Mr Bleed strolls out of his apartment, while crossing the street heading for the nearest 7/11 to "borrow" a milk crate a young lad collide's into him... 
 
"The hell?... do you think your doing retard?" Mr Bleed embezzle's the young mans arm at once and buckles him to the floor. 
 
The thug looks up at Mr Bleed "Oi what you doing punk?" 
 
"Punk? I think you better get a map lad, cause your in my district." Mr Bleed pulls aside his bright jacket to show his packin heat, the kids face soon transforms. 
 
"Uh... Do one?" With this Mr Bleed pulls out his revolver and aims it into the young guys rib cage. 
 
"You know, I'm getting sick of little cretin's like you, Whats stopping me pulling this trigger?" Mr Bleed shoves the gun a little harder into his chest. 
 
"Whoa, I'm sorry Sir, I didn't realize who you was." 
 
"Thats right kid, Now trot along out of my sight... Oh an watch how you talk to people or you wont make it far." 
 
Mr Bleed holsters his gun and watches the kid scramble up and head off down the street then turns and hops onto the milkcrate. 
 
Right guys an girls... and erh the rest 
 
I wanna talk about a few things, Speaking out publicly isn't my favorite avocation these past few months, I find alot of subjects that are at ones disposal are boring and generally have been spoken about before, I will anyway. 
 
"kin i jin ur cruw" 
 
Aye the ole invite request. 
 
Ok, so the above example wouldn't be accepted by most, But the standards that alot of bloodlines over the years have allowed are not actually alot higher then that. 
Sure we do try to find out abit about the new guy, but how much do you get to know really? Could you contact them out of their original working hours? Could you even tell me their first name? 
Most invite request conversations have been the same for a long time, Previously most leaders would chit-chat for a few, then just chuck them an invite, and point them in the direction of the rules. 
I mean that for one is a tad bit harsh on the new guy isn't it? Most don't realize but in affect Saint you just asking them to sign a contract before they have even read it? 
What I mean to get at is why on earth would you bring someone into your family if you don't trust them? Have you not ever thought about why "Inner Circles" are actually formed? 
Inner circles are just the way to cut a few trusted members away from the 'cash cows' in a way, Why else would you allow someone to work with you if ya just going to not include them. 
 
 
But that brings me to the fact of why the standards of receiving an invite are at the level they are, Everybody knows, Upon bringing someone into your family, The will earn you money and dwell within your HQ adding to your already effective bodyguards. 
 
But I remember listening to a great guy thats from city hall. Twas a long time ago, Therefore I cannot give you exact words. 
 
"A 15 man crew, of well trained friends are easily as powerful as a 100 man crew of guys that don't even know eachother." 
 
Now I'm not saying new foreigners shouldn't be given the chance to work in a family, That wouldn't help the community. 
 
Instead I feel we should get to know them abit more, Not just you, your entire family should know them as well as possible, teach them to work how you do, even if that means showing them exactly how to get into your coffee shops before they join you, So your family can talk to them. 
 
I feel I have driveled on quite a fair bit, What I aimed to get at is... 
 
Leaders : At some point, someone helped you and got to know you personally, If they hadn't would you be where you are now? Think about the fact that you could be inviting a possible member who in just a few weeks could turn out to not actually like you? 
 
New guys : This is something I have always said, even when its my bloodlines family they wanted to join, Talk to as many leaders as possible before making a decision on where you would like your life of crime to continue, Find out the pro's and con's of them, see what best suits you. I'm not telling you to mail them all asking to join them, Just speak to them, see which family your interested in, THEN speak to the as many crew members as possible, because lets face it your going to be working with these guys, Make sure you like them aswell and then finally do some research on what makes a good invite request and speak to the leader.

There seems to be a push between distinguishing members of a said crew and associates, who are both under the same roof. Generally, when you get your button that earns you Made Man, you're accepted into this "member" group.

Mister Goon, while it has been long said that the standards of the world have gone down, I must reply that perhaps the quality of new arrivals have gone down as well. While we've tried to make things easier here to break in the new ones, you're suggesting what appears to be borderline shopping for crewleaders. That's fine and dandy, but most arrivals do no such thing - they want to adapt to this lifestyle quickly, and most aren't even in attendance for your speech today. It is a sad sin to not mentor a new crewmember, because it leaves way to have their mind molded by sources outside of their family.

When it comes down to it, Mr. Goon, as you've said - the primary force driving this world is money, and as long as the need for more thrives among us, standards may inevitably go down over the course of said period of time. The old days are behind us - the dynamic has changed, the demographics have changed, and the layout has changed. We have to deal with what we have and push forward.