...and a Consig in Charlie's family...

I was strolling through the funeral homes today.  Yeah, I know, I am morbid that way, but it's interesting to see the day's funerals.  I like to see who is sad if so and so dies.  I like to see the coffins, the bodies.  All that.  Yeah, I may have a fascination with death (and by that I mean OTHER people's deaths), but who among us doesn't?  You know you're all scowering through obituaries in the Tribune.  But that's a story for another day.

It was just interesting for me to see all the Capos (and a Consig from Charlie's family) that died today.  I mean, really, one after another.  All dead.   Made me think there was some sort of epidemic affecting Capos.  Just all of them - dead in the street.  A way by Gods, or Family Heads to thin the herd maybe?  If I was a Capo...wait...okay, whew...I'm not a Capo...If I was a Capo today, I might be a little scared.  Just so many of them dead in the street.

Now, normally the dead don't bother me.  I see gangsters lying in the street all the time.  Goombas, earners, wiseguye...don't care.  They are meaningless.  But when you see Capos laying in the street, that causes me to pause.  And I wonder - why are all these capos dying? 

Capos used to be a respected bunch.  They've made their bones, proved themselves to their families.  Now?  Well now they're thrown away in the street without even a word.  And I think that's what bothers me the most.  Not even a word. 

I was reading my grandfather's journals - yes, we all have grandparents, and for some reason they all wrote journals.  Anyway, he ran a crew back in New York.  And whenever a high ranking member of his family died an unsuspicious death - he would attend the funeral and give a little eulogy.  A word about the Capo, or even the gangsters, to show that they'd packed up and left, figuratively of course, or to thank him for his services.  At the very leasty - a word to show other families that this was not a suspicious death.  And boy, did he have trouble killing Made Men and higher.  You see, it was an honor to be made. Proof positive that the made man or woman had earned the respect of the family.  Proof that (s)he'd made his bones and had what it took to be a real member of that family.  So to turn around and kill that MEMBER of the family there HAD to be some monumental failure.  Failure on the part of that Capo and failure on the part of my grandfather as his leader, that somebody he trusted enough to invite into the family was now worth so little that somebody would find him dead on the street.

Now, nothing.  Just a dead Capo.  Or a lot of dead Capos.  Nobody to bury them.  Nobody to care that these once trusted members of families were just tossed aside without explanation.

I'm not sure what's better...or worse.  Are families just able to keep secrets better than before; living by Omerta?   Or are we just to lazy to give a damn?    

And another question - are we a little quick to kill these once-respected members of our families? 

Feel free to discuss your theories as to why these capos are dying.  And offer any opinions about whether we should mourn their loss or at least take care of our dead. 

Inferno is truly moved by this brave soul's speech.

I understand what he means this senseless outburst of violence against us capos is just unacceptable.

Noticing someone following him Inferno quickly runs off.

I bet there are more dead Gangsters.

I heard these Capo's are all suffering from whats being called the 30 day itch. It seems that they work hard, make their way in this thing of ours and gain a lot of respect. Then one day, the itching starts. Before you know it, they contact their boss and give their "notice" that they no longer wish to be involved in this thing of ours.. And well, you know how that ends! No-one walks away from our life.

No idea what happend to that Consigliere, though.

Sho was strolling down the street when one of his body guards came rushing back, reporting that there was a man giving a speech just around the corner. He lit a cigarette and decided to see what this mans agenda was. When the man was finished with his speech Sho looked to one of his body guards and said

"Remind this fine gentleman of the fliers that were posted a few months back of the governments new robotic development program. They were designed to appear to be humanoid but there were machines, no emotion. If you could pay the price they would take care of day to day activities for you. So naturally this appealed to my friends in our line of business. Not having to do the mundane daily tasks for ourselves but just to hire a new "man" monthly to take care of it for me."

He chuckles

"Obviously I don't trust the government that much. I bet they are all spies."

Sho snuffs out his cigarette and continues about his day.

As a Capo,I fear nothing!

Oh and by the way: when chicken little ran past here squawking her ass off about the sky falling....we punked her ass and had fried chicken at our Capo meeting. :P

SINGER stands next to apathy.

Oh man that was some good fried chicken. Apathy you need to make some more. Us capos gotta eat.

SINGER rubs his stomach thinking how awesome it is to be a capo.

What comes up, must come down.

Unless you're talking about the Cubs...then that's a different story lol

Stapled listens carefully to the well spoken speech before giving his two cents

Unfortunately, due to the massive numbers of mobsters that roam our streets these days, it is becoming more difficult to get respected and earn a suit of your own. I remember reading a diary entry from one of my fore-fathers and it described some famous families being run by well respected Capos. Nowadays, it seems that the suit wearers are Consiglieres or above (mostly).

Anyways, what I think is that some Capos (not necessarily those in the grave recently) are becoming dissilusioned by this thing of ours and feel that they can no longer strive for a suit of their own, thus meeting an untimely end to their mob lives.

Takes a deep breadth before moving on to a local 7/11

Guillotine . walks over towards Sho, and shakes his head.

Robtics? that reminds me of what my nephew showed me in his comic books. could this be the end of us?

Guillotine. takes a swig of some of his moonshine. and sighs as he wonders whats the world coming to these days.