Pickles walks out with his 47 Enterprises Official Soapbox ©®™  (not that he's trying to promote his own brand or anything) and steps onto the sidewalk (he's learned his lesson about standing in a traffic filled street) and begins speaking.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Lilacs and Donbots . . ."

A person in the crowd shouts out "Hey buddy, you forgot the traditional pull from a flask or a drag from a cigarette!"

Pickles nods and drinks from his flask and blows a few smoke rings from his Lucky Strike.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Lilacs and Donbots, I'm going to do something I rarely do.  I wish to spark a debate, not just read a story, spin a yard, tell a tall tale, or hawk my wonderful Tabloid News.  Using my powers of investigation, I've discovered that 13 out of 20 crewleaders, including godfathers, have not made their criminal past known.  And, two of those who have only made their prowess with Everclear known.  So, effectively, only five crew leaders seem proud of their achievements.

Some would prefer to keep things private and within the family.  Understandable.  Some people might feel our leaders should be proud of what they have accomplished with their underworld activities.  I understand if some leaders would rather keep their murderous achievements under wraps.  But, some members of the community might want to see what their leaders have done in this world, their biggest art heist, how many hookers they've wrangled, or just how many kilos of cocaine they've slipped past customs agents.

Of course, we are all confident in our boss' abilities as we have agreed to serve them, regardless of the details.

My question to everyone, especially crew leaders, is . . . do you think as a matter of form, crew leaders should brag about their accomplishments to let everyone know what manner of criminal they are?  Or is it best to keep them quiet?

Pickles ducks behind his 47 Enterprises Official Soapbox ©®™ before people start throwing rotten fruit at him.

Interesting question Pickles.

It's a personal matter, I'm sure. Some of us are more inclined to boast than others, usually about sexual conquests, but sometimes about issues of interest to the masses.

I can't really stand here as a CL and provide a back catalogue of my bloodline's escapades, purely because we don't yet have one. Sure, I could slice into some nostalgia cake and share a few excerpts from my mother's journals, but really, most of her time was spent either hunting down and victimising unsuspecting millionaires for their fortune or screeching like a banshee right here on these streets of ours. Sometimes, I can still hear the echoes.

Pausing for a moment, Lilac dabs a dry cheek with a tissue and punctuates the gesture with a delicate sniffle.

Naturally, there is some information we would rather keep within the confines of the family walls, but I'm not inclined to shy away from the public wishing to know more of me (as long as it isn't too much, I'm currently single and intend to stay that way, thank you). Neither, however, am I inclined to brag. I hold pride in my achievements to date, certainly, but I always feel that I have more ground to cover and therefore prefer to cast my eyes on the road ahead. I only ever indulge in retrospect when it serves the purpose of reviewing a lesson well learned or gleaning some valuable nugget of information long since buried beneath the passing of time.

Nonetheless, there are some things I will happily announce, seeing as we're here.

1) My favourite weapon for casual killing is the humble cheese grater.
2) I have two very successful diversion tactics that I carry with me at all times.
3) I once consumed my body weight in Jamaican rum.

Anyway, I'm rather curious to see what others think about this. Should we remain cloaked in secrecy as crew leaders, or should we share our pasts with the rest of the hierarchy? How much pride is too much?

I don't think the CL's should show their achievements for what they have done in this world of ours. I shall explain my reasoning for saying such.

Takes a deep breathe

For one you can display strengths and weakness's. Why do such a thing? Their duties are to protect their Family and showing possible vulnerabilities is just not good practice in doing so.

I think getting the chance to hold the reigns of a Family has already shown they are worthy of crimes. After all if your not committing them the rank wouldn't show anyhow. The only proof a CL needs to show is their ability to manage a group of Mafioso's successfully. Their leadership qualities is what should be looked at to critic. If they show poor display then their tenure is generally cut short. They have put their time in, down the crimes and that is a given. If it's not the case then the individual who authed them to begin with should be who's looked at. Granted, sure to young Mafioso's it would be nice to see what they have accomplished maybe out of plain curiosity or for maybe an idea on what they need to accomplish themselves, but there is much more into being given the nod to run a Family anyways. I just see it being a bad move to do so. However I could be wrong and it is only just an opinion after all.

