Stallion walks out of the shadows and heads to the middle of the street. Whistling loud, a petty thief comes running with a soap box and places it in front of Stallion. Smiling, Stallion slips the petty thief a dollar bill and tells him to run along.

With the petty thief gone people start to focus there attention on Stallion, he steps up on the soap box, pulls out his gun and fires it in the air. People in the crowd start screaming while others pull out their own guns ready for action. Police, as usual, walk by like nothing is happening. Their pockets full of their most recent "pay check". Still holding his gun in front of him, Stallion addresses the crowd.

"The gun. Who would think that just a small metallic object could have such a major impact in all our lives. Is it even possible now days to succeed in the our world without mastering the use of your gun? Personally I really can't see how anyone could rule without having an extremely high level of skill with their gun. It just seems like after Deimne, who was a new age of superpower and who really kicked off the era of "People with insanely skilled guns and protection", that the ultimate gun has been the main factor."

"There is only one problem with the gun being a main factor, knock off the top dog and the rest will follow. Crew leaders and Godfathers started being so focused on having the best gun that they forgot about their crew. Once the crew leader was killed the rest of the crew would just disband and hope for the best because obviously they wouldn't be able to win without them. Same goes for Godfathers. Wars have become so quick that sometimes you wouldn't even realize they even happened."

"Hell I wouldn't even call them wars. Wars imply both sides fighting each other, not one side striking first and completely wiping out their enemy. Why can't it be that even if your Godfather or Crew leader gets killed you can still keep fighting and have a chance to win. In fact, the last time I heard of a situation where even after all the top guys where killed the rest of the crew kept on fighting to pretty much win, was when Roman became Godfather."

"Its comes to a situation where you ask yourself, who in this city has the best guns and can cause me the most damage? The Godfather, Crew leaders and Hands. Okay, I know they have always been targets in wars, but have they always been the best hitters? No wonder we have seen so many Crew leaders and even two Godfathers(which I didn't even think was possible) dying from wackback, because they are all so obsessed with becoming better and better at shooting that they don't stop. That just increases their chance of dying from a gun malfunction. You would think a Godfather or Crew leader more aware of when to stop shooting and wasting their time on homeless gangsters."

"Crews are becoming so focused on having as many guns that are they forgetting what's really important? Those full time earners and pro'er are just as important. Without hitters, earners would just live on in a peaceful world but without earners hitters wouldn't be able to dedicate as much time as they can to hitting and without pro'ers lots of hitters would be screwed during wars. We need to remind ourselves what really is important. This surplus of wannabe hitters has to slow down and families have to focus on members earning hard and putting the idea of them becoming a hitter far away in their mind."

"Will it ever stop, or are we bound to keep seeing people with god like gun skills? Which leads to people hiring armies of bodyguard to protect them from said guns. Will there be a time when having the best gun doesn't have to be a main factor when becoming top dog? Or have we already past those times and they aren't coming back? Hell maybe even they are back and we just don't know it, maybe the next big war to come and oh, it is coming alright, when the dust settles the one to still be standing won't be the one who had the biggest gun. I guess time will tell."

Listening to Stallion speak, Kurtz tries to take in the various points and questions raised before responding.

It is an interesting point you raise there Stallion. Indeed, it does appear that a large amount of focus among a large percentage of the community, is on the gun. However that is just the perceived reality. In truth there are many other facets of our existence that are given an enormous amount of thought, planning and work. They are just not noticed so obviously as the after effects of guns being used. Without the trail of dead bodies or broadcasting, the general public doesn't notice many things. Negotiations between leaders, inter city commerce and alliances. The establishing and maintenance of businesses, gathering of intelligence and all manner of administration and organisational roles. Like many aspects of a great movie, they largely go unnoticed when weighed against the shoot out or the car chase, however if those background elements were missing, the whole thing would come falling down and the movie wouldn't work.

There is an emphasis on any leader to develop their ability with a gun but it isn't all consuming. It is just one facet of leadership, a responsibility as much as anything else. Sure some will always have a disproportionate emphasis on it but it shouldn't be that way. There is a great deal to solid leadership as any of successful leaders will tell you. Just ask your own, he's a fine place to start.

