On October 19th, Godfather Mikhail of Las Vegas made several announcements regarding rulings the heads of our fine cities had agreed upon. The general pretense of most of these rulings was to restore the respect to the rank of made man, and we feel that to an extent this has been a success. However, given recent events, it is clear that we need to elaborate a bit more on the PP rule as it pertains to made men and above. I will attempt to clear up any confusion here.

Pickpocketing Made Men and Above

All the nation's leaders want to bring back the importance of being a Made Man or higher in this "thing of ours". With that said, if you are an associate meaning Wise Guy and below, and if you attempt to pick the pocket of a Made Man or higher, they have every right to take appropriate action without the interference of any leaders. We encourage Made Men to mug their assailants, however if they deem necessary to shoot them because of their status in our world, that is their given right as a Made Man in our world.

For far too long have we seen the respect of button men sink across our nation. This is the first step in showing that respect is earned, and it's required amongst ourselves. 

Made Man and above, I urge the importance of responsibility you have. This does not mean you should be picking the pocket of every associate you see to mistreat whats been bestowed on you. There will be some people who abuse the systems in place but its up to you to distinguish yourselves in a more honorable fashion and not take advantage of your esteemed status. 

Let me first be very, very clear. No one is being banned, prevented, or excluded from the action of pickpocketing or mugging. As with anything else in our life, each action you take has a reaction. It was the opinion of the City Heads that far too much leniency was being allowed as far as associates (Wise Guy or below) pickpocketing and mugging made men and above, hands, and crewleaders. These ranks and/or positions should be held in higher esteem than that which an associate has.

If a made man is pickpocketed by an associate, he should first resort to mugging, and giving a warning. Perhaps the associate is not aware of the rulings. Should the issue continue, if the made man feels disrespected by continued attempts on their pockets or rude interactions from the associate, that is when blood may be spilled without interference from crewleaders.

If a made man pickpockets an associate, and that associate mugs him, it is expected that the made man will initially try to speak with the associate. Made man is a position of honor and respect, and they should be using this position to educate the younger generation. However, if the made man feels the mugging was an attack, or that the associate has disrespected them, retaliation is not only permitted, it is expected. 

In both of the previous situations, the made man bears the responsibility of honorable reaction. We are putting the judgement of the situation, the person they are dealing with, and the consequences of those actions, on the made men of our thing. The made man should have strong reasoning and be able to back up their actions as a reaction, with proof of the associate's disrespect.

Regardless of the situation, the made man must act with honor and sensibility. Should they bring dishonor to their status, they alone will bear the consequences.

Now, as Mikhail stated, there will be people who try to abuse this system and make it what it is not - an opportunity to bully and harass associates. Doing as such will result in the leaders getting involved. Such practices include:

• Targeting only associates when pickpocketing.
• Targeting a specific associate repeatedly.
• Targeting a specific family or city's associates.
• Taunting associates after pickpocketing them, or otherwise trying to trick them into mugging you so you have an excuse to shoot them.
• Acting in a way that is unfitting of your rank while dealing with the associate.

If you abuse the rule and dishonor the rank and status you have been given, that rank and status will be removed, with little to no chance of re-attainment. 

I hope this helps clear things up, however, I welcome any comments, questions, or concerns the community as a whole may have.

Rebbelle stood there listening thinking all this is  fine  rules are rules her family had always followed the rules even when they didn't agree with them.  Something inside her though stirred and even though she wasn't for speaking as words usually fall on deaf ears. She felt she moved to say something. She placed her piece of human jerky in her back pocket and swallowed the piece she had been chewing then spoke with a clear solid voice.

I don't mean any disrespect to anyone by any means, yet I am moved to say something here. Simply becasue I recently  had a loss in my family due to this rule change.  Let me make it quite clear here that my family has always followed the rules, the rules are  the base of this thing of ours. Respect is what it boils down to. 

So with all due respect I would share that ancestors last words as she took her own life.

I would have followed the rule had I known it was a rule. Upper structure  can't assume that just becasue it is put in the newspaper that it will be read.

 She had a valid point, upper structure just can't assume that becasue it was placed in a newspaper, or placed  some where else that everyone has seen it. Even those who follow these things may have missed it for various reasons. This hits hard in my heart as I read this current announcement, becasue the upper structure who was in charge at the time neglected to make sure that all their members understood this was a rule change.

