NathanExplosion had only just completed a speech attempting to reignite discussions on the streets, when he had stopped by a speech being made by JackMezzo to offer his congratulations. His visit there got NathanExplosion thinking on the history of each of the cities in turn, and he saw the perfect opportunity to pose a question for debate that could not possibly be seen as confrontational.

"Ladies and gentlemen, headbangers and flappers alike, I come here today to pose a question for discussion. Which City do you believe to be the greatest of the six (or seven) cities, historically speaking in regards to our thing? 

Going from East to West I will give a short rundown of the histories and pros of each city. I will certainly forget things or miss them entirely due to gaps in my lineage, so feel free to chide me for forgetting a great leader or regime.

New York - One of the most popular cities, New York is steeped in history in both our world and in fiction. It is widely considered to be the quintessential mob city. Several great regimes have spawned from the streets of Brooklyn. ThomasRourke and his not so merry band of rourkes. SammyGarcini led a great dynasty out of New York before an abrupt move to Chicago The great ToyArmadillo and then Firenza after him once had five districts operational in New York, a feat that has only been achieved in one other location (more on that to come). . The original He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named regime was in New York not long after. More recently, Kimble had a powerful operation out of New York for some time. The city's recent history has been less impressive, but it appears to now be going under a renaissance in the form of Giyu the grand. Perhaps the easiest choice, but also a worthy one.

Philadelphia - The homeland, my personal favorite for my own reasons. But that's not important to this speech. Philadelphia was the first city to house a true godfather, in the form of the all powerful Anita many years ago. Great leaders like DeadlySin, Spaceman, and JackMezzo called the city home. The original Race Street organization is one of the greatest to ever grace our thing. Luis_Patangelli led am excellent organization here on his family's first foray into our thing. While it may be lacking in such mundane areas as drug pricing, it certainly has a vast history to make it a worthy choice as the GOAT city.

Detroit - Speaking of drugs, Detroit has historically been the best city for operations centered on narcotics. Whether it be the unusually low price of grain alcohol in motown, or the higher prices for cocaine, usually operations on Lake St. Clair are very profitable. Detroit also boasts one of the longest standing and most loved godmothers of our thing, the venerable Marietta. For many years since her passing, the city has seemingly been cursed, with very few regimes lasting long there. There have been exceptions of course, such as the Ligambi Crime Families, and most recently Tetley seemed to go on forever (not something we should get into today).

Chicago - The other most likely easy choice would be Chicago. The city's central location and busy airports make it a hub of mob activity, and several great regimes have called the windy city home. Roman, the widely accepted greatest godfather of our thing, called chicago home for what seemed like decades. Chicago was the first city to reach five operational districts under the guidance of Cpt-Harris. Most recently the Grin Gang had a fruitful (for them) spell in Chicago. Chicago also boasts drug rates nearly as strong as Detroit, further lending to it's case.

Las Vegas - In recent times the west coast as a whole has seen a bit of a revitalization. Historically, the city's first godfather was Aurora, a close friend of Marietta who led there for some time. After her, there was a long gap where the city was predominantly used as a filler or contest locale, with little regard given to it because of the distance and poor drug prices. Numbers4Glory had a strong run out in sin city, and the second HWMNBN regime nearly destroyed our world from Vegas. Wayne (shameless self promotion) and his successor the far more muscular and capable Mikhail started a great dynasty from las Vegas that eventually spanned all seven cities. Clarkson's recent downfall must not discount his strong run as the city's leader, despite what it took to make it happen. The main detractor for Las Vegas is the disgusting poop yellow color it has been assigned by city hall on the official VIP boards.

Los Angeles -​​​​​​ Similarly to LV, the furthest western city had a long gap where it seemed like no one wanted to occupy it. Perhaps it was all those hollywood people. The city even eradicated crime for a time, although it has recently been gloriously reopened. Great leaders like Yellow, Premier, and Silk all called LA home. Although no true regime has ever spawned from LA to my knowledge, those who love the city are ferociously loyal to it. A dark horse in the race I'd say.

Seattle - The youngest of the cities, and already closed to the underworld by powerful politicians. It was a short time, with no truly memorable regimes coming out, but honorable mentions go to Coltrane, JohnWalton, and the big C guy. Really the best part of Seattle was the excellent drug prices, and hands down the best city hall appointed VIP color. Orange is the best color, fight me.

