"Are you kidding me?" the bartender asked. Tycho pointed at the large clock above the entrance of the local speakeasy and replied "It's a bit early for drinks, no? I'll just have the coffee like I asked, please." Tycho looked around the place, which was packed with people as usual. No matter the hour, people were always present here.

Tycho listened in on a few old men sharing memories from the past. The general consensus was that back in the day everything was better. Tycho didn't really like people who praised the past in contrast to the present day. Memories shouldn't be used to become negative about the current day and age. History teaches us lessons that can inspire us for the future. He knew of some of those inspirational ideas from the past himself, but since he was only a young man in this world, he decides to ask the men about what valuable concepts they remembered that made the past so great. 

"Hello gentlemen, sorry to interrupt, but may I offer you a round of drinks before I ask you a question?" 

A few people nodded and Tycho signaled for the bartender to fill up their glasses. 

"I couldn't help, but overhear your conversation and I wondered if you'd be willing to share some of the concrete things the past offered, that you seem to be missing in the current day in age. But please give practical examples, instead of plainly stating that James was such a great leader or that the rank of Made Man used to mean something. Please elaborate on why these things were the case. The people that made the past great are gone, but their ideas and approaches may still be valuable for us today and inspire both gangster and leaders to do great things themselves."

Tycho noticed that the people gathered around the bar understood, but since they were all sipping their drinks, he proceeded to answer his own question: 

"My family migrated over here from Europe not too long ago, so my knowledge of the history of this society isn't that big. But I've seen a few good ideas that contributed to something. A small example is that moment when someone earns his button. Not too long ago, I congratulated someone on receiving his button and that person hadn't heard the news himself yet. In contrast I've heard stories about my grandfather serving under BlackBetty and how he was impressed when he got invited to a true ceremony for his promotion into the family ranks. Taking an oath of loyalty and being even more surprised when high ranked people, including Godfathers from other cities joined the ceremony to congratulate him. It really showed that the rank was something special, and even though those attending where there just briefly, he had met them, making that day really feel like a big step up." 

Tycho saw some whispering happening between the people, but saw people weren't ready to speak up themselves yet, so he figured to give another example from his memory. 

"In an old ledger I once found in an abandoned headquarters of a crime family lead by TonyCapazzo, I found notes describing a program being taught within that family. They were actively teaching younger members the art of public speaking and picking the right venue, time and place for what they wanted to share with the community. There are plenty of people who think public speaking is at a low level in this time, but how many are actually making an effort to teach and encourage people to get out there?" 

"My point being, times in history were great because people made them great. Either on a family level or for the whole society. People took action, developed ideas and put them in practice. The people are dead. Their ideas can be very much alive and valuable for us today. You and I can make ideas grow into reality. And if you feel you can't, share the ideas so they might inspire others to take action for the betterment of our society."

"It's funny you bring this up, I was pawing through some old records, left to me by a man whose father worked for your grandfather. There was a place this man visited, a place in the woods, which was where the ceremony to award him the status of being a Made Man took place.

"Being his bloodline's first visit to these shores in quite some time, the experience was very welcome to him and he was grateful for the words spoken at this event. That place in Philadelphia became a tradition passed on through his family. Even when they moved to New York, they still visited that little woodland outside of the city, a much greater distance than Bella Vista but worth the journey. It became a true tradition, an entire line of soldatos out of Manhattan walked that soil and before that, those who BlackBetty initiated during her time in Bella Vista. The words that were spoken passed on from family to family. 

"I've often considered what it is people have to do to make their mark on this world, tyranny, teaching, age, impact. All amount to a memorable era, but what ever changes?

"Someone needs to come along and make a lasting change, a change to the way we operate that is so well received and respected, that we enforce it from generation to generation. Sure, some rules are set in stone, but we have the power to implement things that we control and manipulate as required. I know that there is a general rule of leaving a manually generated contract for five minutes, before taking it up yourself, a rule we ourselves enforce from leader to leader. 

"The history of Los Angeles is a great example of where the standard has been shifted, new rules created and opportunities handed out. What can any of us do to leave a lasting footprint, and not something which is swept away upon their passing?"

Frenchy sits a couple tables away from the conversation. He was sipping some wop, something he usually doesn't do so early, but he was congratulating himself on a heist he had just lined up. He had been listening in to the conversation, and it had caught his interest. He stood up and strolled over to the men. 