"Ideas are more dangerous than any gun.  If we do not allow our enemies weapons, then why should we allow them to have ideas?"

I think most candid approaches to leadership follow this silence as it is a survival tool.

But as I have noted in previous statements... Too many men at the top surviving and so few actually living.  

My advice?  Follow a leader worth following and listen to everyone who speaks - especially those whom you would spend a lifetime agreeing with, or a lifetime objecting at the top of your lungs.  You will learn more by these actions than from any one speech.

Mr. Pickles,

my uncle once gave me a valuable piece of advice: He said; "Ballsy, if a man wishes to remain silent, especially as a means of survival, then listen to his silence and then move on to the next man who chooses to speak.  For one, you will learn when it's best to remain silent yourself.  Second, you will always gain something from the man who chooses to speak.  And last, you will come to learn that most men at the top who choose not to speak only do so because they spent years coming to terms with the fact they have nothing to offer with their words.  So in a sense, they are doing the both of us a favor by not speaking and you are doing yourself a favor by not waiting.  

To be frank Mr. Pickles, I don't mind not having to listen to voiceless men.  They've done us all a favor really.  I'd rather know who to follow and who not to early on.

Meh, just my two cents...

Conversly, would you say that Phil Steak and DeadlySin have acted foolishly by showing their achievements for all the world to see?

Is there any point to listing your achievements, apart from bragging or being proud of them (serious question, not underhanded)? If there's some productive reasoning about how that's going to help someone else, I'll more than happily make my achievements public (within reason).

If it's just to show what I've accomplished for the sake of showing my accomplishments, then that's more about my own need for validation. I'd rather earn that through interactions with others, achievements of a more significant kind, rather than showing how many crimes I've committed, for example. (OOC: e.g. achievements of leading and cultivating a crew effectively vs how many times I've spent endless hour clicking a petty button).

This isn't to put down anyone who has achievements set as public. Everyone has their own reasons for it. My perspective on this is likely limited, as I've never given it much thought. Having said that, I'm keen to know about the benefit to others facilitated by me disclosing my "achievements".

Well . . . with interpersonal skills like yours, I HIGHLY suggest you display your achievements.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the time in the Pickles Saga where he starts running for his life.

True, there may be no benefit to anyone.  However, there is debate about CLs being accountable when things go wrong, why not when things go right?  And, don't think I am, in any way, comparing a rogue to earning a million dollars by stealing art.

So, if it's not a big deal, why do they still choose to show or not show?

You're generally defined by the people you associate with, D.P. Pickles; and you work with me closely, so if my interpersonal skills are lacking, what does that say about you? Vaticus sneers, jokingly, at Pickles.

You mention that there is debate about CL's being accountable for when things go wrong, such as someone going rogue from their crew (OOC: I assume this is an example of what you mean, judging by the recent Street soapbox announcements). Given the complexity of that situation, it's surprising you would really then say that things "going right" can be boiled down to who can commit 5000 petty crimes and jailbreaks in the most cities?

I guess it depends on your definition of "things going right", which I admit is highly individual, but I personally would consider things going right as more closely aligned to making justifiable, rational and beneficial decisions during times of war, rogues, or even day-to-day crew management, Street communications and so forth.

Yes, I agree I used a poor choice of words.  I'm not sure what would have been a better choice.  However, I'd like to hear from someone who does display their achievements.

The achievements, like pretty much everything else within MafiaReturns, boil down to what you make of them.

If someone took it upon themselves to share the events that surrounded their big score or how they crossed 50 Gangsters off their list, then that would certainly be far more noteworthy than my simply publishing a list.