Downer looked about sheepishly. He sighed, and wondered why he had to be the guy to go read such a long monstrosity. Weren't there other people in this family tree? Ugh. Downer always got stuck with the bitchwork.

Resigned to his task, Downer sluggishly dragged a stack of egg cartons out to the streets and attempted to stand upon them. They collapsed. Downer sat on the curb and cried a bit at his failure, then went to the nearest dumpster and pulled out a pile of pizza boxes. Those too collapsed, but the pile of cardboard was now large enough that the short, freckled, acne-scarred ginger could be seen. If anyone wanted to see him, anyway. He began to speak, almost mumbling.

Er, uhm, hey people and stuff!

No one turned to listen to his words, but he was too focused on his notes to notice. He continued to mumble away on his rancid, rotting soapbox.

Well, our estate lawyer just dug up some stuff, and I guess I'm not allowed to collect on any of my inheritance if I don't do this so uhm, well, yeah. Here goes. I was handed this little speech to read by some, like, er, great uncle threeteenth times removed or something. He left me $6 but only if I read it. I guess this thing is worth reading or something. I can order a pizza with that I guess. If I find a friend who will buy the other $6 pizza. Anyway here goes.

Title: I Liked "Old York" Better

The now familiar face of John Galt was seen moving through the streets of New York. Murmurs of anticipation went up through the crowds. Some turned to each other and asked, "Oh, who do you think is going to get 'signed' by Mr. Galt today? Have you heard anything particularly dumb recently?" and gauged each other perplexedly. By the time Mr. Galt found his own corner to shout from the crowd had swelled to hear what could only be an announcement. His last announcement had been to herald the arrival of the esteemed John Galt Institute for Thoroughfare Civility, and the crowds had roared their approval of a place to congregate and share their disdain for the uncivil.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are surely aware by now, a sizeable portion of the New York community has recently fallen asleep and failed to wake up. This action was taken by the City of Los Angeles and its comrades as a preventative and protective measure for its own citizens. The City of Los Angeles surveyed what the once-proud city of New York had become after a series of recent changes, and to put it in its briefest form, the City of Los Angeles was forced into action. It is our firm belief that we acted first only in order to prevent being acted upon first from a city that has, in short, fallen from grace.

An action of this magnitude deserves an explanation, and so outlined below are a few of the more poignant — but by no means the only — reasons why these events occurred.

Los Angeles Was Justifiably Uncomfortable With New York Leadership Changes. Part One: Rumors of Discontent With Los Angeles.

Some time ago, several weeks before the tragic death of Godfather Marston, several independent sources came forward suggesting that some of the low-, mid-, and even a few upper-ranked members of the New York crime syndicate were angry about having provided Los Angeles assistance in quelling a potential revolt from within, and in particular were under the impression that JewishJake had manufactured the whole affair. Needless to say, the allegation is false. However, these sources indicated that certain aspects of the New York families were nonetheless attempting to determine a way to remove JewishJake from his position —attempting to scheme a manner of removal that would bring a reluctant Godfather Marston on board with the removal.

The rumors initially raised eyebrows in the Los Angeles upper ranks. We were good friends with many of the upper ranks of New York; we were extremely skeptical that any such removal would take place, and decided not to act upon the rumors because even if true there seemed to be no risk in them.

Our feelings were confirmed when we were approached by none other than Godfather Marston. The rumors had come full-circle. Marston in the spirit of friendship assured Los Angeles that there was no chance of an imminent New York attack. He denied any discontent towards the headquarters operated by JewishJake.

Independently of this meeting, another close friend of Los Angeles came forward to offer his own assurances that no attack was imminent. Manius, the late Don of Joy Division, indicated that although he had heard a few such grumblings from New Yorkers, the City of Los Angeles had nothing to fear because neither he nor Marston were interested in acting upon the "small-potatoes" grumblings of the other portions of the city.

Well, well, that settles that. Even after Godfather Marston died in a tragic accident, Los Angeles believed there to be nothing to fear from New York because of its longstanding friendship with Don Manius. Then the rest of New York removed Manius from his position. Out of respect for and friendship with the city of Philadelphia, who was also involved, Los Angeles determined it would not join in the defense of Manius as it otherwise may have.

