Godfather Epiphany and Godmother Isabella Byrne were flanked by William_Bowden on their right.  He wore a black fedora with a small white feather in it's band.  And on their left came Adele- in a smart business suit.  They were shadowed by The Wolf of Race Street, GavinByrne, as they came to a stop on a street corner known by gangsters as a place to talk and hear the latest ‘word’ about recent events. 

“An ancestor of mine was once quoted to have said ‘being a Godfather is a sucker’s gig.’  Long hours, your pay isn’t your own - if you’re doing it right, and endless stress before a bullet gets you.  Then your name gets dragged through the mud, no matter what you did in life or how hard you tried to leave something memorable behind.  No Godfather or Godmother gets out of this thing of ours loved by everyone... and that's how you know you stood for something.”

“I stand for Race Street.  I stand for the ideals that its founder Jack Mezzo stood for.  Race Street Company never sought power for its own sake, but instead placed a focus on positively impacting the world around us.  Race Street was, and is, about business and the people who do business here.  That vision has been at the heart of what Philadelphia, in the best of her days, has always aspired to be.”

“Louis Mezzo spoke to me, personally, about his dreams of conquest, and I found myself torn.  I was torn between loyalty to the man who is the blood kin of our founder and a pillar of Philadelphia for years ... and loyalty to my city and the vision of my mentor Jack Mezzo.  Upon receiving intelligence from his interactions with our allies in addition to others corroborating his ambitions that hinted at Louis’s aggressive future agenda, I had to make a choice.  I had to choose between being a traitor to my Godfather-Chairman and being a traitor to the ideals my city stands for. Either way, I lose. And either way, I battle to protect that which I care about."

Bella looked out on the people she called her family, her aging doe-like eyes meeting the eyes of Philly's residents - steadfast despite their questions about the conflict and her motives.

"In this life, we are sometimes forced to make the most difficult choices. I pray that each of you never have to make a choice like that. But South Philly and Bella Vista choose to put the vision of Jack Mezzo first - and I choose to stand for that before my end eventually comes. I choose to act not for myself, but for my city and its ideals. You may, of course, choose to believe me or not. That is your right. But I have the right to act in protection of my city and my people."

“May the dead rest in peace.  May their kin take comfort in knowing that, as we all do, the dead hustled hard and did the best they could.  May the living know ... so long as I still draw breath: Philadelphia stands by her allies.  It does not yearn for conquest. When forced to choose between those who want to tear things down and those who want to build, Philadelphia will always stand with those who build."

Boy you really made a mess of things.

Your lineage has a betrayal trend, huh?

Michael sighs and laughs. He turns over a milk crate and stands just as tall as he can. In his loudest voice, he attempts to garner attention.

Ah, the two luckiest Godfathers in the world. Thank goodness they've come to explain the damage they have done to their own. But first, how did they attain the position? Was it cunning skill? Was it strength? No, it was simply old age and being abandoned by every other relevant mobster during the Easter War of 1931. Left to their own, they somehow stumble into the position blindfolded. During their remarkable, meteoric, absolutely legendary ascent to Godfather status, they fumbled with a gun and mistakenly shot their own people one district over. How comical. 

Or perhaps they were manipulated by powers not residing in Philadelphia? Talked into taking action against themselves? Cutting off their own right and left arms? Arms that were always meant to protect them? Arms that only intended to hug and coddle the baby Godfathers...nurture them, teach them, watch them grow? And when these baby Godfathers were asked to stand by their own city, they turned their back on it instead...condemning some of the oldest and most powerful mobsters in Philadelphia.

They killed the same people who would have sacrificed themselves fighting FOR Philadelphia. These loyal mafioso DIED at the hands of the city they took the blood oath to protect. Led by inexperience, ineptitude, ignorance and conformity, the attackers gunned down their brothers and sisters who pledged their life to them.

Strange really. It was never about being in the La Cosa Nostra for the attackers anyway. No, they were more content sitting around in pubs and street corners spouting off incoherent stories about who-knows-what. 

Just then, another young boy comes running through the streets screaming that a Philly Godfather had just been killed. Shaking his head, Michael took advantage of the now dead silent crowd.

Ladies and gentleman. Case in point. Early whispers showed the victims of OCD were severely and completely outnumbered. But as the Godfathers have continuously displayed throughout their accidental rise to the top, they lack the ability to effectively lead men into war.

