The leadership has spoken a lot about progression since we claimed back responsibility for our individual cities. It might have seemed from the outside that we've done little else but talk, however I can assure you that all the heads of the currently occupied 6 cities have been hard at work to establish a new, lasting regime which will help stabilise and further La Cosa Nostra over the coming weeks and months.

JesseJames, Godfather of Chicago, together with AlabamaWorley, Godfather of Detroit, SuperX, Godfather of St Louis, Stallion, Don and acting Godfather of New York, Stamina, Don and acting Godfather of New Orleans and LottaBEssen, Boss and acting Godfather of Philly, came together last night for a meeting to establish the communal interests of every family and every city. This allowed them to agree upon certain standards that they wish to see imposed and enact changes across the country as a result. Accordingly, the Godfathers and acting Godfathers have come together to form a Godfather Council.

The first important thing that should be stressed is that the individual governance of any city internally has not changed. Each Godfather will still be responsible for the well being of their cities and choose how they operate within them. Nobody from Chicago will be telling anyone from Detroit how to run their family, because it is no business of theirs. Each city has their own standards and their own requirements for their day to day operations which shall not be affected or influenced by the Godfather Council.

However, the cities are expected to comply with some ground rules that the Godfather Council has collaborated on and agreed, which they believe will provide lasting and long term benefits to our business. Sometimes, you have to make a stand for the honour and well being of your community, rather than your personal gain or satisfaction and some of these changes had these ideals in mind.

As JesseJames is currently away on business, I have been asked by the Godfather Council to summarise the agreed upon changes in his absence. Here is an overview of what has been agreed by the Godfather Council, which will be followed with the consent of each Godfather or acting Godfather for each city across the country:

As of 14th November, no more NPMs will be employed by any outfit from any city. Those NPMs currently employed will be allowed to complete their contracts and then no subsequent robots will then find work within our country. Including IG-88.

The Godfather Council has collectively reached a decision and whilst the financial gain from NPMs is substantial, both directly and indirectly, we are not common criminals prepared to do anything. We are not concerned only with money, rather we are a society founded upon community and we should seek to further it rather than line our own pockets at the cost of it. This move shall also aid in the finding of those pesky BG wackers who continue to buzz around causing mild irritation by removing the number of bodies they can hide behind.

We may be irrevocably engaged in the supply of narcotics, but the Godfather Council believe that we can remove our reliance upon robots absolutely. It will take hard work, it will require more effort from us and we are ready for the challenge. As every city is agreeing to this policy, no one city will be hurt whilst others continue to benefit. No individual will be disadvantaged; everyone will be evenly affected. The Godfather Council will feel the loss of the NPMs most keenly, however by comparison with restoring a sense of humanity to this thing of ours; it seems to be a small price to pay.

Each city will be limited to a maximum of 4 HQs within its borders.

Never again will we see the purchase of 10 authorised HQs within one city whilst others lie naked of any form of organized crime. We have a responsibility to this community and the Godfather Council are prepared to meet that responsibility and ensure that only 4 HQs will operate within our cities at any one time.

This means that in Chicago for example, our 4 HQs are JesseJames', PizzaTheHut's, Clarity's & Monet's. Should an occasion arise where we have 4 HQs already and no Godfather, such as in New Orleans, the Godfather HQ will still count and the previous family will have to be dispersed amongst the existing HQs within the city. When Stamina claims the title of Godfather over the city, his previous family will be dispersed amongst the existing HQs and families within the city, keeping the total at 4.

There are 8 cities within MafiaReturns, all of which will be operating upon the 4 HQ rule eventually, althought Las Vegas is currently exempt from this and will be addressed separately by the Godfather of Detroit. Assuming each of the 8 cities have a Godfather and 3 families, this would allow provision for 161 members in every city. This means that we would have space for 1288 mobsters to be sponsored and run with a family. We currently have approximately 450 active mobsters on our streets and therefore they can all be comfortably accommodated for.

Nothing prevents a Godfather or acting Godfather from giving authorisation for someone to replace one of his existing bosses within the city, provided they do not exceed the maximum number of 4 HQs within the city at any one time. The Godfather Council believe that by placing a control upon the volume of HQs, candidates will be forced to demonstrate their quality in order to ensure that they are considered for one of the finite positions available.

