I've been absent from the Streets in recent weeks and while my back was turned several tragedies have enveloped us. BuddyBigPaw was allowed to reach his milestone birthday. This is a black mark against all of us, the rogues in particular. I am deeply, deeply disappointed that nobody bothered themselves enough to end him. Shame on us.

@PropertyManger made his bones. I want to assure everyone that I have no recollection of him taking his oath and the books being opened for him. Absolutely none. There isn't so much as a button for him as an asterisk. There is an investigation currently ongoing into who may be to be blame for this atrocity and you can expect an emergency hearing in Street Court to get to the bottom of it. 

And finally, most importantly, we now find ourselves embroiled in the situation I was so desperate to avoid; purging. For the uninitiated and for the sake of clarity, by purging, I'm referring to the murder of seemingly loyal crew members due to their previous conduct or their lineage. This is not a place I ever wanted to find ourselves and I, as well as both preceding Si, have tried hard to prevent but we must face the reality of the situation, we're now here.

So what do we do about it? Well, we've got two options. The first option is that we continue down this path that we are currently on. We, as the established Dons of the country, will try our best to separate the dirtbags from the innocent and attempt to foil the attempts of those who have repeatedly proven themselves to be dishonest and untrustworthy to cause us harm. Meanwhile those people will attempt to hide their dishonesty and untrustworthiness in a bid to survive long enough to do just that. There will be victories for both sides but for every loss to the home team, which is mine in this example, there will be a higher and higher price extracted from the away side. We've all heard the stories of this and we have no greater reference point than the previous regime which was removed to see just how badly this can go wrong.

I don't want to do that. Generational blood feuds hold so little interest for me that the prospect of engaging in them is likely worse than retirement. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth and given authorisation to start a family in the shortest time possible just to skate by on my laurels, so instead, I'm proposing a second option as an alternative; a clean slate.

What does that mean? From my side, it means that anyone who chooses to do so will be free to embrace as little or as much of their family lineage as they want with no black marks, reservations or animosity attached to them. They will be able to be a reformed branch of their family tree who will be judged solely upon the merits of their own actions. They can rank, build a gun, and otherwise engage with whichever organization they choose. An unreserved second, third, fourth or tenth chance. 

What do I expect in return? Reciprocity. All grudges, vendettas or generational bullshit are shelved. Your only loyalty is to the family you are part of. This is placed before otherworldly friendships, commitments or affiliations. You become what you purport to be, a gangster for the family you join. Fall out with whomever you like in this generation, but everything else is wiped clean. 

How can we trust you? I believe the evidence will show that I am a man of my word. I have protected lots of people who I would not have chosen to share a drink with in a coffeeshop because they gave me their word and asked for an opportunity to prove themselves regardless of the consequences that such protection would come with. I will extend this same protection to anyone who asks for it.

How can I trust you? I can't. Some of you have proven time and time again to be completely incapable of putting aside your petty nonsense and relentlessly pursue grudges with a complete disregard for the realities of our world. I and the preceding Sis have been burned repeatedly by this. Even so, I'm going to do it anyway and because what is the alternative? Another week, month, year of this incestuous monotony? 

How do I get this chance? You approach me in good faith and you ask for an opportunity to prove yourself capable of being a loyal member of a family. I will ask if you understand that you are committing to putting family first, before any coffeeshop group or affiliation. You will agree to do so and that'll be it. Like a handsome non-handsy priest, all of your past sins will be forgiven and you will enjoy my protection until you give me a reason to remove it.

Who can get this chance? Anyone.

What if I'm a shitbag who is going to use this opportunity to worm my way to a position to cause harm? Shoot your shot. If you stay true to your word and are completely loyal to your family for however long it takes you to build a gun big enough to kill me/whomever, you'll be able to do it. I'm not hunting you. You can kill me and takeover if that is your desire. But, if you don't takeover, there won't ever be another clean slate so make it count.

What will this achieve? I hope it'll let people who have, in my view, painted themselves into a corner and are likely just as disillusioned as I am, see that there is a route out. A life in the shadows is dark and boring. Who wants that? You don't have to spend your days scheming on the fringes. No first generation mobster came here with the intention of having to hide their surname. Maybe we could build something more enjoyable to be involved with for all of us if we weren't always looking over our shoulder.

Anyway, I've been pretty much been ignoring everyone for the past few weeks while I came to terms with these awful BigPaw/PropertyManager situations. My door is open again and I'll try to respond to your mails or public callouts. 

Probably.  

As beautiful as this sounds to the "uninitiated" its been proven fairly untrue. My father, was an outstanding citizen, who answered all questions, who participated when asked, who openly shared his rather subpar ability to shoot at the durden family zombies, and who was always honest when asked, clearly, too honest in some facets. He was shot down in his sleep for things he may do, for things other people did, and for things he had no part in, my bloodline had zero counts of being a rogue to their name, unless you count the late great Thorfin, who only shot once his crew was being dismantled, and truly, never even wanted to take the shot, but felt his hand had been forced by the deaths of his friends and crew members, who were also, uninvolved in the rogue activities of the others at that time, and feared for his life. This isnt the first time, as the same thing happened to his father, Hajun, shot down, because he had been an acquaintance to Buu, again, uninvolved, and unaware of the plans that ugly pink man had. 

I am typically not one to come to the streets, or to say much at all really, but at this point, im tired of hearing about how you dont want to do this or that, but continue to do exactly those things. 

