As you can imagine, I have had a long few days at the office. Despite this, I feel I owe those fallen mobsters from New York, St Louis and let us not kid ourselves here, from Philly, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans and Las Vegas as well. This was truly a conflict that touched every area of our business and has affected every facet of Cosa Nostra as a result.

I would like to begin this by explaining the position of Philly in what went on yesterday. I had only recently taken over the mantle of Godfather for the city after my long service with my good friend SpaceMountain in Los Angeles. Whilst I was in Los Angeles, I had regular dealings with many of the New York upper structure and they largely passed without incident. I won't pretend that they regularly mouthed off or were disrespectful to me, because they were better mobsters than that and acted professionally.

The problem, which is not entirely unexpected, is that they became somewhat arrogant and demanding. What I mean by this is when incidents did arise, there was a strict no tolerance policy adopted by the Godfather and his advisors, so when something went awry, you knew you would be getting slapped with the choice of a hefty fine or obliteration. Whilst I'm sure we all agree it is better that things can be settled without bloodshed, the extortionate amount charged by New York in these instances began to rankle with SpaceMountain and I. After all, we had served in the city and rather than accepting the incident was a simple misunderstanding and moving forward, we had $20,000,000 levied against us. $20,000,000 that our members worked extremely hard for.

I don't think it should be any surprise therefore that when events in New York began to transpire, we began looking at the numerous holes in the ship that had started to leak water. We knew that other members of the city weren't happy and that the Godfather had become increasingly inactive as the supreme head of The Flying Monkeys. I began to examine the setup within the city and evaluate the chances that Los Angeles and Philly would have in removing the long established outfit from New York.

What many people didn't seem to realise, is that New York was not the fortress that it had once been. Whilst the city was still tremendously stacked with bodyguards, Los Angeles and Philadelphia possessed formidable firepower of their own and as a result, despite the remaining strength of New York, we believed with the right strategy and a solid effort from our soldiers, we would be able to bring about a change in the structure of the city.

I have never been one of these people to buy into the hype about good vs. evil or any of that nonsense and as you might expect, this was never pitched as a war for vengeance, the good of the world or making it a better place to live for the common man. This was a war to change the management of New York, for the betterment of our families. We believed that our friends in Chicago and New Orleans would share our feelings. You can only live for so long with a behemoth, even a peaceful one, lurking over your shoulder, before you decide that you can remove the danger all together. We reached that position.

I've seen talk of betrayal and cowardice thrown at my city, which I find to be laughable. I owed New York nothing. My family owed New York nothing. I served as an enforcer for SpaceMountain, then as a Captain for SpaceMountain, then as a Street Boss for SpaceMountain and then as a Godfather in my own right. SpaceMountain was my Boss and one who stood by me when he was being pressured by people within New York to take my life. I was loyal to the end to my Boss and had he stayed within New York, then I would have had a difficult decision to make. The simple fact is that he didn't, we moved out on our own and New York's attitude towards us reflected that. We believed ourselves to be independent and this view was shared by them.

What do I mean by this? I served in the New York hitsquad and as a result was granted access to their trusted speakeasy. After 4 months of service to this city, I found that my membership had been revoked, without so much as a word of thanks, a warning that it was coming or a good luck in your future endeavours from anyone within the city. I rather humiliatingly arrived at the coffeeshop and found that I was no longer welcome. New York fined us like any other city. One of the Bosses of New York had called for my head to be taken when I was still serving within the city to the best of my considerable ability. Gaius had famously uttered the words "Damn the men who put you here" in the funeral of CrazyNine, when Los Angeles had put him in the ground. There could be no clearer indication that this city no longer viewed us as part of them and I have no issue with this. Just don't pretend we owed them anything.

So, we decided that moving on New York was the right move and it was tasked to me to make it happen, which I diligently did. We secured the support of our friends in Chicago, New Orleans and from within New York from TheDean. These men will have to explain their own motivations for the war, but we would not have been successful without them and the service of their families. The conflict was one that raged far longer than I expected it to, although I believe the outcome to have been decided fairly early on. Even as enemies, the members of New York showed the ability and skill that had seen them hold dominion over MafiaReturns for so long and it took nearly 24 hours after the first shots were fired for the final body be laid to rest.