This will also allow those existing families to establish themselves, develop their own skills and truly lead their families going forward. Part of the goal of the Godfather Council is to aid those bosses within our cities and help them to further themselves, strengthening La Cosa Nostra as a whole across the country.

No authorisations will be made whilst a city has a headquarters with more than 10 available spaces within its borders.

Too often we have seen authorisations purely to boost the firepower of any particular individual at any given time. Coupled with this, we have witnessed the purchase of headquarters for far more families than we have a demand to fill. The Godfather Council believe that this bad precedent can be overturned by restoring some semblance of sanity to proceedings.

From now on, the Godfather Council will only authorise families within their cities when there is an actual demand for them, after the existing headquarters have been filled with members. This will allow those people who have earned the opportunity to lead a family to actually demonstrate they are capable of doing so as it grows. It will be up to them to forge a reputation, attract members and to build an actual family that is self-sustaining, profitable and strong. The goal is to establish a lasting dynasty, not an overnight sensation.

Therefore, no city will authorise the purchase of a further HQ within their city whilst they have space available within their existing families. When a family has over 40 active members, it will be considered to be approaching full capacity and then a member of the Godfather Council can exercise their own discretion in authorising a member of their organization to establish a new family within their city.

Protection Orders will last for 7 calendar days. 'Untagged' members are fair game. 'Tagged' members are to be given 7 calendar days to find a new family. Inactive associates are fair game. Inactive Made Men and above are to be given 7 calendar days to find a new family.

The Godfather Council has overhauled the protection order system with immediate effect.

When a leader is slain, be that in a war scenario, gun malfunction or internal politics and a protection list is issued, the above rules will be applied. These are explained in detail below.

A protection order will last for 7 calendar days from the time it is announced. This means that if a protection order is announced on the 14/11 at 11:40, it will be in force until 21/11 at 11:40. At 11:41 on 21/11, the protection order will have ceased to be in effect and any remaining unsponsored member or associate will be considered fair game for the gunmen of the cities at this time.

If a member or associate of a fallen family is 'tagged', meaning they display their Don's name, family name or slogan anywhere upon their person, e.g. 'Loyal to the Cheese Syndicate' or 'Loyal to Godfather JesseJames' or 'The Church of PizzaTheHut...a family of The Cheese Syndicate', then they are to be afforded the full protection of the Godfather Council and given every respect by the gunmen of our cities. This means if someone is displaying their family name or their leader's name within plain sight, they are not to be touched. It is down to individual family heads to determine that their members embrace this form of protection.

If a member or associate of a fallen family is 'untagged', meaning they are not displaying their Don's name, family name or slogan anywhere upon their person, then they are not subject to any protection under a protection order and are considered to be fair game for the gunmen of our cities. The basic principle being applied is that an associate or member of any family should announce their affiliation to that family. Anyone who does not do so shall no longer be protected from harm if they couldn't even be bothered to complete this simple task.

If an associate (Wise Guy and below) of a fallen family is tagged but inactive, clearly displaying "inactive" status, then they are considered to be fair game for the gunmen of our cities. This only applies to associates, those people who have not yet made their bones and become fully fledged members of families. It is down to individual family heads to determine that their members understand these differences, as any mistakes will be punished by the Godfather Council.

If a member (Made man and above) of a fallen family is tagged but inactive, clearly displaying "inactive status", they are to be afforded the full protection of the Godfather Council and given every respect by the gunmen of our cities. They have earned the right to the full protection of the protection order, as a result of their status within the family. It is down to individual family heads to determine that their members understand these differences, as any mistakes will be punished by the Godfather Council.

Los Angeles will remain vacant.

Whilst each city rebuilds and continues furthering their interests, Los Angeles will remain free from our influence. Over time and as individuals demonstrate that they are capable and deserving of running their own families, this situation will be reviewed by the Godfather Council. No individual Godfather holds title over any city other than their own and the decision on the future of Los Angeles will be determined by the Godfather Council.

For the time being, impress your Don, impress your Godfather and work hard for your family. Each individual Godfather will have their own set of criteria that they require to be met by potential candidates. The Godfather Council believes that this will necessitate potential candidates to raise their own performances and will restore some semblance of worth to the authorisation process that has been significantly cheapened in the past. It is supposed to be difficult and something that only the elite achieve.

Closing Comments

The Godfather Council are united to further La Cosa Nostra and will continually evaluate the effectiveness of these changes in achieving that goal. Further rules may be enforced by The Godfather Council if they are required and others may be changed at some point in the future. A decision was also reached over the future of Las Vegas, but this will be announced separately by AlabamaWorley on behalf of the Godfather Council.