What kind of planning leaves your leaders vulnerable, without a pro shooter?

What kind of planning, when taking down one district, even requires pro shooters in the first place?

Can the Godfather of South Philly not do math? To remove 10 people, you need 10 shooters.

Or maybe it's that they are physically and mentally weak. Physically unable to murder their brothers and sisters because they simply lack the muscle?

Mentally unable to formulate any plan worth a shit?

Lacking the humility to ask for 100% support from these "allies" they were so desperate to protect? Could these allies not muster up one measly pro shooter? Could these allies not give one more hitter to ensure a clean take down? Two more hitters?

Surely, if OCD was such a threat, they would want to make this as clean and painless as possible for the rest of the world...right? 

A few Philly elitists were quickly approaching Michael, and he knew it was time to leave.

Rest in Peace to the fallen on both sides.

The only people who should be ashamed here are the ones that chose to safe list so many large guns and whoever lead this war.  I don't know if they are the same person, but they are clearly out of touch. 

These people play with their emotions over their brains and they have no place in any sort of leadership.  Their failure of action in what would have taken any seasoned team 30 seconds to complete into a mess that cost everyone dearly.  

We live by the sword and die by the sword. Questions were asked in good faith of seemingly trusted people, discussions were had and the actions taken based on these discussions can be seen in the obits in the weeks prior to this morning i.e. nothing.  Not because of anything other than respecting the alliances built beforehand.

May Philadelphia live in interesting times.

Khunt looks to Bella.

"How much are you going to compensate New York for your botched take down resulting in the death of a Don CL, who was days away from Godfather? You have decimated your own city & will righly be brushed away when another city decides its expansion time."

Khunt spits on the ground.

Most impartial observers would give you another 2-3 weeks max before Philadelphia is rubble. Enjoy your legacy of backstabbing. 

I'm really sorry that the choice between seizing power for yourself or being loyal to the man that protected you, trusted you, made you a hand, then a leader, then a godmother was so difficult for you. I can only imagine the mental anguish it must have caused you, and you have my deepest sympathy at this trying time Godmother Isabella-Luciano

One trick that my father taught me to help with difficult choices such as this was to simply not betray people who had placed their absolute trust in me for my own personal gain. I have no idea if it works or not since I'm so young, but it might be worth trying next time you're in a fix like this. 

Was there a point to this speech or did you just want to say a lot of words without actually saying anything?

So I see you betrayed your GFC? No matter the reasoning behind your betrayal it is still despicable. 

Good luck with the aftermath Isabella. 

Civilian patiently waits for Godmother Luciano to complete her speech. Eventually he gets his chance to speak his mind.

"I carefully listened to what you had to say. I also read the few notes my father left me, even though he wasn't very involved in the events that led to this war, so I probably don't know all the details behind this war. However it is clear that you took a gamble; You picked your allies outside of Philadelphia over your allies in Philadelphia. Only time will tell if that gamble pays off. Good luck to you and the rest of PH"

Leora listened to Isabella and others' speeches and started thinking.

"Although I don't fully agree with Isabella's mafioso way, I respect it. I and many others, I'm sure, have benefited from her write club, roleplay, example, and many more. Those are only possible because she thinks of building up, rather than conquest."

Leora started frowning.

"However, we are, in the end, mafioso. We fight, we kill, and we steal. Conquest is a natural part of life. Although I do agree that no mafioso can stand too much conquest (especially with only one tyrant in the seat), and building is a necessary part of life, I very strongly disagree with betraying your sponsor, crew and city. If you would ally with people, it is them, and not the others."

Leora was new to the streets and had not much experience. She will remember Isabella, and the others' way. She may even follow their path.

Vash rarely finds the time to venture out of his HQ though events from Philly have made him. His eyes filled with sorrow after the city he grew up in and still called home imploded. These mobsters where and are still his Brothers and sisters a few things he heard made him lift an eyebrow in amazement.

So I see you betrayed your GFC? No matter the reasoning behind your betrayal it is still despicable. 

 

She betrayed her GodFather Chair you say EVEN though she is a GodMother of her own district her loyalty is 1st and formost to her Crew and HER district. Now if Louis had these dreams of conquest of betraying the people who handed him the most powerful city on the map. The chances are that it would lead to the destruction of the city as a whole the deaths of each and everyone of the people Isabella is in charge of and sworn to protect. 

