Vladimir entered the streets covered in dirt, sweat, and blood. Some of it, his own. He looked like as if he just got done wrestling a wild animal, like a bear or something. He continued to move through the crowd, bumping into other people. He was in an absolutely terrible mood. When he finally found some space, he started to speak about his troubles.

"Do you and your comrades ever screw up a job? Let me rephrase that... Do you feel other people mess up and its been costing you money? Well I think it's time to call out other people for their failures, because I always do my part in the job."

He looks around and sees his former associate @Valinor in the small crowd around him. He points at him...

"That comrade right there. He tripped and dropped the fucking keys to our getaway van. And when he tripped, he dropped the priceless Rembrandt and now is all screwed up. We lost everything on the job. I blame him for my OC's failures."

Valinor's face got red as he was blamed for another Organized Crime failure. 

"Does anyone else have anyone to call out and shame? Cause remember, its never the organizer's fault on the failure. Its always someone else."

Grace had been around the block a time or two, mostly on her new scooter she stole off some whiney cry baby, but also on a pair of roller skates. But when she stopped to wait for the light she over heard part of the conversation, which seemed right up her alley, even if she was on the main road. Once able she scooted  herself across the street and tried to do some sweet tricks but instead just flailed a bit before skidding to a very graceful stop in front of the man. 

"Are we looking for someone to blame for failed crimes?" Grace asked, her eyes lighting up with merriment at the thought of naming and shaming those who caused the downfall of the millions should could of had. "Now, this is a bold assertion, but I believe the one person we truly need to blame for any and all failures..." she paused for dramatic affect and then with a casual shrug said, "Is me." 

"Not to toot-toot my own horn, but as a woman who's life of crime is mostly tending to her doctors office, occasionally freeing like-minded business associates from the prison system and running drugs when I can remember, I don't believe I've ever committed more than a handful of petty crimes nor anything lofty like a felony. And if I have, its only because I want to feel the rush of the hustle, and not because I want to properly engage in a life of crime." 

Grace took a deep breath, "So there you have it folks, if you're looking for the reason you're failing then you've found it. It is me, the most un-criminal who have ever criminaled on these streets before." she lifted the scooter and gently kicked the back of it to cause it to spin around  support for the handlebars, "Although, I am quite good at taking candy from babies and also their scooters." 

As a consistent and rather unrestrained arranger of organized crimes, hearing their likeness spoken on the streets brought a smile to PlagueGuy's face. Even better was finding out Vladimir's topic was on blaming a specific someone for his failures, though they did come rarely, seeing them at all was still rather infuriating. Detroit seemed to have a knack to ruin his hard work and recruitment, perhaps someone within continued to expose him and his recruited crew?

As he bounded over to the spot in question, Grace took the forefront and directly stated the culprit of the matter was her.

Wait. Grace? There's no way. Not with her track record, if PlagueGuy had seen anything, she was the luckiest SOB around when it came to crimes. He wouldn't let it stand.

"Grace, don't try to beat yourself up more than you already have with a matter of this much concern!"

"For anyone listening in, Grace and I have never failed an organized crime together whenever I found her recruitable. She is one lucky person to have in your crew. If you're looking to someone to blame, it definitely isn't her. She's one of the greatest lookouts I've ever worked with, and now she's in her own place to start bombing the absolute fuck outta some bitches."

"Want someone to blame? It ain't her. Sorry Grace, I'm not letting you take the load on this one. There are much more deserving individuals than you."

Diego stumbles over towards the speakers. He casts a particularly glaring look towards Vladimir himself. 

Four times in a row.....four times in a fucking row! Are you shitting me?!

He heads back to Detroit in the hope of finding some more competent colleagues that could steal an art gallery. 

Admittedly they did have some very skilled security guards.

Enzo had heard his friend @Vladimir speech and made him smile. Shrugging his shoulders as he approached his fellow Hollywood family. "You know I don't think I have ever thought of it as shameful or failure. It happens to the best of us, we just pick ourselves up and brush off the dust to push forward." 

Vladimir listened as PlagueGuy announced that Grace was the greatest lookout he's ever worked with. Even though being a lookout was somewhat of a non-skilled job, you had to be trusted enough to be given that role. If you didn't have a lookout you could trust, the whole crew could wind up in federal prison. After PlagueGuy was done praising his new Godfather Chairman's Right Hand, he found his comrade DiegoCortez grieving about his own unfortunate blues.

