To become Made: An associate's dream.

Hello friends.

I come before you today to share a small dream i have with you, as well as get your thoughts/experience on a certain matter. As you will notice i am a Wise Guy, also known as an associate. Right now i am pretty much a nobody, just one more of hundreds like me. Well, tonight hopefully that will change. You see in hours few, i will be eligible for my Made Man promotion. Recent times may not have proved it but i am sure the future will, and that is that recieving this particular promotion is quite a big deal. In fact, it is an honour that should be more respected than is currently is.

Needless to say there are many of you out there that have already been entrusted with this honour. You have done the hard work and put the effort in which has quite rightly led to you recieving that particular promotion. Congrats to you all. What i would like to hear from you people is your own personal experience of Made Man both pre-Made and post-Made.

What did you do to earn it?

What do you think made such an impression on your leader that made him press the button?

What is expected of you now you're a Made+ member of the family?

I am not trying to get any tips on how to earn my button, that is for my leader to decide and i would rather earn it my way then listen to others. I just want to hear your story. There are many young ones like myself out there, some of who may be a bit lost on how to go about making the right impressions and reaching their goal. I'll do things my way and hope that is enough to warrant promotion into the higher ranks. If my leader decides i am not yet worthy then that is a decision i have to respect, he runs the ship and he knows best.

I'll share with you what i believe needs to be done in order to increase your chances of getting the promotion:

Pride & Presence ~ I am proud to be in the family i am, being in a Godfather crew is pretty awesome. I love being here and being in New Orleans. I am happy and damn proud to be a part of this wonderful city. I take pride in myself, how i look, act and do things. I like to get about, get involved in the streets, doing crimes, helping others. It's all about getting noticed and showing initiative.

Loyalty & Trust ~ Without loyalty you are nothing. I try to be loyal to my friends, family and city. Without them i am nothing and i'll always remember that. If you cannot be trusted then why should people bother with you, support you or even house you? Trust works both ways but as an associate i realise i have much more to prove. If you're not loyal and trustworthy then you're as good as dead.

Professionalism ~ I strive to be professional in everything i do. I want to do things to the best of my abilitly and show people i can do whatever is asked of me. If i am in the streets, i will be respectful at all times. If a crime goes wrong and i end up in jail, i'll accept it and serve my time or wait to be rescued. If i enter a city other than my home i'll be sure to respect it and live by their rules.

So, there are just a few things i believe can aid you on the way to getting there. Sure, there are many more, if you know of any please feel free to come up here and add them.

If anyone has any views on anything i have said here today i welcome you to come up here and share with everyone. The more heads the better.

Thanks

McKnighter steps up to the plate, keeping his hands shoved into his pockets as he puts in his two cents.

Made Men status isn't as rare or important as it was back in the day. It appears to be that as long as you earn money and signed the crew rules, you'll be promoted.

Perhaps that is what happened before the war of our time, but now-a-days change is in the air. I do hope and pray that Crew Leaders will make it much more harder and restricting for those who are to be promoted to Made. They should adopt some qualities that make them stand out from the crowd, not blend in.

Honest, respectable street presence is always a plus in my book. However, one could also be rather active within their crews and the quota would be met in my eyes. Earning money is a basic skill that we all possess, it doesn't impress me. Nor does how many kills you have on your gun. I want to see pure human effort put in so you feel that you truly -earned- the position, rather than just grinding until you're able to haul twenty-five drug units around.

My suggestion? Be uncommon.

*snuffelupagus quietly walks upon the soapbox discussion and waits for his time to politely state his opinion*

many different crews are run many different ways some crews see themselves in it for the guns, some see themselves in it for the cash, some see themselves in it for their city some yet very few are in it for their family

recieveing that button to me is something i strive for something i pride myself upon obtaining something i take from the good old days , the golden days where honesty respect professionalism loyalty and trust were requirements to be given a birth right into said family and only after meeting those requirements was one able to receieve a chance to obtain said button.

everyone who shows me kindness and respect recieves it in return, at times it can be a fault of mine however i enjoy that feeling that the button eminates and sadly now a days some people merely see a button as a notch on their lappel.

*snuffelupagus quietly returns to his shy yet reserved manner and nods in agreement with McKnighter and Thor and slowly lights his cigar presses it to his lips and enjoys a nice fine puff*

Though I am still days away from my possible bones, I'm yet to be sure if Ive 'earned' the right to be called a made man. My boss doesnt disclose the bar that I should reach in order to be made. I appreciate that about her, it shouldnt be info thats just handed out all wily nilly.

From the day I became an associate of The Wild Ones, Ive worked hard, taken direction, and tried to go above and beyond the average person in order to catch my bosses attention. I didnt do this because I thought it would get me some where faster, I did it because thats the work ethic born of my bloodline. Ive always wanted to make my sponsor, my boss, and my city happy. Its my hope that in the end, Ive done more than ever 'required' to recieve my bones within this city.

To those others out there striving to become made within their prospective cities, keep your nose on the grind. Take the bull by the horns and do something that would make your crew take notice without you having to direct them towards it. It's my experience that crewleaders and Godfathers like people who understand that you need to be bold and stand out to make it in this world. They want bodies with faces and personalities, not nameless bodys hiding in the back of the HQ, only doing the bare minimum in order to stay alive. Make yourself known, make yourself proud, but more importantly, make the city you call home proud!

