Taking the oath of Omerta means welcome to the brotherhood, welcome to the family, and the only way out is death. The absolute honor of earning your button and accepting membership into this "thing of ours", is beautiful. Being a gangster is better than being John Rockefeller. It meant you were no longer a nobody in the neighborhood. Who would have thought you would have made it this far? Who thought amongst your loser wannabe thug friends, that you'd be where you at? Surpassing the local hoodlums, who are taxed for protection by the local Wise Guys. You are now the tax collector, their Boss in a sense.

Leaving the local neighborhood, the street you grew up on to take downtown Philly head on with bootlegging, robbing the local bank, and taking out the city scum is a task not for the weak or fainthearted. Heists, boosting trucks, extorting the local bar doesn't always come easy. Earning your button has its perks. You can literally go anywhere and go do anything you want without anyone having a fuss over it. It means you're with somebody and other people knew that. You're able to serve time and not have to look over your shoulder and expect Bubba to be right up your ass.

Being Made and earning your button is what I've come to discuss. Taking the vow and accepting membership means a few things. Your current Boss you're working for has found some potential in you, some trust that goes a LONG way down the road, he doesn't want to lose you just yet to some local gang banger.

So my question to all of you is, "If you were a crew leader, what would be your guidelines on opening the books and opening membership to a potential Made Man?"

If I was a Crew Leader, the biggest thing I'd be looking for when opening books is trust. Anyone can make money, work the local drug dealer, shoot a gun, have a notorious street reputation. But if I can't trust them to operate their business with my name, theres no point is there. Trust is the single biggest attribute needed in this way of life of ours. The life of a gangster is meant to be very taxing on one's life, why surround yourself with people you cannot depend on?

I don't think anyone can disagree with you there Mike. Trustworthiness is by far the most important virtue that is required to become a "made" figure in our world in my view. It should truly be reagrded as the highest honour that your Boss could ever bestow upon you, it should be regarded as the most important rank 'in this thing of ours', it shows that there is a mutual trust between you and your family head, if the trust is not there between the two then frankly this practice of "making" your guys/gals is superfluous.

Although it should be noted that the ability to provide a rather hefty brown envelope to your Boss and take care of some delicate "business" every now and then are extremely important, for me they are secondary considerations, although they should never be overlooked.

I would also put forward a very overused argument that perhaps nowadays this rank has become less important perhaps and is now looked upon as a given and a thing that can simply be bought?.... But then again what do I know? I'm a Goomba.

Gaspipe then meanders off back home miserably, hopefully depriving a few poor granny's of their purses. 

<em> Slinks out of a speakeasy and overhears the men speaking </em>

I don't think many will disagree with the idea that trust is by far the biggest factor in whether on not someone is given the button.  My great grandfather told me of a time when becoming a made man meant something more than just earning, a time when there had to be at least 3 references of character, above the rank of made man, vouch for you.  However, it seems that times have changed from the days of old.  

My bloodline just made it back to this way of ours and from what i have observed, the current family heads seem to hold their members and the community in a higher regard than in the past but i digress.  

Back to the issue at hand, Trust.  It cannot be built overnight and should not be bought.  Becoming made, as was said, should be the highest honor bestowed upon you from your family head and should not be given out at the bat of an eyelash. 

I remember the good old days of having 3 different people vouch for you being you were looked at. I know for a fact if it wasn't for somebody vouching for me, I would have never been introduced and taken into Philadelphia. And they even vouched for me again to get my own button.

I really did not approve of the city wide requirements that were used awhile back. The "You must have 15 posts, 1 thread" scheme was really just bare and really wasn't worth even having. People just started saying things at a street debate that made no sense or were too short that you didn't really understand the guy. Setting a minimum standard is just asking for quantity and not quality.

Agreed.  What if we grew up together?  That's enough for me.  I don't need you to write a poem and ask for more references.  Was too bureaucratic.  Drove some away.  Good for security back then.  But bad for business. 

"You must have 15 posts, 1 thread"

I agree I don't think you can set some universal standard like that for the practice of making someone, like Vasily said it's way too 'bureaucratic'. Naturally the requirements for getting made are and should always be completely down to the disgression of a specific crew leader, and as such will probably vary quite a bit. But as I've said previously there are always integral factors that should always be taken into account regardless of what crew or city you happen to be affilated with.