So we all know authorizations are based on activity and contribution. Oh no wait sorry it is not, it is based on nepotism.

This is why we see so many authorizations of people who are not even Made men, let alone people who "appear" to have  no experience in this thing of ours. 

Now I place appear in quotes because of this fact: Many authorizations are not given because of activity but simply because they know the leader from some  back coffee shop or most likely their bloodline has worked with the authorizing party before. 

While I understand this past relationship is important, it is an already established relationship, it is also a form of nepotism. 

Nepotism in itself is not a bad  concept expect when it becomes abusive. Where this form of nepotism has. 

Why do I say this?

Simply put authorizing hands or CL simply because your dead ancestor worked for them negates the fact that you then tell everyone else to WORK for what they get.  And it is by definition hypocritical.

While you hand these entitled people authorization after authorization, this means the same pool of people are authorized. This has been the case for at least as long as my bloodline can remember.  We see new authorization, supposedly , but the majority of these new authorizations are in fact people who's bloodlines are incog, just so they can say they are a new authorization. In turn giving the illusion that new authorizations are being made.  Now some of you will deny this happens, but I have done it myself come in incog as a new person and place in Hand positions on the idea that someone thought I was new.  And if  I pulled it off not having this nepotism behind me, just think how easy it would be  for someone to pull off with the nepotism supporting them. 

This authorizing due to nepotism negates the work that we are told to put in, making people not want to perform. I mean why perform the way you are told to if you know you will never make authorization simply because you don't Bob from the coffee shop.  This authorizing due to nepotism also is disrespectful to the position, in regards that the position is no longer rewarding hard work put into it.  That 1 day old RH man did nothing to earn his position or the respect that that position  holds. Simply because that person did not earn it. 

I said all that to come to this:

There should be a universal guideline for authorizing people. The new bloods will not learn about these roles or about what the Cl or hands go through if you do not authorize new blood. And I mean actual new blood, not incog new blood.

So my suggestions:

(This has to be all universal and be fluid through any regime)

1. Make a minimum age to be placed in a authorized position , maybe 10 days, this way the person is at least a Made man.  ( bringing some actual respect back to the position.)

2. Only those bloodlines who were killed during service and the crew they served is still standing can be authorized to this position as an under Made. 

3. Come up with some universal guideline for authorizing people, so the old bloodlines have a protocol to go by and  to give the new bloodlines the same opportunity of begin authorized.  Add some guideline of a bloodline can only be  authorized so many times with a certain amount of time. This make it easier to cycle through the families that would like to be authorized. 

Any suggestions or comments are welcome.  

RosaliaOrazia thank you so much for coming out here today with these questions. This topic is as old as our world itself, and yet it should most certainly be revisited whenever possible, lest we forget that it is an ongoing issue. Ironically, I've recently been discussing this very phenomenon with one of my members, Jamaiima, and my wonderful right hand/lead guitarist Skwisgaar_Skwigelf.

The general consensus is that far too often, friends are handed opportunities before new blood is ever considered, and that is not entirely true in all cases. In recent years (with certain regimes, and not so much with others) visible efforts have been made to reward new blood for their hard work and loyalty. We have seen people completely new to leadership take the reigns and handle it quite well. We've also seen them fail disastrously. We've seen people new to the shores altogether be given handship, leadership, and godfather in turn as they progressed through the structure, impressing all the way. That's not to say that this is the norm, but a first time mafiosi reaching godfather? That would be absolutely unheard of ten to fifteen years ago. Not everyone only auths their friends.

The fact of the matter is, however, that the majority of auths, handjobs, and general positions of power go to blood friends or people whose ancestries have worked together previously. I don't know that it is advisable or even possible to completely discontinue the practice. Simply put, it's much easier to trust someone whose family you have known well, and succeeded with in the past. Especially in a climate such as what we just had, where a large portion of our thing had been sent to swim with the fishes. Building trust and a strong working relationship takes time and interaction. There are standards that must be met as far as number of crew leaders and hand positions taken at any given time. Given the choice between a thug who is a family friend, and a capo who ditched their old family upon the death of their old leader, 99 out of 100 are going to choose their young friend. It would just be illogical to risk your family for anyone you don't know.

As leaders, we are responsible for who we have as hands. City hall has been very clear on this for some time - if the hand fucks up, the leader gets the hammer as well. When you appoint someone to be your hand, you are accepting that you can be held accountable for their actions in any situation. That fact, combined with the general "cliquey" nature of our thing, make it basically impossible to change the percentages of new blood to old friends as far as auths and hands go.

However, that does not mean that efforts are not made to integrate and authorize new blood when the proper relationships have been built. Even now we are seeing several people in positions they have not held before, and doing well."