Ultimately, if you're tired of hearing the things I'm saying, don't listen. I would imagine though that you and I hold different definitions of "outstanding citizen" in this context. You're honestly telling me that poppa Thorfinn wouldn't have known the identity of anyone who would seek to harm the family he belonged to or their allies? He didn't omit anything that he might have knowledge of which might be considered useful to those he was sponsored by? He wasn't aware that someone might not have been who they claimed to be perhaps? I find that unlikely. I suspect it far more likely that he answered his shot report and disclosed his lineage and packaged up all the other conversations going on over here that he was listening to as privileged. But hey, I don't know. And honestly, whether you're tired of hearing it or not, I don't want to know because this is exactly what I'm talking about, the kind of scenarios which end up like this with you feeling hard done by and me thinking it was probably the right call. Maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to live in a world where you can talk to whoever the hell you want and associate with whoever you want because I know you'll prioritise your family first. So if he was truly just a loyal soldier gunned down wrongly, then allow me to offer my condolences, deepest regret and this olive branch to you if you're prepared to accept it. 

I am Anton, of the Kuku lineage.  Monarch trampled upon  the dreams of my grandfather by murdering ArmieHammer. Armie was blazing a Trail in the upper structure regular newsletter distribution racket, and be was going places, until...

....  until Monarch murdered Armie as he delivered his newsletters.  As is commonly known, the Kuku lineage is worth a few billion.  But we're talking clean slates here so I don't want Monarch to be killed.  There are better ways to spend $500m

None of this matters at all if Property Manager is still alive. Give the community a show of good faith. Put that vile fiend down once and for all and perhaps some of the current 'Baddies' will consider the proposal. He's useless, rude and has absolutely disgusting feet. Save future bloodlines from having malformed toes and you will be declared a hero by generations to come.

#JusticeForCandice

Seconded. I suggest we tie PropertyManager to some sort of Dutch trash pole and let the seagulls have at him. His hairy, webbed feet have no place in my life and we don't need to just accept it, as hard as he rallies for disgusting feet acceptance. UglyInbredGeorge was a freak and Shane_Stetson blew his head clean off. It's time to pull a Shane_Stetson on the next compromised gene pool. 

I think too often the mobsters across the country confuse these good faith actions with an assurance that no harm will come whomever's way.  Using Thorfinn's example, if my family were in danger of an active rogue, I'm not giving that rogue's friends the benefit of the doubt.  There is a situation taking place and the issue becomes about solving/ending it, not operating on philosophical ideals. These situations often result in every single unsponsored gangster on the streets being culled as a precautionary measure. Do you honestly think the rogue's bestie is going to get a pass?  I understand these situations and sympathy is not falling in the rogue's lap or that mobster's friends. There is also some deterrence being manufactured by these actions. Hopefully, the rogue mobster catches some grief from his friends for the harm it caused them. Perhaps those friends can be influential on that rogue mobster's decisions? A good friend might say "Hey, is your cock so tiny you have to rogue all the time?".

I don't think this is the same thing as removing someone for no reason, known by some as "purging". It is something that happens in the moment, not intermittently as a general policy. I think it holds true that if you actually work for your family and do not blur those lines, you will not be treated with unreasonable suspicion.

Michael approached the crowd. It smelled like the Grand Canyon and cactuses. A poor man’s Arizona, if you will. He wore no pants. Las Vegas was known to take pockets just like the pack of dogs in L.A

DetroitSimon are you willing to even go so far as offer leadership positions? Or, will said opportunities have a ceiling?

And on this day I will stop pretending I have imaginary friends. My friends are feeling insulted. 

I take no issue or shame in saying I like you DetroitSimon. One kin in particular of yours, a kin of mine enjoyed your presence and while we were rivals. A smile crosses my face as I recall one of a few diaries. 

Do you think it is fair to say when a family issue surfaces, it is exactly that, a family issue? For example, a kin of mine killed their RH. It became evident rather quickly to her kin after she killed him she was being infiltrated. Kudos to the rivals and in the same city. The diary reads a great time. Those sort of business dealings are rare in our world now.  

That kin of mine who killed her RH duly notes she got no pleasure in the shot and was terribly disappointed and again this was before she even discovered her organization was being infiltrated. Grudges do not run through my lineage. 

My kin noticed the exact same decision or action can be made by others but it is not inclusive?  

I am being reminded how honored I was so many times on these shores. My lineage have been a great asset to many crews. My lineage led three great crews. My lineage has a history of letting it be known they were a nobody without their crew members.

My lineage is also known a little spitfire with the mouth. And when that happens and some who know me well and understand my passion.

Today old Flippy is much the same but with no goals but to get this dam two and a half million dollar beauty of a Picasso painting.  

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Prepotente yelled and took a sip of his soda pop. It was days like this that made him think of his mother. And yet, Simon's words were like music to his ears. Almost like it came from a piano. Maybe Simon would let Prepotene be the only goat in the house. Maybe he could be Simon's special boi. Maybe he could be saved from the physical and mental abuse from Richard Harrow. 

"Who goes there? Ah,  Simon. I might of known that such a colossal fuck up could only be perpetrated by a dolt such as yourself. Once again proving that Neanderthals and humans are related. You have denied me my prey and I demand satisfaction!”

The goat paused, then screamed at the top of his lungs.

"THERE WILL BE NO MORE WARM HUGS FROM ME."

No keyboardHero, I'm going to make him wait 12 days.

I'll take Rouge off your hands Shaggs, that way it'll be far less embracing when I accidently shoot him instead of Rogue.

I think KeyboardHero deserves its own city in 11 days.