You mention war strategies and the fact we rarely see any conventional wars, just sweeping take-downs. Really, that has almost always been the way. The vast majority mass gunfire in our way of life comes without warning and in such devastating force that it is impossible for the opposing side to mount any kind of response. If you think about it this is nothing more than practical planning on the part of the attacking side. Why would any leader leave their members at risk when they didn't have to? As much as they may be the aggressor in the situation they also have a responsibility to look after their own people and not leave them at risk of reprisal from the remaining members of the attacked family. Once in a great while things will escalate into all out tit-for-tat warfare but it is very rare and understandably so.

There are still full time earners and pro shooters. These crafts are not dead and by no means undervalued. But again, they get overlooked simply because they don't draw as much attention as the gunmen. If you open a news paper and happened to see a nice pair of tits on one page and an informative article on commerce on the other, which page would your eyes be drawn to? Exactly. If you look around the various cities you'll see many businesses run by some seriously hard working mobsters doing very valuable work for their respective families. They are valued as much, in some cases much more, than a great many guns. They just don't get the public attention that the more violent members get. Make no mistake about it though, their work is valued highly by their leaders.

Same goes for pro shooters. Very much valued in their own crews. With the world being set up the way it is these days, there are so many shots around to take that a reliable pro shooter is always a welcome thing in any family. Sure it can often be a role taken by the younger members of most families but it does take some skill and its value should not be underestimated or overlooked.

Pausing Kurtz takes a swig from a small silver hip flask before rounding off his point.

In summation. All these other elements and roles you mention are being done. They are as valuable as ever to every family. its simply that they don't get the attention or credit that gun slingers seem to get. Ask any leader about their valued members and I am sure, any leader worth their salt will list members who's speciality is not their gun.

listens intently to both men speak before offering up some of his own thoughts

Before I start I have to say Kurtz you have summed up things prefectly.

lights up a smoke before continuing

Yes the days of the gun is upon us, today to be a successful leader you have to be able to get your hands dirty at the front rather than coordinate attacks from the rear. But as Kurtz has stated just because the killers are those who get noticed it does not mean the earners or pro shooters aren't there. Hitters get a few days of relative quiet before the Durdens descend and every tom dick and harry is out on the streets waving guns about. But the mass of these wouldbe hitters make it easier for families to gather inteligence upon who's shooting and who isn't.

takes another draw from his smoke

But you say where is the place for the earners, they are hardly overlooked otherwise where do the hitters get their protection? Bodyguards are not cheap and their upkeep can run up a pretty tidy bill. It is the earners that help to finance such things. Without them we wouldn't see as many people running around with a team of healthy bodyguards.

takes another draw and continues

As for the pro shooters, these are possibly the most elusive of our trade. They only come out to play when they are needed and even then are hard to trace. When the bullets are flying it's not always those who are being attacked that witness the protection these people offer. Also these are the people who possibly put their lives in the most danger, they have guns that aren't trained, shooting at those who are higher ranked and possibly protected by bodyguards. The risk they run taking that pro shot is great indeed and that risk is not over looked by family heads.

"Thank you both for your well thought out responses. Kurtz you are hundred percent right. Hitters do get most of the attention while being a earner and/or proer goes unnoticed to those outside of the family. I hope just a little discussion here has let the proers and earner feel acknowledged for their jobs. But like you said Kurtz the jobs hitter do are a lot more noticed which I believe also has lead to newer gangster to our shores not realising that being a hitter isn't what it is all about. Yes I know there are those out their who are full time earners and full credit to your guys for keeping your families going but for the fact that they are not noticed, people might wanna go with the "latest craze" of being a hitter. I guess it comes down to what the Crew leaders are telling their newly arrived members, are they offering all jobs available and letting the member pick or do they designate jobs to what is required for the family? I can only go off speculation and what I hear from the coffee shops but I hope Crew leaders are encouraging their members to do jobs such as being full time earners and proers and are actually outlining their extreme importance so when a member comes down to choose they aren't just making a choice on what they see as the current job everyone is going for. Like you said Kurtz there is a difference between what you see and what actually goes down in the background and maybe newer members need to be shown this difference before they make their choices."

Yes the days of the gun is upon us, today to be a successful leader you have to be able to get your hands dirty at the front rather than coordinate attacks from the rear.

It is just one facet of leadership, a responsibility as much as anything else. Sure some will always have a disproportionate emphasis on it but it shouldn't be that way.