Vash felt tired this had be very taxing and a bit more excitement then what he is used to if he didnt get back to his HQ there was a chance that someone would see him and report back to Bobross that he was out and about. The though of work made Vash shudder this would not do not at all he shuffled faster towards the HQ.

Aomame stood beside the streets, listening to goings on.  She had entered this life looking to quietly go about her business in the shadows as she had been trained, however, she had been taken in as a bodyguard to Don Mezzo as he was at the time.  She had spent a long time at his side and had been privy to most of the discussions pertaining to his apparent power lust and it was starting to irritate her slightly regarding the use of if.

So, I don’t suppose as a lowly thug, my input into these discussions warrants very much attention but as your saying goes “If my aunt had balls she’d be my uncle.”  There are a lot of ifs and buts around this.  I would like to expand on the power hungry nature of the late Mezzo’s intentions and his ambitions and I apologise now that it may be wordy.

She sat on a small wall

I think it is worth going back to some examples for some context.  Back in the war removing New York and Seattle, a young woman called Yokai was brought into Philadelphia under Louis’ protection on the agreement of Constance due to her being vouched for by one of his own.  When some people in Philadelphia were shot at, Yokai was suspected despite a land mass between her and the incident and was shot while Louis travelled home.  Weeks later, three apparently suspicious members of South Philly were shot while Louis slept.  These three members were shot by residents of OCD at the time, and a cursory heads up was given to Louis afterwards as it had apparently been an issue of high importance to be done there and then.  Whether this was true or not, issues pertaining to South Philly were not being dealt with in conjunction with the leadership or crewleaders in the district, the city was very disjointed when it came to communication and decision making.  Lessons Louis was keen to learn from and avoid happening once more.

So, let us fast forward many months.  So, Yokai?  Her daughter Venra was involved in the takedown of Constance.  Whether this was vengeance for the killing of her mother I’m sure we may never truly know.  However the subsequent escalation that day left Detroit empty and LA and Chicago severely wounded.

Within a couple of days, a former member of Chicago who had been given protection in Philadelphia shot at MustachePete’s fortifications.  Apparently there was nobody about for Pete to talk to so he shot this member because the guy was a threat, a monetary threat but not physically.  Louis was miffed but comfortable enough to brush this off as a “fog of war” type thing and had a discussion with BobRoss and Pete about it.  Both he and Bob seemed to be on the same page that just shooting like that was bad form.  Worth making a stand?  Possibly but we’ve just had a war and people will be a little salty and let’s build relationships rather than barriers.  

Let’s move a couple of weeks later as this is where things start to become pertinent.  Pzo went rogue.  Epiphany, in his wisdom took a pro shot from his former right hand McNomerson.  Bob caught the witness statement and immediately shot McNomerson without asking questions.  Remember the agreement that these things were bad form?  Have you noticed that many people are now sporting 1041 badges?  If you don’t understand the relevance of that here is the quote about it:

This is the type of man that if ever shot and killed by a rival crew I wouldn't simply take revenge and call it a day.
I would kill 10 members of that crew for that thug, I would make them hurt 10x what I am feeling. I make them attend 10 funerals.

Louis knew that Bob sported that badge as did several key members of Detroit and indeed New York, Chicago and Seattle.  To avoid issues with communication that had plagued the city, he took a meeting with Apollonia, Epiphany and Isabella-Luciano to lay out his concerns and ask what they thought.  Had there been any other communication?  Was there an issue we needed to deal with if Philly was being viewed as a soft touch and obviously, if there is an issue who would we have to remove?  The outcome of that very short discussion was that Epiphany was happy with the response, Bella knew Bob was a good guy and that there was no issue.  Louis was happy with that; happy that all the districts had communicated, happy that peace would remain.