But when the dust settled, what now stood between Los Angeles and those in New York who would do it harm? Of those who were friendly towards Los Angeles, who remained? Those within New York who had proven by experience that they would use the olive branch in dealing with Los Angeles had been removed by those whose tool was the sword.

To many minds this alone might be enough to prompt swift and decisive actions. Still, although Los Angeles is run by a Paranoid Freak, we were not so fearful of this change as to make this the only reason for action. After all, New York had seen its shores racked by war. They were in no position to launch an attack upon our city in the near term. Had this been the only reason for the City of Los Angeles being uncomfortable with the new New York, we likely would have simply kept our eyes and ears open to avoid being surprised in the future. But this was not the only reason.

Los Angeles Was Justifiably Uncomfortable With New York Leadership Changes. Part Two: The New York City Head Is A Confirmed Witness Statement Hider.

Well, I'm sure everyone remembers when Valmont attacked Philadelphia and New York some time ago. As you recall, one of his allegations was that a New York boss had gunned down one of Valmont's own family without authorization or cause.

What you might not know is that Los Angeles was in possession of key evidence that Valmont's concerns were perfectly true. If it weren't clear enough that the shot was taken just because the man died shortly after a pickpocket-back, the fact that Lancelot asked Los Angeles to ensure that information we had regarding the incident (which included a confirmation of the mugging) would stay hush-hush, and most certainly would stay out of Detroit's hands.

Now, put in this position Los Angeles picked sides, and sided with its close (at the time) allies in New York. If Lancelot wanted to break some codes of conduct for the benefit of his coffee shop alter-ego's son, and came forward and asked us to do it, then LA would pick the devil it knew in New York over the devil it did not in Detroit. But the episode revealed exactly what sort of man the now city head of New York is, and when Los Angeles began to drift from New York's favor we kept in mind what sort of rival we might have to face down the road.

It made us uncomfortable. If this alone were the situation in New York, would we act on this? Heavens, no! We were friends. That's what friends do. But if we aren't going to be friends…

Los Angeles Was Justifiably Uncomfortable With New York Leadership Changes. Part Three: LA Slighted, Only City Not Asked To Help Remove Manius Or Warned Of Impending Removal.

A few weeks back, the other New York families decided they were uncomfortable with the continued leadership of Manius in their city. The city decided it would be in their best interests to remove him, along with such noteworthy individuals as the former right/left hand of the city who had joined his family just days prior. But this is not to re-fight the battle of the dubiously-justified impressions that New York had. If they were uncomfortable and decided to move, then that was an intra-city decision and Los Angeles does not need to cast judgment on the actions taken.

What did make Los Angeles uncomfortable was this: before removing Manius, New York contacted the Godfather of Philadelphia for help and to provide a "head's up" about the forthcoming removal. New York contacted the Godfather of Los Vegas for help and as a warning of the removal. New York did not, however, contact anyone in Los Angeles seeking help, or provide Los Angeles any courtesy warning that the world would soon devolve into chaos.

Los Angeles most certainly deserved that sort of head's up from the New York leadership. The war lasted over 24 hours, and scores were killed by the remnants of Manius' family after the first shots were fired. Heaven forbid that the fallen should have misinterpreted who was shooting and target anyone in Los Angeles — we would have been completely caught off guard and slaughtered. A courtesy mail before events occurred would have given us the means to take ample precautions and avoid any costly errors.

Thankfully no such errors occurred. Los Angeles was not simply concerned about the error because our leader is a Paranoid Freak, however…

Los Angeles Was Justifiably Uncomfortable With New York Leadership Changes. Part Four: Rick James Most Certainly Did Not Say "Hello" to Fallen Manius Crewman.

Come one, come all, and take a look at this tidbit. Those right there are the last words heard by one of the fallen in Manius' family during New York's civil war. RickJames, as you may notice, is from Los Angeles. Los Angeles was most certainly not involved in the removal of Manius, and in fact RickJames at the time was fast asleep for the entire world to confirm at a glance.

