Patting your belly with a contented sigh after a pleasant meal, you lean back in your chair and cross your arms; but as you do so your shirt cuff rides up to reveal your watch. Your stomach lurches as you realise you had another 'appointment'. You check the time. Late! Seven minutes late! Shit. Throwing fistful of dollars onto the table, you shrug on your overcoat and rush out of the diner.

You know where to find this guy. You paid cold, hard cash for the info that said he'd be waiting in a nearby alleyway to conclude a drug deal. With this thought, you chastise yourself - cold hard cash paid for the contract and you couldn't even show up on time! You're near the alley now, your snub nose .38 is already in your hand but as you round the corner to the backstreet...

...You notice a corpse on the floor. That's him! That's your target! What the fuck? You hear the scuffle of shoes and look up to see a dark figure disappear around the corner. In shock and resignation, your grip on the revolver loosens and it clatters to the floor close to the slowly encroaching pool of blood. Like a child who has banged his chin on a coffee table, you don't know how to react. Eventually, surprise loses its battle with realisation and open your mouth wide to empty your lungs

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Turning on your heel, you half-run half-stumble back to your HQ, barely able to see through the tears. The crying is almost inhuman now, just racking sobs and air being heaved in with great, choking gasps. The bubble of snot hanging under your nostril is crushed against your Leader's leg as you hug it tightly.

"Hey, champ, what's the matter?"

"The...the..bad man..he...waaaahh"

"Sh, sh. Oh, my darling little criminal. It's ok, you're safe now. Tell papa Don what happened"

"THE BAD MAN TOOK AWAY MY KILL WAAAAAHH"

Friends, this is a patently absurd story; and yet whilst it seems so comical and far fetched, it is only a exaggeration (an admittedly gross exaggeration) of something we already do. I am referring to, of course, the long observed policy of allowing any hitter a ten minute period of grace in which to fulfill a contract they have taken on themselves.

Now, there used to be a time in which a contract kill could be carried out the moment it was taken. There used to be a time in which vultures were on every street corner just waiting to take advantage of a moment's weakness to snag themselves a contract for free. The leaders of this time sought to counter this; and so the '10 minute rule' was born.

This is recognised by all of the Godfathers, and yet what also be acknowledged is the fact that this rule was brought in so long ago that I would challenge anyone to recall any of the Leaders who implemented the '10 minute rule' without first researching the matter. What we are getting at is that this rule is old and tired, and it no longer has any relevance in this world of ours.

You see, the Godfathers are collectively of the opinion that, should we adopt rules and practices that we had no hand in creating we should at the very least scrutinise these policies to ensure that firstly they are applicable, and secondly that we agree with them. In the case of the '10 minute rule', it was a resounding and unanimous no.

Let me explain our logic. Firstly, the vultures standing on the corner waiting to sweep in for your kill are a rarity these days. We've checked this over the past couple of days with the spawning of several contracts over all four of our cities and found that none of them even come close to being killed at the magical 10 minute mark. In short, there are enough targets around this place without people needing to search every nook and cranny for MIAs. We are effectively legislating a matter that needs no legislating - that alone is a good enough reason to drop this rule!

Secondly, the way contract kills are carried out; you already have a grace period of up to 5 minutes in which no one else can touch your contract, or even look up the name of your target in the phonebook. The corrupt City Hall assist many of us in living our life of crime more effectively (with timer toolbars) and part of this is that you are even given a countdown alarm, which keeps on showing a bright red display until you finish off your target. We think this is enough. We're not children, we're mobsters - if you take out a contract and the 'terms' of the contract alone are not sufficient enough for you to get the kill, then that is just tough titties for you I'm afraid. You'll do better next time.

Lastly, we as a group are not a big fan of this rule. It breeds complacency and laziness and we are of the opinion that la cosa nostra without it is one small step closer to la cosa nostra of old ideals and principles that we want to embody. In short; our position states that it is our prerogative to change it, and unanimously we have decided to do so.

