Grin had always loved Chicago. It was one of the first cities that his ancestors had worked for, back before the world fell. He had spent much of his youth marvelling at the Statue of Bearderus, standing tall and proud like an enormous copper shepherd, watching over his bricks and mortar flock. He loved that statue. It was like a father to him. A 200ft tall father. But, unfortunately, Chicago had been given away. It had been given away to opportunity and ambition. It had a strong criminal underbelly already established, with Castiel, Ranger, MikeHunt and StanPython all running operations there.

Grin sighed. No, Chicago wouldn't do. He would have to look elsewhere. He suspected his other haunt of Philadelphia might be spoken for, somehow. He had never liked New York, too much dankness about them. Los Angeles hadn't served him too well in the past either. St Louis had been closed off to the mob for a long time now and Las Vegas was extremely ginger. That left him with just a couple of choices; Detroit or New Orleans.

Which to choose? Which to choose?

Detroit had been home to many tremendous leaders in the past, with the mighty PedroRourke being easily the most famous of them all. New Orleans on the other hand had witnessed Godfathers like the disgraceful BoabyWanKenobi and the inept Tallien. That definitely seemed more like Grin's sort of territory...unglamorous, bleak and forgotten. His days spent powering towards the top left had given him a fresh perspective and he had accumulated the knowledge that only comes from dominating the 60 second list. Few ever accomplish it and those who did always carried with them the magnificence of the achievement.

His mind made up, Grin decided to set about putting his plan into operation. It wasn't an orthodox method of doing things, but rather like Slash's taste in mating partners, Grin was anything but orthodox. He made an appointment to view a dilapidated shack in some flea-ridden backwater on the outskirts of New Orleans. He believed it may have once served as the headquarters of Captain Stubing and it still certainly carried his stench. It was a match made in heaven for Grin.

He made the payment of $1,493,334 and took the keys from Stubing's family. They had suffered hard times since the fall of the former shining light of New Orleans and Grin did nothing to ease their suffering, paying them only a fraction of the asking price and then cruelly kicking them off his property the moment the transaction was completed.

Grin's first order of business was to assess the level of competition in the city and he quickly determined it to be non-existent. In fact, as it turned out, Cosa Nostra hadn't been practised in these parts for months and months. This being the land of opportunity, Grin returned to his shack and penned a letter to each of the known city heads across America.

I come before you as a humble Wise Guy, having done absolutely nothing of note. I hadn't even made my bones before I came to New Orleans.

With that said, I've now taken up residence in an old abandoned shithouse. I'm slowly renovating said shithouse into a palace. It will be great when it is done, with a swing and maybe a pool in the back garden.

However, that isn't the reason I'm writing to you. No. I'm writing to you to make a proposal to you all and being businessmen, I'm sure this will appeal to you. New Orleans is empty and has been for too long. The people here are running about in their pretty little lives, making their pretty little wages and it's all so...boring. This city needs something to spice it up. It needs someone to get a handle on things and earn us some of their pretty little wages. It needs someone with an extremely prominent position on the 60 second list to do it. It needs me.

Why should you let some lowlife Wise Guy setup in New Orleans? Well, firstly I'm no threat to anyone. I've achieved all I wanted to achieve, I mean, have you seen how high up on the list I am? You won't get any power plays from old Grin, certainly not his style. Similarly, New Orleans is currently making nobody anything. I propose to pay you fine gentleman handsomely for allowing me to operate out of my dilapidated 10 man shack. I'll pay you every week in fact, cold, hard cash that you can spend on whatever you like.

What's more, a strong wind could blow me over, which is ironic given that I'm in the windy city, so when you get tired of my being monstrously far up the 60 second list, you can knock me over.

Sounds like a win/win to me. Right?

Great!

Upon firing out his letter and waiting for the inevitable acceptance of his proposal, Grin decided to set about recruiting.

It was going to be a new day in New Orleans.

Grinatopia has arrived.

DanK notices the new HQ rising above the skyline in New Orleans. He takes a piece of paper with some speech notes written on it and rips it up

Damn you dude. I was half way through writting a speech about ownership of cities and should the leaders leave cities empty for so long after 'taking them.' It was going to be an epic street speech. Just like I am sure, Grin, you are about to have an epic run. Personally, I have no issue you setting up in New Orleans. If the city head chose to neglect a city and not set up a family in them within, say, 48 hours, anybody should be free to set up in there.

Good luck.

DanK

I, for one, welcome our new Grinatopian overlords!

I have a feeling that the Stubing family does not feel cheated on their deal and actually fully supports Grin's claims to the city of New Orleans. No longer shall bins go undipped!

My next door neighbor is having a yard sale this weekend, want me to find out how much he wants for the swing set? From his advert, it stainless steel and real faux leather, although there are a few "stains" on the seat and the straps have seen better days. He also has a few other "accessories" and outfits that come with the swing that he will include in the price. 