"You know perhaps we needed a good lookout like Grace. But I still cannot believe we failed it that many times comrade. You'd think one of those damn times you'd be able to outrun the guard. I had no problem stunning my guard each time. Remember, its never my fault you failed comrade."

Vlad's comrade Enzo made it out to the streets to share his own thoughts. His words were definitely more honorable than Vlads had been. That was just the type of guy Enzo was though.

"Dang comrade. Those are some fair words you speak."

In serious thought, Puzzled begins to toss and turn the question Vladimir speaks. In this life of crime he has failed so many jobs with so little ending in success. Even recently PlagueGuy tried to put a job together, but it turned out like most of the crimes Puzzled has been apart of.
 

Not knowing if it was the lack of experience or the flask he kept in his coat pocket something eventually would have to give. You can only fail so many before you make it through one untouched he thinks to himself. As he looks to the surrounding crowd he also decides to ask a question.

When deciding on a job do you plan strategically or do you rush and hope for the best?

Knowing that there are times we’re finding people can be challenging he can only hope enough people will have such data recorded.

Enzo smiled and patted Vlad's shoulder, seeing Puzzled, Enzo continued to smile. Giving him the traditional head nod. Listening to what he said he thought a moment. 

"You know I never thought of it like that. I'd say I'd gather the group and run with it, as my normal way of going about it. Man, you like to make us think Puzzled." Enzo teased him with an elbow jab. 

I suspect that part of it is rushing and hoping for the best, especially if conditions are otherwise unsatisfactory for anyone involved, especially for the organizer. Strategic planning is one thing, but all of it relies on some sort of luck…and I’ve seen some rather bullshit outcomes first-hand.

Nonetheless, Puzzled never walked out of that failed job a worse man, rather, I’d say he was better off. Something suspicious was afoot that late night when Puzzled and I tried our hands at it, as a good nights sleep later, an early morning organized crime resulted in resounding success.

We’re we missing a certain someone that otherwise would’ve guaranteed a neat payout? Possibly. Was it just too late at night and being exhausted probably didn’t help our odds? Obviously not. I’ve pushed through worse and worse has certainly come to fruition, like failing a job and seeing your entire crew wind up in jail…and not you. Definitely doesn’t look good on the “who’s at fault” spectrum.

To avert this, simply break everyone out yourself and throw the blame on Honestease. Turdbucket is never around to help and is too lazy to go for anything decent, despite having plenty of opportunities to do so. If you fail, it’s not because he IS there with you, oh no. It’s because he ISN’T. That’s the kicker here. Strategy? Nah.

If you fail, blame Honestease. If you succeed, pat yourselves on the goddamn back, because you broke the system in your favor.

As Vladimir was finalizing his poster for a tremendous opportunity in our criminal underground, his Godfather - Chairman was heard asking those around the conservation their thoughts on crime strategy. Vlad was always a person to overthink things. To him, if you had to wait an extended period of time as participants were getting ready for the crime, you were wasting precious night time hours. There's no way to be conducting these crimes during the daylight...

"Comrade Godfather Puzzled, as I am an impatient and impulsive comrade, I typically run whatever crime I can. For me, this helps other comrades invite other comrades for their own crimes. The more comrades that run their crimes, the more money for all comrades. I hope my worldly advice makes sense comrade Godfather."

Sammy was doing his rounds when he heard the tail end of a conversation regarding workings of the criminal underworld.

"Crime? I ain't ever done no crime, skip. It's the middle of the day time fella'. Shouldn't you be at your totally 'legitimate job' as the security manager at Club Soul?" he said shaking his head in disgust.

 

Vladimir, part of the fun of more and more folks running their organized crimes is exactly like you said; more money going around for everyone. Inspiration is also a factor to encourage more crimes into the open spectrum. Plus, they're good ways to start making some new connections with whoever you invite, or perhaps some friendly rivalries if said invitee trips the alarm.

I come from an earlier era where cities would communicate together in so-called "OC Trains" where multiple organized crimes were run one after another after another by anyone eligible enough to put together something. Part of me wants to return to that, since it not only offers itself a pretty-much guaranteed easy source of income, but also a lot of it, especially for those involved. It also serves as a good way to link some cities together, or get closer to anyone within their own city anyway.

