Toby nods, and stands up in front of the room.

With the recent debate in the streets about the Lack of Leadership, there was one particular point that was brought up. How much should a Crew Leader spread out power among his upper structure? In my opinion I believe that power should be spread out among the upper structure of a family. The reasoning behind this is that if everyone shares in the work that is required to maintain a family the family will both get to know each other in working with one another and there will be more time for the family to have more personal relationships with one another. If the power is not spread out and one person tries to take on all the work, that person will have very little time to talk with the family and form friendships within the family.

After Toby finishes speaking he steps to the side and welcomes the next person to the stand.

SINGERROURKE thinks to himself for a moment.

Toby if i can ask, what kind of power do you mean that should be spread around the upper structure?

As we all know (hopefully) a lot of work goes into the daily management of a crew. The question I am offering up for debate is how much of that work should be passed off onto the family and how much of the work should be the sole responsibility of the Crew Leader.

SINGERROURKE thinks to himself for a bit. It would be his own way of running a crew and if he was a crew leader how would he have it done? This is something he does enjoy thinking about rather frequently.

If i was a crew leader I would run it to where my made men have more choices in how the crew would be run than any other in the nation. If you would be brought into the family it would not depend on money rather your relationship with other family members. You could earn a million dollars for me daily but if you never spoke with me i could care less. The money always comes is my philosophy, so ill never be greedy.

SINGERROURKE snaps out of his digression.

I began to digress i am sorry. First off to be a made man you would have a say in if someone gets made. I would have a board of trustees of all Capos and higher who would discuss regular events in the crew whose sole mission is to unite the crew stronger each week. I Would have more work done within the family than any other family. I would have it to where it would be an organized group of men instead of just the followers of SINGERROURKE. People would vote on certain issues and people would be allowed to stand against me if they think i was going to do something wrong, as long as it wouldnt be made public. Thats a leader i would want to be is a leader that people can follow and feel and know that their opinions and feelings do matter.

SINGERROURKE looks at Toby hoping he had answered the question properly.

You answered perfectly.

Toby stands and begins to walk around the room.

Your ideas are very well thought out. This is in fact a good way to run a family, but I see one flaw in how this system would operate. The flaw I see in this system, is the time it would take in order to make decisions. In most cases taking a little long in decision making is not the end of the world, but there are situations that require action right away. If you leave everything up to be voted on time senesitive materials will be left unanswered. How do you intend to deal with issues of urgency effectively?

SINGERROURKE was pleased to know that Toby had enjoyed his response to the question. Yet another question had opened SINGERROURKES mind up a little bit. SINGERROURKE thought back about the past for a moment then proceeded on.

There is not a lot of valuable things we have in this world. One of the many valuable things we do have though is the ability to have a right hand and a left hand man. They would be the most high of the votes. If they stood for one thing or another together in the time of need i would listen to them greatly. To rush almost any decision will get you killed. I believe every route has to be considered that every path has to be sought out in the mind and all terms of the most peaceful of ways should be recognized. If they are not you are no more than a monster.

SINGERROURKE takes a sip of his water.

It is also very important to remember that as the head of a family you would have complete control. If something needed to happen and i wouldnt be getting a definitive response i would act very quickly with the most well thought out plan i would have.

Toby quickly stands up as to rebutle, but insteads just smiles and begins to clap.

Very well done my friend. I am bested. I concede my defeat.

Toby walks forward and gives SINGERROURKE a handshake. Toby then turns to the other people in the room.

If anyone else can make another point, speak now and be ready to defend your point.

SINGERROURKE shakes Tobys hand. They were good friends so it was always a pleasure to be around the gentleman. Now SINGERROURKE had to focus his mind on the next Debate. Finally he found an idea. SINGERROURE stepped up to the microphone and began to announce the new debate.

Ladies and Gentleman let me welcome one and all of you to this place again, Especially those of you who have not been here before! Now are new Debate should be an enticing one. What should become of a man in a family who does not pull his own weight?

SINGERROURKE waits and sees people thinking about it. He didnt think this one needed any further explanation so he hopped on down. Waiting for the next person that would go up on stage to start the debate on what should become of people who dont bring in for the family.

After much thought and tossing ideas around in his head Toby stands and takes stage.

This question is one that has been posed time and time again. It is my belief that in joining a family you sign your life away to that family. You are with them until the end, and it should be your top priority to go up and above what is expected of you.

If a man does not pull his own weight in a family, the only thing he is entitled to is a long swim in the lake. With as many job in a family as there are, it is nearly impossible to pull your own weight. The people that don't do their part in a family should not be a member of a family.

Toby stands on the stage awaiting the next person to offer their opinion on the subject.

Julia steps up to put her two cents in about the topic.

A person that does not pull their weight in a family should be shot. There are no questions about that. Now if they have a good reason then that is for the CL to decide upon whether they live or die. Most crews are FILLED with low level gangsters that dont try at all, and most are still alive. Honestly, I think a lot of people are slacking these days. Keeping a person that is totally inactive is ridiculous. If you want them for defense reasons tough shit. Go out and recruit people that will work and offer REAL strength to your family. But I digress. Point is, pull your own or be killed. Thats my opinion.

Julia steps back and takes a deep breath. This issue had her flustered because she had very strong morals on the topic.

The answer to your question "What should become of a man in a family who does not pull his own weight?" is extremely simple. One shall not be in a family if he doesn't. Un till one reaches the rank of Made Man he's a mere associate to the family, not directly a member. Technically his tag would be a direct connection to a CL of a family, but realisticly he's not been accepted yet as a full family member.

With that said, if a made man or higher ranked one is unable to pull his weight for a while I would be totally ok with that. Once a rank like that is achieved it means they already earned their spot in a family and should not be shot on sight for being absent for a certain amount of time. Of course if he happened to get into a coma for months the side of the story would be different. But, in all fairness that only happens in very rare occasions.

Now, regarding those associates, unlike Julia I've twisted feelings about the topic. I guess it also depends on the definition of "pulling his weight" to me a goomba that shows up every now and then to get a job done is not necessary dead weight. Realize, not all of us have the time and energy or skills to work up to the more respectable ranks. Some people settle for less and that on its own is creating a healthy balance in our world. The meaning of the rank Don would quickly decrease if we had two hundred ambitious Don's running around. We need the small wheels to make the big wheels turn around. Clock work!

Every family leader gets to deal with the occasional thug that thinks he can handle the mafia life, he shows up for jobs for a few days and then out of the blue stops showing up. Idles around in a city, does fuck all. Now that's an example for shoot on sight. But I admire the family heads also who don't do this just in a spur of the moment, there could be plenty of reasons why not. Those reasons only known to the family leader. And I don't find myself in a position to question these motives.

I think a CL can prevent this whole issue by not giving new associates all the money they need to do cocaine runs, by waiting for the associate to approach them instead, this way you're putting yourself up a bit more securely with less risks.

But look at me, ranting on and on, a wonderful topic to discuss though SINGERROURKE!