​"Hello, I couldn't help but hear your all's reminiscing. I as well have had some fond memories of the past. I've had some crews really push the speaking rolls, I've had others that required crazy amounts of work to become made. I've had a couple that just required earnings to become made. All of these crews have ran pretty efficiently.

Some people are great public speakers while others are just mafiosos. You can't expect every member of a crew to be a great speaker. That would be insane, if every crew lived by that then there wouldn't be barely any Made Men. You also can't expect everyone to work their asses off for two or three months just to reach Made. For that to happen every crew would have to do it. If just a handful did it then those crews wouldn't progress as quickly as the others and would eventually get taken out.

What I'm trying to say is that the past wasn't "better" than today... it also wasn't worse. Crews aren't ran the way they are, because that seems easier; they are ran like this because other crews started it, and you just have to keep up with the times."

Frenchy could tell he was losing some people. He backed up a step took a deep breath and tried to clarify.

"Everything is relative. When a couple crews start granting a lot of people buttons for mediocre work then those crews get more earnings. That causes them to rise to the top and be way better than everyone else, the highest level, richest people in the Mafia. Naturally other crews have to run the same kind of ranking system to keep up.

Unless all of the crews make it harder to get your button, then it's not possible for just a few to make it too hard to become Made. Everyone has to grow at the same pace, or close to, to make sure they're isn't too many tyrannies. If that was to happy then their would be even more rogues and wars than normal."

Frenchy sits down after his rant. He called to the waiter to pour him some more wop. It was time for him to get shitfaced.

I don't think that is entirely true, Frenchy. If you make it easier for people to get their button with only requiring a mediocre amount of work to be put in, surely that breeds laziness? Instead of encouraging people to work harder to become Made and going above and beyond the required effort, you'd just give people incentive to go for the bare minimum and look out for their own gain instead of that of the family. That is based on my interpretation and experiences though.

It's very much possible for some families to make it harder to get your button within their own ranks. This means there will likely be a less Made Man within that family, and recruitment might be slower, but the reward is more quality within that family's ranks. 

"I understand where your coming from. I agree that it can breed laziness in some people, and I also agree that it should be harder to earn your button, but the truth is it can't be hard right now. It can't be that hard, because too many crews are allowing people to earn buttons too quickly. While these crews can breed laziness in newer players, ones that have played for a while and are still good for the crew will raise to heights of power quickly.

If the Mafia was split in half with half needing a lot of work to get a button, and the other half taking nearly no work to get the button then naturally the ones who take no work will grow faster because they'll have more made men and have more money. The crews that take a lot of work, while they do breed better mafiosos, they don't breed them fast enough to keep up with the other crews. This causes one or two crews to hold all of the economic power."

Tycho listens to the various people contributing and decides to address the latest speaker as first.

"Frenchy, there is some valid concern that crews will have to keep up pace with other crews to be just as effective. But it's not necessarily economic power that creates this need. The promotion into the family ranks, becoming a Made Man, does not create that much of extra income. When a wiseguy is strong enough, smart enough and has managed to get hold of a good truck, he can transfer just as much drugs between cities as someone in a family with a higher rank. The rank is just an indication of what one has achieved, but not really a necessity to accumulate lots of wealth. Sure, it might get easier to get in touch with more people to pull of a heist of some kind, but those are incidentals ways of gaining profit. Time and amount of work isn't really something that would concern me regarding the topic of getting that promotion into the family ranks. The quality of work is. If a crewleader, a capo or a sponsor is teaching a fresh gangster well, they can prove to be very loyal and worthy for the family's operation in a few weeks. I'd like this discussion to be about ideas to get people to a higher quality, instead of the concern if you didn't. To be honest, having people walk around with buttons implying they're significant, but really aren't is something people will notice soon enough. It's just a small smoke screen that people will get around soon anyway."

Anyway, not intending this to be about Made Men specific. It was just an example. Surely people have seen loads of idea's been put in place", since organised crime has been quite big in the America's for quite some time now."

Tycho looked around and noticed Rossi. 

"Hello there, old friend. I enjoyed taking a peek at your ancestors logbook and find those words of loyalty that are so much rooted in my history. Thank you for that."