In short, if you take out a contract and you are too slow to get the kill, or if you take out a contract and someone ties your shoes together and you don't get there in time, or if you are absent minded and get on a plane for a different city, or if...Well, you get the idea. With immediate effect, the outfits of this thing of ours won't be offering any additional protection on MIA's beyond the sufficient protection that already exists.

Thanks for your time folks.

I've been hoping this would be put into affect for some time now. I have never agreed with a "grace" period for targets. If you have targeted someone, and your in the midst of training, then you should be able to kill when the allotted time comes. You have to race in order to kill most undesirable gangsters with knowing the exact point they are eligible then this should be a walk in the park. If you miss out, then it wasn't that important to you and they became someone else's benefit. 

This is the best decision I have seen come from the Godfathers in some time. I'm all for it. 

Not too sure how I feel about this change. For one expect the reason you don't find the guys waiting to get the kill is because not many folks forget to kill it within 10 minutes, within 10 seconds is a different story. I feel as if the kill thieves will return. As far as realism is concerned, the fact that you have been giving a contract by your RHM, Boss, Don, etc(as shown by the RP message when you purchase) means it should be your target, and someone taking your target seems almost disrespectful. 

On a side note, I do feel like this will add another element to the game and give people something to do, but might cause a lot of skirmishes and bickering among the men. 

This is recognised by all of the Godfathers, and yet what also be acknowledged is the fact that this rule was brought in so long ago that I would challenge anyone to recall any of the Leaders who implemented the '10 minute rule' without first researching the matter.

Without researching the matter, I would have to say it was TheDean and SpaceMountain, whose friends whined and whined that those evil bad meanies from Deimne's New York kept on shooting "their" targets, and then those New York meanies had the gall to shrug it off when complaints were lodged.

Of course, that all got changed around when TheDean turned his coat and helped SpaceMountain to shoot Deimne in the face. Then they were able to change that rule. So there was that whole "might makes right" thing going on.

Someone who's done the research, how was my guess?

Upon the agreement of the contract there is a five minute grace period given to you to find and eliminate your target. This time is given to you while City Hall update their records, Give it the correct ranking at the allotted time and see you carry out your Bosses orders. Cantona has pointed this out.

If you are too busy fucking about playing poker to realise that your target has been fully cleared by City Hall and is wandering these Streets then it is you who has disrespected your family. You have not carried out the orders given to you promptly and efficiently. As such I have absolutely zero sympathy for someone who cannot even correctly hunt a target handed to them on a plate. Bar not even requiring you to shoot the person I don't think it could be any easier nowadays to get a kill in this manner. Providing you have paid attention to your orders I absolutely guarantee you will never have a contract 'stolen' from you.

Eventually, other city heads adopted the rule for their own cities and since then its just been commonplace. Only thing The Dean had to do with it was change it from 20 minutes to 10.

I didn't do any research either, so if somebody wishes to correct my history, by all means.

I don't see what history has to do with any of this to be honest. If we were living in the past I wouldn't have to pay for body guards to watch over my stash and have money to spend on prostitutes. 

I'm fairly certain Louie that it wasn't anyone from the line of Grin that created this rule.

I'm extremely pleased with this change. Mostly because I agree wholeheartedly with the example Brendan gave and the reasoning that Cantona supplied for the Godfather's decision.

I feel as if the kill thieves will return.

This isn't even up for debate. Of course they will. The entire point of removing the rule is so that we are no longer pussy footing around waiting to get a person a stupid amount of time to complete their kill. As was already said twice, City Hill gives you the location and name of your intended target, so if someone else catches wind of the fact this guy has a contract on him then whats wrong with a little competition? You've got the edge on anyone already as you know the name, location and what the guy looks like, it'll take this "thief" a little time before they recognise the target, by which time you should have already placed your gun on the target and pulled the trigger, if not then you only have yourself to blame really.