With the nature of our world it is difficult to restore true meaning to all of the ranks. We have to incorporate concepts that would otherwise be ignored and make our decisions on the basis of what we have at our disposal. For example, a common requirement for aspiring Made Men was a final test of their loyalty, by getting blood on their hands and forever cementing themselves as an outlaw. Whilst I could try to insist my members performed such a task, I doubt it would win us many favours with the other families.

Instead, we have to compromise. Personally, I like to insist that my Made Men reach a requisite donation/tribute total. Some people grumble at this, but I think that someone who invests into the family is less likely to set about destroying it, because they end up destroying part of their own hard work. Plus, it gives me an automatic reason to refuse anyone who has been lazy or selfish the opportunity to progress. This information is handed out to every would be mobster who joins my outfit too, so nobody can grumble.

Similarly, I expect more from my Made Men. I require them to be competant and savvy. They are to understand the basic principles of Cosa Nostra, how to perform all aspects of our fundamental operations and can be entrusted with the education of an associate of their own.

The reason I decide to disclose certain mandatory elements of my Made Man criteria is so that any one of my guys can look at those family members and be aware of what they have achieved. I think that is important in developing some of the prestige of the rank.

As to your highlighted qualities, they all look pretty solid to me. McKnighter's advice is also spot on, remember that even without doing it on purpose, most leaders are prejudice and bias. They will have dealt with many, many associates in their tenure at the top and they will be very aware of what most people bring to the table and how they conduct themselves. If you can stand out, even if that is by having a sense of humour or a sharp wit, that'll probably take you further than you might appreciate.

Anyway, congratulations as you've been Made since you started this and continue the good work.

~C~

At the weekend I received a summons from Don Raptor, he wanted me to meet him in the back room of a restaurant. I thought to myself it was a little strange, i'd done a few jobs for the boss but this was the first time I was to actually meet him. A few days before hand i'd dropped some cash in vegas and all that was running through my head was that he'd found out and wasn't pleased.

I arrived at the restaurant and upon entering was ushered into the back by two of the biggest guys I'd ever seen. Slab the Rhm was waiting just inside the door and demanded that i sit in the centre of the room.

Now I can't go into details as to what happened but well what I can say is this my fears were unfounded. So now i'm in a better position to serve the family, I'll just be kerbing the gambling. A man of my standing can't be seem to be frivilous with cash.

Congratulations on a good speech and for becoming Made, now to the topic.

What did I do to earn my button?

Well I had all the requirements of becoming Made in the family I was originally in but a couple of days before my promotion was ready my leader died. So I moved families and everything I had done previously counted for nothing. So I had to meet new standards for a new leader, I worked hard helping out the crew where I could and donating most of my earnings apart from my gambling fund. Eventually I got my button and I am glad I had to jump through hoops to get it.

Now that I am head of an organisation I will get whoever that works for me to jump through similar hoops for me. They need to prove that they have the maturity to become a Made member as once they get that title everything they do will be scrutinized more and will be even more of a reflection on me and my organisation.

I like Consigliere Chuckle will let them know what it is they have to do to be eligible for their button. My reasoning is that they can see a goal of what they have to aim for and this way they also know that everyone will be treated the same. The rank of Made is a big deal and it should not be easy to attain the rank of Made.

As someone who is almost as far from made as possible i personally looking on the rank of Made Man and above a serious task.  I do not even sit in a crew yet, as i dwell this post apocalyptic society wondering where my future lies.  I believe it is the rank to me which says i will die for this family or i will protect this family with my last breath.  If this is the case the bar should be high.

Do i believe income on its own will be enough to prove my loyalty...no, anyone can make money but it does help.

Do i believe i will have to have killed anyone in particular?...though is a handy skill i believe it takes a lot more skills to run a family and multiple skills can come in handy in a tight spot.

Do i think the streets are most important? No, the first thing to me is communicating and educating your own members and showing how you can be valuable in other ways to your family.  I could never be accused of being a mute personally as have sat talking to many families as communication is a key component for a family to function well.  I believe then the outward perception from the streets can increase the thought and intelligence the family wil be perceived as; hopefully making it look more attractive for future recruits.
Without the aforementioned  loyalty and trust i dont think an associate should even associated with a crew.   I have sat talking for over a day with potential sponsors and i thank them for their patience with me but hopefully they have got to know me a little more as i have got to know them.

We have all seen leaks, comments and rule breakers emerge and is always a sad sight to see.  Personally my thoughts are the minute you join a family even if as an associate you have taken your vow to protect it, even if you have not offered your oath? why quite simple these people house you, develop you, rank you and protect you.  Even as pro wacker or scout collecting locals there is always ways to serve the family.

The truth of the matter is, this is supposed to be a secret society as such and an element of the rank should stay secret.   The truth is you expect to give more then what is requested if listed in a family Headquarters.  Meeting the bare minimum shouldnt be an aim but we all have our commitments, ambitions, ideas and aims and how much time we will commit to a cause.