The loyalty and character displayed by these men was nothing short of extraordinary and they all earned my respect, even as they carved a bloody path through my family and those of my allies. Such is the nature of war. I would have to admit, the race between Gaius and Robert_Guiscard to claim the Godfathership of Las Vegas was one of the most exciting battles I can remember witnessing.

As a final word, I would like to say that I expect no disrespect to come from my city to the fallen members of The Fallen Monkeys. The loyalty and commitment these men showed to their Godfather, even after his death, is commendable and a testament to the empire Deimne built. Of the man himself, I don't think I can I can say it better than CanisLupus did:

You will find no bad words for me about Deimne, he was a giant among the giants. However, what is done is done -- this war has been and continues to be very well fought by both sides. Regardless of how the war ends, New York will have earned more fame and glory than any city in the history of our thing. New York's uninterrupted rule has gone on longer than any other city in the country, through two Godfathers they had never been defeated -- the final defeat will have come with all the world united against them, their Godfather offline, and yet they still put up a fight that will be remembered through the ages.

No one can forget such a battle or such warriors.

Where we go from here is already becoming apparent. Robert_Guiscard has taken over the city of Las Vegas; TheDean has taken over the city of New York. SpaceMountain, Iota, Jim_Levenstein and I remain in our cities as we did before and we are tasked with rebuilding them from the casualties that we have suffered in the conflict. I've said before that I look forward to restoring Cosa Nostra to a point that I can be proud of it and I will continue to endeavour to do so.

Before I do depart, because I am aware my final word was several hundred words ago and I'm still going, I was mystified as to the decision taken by St Louis in joining New York. It was clear, to me at least, that whilst the battle continued, the war had already been won. They needlessly entered a conflict on the wrong side and have been butchered as a result. I don't understand their reasoning, I don't understand their foolish decision that cost the members of the city their lives and I am glad that such an organization has been exposed and removed.

I hope this gives some indication into why Philadelphia acted as they have done.

The reason Gwarble is because a high majority of the members in St.Louis started out in NewYork. And there was probably hatred from when LA went to war with Philly.

A high majority of everybody started out in New York.  It's nice to see that some people still understand that when you start a new family, you become independent.  This recent war was a beautiful thing in my eyes. I have no animosity towards New York, and never have, but I liked to see that there are mobsters who still desire the conquest for power and who claim their own territory rather than continue to live in the shadow of another.  These are old mafia tenets that seem to get forgotten lately.

I Guess you are alittle bit right Charles it was a actually cool war.

Yeah, really cool. Time spent learning the ways of our world, people who had been alive for longer than I care to remember were wiped out, many lives lost on both sides. "Cool" isn't the word I'd use to describe wars at the best of times, let alone one that has been catastrophic in losses for both parties.

Thank you for shedding light on your own actions though Gwarble.

I shouldn't really have said "cool" I should have said Exciting. My Bad.

Nah, you were right. It was cool.

i have one question to whoever the hell wants to answer.

their is a crewleader in Las Vegas who has been there for some time now. why is it that, dispite the fact that he has put in good service, he was supplanted as head of the city? was he consulted in this move? and why was he not allowed to progress at his own rate?

Robert or Richard?

richard.

There is no law stating that Las Vegas was to be left alone until Richard got to Godfather.

I can agree with much of what you say, Gwarble, but I don't agree with trashing St.Louis for fighting for what they thought was right. Now maybe New Orleans and Chicago will come out here at some point and lay out some flimsy excuse for their involvement but the truth is (especially after looking over some mails with Iota my kin had left behind) that NO and CH took what they thought was the easiest path to saving their own skin while St. Louis took the path they thought was right. I'm not saying that CH or NO should be put down for the path they chose but St. Louis certainly shouldn't either.

Aside from that I agree with most of what you have said. There's no betrayal or cowardice on the part of PH and LA here. They saw an opportunity and took it. They owe it to their city to do what is best for them not to worry about protecting Deimne. I applaud your words, however, they are just words. Actions speak louder then words and I'm interested to see if your actions will back up your words.