But in the heat of battle, as we well know, sometimes lines get crossed and people don't check that sort of thing. Thank heavens that the remaining structure of Manius' family decided to ask Los Angeles about the matter and we could confirm that RickJames was nowhere to be found. If they had not, surely Los Angelinos would have fallen because someone in New York decided to play a practical joke.

Los Angeles was concerned by that, and went to the remaining New York leaders after the skirmish was finished seeking an explanation and peace of mind. When we spoke with New York about the matter, we learned who had supplied these last words, and we asked for justice to be done.

We were told that the offending individual would be, and this is a direct quote, "given shit" over the matter. That's it. Nothing more. Los Angeles was put at danger, and the New York leadership decided that matters so little that they would simply "give[] shit" to the person that caused the mess.

No compensation for Los Angeles? No demotion for the offending crewman? Nope.

Now I suppose maybe this individual learned a lesson from being "given shit" over the matter. I hope no such mistake ever happens again and puts Los Angeles at risk. But I know that a New York leadership that thinks this is an acceptable response to another city's lives being put in danger is effectively spitting in the face of Los Angeles.

Now, as I look around, I see tired and bored faces. I could go on from here. I really could. But I believe I have made enough of an impression about Los Angeles' reasons for war. We did not make this decision lightly. For the last several weeks Los Angeles has sat on edge regarding New York, and today we took necessary steps to take that edge off the city.

I liked the old New York better. But what is done is done. The old New York was gone for good, and Los Angeles has to look after Los Angelinos. If we can't have the Old York, we can at least have a Quiet York. May the fallen rest peacefully.

John steps away from his podium somberly, then takes a few steps on his way to the nearest cemetery to pay his respects. He is sure that there will be other speeches regarding why New York was eliminated as well, but as for Los Angeles, these reasons seemed to be sufficient.

Anyway so yeah. If you were wondering why all of that guy's friends died, I guess maybe that will help you understand or something. Whatever, I'm off to eat the pizza if anyone wants to join me. I don't know why anyone would. I'm fat and have terrible rancid gas. Whatever.

With a crunching sound, Downer stepped off his makeshift soapbox and slumped away into the distance.

I am not going to add much as hell, it's not my place.

I will however state categorically and absolutely that Las Vegas was not contacted by the Godfather of New York about the take down of Manius or to give fair warning. PoisonousJelly was however contacted on IRC avenue a short time before the take down occurred. At which time he was asleep and none the wiser. He woke from his slumber to see the attack in full swing.

Listens carefully and nods.

You've been very informative, Downer. You have my respect for taking the time to put this all out in the open for us. I hope you enjoy your pizza mate.

Disappears from the crowd and wanders off down a dark alleyway. A gunshot is heard from the general direction shortly after.

i feel so sad with what had happened :(

Thankx for your information. It should clear the air and rumour regarding LA attack .

Booth listens to Downer and thinks about what he has heard.

You know, I expect people to come out here and bash you for presenting "evidence" to why LA did what they did. It sucks that the event took placed but it's clear that the actions needed to be taken. My father stood beside you father in this fight and both went down in a blaze of glory. After what you presented, I'm curious to know what New York has to safe about it with such evidence presented before them. Yeah, they can sweep it under the carpet and give there reasons but lets face once the cat is let out of the bag then well...its just out of bag. Anyways, I hope one day run into your bloodline again.

He walks over to downer giving him six bucks to pay for the other half of the pizza before he leaves the streets

So reading through the lines the reasons for war were pretty much manius and a mass sense of paranoia.

I have no idea why New York would need to challenge the reasons, most of it is dead now and they have to rebuild.

"We were besties with Manius...We were pissy that NY did not consult us about killing Manius"

Logic Fail?

Also, JohnGalt seems to of missed the parts where LA told informed Manius that if he wanted to gain control of NY, they would back him and later manipulated LV into thinking that NY were planning to kill them last Sunday...But good story though.

How is that a logic fail considering no where in the speech pointed in that direction. 

"Well, well, that settles that. Even after Godfather Marston died in a tragic accident, Los Angeles believed there to be nothing to fear from New York because of its longstanding friendship with Don Manius. Then the rest of New York removed Manius from his position. Out of respect for and friendship with the city of Philadelphia, who was also involved, Los Angeles determined it would not join in the defense of Manius as it otherwise may have."