So now I would like to know, which City is your personal favorite, which City do you think is greatest, and why?"

Well, I'm very new to this game, but what I can say is.. LA is coming up. We have great leaders, BlueOrchid, Oligarch, and Bennythejet. I dont know much about the past, but I can say that the future looks bright. Drug prices are great here, as well as the ppl. I'll put LA down as a contender with any other city out there! Much love from the west coast!

I believe you may be missing one, if you are intent on including cities that are now banned to us. And that City would be... New Orleans. It is the first city my family was ever crewed in, and the ancestral home of many a fine and long standing family.

Ahhhh the G.O.A.T conversation.

I mean, New york IS so good they named it twice.  However, Chicago is my kinda town.  That said, there are those that would 'live and die in LA' whilst there are those that cannot do without 'motorcity madness'

Those who prefer the glitzy and showy will always 'viva Las Vegas' whilst It is ALWAYS sunny in Philidelphia.

I guess it's where you're happiest, I believe we should all dance!

My personal opinion...

None, each city is unique.

They all have their own history behind them and it would be disrespect to tarnish every person that has died for their city protecting and serving by saying this city's better then this one because of X amount of reasons.  

GeeZeus_H if I were to include New Orleans (itself a fine city that my lineage also holds very dear), would it not be necessary to also include St. louis and Boston? Those cities were only open to our thing for a short time, and most of us won't remember much of anything about them. But perhaps it is wrong to discount them based on that fact?

Hector_Jimenez your statement that each city is unique is true and your stance in that sense is honorable. However, to say that choosing one city as a favorite or as "the best" is disrespectful and tarnishes every person that ever worked elsewhereere is just ludicrous. In the grand scheme, the fact that one city has more history or may be more popular because of its history is not a slight at any other city's people, but rather a testament of the success of the city of which is being chosen as the best.

I respect what you are saying sir, as i said was just my personal opinion.

Indeed, I did not mean to seem confrontational, Hector. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, and I appreciate you bringing it forward! However I just wanted to be sure that it was known that I was not intentionally disrespecting any one city or it's people by posing this question. All cities have their pros and cons, and quite frankly my opinions may be moot to many other opinions and vice versa.

Ballard Seattle for the win!

*Drops the mic and walks*

How could you mention Philadelphia without including the crown jewel of its history, Godfather Anita?  I believe New York has the richest history, with those you mentioned and also STAE and Ganelon calling the city home. 

Philadelphia - The homeland, my personal favorite for my own reasons. But that's not important to this speech. Philadelphia was the first city to house a true godfather, in the form of the all powerful Anita many years ago. 

Please sir, I of course mentioned the queen of queens!

However I admit omission on Sam and Ganelon, worthy mentions for sue and even further examples of New York's great history. Thank you PiscesIscariot.

Same way that Disorder got left out of Vegas I'm assuming, though some how the Ligambi's got a shout out. Still not sure what run you are referring to but my journals have all their runs marked short in Detroit, a better example would have been SpikeS in 2016 when he was basically running the game out of the Motor City.

1916* my bad my terrible eyes

TaylorBrown old friend, of course I mentioned him, three times in fact, I just refused to mention him by name. However you are correct about Spike running from Detroit, however the argument could be name that the true power at that time was DoctorBoom in Chicago as well.

I'd like to point out that I did say there would be gaps. My journals are very old and tattered and some historical periods may be missing. But that was the goal, to hear more stories and names, and perhaps learn some new perspectives unlike my own. Thank you, as well, for coming out tonight!

Fair enough didn't recognize any of the others, the big C guy i felt was a reference but the big one we all remember was the boogeyman of Vegas. No matter how much most of us still dislike that era it's still forever engraved in the cities history and does need to at least be acknowledged so that it never repeats.

I like the point you raised of DoctorBoom being the true power, as I'm sure closer to the end yes though there was a short period of time before Boom arose that SpikeS was in control. At least I hope he was, my kin was fresh after burying their father but I'd hate to believe that the man who 'manipulated' every other city into helping him remove one another didn't have a firm grip when he was the only one left standing. Still to this day one of the most interesting plays I've seen, even though my kin was on the losing side at the very beginning of it all I still have to respect the tenacity of that SpikeS run.

It's a true pleasure to see these sort of discussions brought back here, very refreshing.