A sheepish looking Anton walks over to his now famous soapbox.  To get the crowd's attention, he fires his pistol in the air.  He holsters it awkwardly, fresh notches on the barrel making it difficult to fit into the holster, which had been handmade in prison, fashioned from a pair of FrankCastle's chaps.  Anton begins to speak...

"Friends, a very public execution took place here at the weekend.  Zipline was very upset at comments I made about his bloodline.  In my defence, I simply lashed out having been, as I saw it, attacked verbally by him.  But there was no need for me to go as far as I did.

Unfortunately, the "beef" continued to the coffeeshops.  Zipline acted with a small measure of honour, a larger measure of courage and a huge measure of wishful thinking.  This Strange Brew intoxicated him, and he attempted to murder me.  

This thing of ours is kept alive and interesting by blood vendettas.  Zipline felt sufficiently upset to bring the gun into play.  We should only condemn him for he hopelessness of his actions, for the lack of respect he showed his Godfather CL, and for arguably playing into the hands of his supposed tormentor who dispatched Zipline efficiently.  Otherwise, some might say, what he did was in the finer traditions of this thing of ours.

We lost an associate of rare enthusiasm.  A tragic loss, made even worse when we consider that his grandfather, Blackboard, was at one point poised to go right to the top, but tragically fell in a duel he requested.  

THIS MUST STOP NOW.  HERE AND NOW!

To this end, I announce that I have set aside $10M for a Zipline memorial fund.

I would like to sponsor an incentivised duel, or a writing contest, or some other way of marking the life and times of Zipline.

Any ideas on how best to spend this money, my friends? 

Rubberlips I think everyone should be able to right their own wrongs. But then again, I can be too nice to a fault. With that being said though I would be more than happy to keep an  eye on said competition. I simply enjoy competitions and want more! I only know of one time someone died during a comp and it was because someone was disrespectful to grin. I don't want any of that drama I just want people to enjoy themselves. It's  a shame it cannot be as easy as that now.

Well Rubberlips that situation sounds truly terrible. But then what else can be done?  I've tried competitions myself with almost nobody participating. I've asked what can I do personally what prizes or comps people would like to see...I get virtually nothing back. So my only other option is to get behind current competition stalwarts, that way I can contribute and honestly.

Let it be known that as long as I stand unchallenged as the de facto leader of the mafia, any damage to Rubberlips' person or good name - especially from the Competitive Writing circuit - will result in dire consequences from the Chicago Boston Celtics. 

With regards to the Competitive Writing Community - for God's sake, doesn't anybody remember Scooter? 

RIP old timer. 

I think he'd like his own blimp

with a zipline attached, or even a bungee rope

I think he'd like that.

Bandito begins to speak from the crowd of onlookers.

I know its not my place to have a word between Crew Leader's of another city. I mean this completely when I say no disrespect intended, but after hearing talk of "Men of Honor conducting themselves", I remember a saying my Abuelita used to tell me when I was younger. "Oler mierda, llamar mierda", it roughly translates to, "Smell Bullshit, Call Bullshit". I don't know you personally Anton and I don't believe our bloodlines have crossed each others paths but I still have to ask. How can you speak of men conducting themselves honorably when you recently gave a speech using homosexual innuendos in a joking/serious manner, seemingly directed at another mafioso? I don't know your sexual preferences nor do I care (LOVE IS LOVE) and I understand the need for humor in this way of ours to distract us from the countless lives that have been lost to violence, but still the question is asked.