Seem understandable, now let continue on shall we?

"What did make Los Angeles uncomfortable was this: before removing Manius, New York contacted the Godfather of Philadelphia for help and to provide a "head's up" about the forthcoming removal. New York contacted the Godfather of Los Vegas for help and as a warning of the removal. New York did not, however, contact anyone in Los Angeles seeking help, or provide Los Angeles any courtesy warning that the world would soon devolve into chaos.

Los Angeles most certainly deserved that sort of head's up from the New York leadership. The war lasted over 24 hours, and scores were killed by the remnants of Manius' family after the first shots were fired. Heaven forbid that the fallen should have misinterpreted who was shooting and target anyone in Los Angeles — we would have been completely caught off guard and slaughtered. A courtesy mail before events occurred would have given us the means to take ample precautions and avoid any costly errors."

I mean it clearly stated in front of you that LA wasn't going to get involved with it, but only wanted a notice of events. Which, I believe everyone else got a notice, but LA must not got the memo when it was being passed out. It just leaves a question on Why wasn't LA informed of this considering they sat back...

Lastly, let further examine you here for a second...

"Logic Fail?

Also, JohnGalt seems to of missed the parts where LA told informed Manius that if he wanted to gain control of NY, they would back him and later manipulated LV into thinking that NY were planning to kill them last Sunday...But good story though."

Clearly you are incapable of forming a proper sentence.  I would suggest taking some basic grammar courses before saying anything, but I won't stop you if wish to look completely stupid.

My guess as to why LA wasn't informed was out of quite justifiable feeling that they may become involved themselves or tip off the would be victim as to the impending harm.

Given what has been said, it seems a pretty straightforward decision to me not to tell LA as they seemed pretty hung up on Manius. Every reason given stems from the removal of Manius, with the exception of the extremely weak witness statement burying one and if you gave a shit about that, you wouldn't have buried it in the first place.

I'd be interested to hear about Las Vegas' involvement and I hope that they all died is significantly more substantial than this load of nothing.

I guess your number one logic fail is

New York contacted the Godfather of Los Vegas for help and as a warning of the removal.

I will however state categorically and absolutely that Las Vegas was not contacted by the Godfather of New York about the take down of Manius or to give fair warning.

Who in their right mind contacts someone who is a known ally of the person you are going to take down to warn them. New York spoke to its number one ally regarding taking down Manius in Philly. No one else.

Also dear Booth, is the best you have regarding LA's offer to help Manius take out NY families, having a go at the grammar of someone?

Is it any better a story than the "We heard from unnamed sources in New York that they wanted to attack LA?"

That is the beauty of unnamed sources, no one can back them up. It is almost back to the days of "WE HAZ ZE LOGS"

I guess everyone in new york will be OK with it when some other city goes to war and all of the victims' last words point to New York shooters. Downer sighs and munches some pizza.

You will have to excuse me as I have a quiet chuckle at the irony of your statement. Having watched in IRC avenue people bitch and bitch and cry and then bitch some more about not getting a whisper. We now have someone using as a reason for war that someone sent a whisper!!!!


Seriously that is some of the best stuff ever.

I know for a fact a certain bloodline used repeatedly as a whisper "Big Lawson strikes again" The bloodline was not Big Lawson.

I know another bloodline used either "Lovehand" or Leeds Leeds Leeds.

The point of the matter is, No one with half a brain cell would have believed RickJames would have left his own name having shot someone.

And even if they did, so what? Why should LA be offered compensation or wait for punishment to be meted out? Demand it or get over yourselves.

Argon, I can see reasons why they weren't informed. It seems everyone else was contacted though except LA because they might has a friendship with Manius? Hmmm, who would have ever thought that you could be possibly friends? What would have happened if LA attacked NY durning the take of Manius? They would have every right to do so for the fact of not getting the memo of the event. It could have easily been a 50/50 chance that they could have attacked or not.