All I can say is that if I get on the OC train, any failure shall not be attributed to me. Rather, it'll go to whoever I blame, since I certainly am past a point of being a root of failure anymore. Unless I make a stupid, dumb, and risky decision. Then yeah, blame the fuck out of me. I'd deserve that for sure...but otherwise? I'm gonna be pointing fingers towards whoever is lazy enough to not train themselves up first yet has enough gall to join in a crime for the big boys. Shame on them!

Constipated has journals on more organized crimes that he wants to admit. He smiles as he reads on about these serious organized money-making crimes. There was a line of able body mafiosos willing to earn that cash. A long line but the jobs got done. Nobody was blaming anyone but the cops if the occasional job failed. Organizers were on standby to get the next job done. Money to be made and earned was a piece of cake. 

Constipated runs his hands through his thick curly hair and thinks about what he has learned from the journals he possesses. Does he want to admit how he has personally failed? He thinks long and hard. He decides he wants to deliver his experience and what he has discovered through the art of communication. A reminder so to speak. He likes delivering info in the raw, so he takes a deep breath and decides to tell the real deal. 

Don't ever fucking blame me for failing an organized crime. Whether it be one I organized or someone else that wishes me to tag along. Blame the ones who are not consistently ready and able to work to make the big bucks. If it means putting the petty felony crimes on hold to get some real cash, then count me in. I give credit to Lincoln_Lawyer for reminding me always to be ready and available. 

I cannot help but to wonder are the organizers who are so quick to place blame, ready and available to make the real money dam themselves.

Vladimir heard Sammy's disappointed plea. But Vlad left the security detail in good hands with his comrade Nikolai. If anything Niko was too mean and kicked out more people than he should, but that didn't matter. The Club always had a long line waiting to get in. 

"Comrade Godfather, I'll check in with Nikolai today to see how things have been. Everything should be in order."

He continued to listen to the other two comrades. Oddly enough right before he came to the streets, Vlad participated in numerous crimes. He was in two of PlagueGuy's. Oddly enough, it took a rather long time to partake in these. It was like PlagueGuy didn't have his crew organized in a timely manner. Luckily both succeeded and the tardiness could not be blamed on him.

"Thank you comrade PlagueGuy for the invitations. I know for a fact me being there was the only reason your crew succeeded. I want every other comrade to know that the crimes I participate in, are typically successful ones. I hope you have a great time during the rest of your stay in Los Angeles comrade."

Vlad listened to comrade Constipated and thought he made a valid point. Unsure on how to blame those who don't crime and train their skills, it was still valid.

"Comrade Constipated, what do you propose so that we bring public shame to those who do not crime and train their skills? Please let the community of comrades know."

Constipated is a very popular guy and easily found his way in the direction of a non sensical topic. Comrade Vladimir it is not my place to shame anyone. I would prefer to educate. Educating is far more lucrative than shaming. 

There are times when I find myself saying it is much easier to go the dentist than to organize a crime. That's where educating would be handy. There are times when a crime is organized and completed successfully and the ability to repeat with those exact same organizers and it goes south. No education required. 

The we have the dark and quiet night, and I find one homeless guy and extend an invite to make some money. Nobody else is available. I take the guy to rob a nice piece of art and boom we succeeded. We were so good we ran another operation down the road and hit up another art gallery. We came out of that one with the Mona Lisa. The guy been working the streets for less than seventy-two hours. 

There really is no rhyme or reason to some of our success and even failures. What I do encourage is the willingness to make one self more available. And stay on top of the organizing. Meaning don't extend invite(s) then disappear by falling asleep at the wheel. 

"Perhaps some comrades just need coffee. Falling asleep at the wheel is a deathtrap for everyone, let alone getting caught by the local cops could get you in trouble with your Don."

Vladimir nodded at one of his comrades who was holding a box of pizza. In the box was the best pizza any comrade could ever dream of: pineapple and ham. His comrade came over and Vlad whispered something in his ear.

"I am also a fan of education. If you haven't seen the flier for my Associate Comrade program, I encourage you to look into it. Sadly that is something that is missing in these times as of recent. Comrades care more about numbers than about quality. I want to change that with my program. Anyways, I know what you mean with the back to back Art Gallery heists. I have stolen more fancy art than I care to admit. Some might be up for sale in my Hardware Store soon."

His comrade Gleb came back with a hot cup of coffee. As he gave it to Vladimir, he went right back to his fixed position to continue giving out slices of pizza.

"Here comrade Constipated, you look tired comrade."