Anton fair enough answer. 

As someone new here it is disturbing to see someone  say "buy their bold suit". This tells me that not all positions are earned like we are being told,  in the many other discussions I have heard.  So then this , in turn brings up another question, why should we work so hard, if someone can "buy" their position?

Franklee, that is being said in reference to the offer available across all cities to buy a 5-man HQ from the city head. Full auth to hold a 30-man HQ and/or run a city or district is an entirely different distinction, though not one unavailable to those who set up 5-man HQ's if they prove themselves worthy and the circumstances permit. Billie, for example, started with a 5-man HQ in Chicago, was allowed to expand to 10, and after a period of time was given full auth to head a 30-man family in Las Vegas, before tragically being gunned down. 

You still have every chance to work hard and earn the right to lead a 30-man family, along with the privileges that may come with that, but that is obviously a finite position to giveaway. I hope these are times of peace and that we will see very little crewleader turnover for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, at a certain point, there simply will not be the need for more full-scale families to set up without good reason. That's also part of why the offer is available. If you want the chance to put the suit on and prove yourself, it's there for the taking. 

Personally, I would love to see someone use a 5-man HQ as a field-test for something original or out of the box. It could even be a test run for an idea that could be scaled up in time. Ancestors of mine used to write newspapers and I am sure they would have taken the offer to set up a HQ for themselves and any willing journalists who wanted to join the team. If I were not shackled by my obligations to the rodent king of the North Side, Elodin, perhaps I would take my highly lucrative business - The Mastrosimone Mutual Fund - into my own small headquarters, along with a couple trusted employees, as a way of standing out to (and from) the riff-raff.

If we step outside the framework of just aspiring CL's toying with the premise, I believe Grin has mentioned before the idea of using smaller HQs as a way of larger families reviving old school subcrews, each led by one of your button men, and scaling down the main HQ to the highest ranks and upper structure. There is, at the very least, something interesting about breaking with old routines and there is a lot of leeway now to dive into that. 

There is nothing unearned about taking up the offer, nor is it any reason for others to feel like their hard work is for nothing. If you want a HQ, do it. If you don't, fair enough. There is no inherent advantage to setting up a 5-man HQ or sticking around, working hard for your boss, earning them a lot of money, and proving your loyalty. Ambition and initiative can manifest in all kinds of ways; this is now one of them.

If you ask me, I say it's a good idea for mobsters that are potential leaders to take on their own 5 man crew. I look at it as a pre-leader test one should go through to see if they qualify to lead a whole group of 30 people. I personally would subject new leaders to leading a crew of at least 8 people because a 5 man crew is basically a 2 man crew with a CL and two hands.

I also think having a smaller crew would leave less room for slackers that are just there for the ride, which could possibly lead to more revenue for the city as a whole.

Thank you for the clarification Cromwell.

Mostly Cromwell.... Difficult to start an initiative aimed at stepping outside the existing framework without community engagement. Community isn't primarily known for it's inclusiveness or rapport building allowing for mutual collaboration & "out of the box" thinking. It'd be great to have a newspaper subcrew, but I'd assume the audience is rather limited & nominally supported. Not sure what the long-term growth & development plan would be for such a use-case. Ultimately, I find community interactions immensely underwhelming. Restricted potential & community infrastructure mitigates the program's incentives. Feel a top-down approach with cross-city enablement would improve the general success of the concept. Plus, feel that certain bolds would view potential efforts are possible "poaching" or actively disregard their activities. If these subcrews aren't accepted by the community as a whole the result will likely be a lackluster performance & possibly put a damper on future opportunities brought forward for consideration. 

I think the concept is great just needs increased buy-in from the community & a willingness to participate in establishing the associated framework. Just wish I was seeing more activity to know it's possible, but the streets are quiet AF most the time so idk.

I'll gauge my initial assessment based on the "speed to lead" of a response to above. 

Gonzo, every city has already agreed to take part. Every crewleader has consented to any of their button men potentially leaving at any time for a HQ of their own, so I really don't believe there is anything to worry about in regards to cross-city enablement or poaching concerns. The leadership is all-in on this. In addition to that, I'm not sure why these subcrews would not be accepted by the community; do you mean that in reference to the previous two points or on a wider level? The average person loses nothing by this taking place. If anything, they are granted a wider breadth of options and opportunities. 

As for the examples I gave, something like the newspaper idea is most of all a product of the desire of the person doing it. The same with any other business. It's up to them to find their audience. The scope of this offer is just to create the environment in which that can take place, the rest is up to them. As you said, it is about the buy-in from the community. My comments to Franklee were expressing my hope that people do step up and take the initiative. The door is open. I agree with you entirely that it is often a problem trying to get anyone to do anything around here but the late Charles_Barkley's MobGov editions and Basketball event showed that there definitely is an appetite for smart, well-run ideas and people will respond to it. 

Think I need to clarify because my points got lost in my message. I’ll post a reply tomorrow.

Sitting in the corner of the cafe. Johnny was drinking his tea and reading his morning paper. He loved tea he never liked coffee he hated the bitter taste of coffee but enjoyed the smell. Interested in the conversation going on he decides to put the paper down and join in.

"Start a five man crew? It's interesting sure. I gotta admit that idea has crossed me head a couple of times. Will I do it though? Probably not. There are a lot of things that you struggle as a leader. I've got uncles of mine that went on their own and it didn't go well for them. Here's the thing your current crewleader has been in this city for a while now. He knows how to do business. Which people to bribe, what people you need to control and influence. Sometimes they already have the whole city in their pocket."

Johnny sips his tea

"So when you try to go into business on your own. You don't have the proper connections. It becomes a challenge. How are you going to make money if the people already there control the construction company and the Union that represents the workers. How are you not going to remain free if you don't know the judges and don't go golfing with them on the weekends?Me I prefer to wait my turn. I prefer to earn the right to have it given to me or "authed" like many of our crewleaders have been. Some people wait a long time others don't, and some die before even getting a chance but that's just the way it is I guess. So when that time comes when you are finally given the nod to run your own operation it feels much better and more rewarding."

Interesting points, Johnny-McIver.  But here's the thing.  Some of the guys that joined my father's crew did so well that I let them join the bigger crews in my city.  From there, they did even better.  Established their bloodline's name.  The powers that be don't forget that kind of thing.

Networking with a bold suit is easier than without one.  It does make your a more enticing target for a rogue with an axe to grind, but hey, a fear of death is not an unhealthy thing to have, so long as it doesn't hold you back too much.