Thank you for your attention.

~G~rin on behalf of JesseJames, Godfather of Chicago and the Godfather Council.

This is truly a new era.

Who'd have thought, in the dark days of the Winter of Discontent, that we would see such groundbreaking and positive outcomes?

I absolutely love the new changes, this just further backs up the reasoning for the previos war(s).

It seems like we all have a very bright future here. Good job to the Godfather council!

Thank you for going into great detail with this.

These new changed will be great the godfathers have really pulled this out the bag

i imagine this great news to some,although i find myself slightly concerned at some of these rulings

but your the bosses what you say goes

The impetus is now on all of of us to strive forward and embrace the Godfathers' changes.

With hard work and dedication the spring clean our world has recently undergone can flourish into a summer garden of fruitfulness.

Looks around theatrically and raises his hands to the crowds...

THE TIME IS NOW!

Thank you for your precise and concise account of the Godfather Council, Grin. All points raised appear fair and makes me excited about the future if this thing of ours.

As an associate of PizzaTheHut's family and the city of Chicago as a whole, I have to say that this is the most positive change that I have seen implemented so far. It addresses various weaknesses in a way that can only lead to the greater prosperity of all cities as a whole, and moreover it levels the playing field somewhat, which again can only be a positive thing.

Given the severity of recent events, I applaud all crewleaders and particularly the Godfather Council for putting heads together and initiating these changes. Its good to see a united front across the country; one of the most essential tasks post-war is to endeavour to build a powerful leadership, a strong sense of community and belonging, and I believe that these changes will achieve this, going from the more significant points right down to the fact that all associates are encouraged to declare their loyalty to their specific families.

In addition, presenting such unity will also aid in cracking down upon such things as random BG wacks - perpetrators of such attacks, whether directly or indirectly implicated, will hopefully be less inclined to whore bullets around, thus avoiding unnecessary discontent and resentment amongst the ranks.

I will also say that I appreciate the newly clarified etiquette on who is fair game and who isn't. This point makes things abundantly clear; the new rule is fair, easy to adhere to, and once again much more effective and efficient.

From what I can see, there is absolutely no room for debate here - this is a finely presented explanation of some excellent changes, and I look forward to pressing ahead within this new era under a leadership which has obviously given great thought to how we should all move forward.

i imagine this great news to some,although i find myself slightly concerned at some of these rulings

Please feel free to air your misgivings Makarov. I'm sure myself or another City Head will be happy to respond to any points you raise.

It addresses various weaknesses in a way that can only lead to the greater prosperity of all cities as a whole

This is first and foremost what the The Godfather Council will be looking to achieve. The community has always been and will always be the most important thing. Decisions made will be based on what we believe is of best interest to the future of our community, not simply ourselves.

Make no mistake, All City Heads are working together here to build a better future for us all.

Makarov im intreged to hear your problems,i can only see this bettering the cities but we all have different views i guess

Make no mistake, All City Heads are working together here to build a better future for us all.

Negative.

The advent of NPMs were the future, Godfather Alabama. Their abolishment is a giant step backwards. While all the other rulings are positive and logical, this old-fashioned mindset of your human-error riddled Godfather Council regarding NPMs is halting progress. A more appropriate title for this announcement would be "Welcome Back to the Stone Age of La Costra Nostra."

IG-88 rolls back to HQ for maintenance as the Statue of Bearderus sheds a tear.

IG-88. Our eyes have been opened, no longer shall we rely on the works of Robots to ensure our future. We have become to depdendant on these mindless droids for too long and must focus our energy on the humans around us.

Now, off to the Scapyard with you!

i must admit I am very happy to see the destruction of the mercenary NPM's, and look forward to a real family being built.  This combined with the limit on families per city should make things a little more level and interesting as time develops as people dont just flood to the biggest city.  In regard to tags, if a family member wont wear a tag then why should they be protected in all honesty as should be proud who you are associated with or a member of.

There's some excellent changes afoot. Using these NPM chaps never felt right to me. I trust in my real family to work for our daily bread, butter and cocaine rations.

Here's to the future!

Well I am happy to see that there is some life to this game lately but I don't think you can tell a CL not to buy NPMs. That I about the stupidest thing you could have done. If a CL wants to make money than they have the right to employ whoever they want. I never saw any problems with having extra workers in your crew.

