You can only ask so many times, really. It's ultimately up to those thugs or gangsters to put up the tag. If you don't, well, personally I wouldn't give these untagged schlubs any ''non-automatic'' promotion until you put up the damn tag.

Forrest watched and listened as Henri formulated his speech, taking account of what had been said, he thought for a moment before voicing his own opinion on the matter.

A very interesting topic Henri, one that myself and a few others have being discussing in the coffee shops recently in a slightly different context however.

Personally, wearing my ‘tag’ as it were, is hugely important to me. I display my tag with pride to show my association with and in the future, God willing, my membership of the family that offers me protection. I think it is in many respects a cultural thing upon these shores, perhaps seen as an old fashioned tradition.

Youngsters these days come pre-marked straight from the boat, showing their association upon beginning work for a family. Some therefore, perhaps do not feel the need. As did our ancestors historically, to display a family tag.

For these people though, things can quickly go south. Particularly in the unfortunate event of their leader dying at which point their tag is removed from them and therefore may be misidentified as a free target, rather than being safe under a protection order.

Personally, I think that all mobsters should wear their tags. It makes life easier and safer for all those concerned. There is again, the pride aspect of it, as mentioned earlier, aspiring mobster wishing to be welcomed into the fold of a family should wear their badge with pride. If by some miracle, I were ever to run my own organisation, those who were unwilling to wear a tag would have no hope of promotion into my upper echelons.

But then again, society changes and it certainly has since my blood first walked these shores and probably even more so for other members of this thing of ours. Have we become too permissive?

Forrest took a swig from his hipflask before returning it to his cardigan pocket and stepping back, waiting for a reply.

Dub pulled out a tissue from his coat pocket and wiped his red-hued nose. The cooler weather had certainly swept in with reckless abandon. He listen as HenriDucard spoke on the tagless thugs that swarm through the streets like ... like ... Jesus, it's freezing...

Dub nodded in agreement as Henri spoke. It had always been something that Dub's past family leaders had pushed, "Make sure you have our crew tag! It could save you should anything happen to us tops!" Yes. And it had in multiple occasions in the past--they weren't lying. Dub looked around as Henri stopped speaking and opened the 'floor'. Not many people had begun to assemble quite yet. However, among the small group that listen, Dub expected a pretty unanimous view on this... He decided he would break the ice.

Dub stepped forward and into the line of sight of the small group of people. "How much does a polar bear weigh?" Everyone looked around and looked back at Dub quite confused at the tangent of a question... "Enough to break the ice--Hi, I am Dubliner." Dub chuckled to himself as he began to gather his thoughts and took another swipe at his nose with his tissue.

"Obviously somewhere along the line, Crew Tags have lost their... appeal? For lack of a better word. I cannot stress enough how valuable these are to not just members of this life with less prestige than others, but everyone who chose to lead a life like us... Absolutely EVERYONE should be sporting a crew tag somewhere on their person. It's more than just words. It's a show of pride for your crew. A show of pride for your City. If that's not enough for you, it can save your life when a war breaks out. I know, for awhile, I always wondered how that was the case... Should you survive after the fall of your crew, a protection order will be put out for members of the late crews. This will give you ample time to find a new family instead of just being shot down like dogs in the streets."

Dub turned towards Henri who was listening to Dub as he spoke. "I have to say it is the responsibility of the sponsors to ensure the safety of their recruits. That includes making sure their members have crew tags... However, a mobster whose line has been in this life for generations should know better as well. Crew Tags only take 5-10 seconds to place it on your person... There isn't really an excuse not to have one."

I think withholding any promotion(s) and the absence of the tag itself would be sufficient.  By doing this you will ensure some sort of ''tag standard'' while not resorting to extreme measures i.e punishment. The benefits they reap from your protection will be minimal, since they won't ever go beyond the limits imposed by associate status and in case of the death of their crew leader, they will be left unprotected by any protection order. 

My recruitment conversation with a new associate will always mention the need to put tags up. If they won't even do that, of what worth will this associate be? It shows that the person has no motivation at all, and he'll likely be a rather disappointing recruit. 

Perhaps you could drop unwilling associates from your crew? Radical perhaps, but if you have continually insisted that they get that tag tattoo'd on them and they either refuse or ignore you, what good are they for you and the family? Probably very little. Then said person can continue his search for a crew that allows people to remain untagged.

Dub sat quiet for a moment. He had never thought of this issue. Whether or not there should be repercussions due to not wearing a crew tag... It had never happened to him, but he was always good about wearing his tag. He figured that, policies on crew tags vary from crew to crew and, since that's true, repercussions should also vary from crew to crew. After adequately gathering these thoughts and figuring out how to best share them, he spoke up again.

 "I don't think Untagged crew members should be actively brought into this thing of ours. But that's solely my opinion. Whether or not John Doe over in Las Vegas wants his members to wear tags is up to him. That's his crew. However, should someone under me fail to wear a crew tag, I believe it is our responsibility as leaders to encourage them to wear these tags... As a 'leader' in the crew I am in, I want the members to be safe, even if all of the hands are gone... And simply spending a few seconds to create a tag and wear it will save their lives. However, I will not pester them... I think advising them at most 2 times, then do that. But after those 2 times, I am assuming that they believe that they know better, and I will let them learn that way."

"Sometimes the best way to learn is not from somebody else, but rather from your own mistakes. And though it is unfortunate, I would've done my job in advising you to wear a crew tag on 2 occasions. I mean, if they decide not to wear a tag and their family falls, they just become target practice... They'll learn in time if they don't listen to those that they should listen to."

Thomas heard for a while the discussion, before finally talking.

"I gotta agree with Salazar's first response. You can only ask so many times. I think when someone blatantly refuses to do as asked, it probably shows a lot about the kind of mafioso they are, and if they refuse to do so on something so small as a tag, can you trust them in times of war?"

"It's only a tag, you can say... We're marked as long as we have a crew, anyway... Well, it doesn't matter. If your crew leader or anyone above you in the family really, asks you to do something, you really should it".

"I definitely won't promote him either."