Thank you NathanExplosion for your comments.

I am well aware not every regime does this and some do authorize on Merit. I thought I made this pretty clear with my original post. 

I am also well aware that one  requires trust for those positions, but this standard practice that I laid out and you agree happens on the regular, negates the new blood even having to do this. Because most regimes and CL's like you said will go with the nepotism and feel safe in their skin, while forcing the rest of the people to have to prove trust. 

This is a double standard and it negates the spirit of what I believe this regime is trying to do for this and future generations. 

Basically what I gather from what you are saying is that this shouldn't of been brought up, because there will never be a universal guide for this.  That a player should bloodline leaders like they bloodline us players. That is my understanding at least. Please correct  me if I am wrong. 

I want to also add that you can  basically tell who is going to be authorized when they show up on these shores. My ancestor for example knew full well when he saw Curtis's name  show up in the streets  regardless of what he did in the past he was getting authorized and he did.  This is the nepotism and trust that we talk about.

Quite the opposite in fact, Rosalia. I think it is a very important topic that has merit, else I would not be speaking on it at all. It's not impossible that there could be a universal guide agreed upon, just rather unlikely in the current climate. In all actuality, there are "standards" that all leaders use when considering who to auth or hand, they just vary somewhat across the board.

I think, the main difference in our thinking may be what we consider to be "enough" in terms of new blood in positions of power. Right now, statistically, new blood can not possibly outnumber old blood, that's just the way of our world. The vast majority of our thing are returning bloodlines, of which a fair amount of those have had leadership experience at some point. That leaves a small number of returning bloodlines that could qualify as new to leadership, and an even smaller minority of true new bloods, who have never been to our shores or have only been around a few generations.

I think the focus should be less on "new blood" and more on "new connections." As previously stated, our thing can be extremely cliquey and it is difficult for newer people to break into those cliques. Only through willingness of the older bloodlines to give those younger ones a chance to enter into those circles can they truly be integrated into our world. It wasn't always that way of course, but this is the reality of our world, when certain families work together over and over, they are naturally more comfortable with one another.

I would certainly be open for a universal agreement as far as qualities for positions, but I can only speak for myself. 

NathanExplosion

Thank you for coming to this discussion and talking out a few points with me.  I appreciate the time you gave the topic. 

RosaliaOrazia, it is my pleasure, and I reflect your thanks back onto you, I appreciate the effort to bring up a topic that people feel passionate on and can freely speak about.

NathanExplosion. 

My sentiments are the same. 

I feel that although this topic has been spoken on many times before. It is important to bring it back it up once in a while so everyone can see how things work in this thing of ours.  

If we bring up these topics every now and then refreshing them in the spotlight then I believe it makes every thing run a little  smoother. 

Hector listened in on most discussions that took place in the streets, but this conversation stood out the most.

Royal bloodlines i call it, most of them have served the same familys from Father to Son and have quite a good understanding with each other.

As Nathen said, connections. It's all about connections, reach out to people.

 Hector_Jimenez You say royal I say entitled. That is where opinions differ though on these things.  Either way is about connections. 

The difference is the entitled (royal as you say)  ones already have that connection and do not have to do the work. Where as those that are not entitled have to work for it. So there in lies the problem,  and mild hypocrisy of this thing. 

I respect what you are saying, I'm not god so i don't judge.

Ever since I've landed on these shores I've had no hand outs, anyone that knows my bloodline can vouch i work hard and earn for my family.

Yet i don't complain, i do something about it.

Hello there, Rosalia. I normally lean to more of a jovial manner, but I will try my best to be sensible, raise some points from what you have said and see if we can come to some sort of agreement, clarity, or at least have a good chin wag.

So we all know authorizations are based on activity and contribution. Oh no wait sorry it is not, it is based on nepotism.

Fortunately this is not the case for New York. All the auths (so far) have been people that played pivotal roles leading up to and the execution of taking down the previous regime. I only mention New York because I am only privvy to their auths, I am sure it's the same case for the other cities. Now when it came to my hands, I did put in place two people that my bloodline have worked with in the past, but these people were all ready in the upper echelons of our society, even to the extent that my faithful right hand actually took a demotion to work with and for me. Now simply because my bloodline intermingled with these bloodlines in the past, does this negate the fact they are hard working, respectable members of our society?

What if you had a choice of two people to be your right hand, one being vastly experienced and you knew you could trust one hundred percent in your absence, and the other being someone you don't really know, can't honestly say you trust them or their abilities one hundred percent, but they have been doing well for themselves and have climbed the ranks thus far? Which one would you choose? The trusted one, or the one that "deserves" it?

There should be a universal guideline for authorizing people.

