Alright, beloved leaders, if I could have a moment of your time please.

My family line has been muddeling around these shores for longer than I'd really like to remember, and I can honestly say that this is the first time Ive found myself in this position.

Today, my family head died, and I have found myself homeless and confused, without any real ideas as to which direction I should turn.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not for lack of options. Several other family heads were courteous enough to forward me invites to their families to gain their protection. So now my problem has become too many options. Which way should I go?

I believe were somewhere around 28 families in our world now, which has got to be some sort of record. And this definatly has its good points! Why I remember hearing tell of my great grandfathers time, no more than a year or so ago, where there was only a handfull of families available, and our whole world trying to get in them.

So times have certainly changed. And as always, change begets more change. 

As long as I can remember, it has always been the custom for a young, up and coming recruit, to explain in detail just what it was he could bring to the family he was attempting to get into. I have a feeling this practice has fallen to the wayside a bit in each families attempts to gain more members.

So maybe it's time for the tables to turn a bit. Maybe its time that family heads started telling us exactly what it is that they can offer us as members?

After all , with 28 crews out there, families are really no longer as valuable a commodity as the members to fill them are, are they?

Now at this point, it's likely some of you will be checking out my ID and saying to yourselves, "Who in the fuck does this guy think he is?", and the answer to that is really, no one special. 

But please do bear in mind that it is the No One Specials of this world that make up the largest part of this community, and I think its probably a fair chance that they are going to agree with me on this. 

I think it's time for you guys to sell us on you.

Are you applying for a job with us? If you are, then Marietta Rossi & Co. Enterprises is probably for you! Let me run down the benefits of joining us:

1. Free massages every day! That's right, you give me a free massage every day! Make sure to go easy on the shoulders!!!

2. A chicken in every pot. You are responsible for catching the chickens and purchasing the pot.

3. No nude taxes. Clearly a benefit I can appreciate. I'm a girl who loves her nudity and most likely wouldn't be caught without it!

4. A cold room in the family dungeon. Perfect for entertaining your friends and relatives!

5. An evil tyrant dictator as a leader.....and that's just Gabriel. Wait until Marietta asks you to sweep her floors!

So there you have it, no name Wise Guy who tries to act tough in the Streets! All the benefits of Marietta Rossi & Co. Enterprises could be YOURS for the low low low low low price of $5,000,000! Please contact me for further details!

I need clarification on the No Nude taxes bit.

Are there no taxes for being nude?

Or are you taxed for not being nude?

Also, what if I only eat fish?

That being said, kindly stop interfering with my initial attempt to Unionize the masses with your quasi-ambiguous, sexually driven, jibber jabber.

(OOC: But I totally loved you in Legend, with Tom Cruise)

Well to be honest, I would imagine, you would rejoin with a Chicago head, but hey, thats just me.

I can understand where some might do that Cedric, but why should I just fall blindly under a leader I know nothing about, simply because he or she is from the same city as my former leader?

My loyalties lie to families I believe in, not places.

Getting in the rigth family is so damn important, and even though my family have only been here for a few generations which means that my bloodline have only experienced being in 1 family. It has come to my attention that recruitment methods have become rather hmmmm  pushy, some people have been told that they have been targetted or that they will soon get hit, so better join here. This is not my impression this is very common or widespread, but if even a few act like this it puts a stress on the new blood so they dont have the time to investigate what crews are around and what are the reps of each crew...i guess  somehow experiencing this is a part of mobster life  so somehow i have mixed feelings on the issue  BUT  i do thing that in some cases new mobsters have little control or atleast a feeling of little control that makes em take bad decision, which migth in the end turn out bad for them and perhaps also their crew

Well to be honest Priapism, you worked under KingBenny yes, but you also worked under Sidious, the Godfather of the city. So, by leaving Chicago after they put protection for you to join another Chicago family is quite frankly a smack in the face to Sidious.

A godfather is not the Boss of every family in the city. If he were, it would be one family, not several. A member is loyal only to his family, not to the whole fucking city.

Well to be honest Priapism, you worked under KingBenny yes, but you also worked under Sidious, the Godfather of the city. So, by leaving Chicago after they put protection for you to join another Chicago family is quite frankly a smack in the face to Sidious.

Ironically enough, KingBenny was disowned by Chicago and Sidious per a speech directed by Kizzy. Her exact words were: "I need to announce that KingBenny, in shooting at Los Angeles, is not acting as a member of Chicago, but rather for his own selfish means. We do not endorse his actions and are working to rectify the situation. Thank you."