JaKeL, I told you when you enquired earlier in the week, the swing set is not, has never been, and will never be for sale. My antique collection of butt plugs though. 3 for $5.

So I can go to Detroit now

I'm going to be quite low on funds.

I am currently negotiating the price for operating in New Orleans with our esteemed City Heads.

I have $15 spare though?

Ahhh DanK, the infamous antique butt plugs, by the sheer size of them I always thought they were garden gnomes. Perhaps New Orleans' favorite current homemaker could make use of them ... purely for decorative purposes of course

Finally someone is doing something with New Orleans. This is great to see, however NO's last resident was the lady known as Ire. I recall while she was fighting a war and it was more a power move than an attempt to actually take charge of the city she did set a city rule that it would be open to any made man to set up in an attempt to highlight it's emptiness and the need for it to have life breathed into it once more.

Congratulations to you Grin on this undertaking, may the city treat you as well as you treat her.

Gaspipe had always liked New Orleans, a nice friendly city where one could put his feet up and relax from the monotonous schedule of life. But as of recent days this was certainly not the case!... car tyres on fire, beggars and thieving little kids lined the streets of the 'Big Easy'... dog shit everywhere! 

This meteoric fall in standards was down to one thing, Grin. This city needed turning around urgently, and Gaspipe knew the only way to do so... was from within!

Need a RHM?

Grin looks up from chewing on some rubbish from a flaming trash can.

Ah, Gaspipe. Dearest Gaspipe.

I could, of course, use the support of such a cable piece of plumbing. However, I don't think it would be fair to steal you from your current employers!

His current wouldn't be too happy to lose him, either.

Oh and the Windy City my dearest Grin, is Chicago.

I guess i'll have to be the bad guy here...


The answer is no! I already have enough riff raff running a family out of my own city. No chance do I need another one running one out of another city!

A rogue is a rogue unfortunately dearest old prominent 60sec list positioned Grin.

Clearly getting his hopes up about his new life in N'Orleans Gaspipe took this rejection pretty hard, his eyes welling up with tears. He lay there, on the streets of New Orleans crippled with fear, regret and disappointment with only the dog shit for company...

Gaspipie-, I feel you were massively over qualified for the position of Grins RHM anyway. Sit still, work hard and I am sure more and better opportunities will come your way!

UA fondly remembers running the streets of NO as a child. The streets of today are far from the streets of yesterday though. It was a shame to see such a beloved city fall into the hands of hooligans. Street thugs ran it now. The streets had been left to them for a long time with no attempt to bring business back to this beautiful city. The blues bands played no more. The cemeteries were full and the streets were empty of prominent businessmen.

The recent move by Grin to the city made her smile. She has wanted this city to be brought back to life for a long time. The bones are there. She knew they were!

Unfortunately, UA knew that these power plays without the auth beforehand of the Cities CL's and the Godfathers in place, did not usually end well for the power player. While his heart is in the right place, his vision is spot on, his actions would likely be considered a slap in the face. UA can only hope that the message made clear by this action is heard.

Ranger sees good ole 60 second positioner Grin in a bold suit smiling he then stops abruptly with a confused stare then....

light bulb!

So let me get this straight, the reward for having such an elaborate space on the 60 second list is a bold suit? and a city? Shit I should have had more patients and waited.

Ranger sits back awaiting the answer from the esteemed 60 second list positioner Grins response.

Rogue? Hardly.

New Orleans sits here without occupants. It isn't like I'm stepping on the toes of the syndicates already here because none exist.

There are four operations in Chicago, four in Las Vegas, three in Los Angeles, four in New York and four in Philly. Given the continual strengthening and posturing was New Orleans ever going to be occupied? Is Detroit? I have no idea.

I thought this presented a win/win for everyone involved. The city leaders tax the money that the glorious Brown and I make, which they would ordinarily not have received and in return, the glorious Brown and I get to have a HQ in New Orleans. I don't see how that makes me a rogue. I think it makes me an opportunist.

And, from a Godfather or City Head's perspective, it makes me a cash cow. Milk me!

Did Grin really just ask for someone to milk him?

I ain't coming anywhere near your 'udder'. Ew!

A rogue to me isn't one that is going to go around shooting at people as is the norm when a rogue pops his head. A rogue is someone that has set up a headquaters be it in a vacant city or an occupied city with out the permission of their structure. Without going through the proper channels. What you have done, should it be allowed to continue and should you be allowed to live, is to open the door way for everyone from DanK, his sisters overly abused sex toy of a bull dog to Kuku to set up and claim to have no hostile intentions and to just want to fill an empty city.

While I agree that these cities have been empty way to long I do not hold any sort of claim to either of them. It is up to those that do to see the potential and act on it.