Making his way through the tumbleweed on the sidewalks, Modfather ducked into his favourite speakeasy to discuss the events of the day; the coffeeshops were alive with gossip and he wanted the opinion of a few of his associates as to the events that had unfolded.

Now, as some of you are already aware, I'm not the sort of man to beat around the bush at the best of times; and in this particular instance it will be clear that I'm referring to a very specific 'current affairs' topic rather than just generalistic claptrap so I'm just going to make things perfectly obvious. The events I'm referring to today are the fact that several prominent members of the New York syndicate have had contracts put on their head.

I'm not here to discuss the whys and wherefores. I have no aspirations of grandeur and, frankly, I quite enjoy being blissfully ignorant of the Underworld's political landscape on a national level. Even if I were interested it would not be mine or anyone else's place, even as a made member, to talk of such things publicly! Nor am I here to pointlessely hypothesise as to who ordered the hits; I can honestly imagine nothing worse than spitballing out idea after wild idea ad infinitum.

No, what I'm here to discuss today is the collision of two of our biggest principles - the pillars on which our thing stands, even. On the one hand, we are ultimately here for the money. If this job held less financial lure than, say, a career as a high school teacher then many of us would not be criminals.  The cold hard cash that a life such as ours promises is one of the biggest incentives for the young turks coming into our thing.

On the other hand, it is our pomp and ceremony that seperate us from the riff raff - the polaks, micks and all the other gangs we share our cities with. It is our principles and our history that puts us ahead of them, that rises us and makes us better. The sacred vows of Ómerta, the solemnity of the made man ceremony and the rigid structure of our hierarchy and chain of command are just three things that instantly come to mind as things we've carried over from the old country which remain an integral part of our way of life.

As I've mentioned though, I feel events today are at a point where the two collide when deciding upon what is right and wrong - if such arbitrary terms can even be applied to such a grey area. For the worker ant such as myself the conundrum is a no brainer; the question being 'Is it acceptable for me to kill a fully paid up member of La Cosa Nostra for 5 large?' The answer is always going to be a resounding no. Judges have been wacked for less. Federal agents, too. But one from our own flock? I don't think so. We don't do that. Button men are crucial to our structure - they are only ever killed because of war, or because a sit down of the top men has decided that it's appropriate. This situation is neither so, no, that wouldn't the collision of our principles I'm alluding to.

The real dilemma is what to do with the hits. The intricacy of our networks means that the identity of he or she calling up the contracts will be nigh on impossible to discover, but what is the next step to take? The pragmatic route to take, a route more closely associated with our more americanised money making ways, would be to simply ignore the hits. The power of association to the New York mob by those threatened would deter all but the must idiotic and foolhardy of men from trying to collect on the contracts. A no brainer, then. By sheer force of character, the New Yorkers are safe and the big apple hierarchy need not waste dozens of millions in putting the word out that the hits are off.

And yet, what would our Sicilian forebears think of this? It is galling enough that the insult of the hit posting goes unpunished as the identity of those involved is extremely difficult to ascertain, so surely the hits must be bought off as a matter of principle, regardless of cost? We are all uomini d'onore after all. It is a difficult situation, and an interesting one too. After all, it seems that regardless of the course of action taken, it will conflict with something that is base and essential to our way of life.

Personally, were I the shot-caller, I wouldn't be using money better invested elsewhere to buy off hits which in all likelihood would never be attempted, regardless of what the best way of doing things in the old country were. That being said, were I in a position where my life was being threatened and my glorious leader was not willing to buy the hit off for the same reasons I would be one sad man indeed.

So, what would you do?

Those who have posted the hits care nothing about statue within our society. They're only seeking personal gratification. If, and I certainly hope it never occurs, someone does pull the trigger for a quick buck, the hit poster will achieve his or her joy.

No-one in our society would take the shots on these men. Not because of fear of reprisal, but more so because its just not something we do in this life. Clearly someone has a fair bit of money available, but no balls to pull the trigger themselves. Whilst i'm sure each of these persons on the hitlist are worth their weight in gold, they aren't the hardest of targets to kill and anyone with half a brain could remove them if they put their mind to it.

So, that said, why does someone that clearly has been around these streets long enough to mass such a wealth, fail to understand that no-one would take these shots despite the relative ease of them? Is it ignorance? Or did this person(s) just simply want to make a point in this grand show?

It all seems rather pathetic to me.

$42,500,000 Is not exactly a small amount of money. However, If a person were willing to use money sent over from family in the old country(OOC: real cash through credit purchases), It could be achieved fairly easily. So I would argue that this is not necessarily the work of a person with that ckind of money earned. I also suggest that this is the work of multiple people, as even with old country money, this is no small feat. We have seen, over the course of time, several "underground" organizations. I wonder if we will see thes shots taken, and more then likely missed, as the beginning of another such "movement. and if so, why in God's name are they insisting on such a useles gesture.