Isiah, like I said to Argon if they did send a message to LA about the event it would still have been a 50/50 chance. The fact of the matter is being turned to another direction of "Well LA was friends with Manius" so we chose not to tell them. I mean what was there to hide? Oh, the event of possibly LA attacking NY for trying such acts. I would be a bit upset if not given notice of the event. I could even take it a step further than that because its like a spit to the face of Crew Leader. Well, I'm going to take out this guy and not tell anyone that I'm doing such events to avoid other families jumping into the fight. Next, me going at someone's grammar isn't the best I can do it's far from the best. If you happen to present yourself to the public but can't even speak or form a sentence correctly then you have no business speaking at all.  Now, you bring up "Is it any better than the 'We heard from an unname source in NY that they wanted to attack LA?',"  well its not any better but you don't have anyone else speaking out abouth the events or telling his or her side of the event. As far I care, What Downer presented was a reliable source considering it was written in his father's notes. How is that not good enough?

Hell this is almost like becoming a battle in the courts....

One party has present his/her evidence to the jury,correct? Yes, so its now time to hear what the other side says about the event. Afterwards, the jury will decided who was right and who was wrong. Lastly, the people of these fair shores with decided will move on and continue about their own business as usual.

Why would not being told about an inter-city matter on the other side of the country quantify LA having every right to become involved in it? It has nothing to do with them. It isn't their city and a lack of forewarning of the attack doesn't equal justification for launching your own city to their deaths. Not in my book anyway.

The reason for LA becoming involved in this is woefully apparent, they weren't happy about Manius being killed. How or why he was killed is completely irrelevant, it was the fact that he was. Providing them with opportunity to warn him wouldn't have changed anything except perhaps the death count.

This is hardly like a battle in the courts and I can tell you what the NY et al evidence will be, "we have been attacked and successfully defended ourselves". A jury isn't required to settle this, because the obituaries and the crew list speak for themselves.

Booth there is a saying.

"People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"

I am flabbergasted that you think the streets is not place for many people. You seem to forget our world comes from Italy. English is not the first language so mistakes are to be expected.

However having listened to you speak just then, you made a number of mistakes again we go back to the old Glass House.

You seem to believe there is a god given right to receive information, are you related to Kuku at all?

I am probably the bringer of bad tidings, but there is no such right. NY was an internal dispute that used its long standing ally. What has become apparent is that a closeness between Manius and LA existed in that he reached out to them when control of the city was being decided.

People wonder why he died!!!

Isiah opens some journals he has received

LA was considered up to recent events as a long standing ally of New York. Most of the families came from the city under Jack Pepper and retained long time friends there.

Inner city war or not, it's a respect issue. Basically, you are saying if "CrewLeader A" takes out this family within its own respective city that "CrewLeader B,C,and D" shouldn't be warned? If so, then you are a fool for the reason what if "CrewLeader B" happens to over see the event thus causing confussion on what's going on and ventures out to seek info then becomes informed one of his members was shot for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Another leader should at least have respect towards another leader so they can be informed of events that are taking place. How do you know that LA was going to get involved "If" they were told? You don't know for the simple fact nothing was said to them. So with that been said lets do some examples

Example A : LA is informed of the events on Manius. They can do a few things....

                  A) Sit back

                  B) Join Manius

                  C) Join NY

Example B : LA not being informed of event

                  A) Sit back

                  B) Join Manius

                  C) Join NY

This just might be me, but they had several options to chose from.....

Next, you can see from both views that they were not happy about the event or that they felt disrespected for being left out on what's going on. I don't think that is irrelevent but it's personal opinions here right now.

Hardly a battle in the courts? I mean people are wondering why the events taken place and all sides have a story do they not? If you wish to point to the obits in this case then fine we can venture there. NY won that we can tell but they won because Philly joined them. I mean you can go any direction but the point is...this could have been avoided if things were taken in a different route.

"this could have been avoided if things were taken in a different route."

 

Yes, Different route? Not attacking the most powerful syndicate in the Country...

James pounds a nice large sign into the earth

http://www.mehwhatever.com/profile/pics/gzwmgbe7fe.jpg

"And even if they did, so what? Why should LA be offered compensation or wait for punishment to be meted out? Demand it or get over yourselves."

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You know what happens when someone demands punishment/compensation and don't get it?

They get their shooty on.

derp