With all due respect with everyone and to the Godfather Council, I can only say we are raising the past problem to our near future, this has been taken out by the old GodFathers to lessen the misunderstanding of the council. Yes this is good in some point that will benefit the family or city that has more Establish hitter than the family with less established hitter. Though as i think more on this matter we are only raising another potential war in nearest future, or a potential rogue, either of the two i found this will be a big problem not only for just one family but for all of us. As Godfather Cantona said, yes we are Mafia, but a real mafia contract will only be given by the Godfather or the boss of the family to their own assassin and not to the assassin of the other family or faction, why? because why would i give the contract to the other family or faction if it will not benefits my own family or city.

Though as i think more on this matter we are only raising another potential war in nearest future, or a potential rogue, either of the two i found this will be a big problem not only for just one family but for all of us. As Godfather Cantona said, yes we are Mafia, but a real mafia contract will only be given by the Godfather or the boss of the family to their own assassin and not to the assassin of the other family or faction, why? because why would i give the contract to the other family or faction if it will not benefits my own family or city.

This was the point I was poorly attempting to get across.  

Gwarble, eh? That was SpaceMountain's underboss, wasn't it, eh?

My bloodline has always hated the rule of 10 minutes. My fathers before me have always thought it was spoon feeding hitters and it was quite the opposite of what he thought a hitter should be. 

Hitters are a patient, obedient, unique type of man or woman even. This spoon feeding has gone on for FAR too long and I support this 110 percent. The only thing I do have to say is, I wish this would have happened earlier. Thank you for setting this world back on the right path instead of steering us back into the laziness that has lurked around these past couple of years.

To the points raised by Chaterine and Mahri, I can probably answer those in one or two ways:

First of all, I can understand the worry of war so soon after we have had one but the current climate is a precise demonstration of why this rule change doesn't matter, at least not from the perspective of whether it puts war on the horizon as an inevitability. War is always on the horizon as an inevitability - history has taught us that time and again.

Or, from a different point of view; will these speed up the timeframe for us hitting the mattresses yet again? Honestly, I very much doubt it - but perhaps I'm biased. We all love this rule change, I know that's a strong word but ultimately we do. Approval from the Godfathers here is unanimous both in terms of the 'ideological' implications and also in the more practical, everyday sense. We are also blessed with foresight, or so I'd like to think. If someone complains to our Underbosses down the line that their kills are being stolen it's not exactly going to come as a great surprise and create tension - of course it's a possibility we've envisaged. These people will just have to take training a gun more seriously, I suppose.

And from a sheer logistical point of view; if certain individuals or groups are getting so many contracts taken from them that the only reasonable response is war or rogue - well, it would take a lot of contracts they missed out on to reach that point of utter rage and frustration. If somebody, or a group of somebodies, is incapable of carrying out their own contracts on such a consistent basis I honestly wouldn't be too concerned over what damage they might do!

i for one agree with this rule change and back it 110% i firmly believe that if one takes on a contract it is one's responsibility solely to carry out one's contract in a timely manner and if one's contract is stolen it is their fault for neglecting to pay attention to time.

Ah I very much like this change. I am quite tired of watching people get hand fed when it is an area I believe needs to be worked for not given. Five minutes is definitely more than enough time if you are paying attention to your contract. If you are not then maybe you should have waited until you were.

Warrior, it was grin, im pretty sure of it, i remember not so long ago, in coffe shop far, far away from here, he was moking the rule becuase he made it when he was in power, and it still syands long after, ill use a device that this world doesnt know of and contact him, if you want to clear this up?

About damn time in my opinion.

I applaud the current leaders for making this change, It has been something my bloodline has been pushing for, for a long time.

Gwarble, eh? That was SpaceMountain's underboss, wasn't it, eh?

Yeah Vindicator. Irrelevant though. Eh?

Just as a bit of evidence for those that feel they will lose their MIAs easily. I just saw this man's life ending in the middle of the street;

DomingaCovarrubias

Now, as you can see this person would have been green lit for removal almost 12hours ago. Clearly these apparently blood thirsty hitters were sleeping whilst this man was roaming the streets.

I accept there may have been attempts on his life that failed, but this doesn't ignore the fact that there would have been an amount of time during the last 12hrs where this man was left alone and could easily have been killed.