Then there was the prickly subject of Cactus with LA.  Cactus had been one of the district’s best performers but had a friendship with the late Chromatik and was asking to move there as left hand.  Within a week he had decided he could not honour the commitments of being left hand and so stood down looking to return to Philadelphia.  Now, having seen his contemporaneous notes of discussions with Chromatik I’m not going to say the issue was handled very well between anyone there however there was the underlying issue that ralph_lombino was unhappy with the way it had been handled and had said he would maybe have killed Cactus.  Now, was this a genuine threat to shoot a Philadelphia Don?  Louis didn’t know so he spoke directly to ralph and also mentioned to Bella that there was a potential issue with LA.  He also spoke to Maeby…if this a genuine thing that can’t be resolved, what happens if…  The matter once again was resolved by talking to ralph.  There was no issue.  Now, if the discussion about “what if” is viewed as unnecessarily aggressive then I defy you to find a city head anywhere that hasn’t at one point had a mental chess game in their head looking at their pieces and the other city’s pieces and also thinking “what if”.

Anyway…Bella and Louis took the opportunity to discuss many things that evening.  They were both happy that there was no issue with LA.  Louis mentioned that his family had long imagined wielding all the power in the world and that now, with the actual experience of being GFC, he could think of nothing worse.  Bella’s position was that if anyone was smart, they would take control of three cities tops rather than spreading themselves too thin.  Bella also thought it would be great if for once some CL would stand in the streets and just tell the truth using the example “I took Detroit because I love the drug prices and I took Chicago because I love those prices too”.  “Ho, ho ho, that would be funny.”

Finally, and I apologise for wittering on and on.  The issue of the 1041.  Suddenly there were more people claiming allegiance.  Had Louis’s discussions with Epiphany, Apollonia and Bella been leaked?  People were saying to Louis that it was a plot and cities were eyeing up Philadelphia.  Louis was being advised to shoot.  There were 1041 rogues.  What did he do?  Rather than succumbing to paranoia, he asked Maeby if there was an issue to be worried about?  Maeby reassured him that no, there wasn’t and that the doing something about it would cause anarchy.  Louis had already come to that conclusion and admitted he was being more than a little paranoid.  And that was that.

If asking for advice from people who knew the individuals was overly aggressive and power hungry then so be it.   However to say that Louis had dreams of conquest or that he was going to betray those who handed him blah blah blah is disingenuous or miles from the truth.  The truth is, cities co-operate and are allied until it is no longer advantageous to be aligned.  

Louis was proud to have taken over South Philly.  He never had any ambitions for GFC but was happy building Philly to be a counterweight but did not want to be viewed as a soft-touch.  He ignored all advice to remove or shoot people or cities except when asked to help.  If that made him weak, so be it.  If it left him viewed as a coward, then there is nothing that will be said to rectify that

If Bella has taken her own advice of telling the truth of why she has done it, then she has completely misread Louis’ intentions.  If she hasn’t told the truth then why not just say she wanted her own role playing city and thought she could handle the alliances better.

Aomame left the streets.

It really does take a special kind of narcissistic mentality to look at your own actions aswell as those of LouisMezzo and determine that he was the demon and you were the hero and protector of Philidelphia and her allies.

He took it apon himself after the Easter weekend massacre to take charge of the city and look after its best interests, with the amount of new information and responsibility placed on his shoulders its actually impressive to know that in such a short amount of time he was already looking at and considering a whole range of possible scenarios regardless of whether they were violent or not, its even more impressive that he not only chose to include those closest to him because, ironicically he trusted them with his own life but he actually also decided against taking any sort of violent actions towards anyone.

I find at times like these its of a signifcant help if you cut through the bullshit and look at the facts.

Who attempted to discuss further without actually taking violent action?

Who actually commited an act of betrayal?

Whose actions led to deaths of at least 25 other people?

Whose actions led to death of inhabitants of other cities?

Speaks for itself really.

but no doubt her demise is someone else's fault and she still did nothing wrong.

Kurtis laughs at this dude's comment 

Really? nothing wrong? Should go to sleep your delusional

I think it's called sarcasm, Kurtis. 

A really sad day even in MR-world, things that happened here this time were very very sad for many, many died for almost nothing and full respect to all who are dead. RIP all

Coming to the street corner now riddled with bullet holes and empty brass Jimmy surveyed the carnage, being new to the world but having letters from his friends he had a feeling while misguided the intent was pure, sadly. in her efforts to save the city the now late god mother signed its death certificate. Taking one last drag off of his smoke Jimmy said to himself 

"There has to be a joke somewhere in this, fuck it" And jimmy went back to his life trying to learn the ropes. "