At the exact moment KingBenny was deemed "not acting as a member of Chicago," his family's loyalties lay with him completely rather than with the city in any way, shape, or form. I agree with Dr. Ox in his assessment, especially in light of the fact that Chicago wanted nothing to do with Mr. Benny.

Sorry, but this is more confusion as a result of the poorly differentiated Captain/Leader stance we have at the moment.

A Captain does not run his own family. He runs a crew within a larger family.

"Looking for a home in Chicago? Contact one of my captains

KingBenny

Gina_Zagaria

-Skittles-"

KingBenny was therefore a Captain within Sidious' family. A Captain is part of a family, not the leader of it. His members belonged to Chicago; they were a Chicago crew within the Chicago family. If that wasn't intended to be the case, as it is with most of the cities at the moment, then real clarification is required. Most of what are commonly referred to as 'leaders' are in fact the equivalent of old subcrew leaders/Capos/Captains.

In MafiaReturns the majority of Godfathers are active participants in running every crew within their city, because they only have one family operating within it.

We do not have 28 families, you will have to look closely as the line has become so blurred that many captains believe themselves to infact run their own family, but the actual number of seperate families is far smaller than that.

~T~

Since most people in our fair cities do not know their heads from their assholes, I choose to ignore what the people in bold are called by others, and instead look at how they operate. They might be called "Captains", or they might be called "Bosses". However, if the boldy is not paying tribute and has a "caporegime" of over 15 members, I don't care what you call it, that's a Boss, not a Captain.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a fucking duck, even if you call it a horse.

"But please do bear in mind that it is the No One Specials of this world that make up the largest part of this community, and I think its probably a fair chance that they are going to agree with me on this. "

Do you really think that the minority of people who hold the fattest Shot Records actually give two fucks about the No One Specials?

If there is an issue involving the mojority of people and it is a matter that should be discussed in OOC Avenue, I'd agree with you, but the way you are trying to turn the table on the leaders is somewhat under faulty logic. You still need the protection way more than the leaders need your services.

Eh, you're saying 'I don't care what people are called, he's acting like he has his own family, so he is running his own family' and I'm saying 'the line has become so blurred that many captains believe themselves to infact run their own family' which is pretty much just the same thing, without the Billy big balls attitude.

I actually think, although you would usually be right CrazyNine, that with the MafiaReturns 'community' largely comprising the MafiaReturns 'leadership' far more care is afforded to the 'No One Specials' than ever.

~T~

Being relatively new myself. I can understand not being able to decide which way to turn or where exactly you should go. But wouldnt it be easier to speak to the RHM or LHM or leaders and find out what the family is like instead of asking them to sell themselves on the street like they are cattle? 

When I first started I was fortunate enough to have a few chats with people before I made my decision. However, I'm more of an observant kind of person but I feel lucky being in the family I am in and I think I made the right choice by talking privately with a few people about all my options. No need to ask them to sell themselves many are nice enough to talk to you and you can get an idea from just asking them questions.

AngelicDemon, Im not sure why a leader wouldn't want to sell themselves on the street in this day and age.

When we have so many families, and sub families, or whatever you want to call them, many run by family lines that have yet to run a family of their own, and they are all scrambling to up their membership, (as members equal money, and money equals power, etc), and "member whoring" is so frowned upon, why not takes advantage of the free advertising symposium that is our streets?

In fact, if I recall some of the notes Ive read in my ancestors logs correctly, that used to be the done thing!

"My name is Sookmi_Balloonknot and I am your newest auth! I stand for Respect, Omerta, and nooners with your nan!"

 Or something along those lines anyways.

Beyond that, CrazyNine, what you said is technically right. I do need a leaders protection more than they need me.

But the point I was trying to make was that they need our services as much as we need them. 

This brings us back to what I mentioned earlier about Unionizing. But more on that at a later date.

Tallien, I completely agree with you about the blurred lines between leaders and captains, and who runs what. But at the end of the day, it is the Captains or bosses, or whatever you want to call them, that recruit, invite, and are in charge of the people under them.  I guess in my mind, its the Godfathers running the city, and the "family heads" running the people that reside inside it.

I realize it goes a little more in depth than that but I think thats a fair summery. 

That being said, I am totaly naming my son "Billy Big Balls", in your honour.