"This is what I was trying to get at with my speech, though you both have slightly different opinions. I know there are different aspects to becoming a great leader and as you say Kurtz I can just looked at my own Crew leader to see them. But not always are the great leaders of our time becoming the top dog or even given a chance. Others whose guns are well more trained are taking them out. Is it even possible to be at the top without having a main focus on your gun. Sure the gun will always be a focus but whether it should be the main one or not is what I wonder. I have heard some of the old bloodlines talk of Leaders whose guns were poor but focused on their hit squad to give them control over their cities and in other cases our whole society, is such an achievement now even possible?"

Gian approaches the small group of men and listens in to what they have to say, he steps forward and begins to speak

Stallion in terms of your initial speech I think my thoughts have already been covered, but if anyone is interested. I think most families have a range of people that aren't just hitters and earners are just as important like you said as without them hitters would not be able to train ther guns as they do as they would have to spend some of their time earning. Without earners a leader would not be able to protect themselves as well as they could.

In terms of you new point about can a leader get to the top without a gun? I think they can like you said if they are able to to train a hit squad that can do that work why would they need to train their gun themselves?

No disrespect intended Stallion, but to be blunt I'm not entirely sure what direction you're taking your argument

"Crews are becoming so focused on having as many guns that are they forgetting what's really important? Those full time earners and pro'er are just as important. Without hitters, earners would just live on in a peaceful world but without earners hitters wouldn't be able to dedicate as much time as they can to hitting and without pro'ers lots of hitters would be screwed during wars. We need to remind ourselves what really is important. This surplus of wannabe hitters has to slow down and families have to focus on members earning hard and putting the idea of them becoming a hitter far away in their mind."

A strong crew consists of all those elements; hitters, earners, skilled pro-shooters, etc. To say that leaders need to focus on what is really important in your context would imply that earners and pro-shooters are in fact more important that hitters, which is inaccurate. A good leader will encourage their members to find a certain skill and excel in it, if not excel in several areas. If your suggestion is that a leader should lay out all the options and opportunities available to their members as opposed to mandating that everybody focus on their gun then I agree. If the implication is that leaders should be encouraging new members away from the 'gun craze' as you referred to it as, that would be as equally poor an idea as putting sole emphasis on gun training.

You may not see a full-time earner being rewarded with surplus of bodyguards by their leaders for their efforts, as that most often is a perk granted to the crew soldatos. That could be understandably perceived as a lack of apprectiaon or even favoratism towards hitters, which could be misconstrued as a leader putting emphasis on shooting. It might even seem unfair to a full-time earner that the money he or she helped raise for their leader is going towards protection or funding for someone else. But that's just part of keeping the machine well-oiled and is a way of Our Thing that a mature and Family-minded earner accepts as a part of their role. Indeed the earners and pro-shooters are the unsung heros in any crew, which is a point I whole-heartedly agree with you on.

Unfortunately for many earners, the introduction of these dummy mobsters to our world, the ones in the non-descript suits that seemingly can't advance past Capo without getting killed, have taken some of the emphasis away from earners. It's not an addition to This Thing of Ours I particularly like but they appear to be here to stay and that's the way it is. Be that as it may, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a leader who is not eternally grateful for their earners, even if their accomplishements aren't trumpeted accross the cities much to Kurtz's point.

"Will it ever stop, or are we bound to keep seeing people with god like gun skills? Which leads to people hiring armies of bodyguard to protect them from said guns. Will there be a time when having the best gun doesn't have to be a main factor when becoming top dog? Or have we already past those times and they aren't coming back?"

The dog with the strongest bite is most likely always going to run the pound, however historically there have been leaders who achieved great success and reputation without having trained a cannon-sized gun themselves. These leaders have participated in wars and were victorious. Is it possible for somebody to take total power and control without a massive firearm to back it up? I would imagine it is possible with the right kind of saavy. But it would still require an arsenal at that leader's disposal to get the job done. No one is going to take power with an army of fat wallets.

You speak of great leaders not being given chances to succeed due to rival factions with greater firepower taking them out. The responsibility of any leader is to make sure there is a balance of all the neccesary elements for a syndicate to florish, including powerful guns and the appropriate levels of defense against aggressors. The Mafia is always going to be a place where big fish eats little fish.

I'm not disagreeing with all your points Stallion, especially if your point is that mobsters with skills in areas other than shooting are important to a crew's success. If your intent was to highlight the importance of facets of the Mafia aside from just shooting, I'd applaud that as well. But I disagree with any suggestion that a leader should be encouraging new members to put 'becoming a hitter far away in their mind(s)' to pursue those other facets.