Why should there be? I mean we are criminals that adhere to a set of rules and regulations from the Gods, but there has never been a rule upon setting up new families, bar the necessity for more space to shelter people. Why should there be one now? The roles between the crew leaders, hands and crewed people have not changed, so why change the process to become one of these? Isn't this just taking away the judgement of Godfathers, Dons and people in a position of power? Are we really in a society where leadership has to tick off certain characteristic traits and activity requirements to authorise people to set up in their city/district just to appease the general public?

Come up with some universal guideline for authorizing people, so the old bloodlines have a protocol to go by and  to give the new bloodlines the same opportunity of begin authorized.  Add some guideline of a bloodline can only be  authorized so many times with a certain amount of time. This make it easier to cycle through the families that would like to be authorized. 

What about the time constraints of said auths? What if a person were only allowed to set up a family for a few weeks, or even days? If they were struck down by the actions of a rogue or something that did not involve them? Does that count as a strike? "Sorry you got killed by no fault of your own, your bloodline can't be authed for at least a year now". It seems like I am slightly nitpicking with this example, but it has happened in the past and no doubt will do in the future.

I hope you don't find my points disappointing, these are not necessarily my beliefs, I merely bringing points to the streets to get the brain cells going. If anything were ever to be put into place, these kind of discussions will be vital to finalizing the rules.

 Pointing out the basic social structure which is the in -group/out- group aspect.  Is not judging. If it appears that way I do apologize.

There is no judgement. This in-group/out-group concept is perfectly normal. The problem lies in trying deny it.

Instead of denying it, steps like that which were laid out previously by Mr. Explosion and discussions like this should be ever present in our world. 

Whirl Myself

I judge by merit, so I  would go by who deserves it, not by who I know better. You can not earn trust unless you are put into a position to be trusted and earn said trust. It just won't work any other way. 

Actually there is rules to setting up a family first you need authorization from your Cl and then you need to get some kind of support from the other local CL's and the support of the acting GF and GFC. At least that is how I think it is, this makes it so you are not a rogue and authorized.

This why discussion is a good thing, to see talk about these possibilities from different perspectives and knowledge pools... Just because a paradigm doesn't exist doesn't mean one can not be created. 

I judge by merit, so I  would go by who deserves it, not by who I know better. You can not earn trust unless you are put into a position to be trusted and earn said trust. It just won't work any other way. 

 But then that could cost the lives of your family. I've heard horrific tales of right hand men/women unlocking their bosses safe and taking all the cash before running off into the sunset. Hands giving away locations of their own members in war. I even heard a case from the olde times of a right hand (HQ) wacking half the family member before he was stopped and was put six feet under.

But alas, I agree about not being able to earn trust until you are in said position. Perhaps this should apply more to a left hand, than a right?

Actually there is rules to setting up a family first you need authorization from your Cl and then you need to get some kind of support from the other local CL's and the support of the acting GF and GFC. At least that is how I think it is, this makes it so you are not a rogue and authorized.

I think we have our wires crossed here. I was talking from the perspective of the city/district head the whole time, so when I stated "there has never been a rule upon setting up new families" I meant the head of the city/district setting up the new family, thus the Godfather or Godfather Chairman.

As for the support of other crew leaders, is this really the case? Surely the word of the GF or GFC is final? If this is the case then perhaps or crew leaders thoughts are taken in to consideration, but not acted upon unless wanted to.

Yes I have heard the same stories I have even witnessed a few cases where hands killed their own GF CL.  But are you going to let a few bad apples spoil the bucket?  Why punish perfectly innocent people by not judging  them by the hard work they do ( merit) just because of a few bad apples?  Trust can not be earned unless given, and it is not the innocent persons fault you  have a broken trust or someone else broke your trust. That is what we call misplaced anger and misdirected vengeance.

The Gf is the last say,  but why take up a position within a city running a  district if you don't also  have some blessing from the other CL's . This is the beginning of communication within the city after all. Remember it is ultimately about making those connections. 

As far as my understanding goes there is some sort of protocol for GF setting up as well GFC.  They have to have been walking this earth for a certain amount of time, and have a certain amount of members  in their crew before they can set up as a  GF or GFC crew.   Once a person has gotten this far, it means no one has successfully usurped their position and they have earned it until someone does. If I am missing your point here again I do apologize I am dense on occasion. 

Yes I have heard the same stories I have even witnessed a few cases where hands killed their own GF CL.  But are you going to let a few bad apples spoil the bucket?  Why punish perfectly innocent people by not judging  them by the hard work they do ( merit) just because of a few bad apples?  Trust can not be earned unless given, and it is not the innocent persons fault you  have a broken trust or someone else broke your trust. That is what we call misplaced anger and misdirected vengeance.