Had they made sure..... I know my ancestor would have followed the rule and may still be alive today in any regard she would not of died by her own hand becasue of the neglect of office from her upper structure.

So I told this short tale just to  respectfully ask this from the  current upper structure.

Please send out mass telegrams making sure your underlings understand this is the way it is before you hold them accountable for it. Or any new rule or rule change for that matter.

As an aside, the villain Destro has pickpocketed many people in Philadelphia and has walked away completely unscathed. Too afraid to retaliate I suppose. Which is odd because I probably wouldn’t have murdered them for exercising their God-given right to mug. Too evil a reputation I suppose.  Guess I’ve earned that honestly.

Destro shrugs

I posted these rulings in HQ and pointed out the change. I think it would be best if all City and District leaders did the same. 

Mikhail wanted to show his support to his comrade...

"Thank you comrade for making this announcement. I must apologize to those who asked me for my feedback and upon receipt, I ensured them I would say something in the streets to make things clear. While my to-do list is somewhat small these days, things do get often brushed aside. So again, thanks Viktor for clearing things up."

He turns to address BelleCorsica.

"Comrade, that is exactly what is wrong in leadership. As leaders we are meant to disseminate information on rulings such as these. If you need to put blame somewhere, put it on your deceased's leadership. These rules have been up for quite some time."

He then turns to Whoreable.

"I thought it was really comical on what you said to me today. How gossip will travel around this nation faster than a new way we conduct business. Shame. Leaders need to be held accountable if their members do not know these rules." 

Being a naturally friendly person in general, I adopt a pickpocket friendly stance.  Therefore I don't need to worry about these headaches that all of you seem to bring upon yourselves.  It's a great life.  Chances are you won't se Destro_Whelan with his hands in any of your pockets either.  That is unless you happen to be carrying documents on you that contain clues as to who my parents were, and why they left me to fend for myself in this cold, cruel, world.

Destro_Whelan walks around to the other mobsters shaking their hands respectfully.

Ummm, WOW. Okay. Thanks Destro. If I happen to PP you, as stated, will payback more then what I took. Mad respect to you.

Not necessary my naughty friend.  In fact, I'll actually pay you more than you would have taken from me!  Which by the way would most likely be nothing, as Destro_Whelan is very strong as you can clearly see.  How does 50 thousand dollars sound?  Any time you attempt to pick my pockets and fail, I will give you 50 thousand dollars.  Try getting that kind of money from pickpocketing these other guys.  I bet you you won't get very far.  What do you say?

I really don't see myself liking these rules, I mean, ok for "ranks respect", but that means if someone MM+ from PH pp some associates from CH, and that guy not liking that, mugs him, that MM+ PH has the right to kill him? And the upper structure of CH should be ok with someone from PH killing one of their associates over a trivial matter? Not quite sure it's how mafia work.

Waiting these rules to change :P I will just take the risk in case lol, I usually PP anyone, and very rarely mug, but if someone targets me, not giving money back, and is a mugger, I don't see why I shouldn't mug, regardless of rank.

This should be abolished immediately. All it does is allow for the bullying of associates. Shame on the uppers who made this rule. This doesn't bring honor to made+, it brings disgrace.

I disagree, you shouldn't touch a made man, full stop. I would go one further & say any under made that shoots at a made should immediately be killable by that made man assuming they survive.

I never said they did, I was making a suggestion.

Mini if you paid better attention you'd see that Made men abusing their position, for example continued pick pocketing & goading of wise guys would be punished.

Personally I'd like see anyone who PP's a Made Man then banks and or fly away to avoid a beating be available to be shot.

I declare this null and void. It should never have happened.

can i just ask now what the nationwide stance on this is now i'm i likely to be shot for mugging someone now?

Dont think its any problems with this at all since so many are againt it. Probably just to have the same good rule as we have before and no kill after mug which is sad really as I see it.

I hope so i think mugging is an adequate response to a PP as i am not pp friendly but i will hold off for a formal answer from the leaders after their next meeting :)

Thought all knew how to protect their cash if they are so sad over loosing 15k but seems not all know it, federal bank, 0 on account and all is safe and no sorry or?