SaintAnthony applauds upon hearing the announcement

I am glad to see that the leaders are finally coming together and getting things rolling in a positive way. This is truly a great day indeed!

Tommy, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you about NPMS.

If our Godfather Council - who ultimately achieved their positions due to a thorough working knowledge of our world - have decided that NPMs are surplus to requirements and can be done away with, then so be it. I don't dispute the fact that they were a convenient means of making money, but right now, This Thing Of Ours cannot be operated on the basis of convenience. Rather, if a CL wishes to strengthen his or her financial means, then I would suggest effective communication within the family so that all hands are on deck, all members understand their priorities and the family then benefits from their collective efforts, rather than relying on NPMs to fulfill a role that quite frankly, we are responsible for ourselves...human or not.

Personally, I would always opt for hard graft over convenience. How would you compare the fiscal strength of a family containing a high quota of NPMs versus a family whose members give their all and subsequently elevate their family's potential through human effort? For me, its not just about how many pennies are in the bank; its also about how those pennies came to be, and I'd place a higher value on those acquired through genuine, human Mafiosi endeavours.

If I may briefly raise a query that I'm sure the Council has already considered about NPM's and empty HQ spaces. Obviously with NPM's no longer being accepted into families, the average family size will fall (OOC: I'm at work atm so I'm not really in a position to check by how much, but I'd expect a fairly considerable amount), and as things currently stand if I'm reading the numbers right the plans are in place to have approximately 800 more spaces than mobsters around in the world. If the average family size falls considerably, there will be less new families due to the old HQ's having too many empty spaces, so I guess my question is, are the godfather council at all worried that things might become.. stale shall we say? Obviously auth has to mean something, and making it so that people have to truly deserve it to attain it is definitely a step in the right direction, but with these rules in place it strikes me that we'll never see a family in LA, or perhaps even much growth in cities at all as the NPM's being disbanded will free up a considerable amount of HQ space in the existing HQs?

As I say, I'm sure this is something you've considered and I ask with all due respect. I'm also not ruling out the possibility that my extremely tired brain is just getting the math wrong!

"but I don't think you can tell a CL not to buy NPMs"

I'm a betting man, and I'll take any wager you offer that the collective power of the Godfather Council outweighs that of a Crewleader. Therefore you'll find that, actually, yes teh Godfather council can tell a Crewleader what to do, whether it's buying NPMS, vetoing protection of untagged members, whatever. That is the nature of La Cosa Nostra my friend -orders go downhill, money goes uphill.

Some fantastic changes at hand here though, it is high time we reverted to the founding principles of La Cosa Nostra that proved so successful for our kind. For too long, I've felt we have worked with blindfolds and shackles on, each individual persuing their own agenda, each family pursuing theres. That is not the nature of La Cosa Nostra, the meaning itself should make that clear. 'Our Thing'; not 'My Thing, Your Thing and Their Thing'. The advent of This Godfather Council finally makes me feel as though I'm in the right business once more.

In particular, I am a big fan of the new protection orders. There is no grey area now; nor is there a need for the pointless ritual following each war whereby one person stands up and says 'Don't shoot this person please' followed by 8 or 9 lesser known people all standing up in succession saying 'I agree' 'So do I!' et cetera et cetera.

One thing I'd like to ask though, if I may. I notice there has been no ruling on contracting MIA's. Currently, some cities display rule displaying the timeframe in which these contracts may be carried out by a third party whilst others do not. Is this how it will stay, or will The Council make a decision on this to make it uniform policy?

"but with these rules in place it strikes me that we'll never see a family in LA,"

I hate to blather on without giving anyone a chance to reply, but I thought I'd address this too as I don't agree with it. As Grin says, hard work will pay dividends. Once each city has it's 4 HQ quota, or even before then, it is entirely plausible that a Leader will impress not only his own Godfather but also the Council enough to be given the vacant city.

Furthermore, in the past, it did not matter if a CL was an empty suit. Godfathers would just take the 'throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks' approach by authing leader after leader. Now, this is not possible. The leader must prove on a continual basis that they deserve their commmission. If a worthy individual is waiting in the wings and an exisiting Leader is doing nothing worthy of their position, it is entirely plausible that they will be removd, for the betterment of the city. This may not directly lead to the growth you speak of, but it should logically lead to more activity and presence in general.