad of him to live? Perhaps. Personally, he is right in living for his late Godfathers wishes.

As for Handsome Rob, the oh so beautiful man himself.. As Mako and others have said, this one is quite simple for me at least. Rob was a member of The Illuminati from The Loop. He began under Mako and he was transferred to Princess as a show of good faith and friendship between The Loop and South Side. After the retirement of Blu Blank, Rob was the man she, Princess, trusted most to take a captaincy under her. He had some other worldly stuff going on and had requested to step down, he had no idea, nor did anyone, of Princesses untimely death. After the death of Princess, he really had no loyalty to South Side, no? He was a retired leader and his leader was Princess GRHS. He had Loop origins and returned to his original home.

I guess it depends on the person, the district, the leaders and really, all the factors. I would like to think my district bond, and my families, is strong with myself and my district of Brooklyn.

And indeed. Mako and Amethyst are amazing friends and we really just took a joke into a friendly competition between the two large districts. We're the center district in New York, The Loop is Chicago's center district. It clearly shows New York is better! I jest, but really, it was a lot of fun for myself and many Brooklyners. We had laughs and jokes. I even fucked around on IRC avenue with Mako, Jono, Heyman and many other of my Loopy friends. It was just a fun competition that showed district cooperation for everyone.

I do feel like every leader in every district should be listening to the outside world and trying to remain in there district as rather then just their family, they should try to remain one big family within their district.

I liked this Achilles, I really did. Good speaking pal!

A thought provoking subject you have here Achilles here is my take on it all.

It is hard to comment fully on your point's because you would need to be a fly on the wall in each district to know the actual truth, but I think complete togetherness as a district is hard in terms of everyone in the district talking as not everyone can get to the coffee shops and a lot of the talking each family does is done within the HQ. Maybe at some point in the future we will have it so that everyone in the district can talk like they do within the crew. With that said it doesn't mean that each district do not share a bond or have loyalty to the Godfather/District Head.

I don't know Don Tesla but he has been out here and explained his decision, also his Godfather took a shot knowing full well what would happen after that shot. He had his family to think about and like he has said his late Godfather wanted him to take over the district. Also had he retaliated he would of condemned his family to death. The same as us here in South Side, yeah we could of taken a few pot shots but what would it of achieved? Just because the decision was made not to retaliate it does not show a lack of loyalty.

I won't comment on HandsomeRob as I think it has been fully covered.