You say that you look forward to returning Cosa Nostra to a point you can be proud of. Well this war has seen some actions that spit in the face of the Cosa Nostra I've always known. Even now, in one of your own crews, you have a right hand man who was a member of the crew of the very Godfather you and your allies brought down yesterday. In the Cosa Nostra I know anyone made and above would be expected to die for their crew. To have such a high ranking member turn his back on his crew and his Godfather and run to save his own ass would not only disgrace the man himself but the city that took him in.

Perhaps I just have a higher standard. Or maybe your words were truly only just words. Or maybe you'll do what's right. We'll see.

i just want to know why this desicion was made

alfieri, if Godfather Guiscard choices to explain it to you, then youll know. You're in no position to be demanding anything, from anyone.

I've said before that there should never be 'doing the right thing'. The right thing is whatever keeps you and your family alive and what is best for their business interests. If you're a leader, in any profession not just ours, your duty is to your members. Launching your city headlong in a failed bid to save a falling empire can only ever be judged by the outcome, which in this case was disaster. This was war and in war, the only crime is to lose.

Call it what you will, but this is business and I make all my decisions on that basis. If Roman had died fighting, what use would he be to me? None whatsoever. Instead, he no serves as a Consigliere to Colin whilst I restructure Philadelphia. I don't know what oaths he took to Deimne, or to The Flying Monkeys family, but I know how they perceived him, as do you. He wasn't trusted and was treated more like an enemy than a friend. He wasn't even allowed to be present in the lowest levels of their hitsquad, so is it any surprise he didn't jump to the defence of his already dead Godfather? No.

I do know where he stands within Philly and I guess this is one of the things which time will answer for us. If he turns out to be the asset to my city I'm confident he will be, then I would say I've made the right decision.

From reading my fathers' journal entries there was no reason for St. Louis to join the war. At the very best they should have remained neutral, but reading back through the journal's there were many mess ups in the St. Louis structure of command. Not only did they authorize leaders to step up that were completely inactive they never disciplined them either. They left it to their right and left hand men to carry the families and usually it was only a few people that did the work.

You're free to run your city as you see fit. If "doing the right thing" doesn't matter to you then that's fine. That's your prerogative. Other leaders have felt differently and I don't agree with trashing them simply because their view on the matter differed from yours.

So you base everything on business even though it flies in the face of Cosa Nostra? Again, it's your city and your prerogative. But perhaps the resurrection of the standards of Cosa Nostra should be left to someone more capable and willing if that's how you feel.

And I couldn't care less what Roman's feeling were. If he was treated as an outcast and an enemy then he only proved the people that did so right with his actions. We all know what kind of oath you take when you become a made man. That's an extremely weak argument.

sc0pe, are you referring to haydubs?

HayDubs, SINGER, TheSandman even. Neither spent more than an hour or so a day with their families at a time. HayDubs was under different terms, but he still was inactive.

The only right thing to me is what is right for business and in war, the right thing is the thing that leads you to win. If other leaders feel differently to that then they need to evaluate their thinking.

I don't believe it flies in the face of Cosa Nostra for a second. If you become a Made Man you are recognised as a Made Man by all other criminal organizations as that - the books have been opened for you and this is what you are. How far does that loyalty to go? To your Godfather? Till he's dead? After his death? To his sons? To his sons, sons? I know I have nothing like that in my Made Man ceremony.

This brings me to the oaths point again. I know what oaths I ask for my members to take when they make their bones and no where within that do I demand their loyalty to me after my death. I don't expect them to throw their lives away needlessly if they don't have to and neither does Cosa Nostra expect it. I expect and know my soldiers will serve me and my Bosses dutifully whilst they are alive and we are, but once we are dead? I'm not sure how I can expect them to. All of Deimne's bosses had died; Gaius had decided to pursue the conflict himself, as did several others. Good for them and I'm sure that Deimne is proud of them, but their family was gone.

I attend all Made Man ceremonies within my city and I attended all Made Man ceremonies within Los Angeles for P & K Industries. Did Deimne? Did some of his families even have a ceremony? Did they even take oaths? I don't know. What I do know is what I expect and what Cosa Nostra is. Nowhere within Cosa Nostra are you demanded to start fighting for an already dead family, in an extinguished city. Maybe you're thinking of something else.

This is Cosa Nostra. This is business. They aren't at odds; they are one and the same.