I agree with the sentiment here, but are people willing to put their livelihood and that of their future family on the line, just to give someone the benefit of the doubt? I think it's one of those scenarios where it's much different for the people on the outside looking in. It's not the innocent persons fault, that's why I mentioned the compromise of perhaps offering the left hand slot, that way they will earn the respect and experience for further opportunites down the road - hell, this could even earn them an auth of a move up to the right hand slot.

The Gf is the last say,  but why take up a position within a city running a  district if you don't also  have some blessing from the other CL's . This is the beginning of communication within the city after all. Remember it is ultimately about making those connections. 

 Is a blessing really needed, or indeed warranted? Like you said, the GF has the last say, he or she does not have to appease anyone but themselves and the city head if they are a district head. Okay, perhaps a word to the other leaders stating you are "setting up so and so" is a nice thing to do, perhaps even respectful, but I think that's as far as it goes, especially if it's just a clash of personalities with another crew leader. Doesn't there have to be a line where you are high enough to make your own executive decisions without having to consult someone else?

As far as my understanding goes there is some sort of protocol for GF setting up as well GFC.  They have to have been walking this earth for a certain amount of time, and have a certain amount of members  in their crew before they can set up as a  GF or GFC crew.   Once a person has gotten this far, it means no one has successfully usurped their position and they have earned it until someone does. If I am missing your point here again I do apologize I am dense on occasion. 

 As far as the days specification, that is true, but this is only determined by others iindirectly now. Basically what I am saying is yes peoples days might have been shortened within the last regime, but that is no longer the case. This is a set rule by the Gods, not by others imposed on us. The same sentiment is shared for the capacity of the family before allowing to rank up to GF(C), it's a God imposed rule, not a rule by the masses.

The God imposed rules have to be a seperate entity to ones imposed by us. I am all for the rules appointed by the Gods, they are here to stop anarchy breaking out and all hell getting loose, but I don't all player rules imposed on us have the same effect, nor are they actually needed - this being one of those situations.

LH  is a perfectly legitimate position to place someone in when one would like give them an opportunity to earn that trust. I like these conversations because others get to see from someone else's perspective. And more often than not people will see that  they agree on far more than they original thought. 

 But it is not about  appeasing anyone. It is about fostering an open communication with mutual respect in dialog. 

Natural law (which  is what I to refer to the law of the Gods) can not be separated from this.  That would be like saying the sun can shine here on this spot  only when I want it to. It just doesn't work you can not go against natural law, you can only adapt to it. 

 But it is not about  appeasing anyone. It is about fostering an open communication with mutual respect in dialog. 

But that's where it is subjective. Sure to you it's about fostering an open communicaton, but depending on the situation, it can be appeasing.  The whole take on the matter is subjective and situational, especially with the example I gave. If you don't authorise someone to set up because of another crew leaders clash with them, then you are appeasing them, at least in my book anyway.

Natural law (which  is what I to refer to the law of the Gods) can not be separated from this.  That would be like saying the sun can shine here on this spot  only when I want it to. It just doesn't work you can not go against natural law, you can only adapt to it. 

 The original statement was some where along the lines as there is rules in everything, even with the requirements of achieving GF(C). What I am saying is that yes, there are Gods laws, or Natures laws as you put it with regards to this, but they are set in stone because the necessity of this thing of ours. There are no man made laws to get the requirements for the highest echelon of our society.

Anyway, I feel that we have gone quiet far off track with that one. I can only hope that others divulge as much as we have into this discussion!

Frustrated by the lack of proper snack foods in this decade, Skwisgaar departs from the Mordhaus to dwell time among the mortals. Nathan's recent fascination with the mafia had disrupted Dethklok's ability to record its latest album, leaving Skwigelf in a bind. Seeking to aid his companion to bring about the most metal mafia on planet earth, he stands by his lead singer's side to give advice.

Whether that advice got through his thick accent was another story.

"I am news to this wholes mafias things. But I cans tells yous, the reasons for mes to beings the rights hand mans is thats the contents of Nathan's mails would incinerate the eyes of yous non-metal folks. I've been workings on a solo for the songs Murder Mails to explains it, but Nathans only wants to dos the mafias."

A heavenly noise arises from Skwisgaar's guitar as improvised notes seem to spontaneously gather a small harem of head-banging hoes around him.

"It takes times to understands the crimes and the mafias. Pickings up and playings the drums or the guitars does not means you gets to be drummers or leads guitarist."

Skwisgaar shoots a harsh glance at Toki, who bows his head in shame.

"Yous are betters offs making starts of your owns bands than tryings to make part in someones else. Puts more focuses on the gettings the authorities to make band than on the gettings into leads guitar spots."