Tycho orders another set of drinks with the bartender and toasts with Rossi.

"Now, onto your remark of making lasting change. I understand what you mean, and there's certainly possibilities for that, but in general continuity is catched in rules. Written and unwritten rules have been formed as a summary of minimal expected behaviour. Rules tend to do just that. What I'm looking for is inspiration to exceed expectations. How to get myself and the people around me from mediocre to excellent, so we rack up more money, outsmart the FBN time after time, so we gain more respect from our fellow mafioso and in general have a more valuable environment in which we work."

"Success and greatness isn't only for the names written in history books. Success can be when you have just that extra few members in your family that make a difference. It's those ideas that ensure that your family performs efficient when the time calls for it. It's the things that people from outside your family come to you and say 'I'm not sure what you do, but you do a damn fine job.'"

"Also, I suspect there's no fear of giving away the tricks of the trade. Well, maybe it is, but I assume there's far more ideas in the past, that people are actually practicing in the present. Share for improvement, I'd say."

Rains sits in the courtyard listening to what is being said by the others.  She a little hesitant to speak because what she wants to say might not be accepted by some around her but she feels she needs to speak up.  She gains her composure and steps up to speak.

Good evening all gaining more confidence

I didn’t arrive on these shores on a boat.  I came from a different city, a different clan where things were done differently.  I had to learn the laws of this city including the unwritten ones when I arrived here,

As we thugs enter these streets with the desire to join the Mob, we try and catch the eye of a Sponsor.  It’s the sponsors or upper structures who know the goals for us to achieve our button.  It’s their responsibility to get us there.  If we are falling short of the Boss’s expectations then they are the ones doing something wrong.  It could be as simple as a lack of communication or lack of training.

Anyone under Made can infiltrate the family HQ’s were they gain knowledge of family business including the family finances.

First things first: If you are chosen to become a member of a crew you have to go through an initiation ceremony in which you pledge an oath to the Mafia’s code of silence, called Omerta. This essentially means that you’re putting your new family before all else.  With this ritual behind you, you can now be welcomed into a new “family,” and from this point on your officially part of La Cosa Nostra.

Without taking an oath most are allowed to leave the family without any type of repercussions. No oath, no commitment is bad for business.

Where I come from the lowest-ranking members of the hierarchy of the Mafia clan are the soldiers.  I presume that here they are the (Made).  We are the grunts of the organization who do the majority of the “dirty work.” It’s the place where we do small jobs and generally sticking out our neck in the hope of making a name for ourselves by demonstrating our loyalty to the organization.

It takes all type of soldiers (Made) to run a family.  Some want to push and learn to climb up in rank as soon as possible.  Some just wish do odd jobs and what they are told to do by their uppers.  You may have what we so call slackers and then some who will pick up the slack on every family.  In the long run it all evens out.  That slacker’s gun just might be the gun you need.

If a Boss needs protection and down the block there’s a soldier (Made) he is not going to be thinking this soldier didn’t bring me in millions.

The higher expectations should coincide with the higher the rank.

I just went through my own Made ceremony yesterday and I couldn’t be more  proud. It was a ritual I will never forget.  The goals set weren’t that high and I was given the tools to achieve it.

Once you become “Made” is where you start proving yourself.  We are mere thugs until then.  We are not a part of anything. The emphasis on high expectations shouldn’t be place on thugs receiving their button.  More should be place on what you do after you receive it.  

By no means am I saying we don’t have to work for it. It shouldn’t just be handed to us on a silver platter.  But if we are failing to meet the established goals set by the Boss someone in the upper structure should be held accountable as to why.  We have to be taught to get where we need to be.  Once there it's our decision how high we want to rank and do the necessary things to achieve it. 

If this is not how things work around here and I have a misunderstanding I do apologize.  Thank you for your time as she steps down.

"Thank you for sharing your view on things RainSinclair. This discussion is not so much about proving whether you understand how things work here. It's really about gathering ideas that worked in the past and might work today to improve the standards we're seeing."

"With that in mind, I'd like to focus on one interesting comment you made. You just said that "if we are failing to meet the established goals set by the Boss someone in the upper structure should be held accountable as to why." Like you said, sponsors and upper structure have a responsibility for the lower ranks. If they really want to profit from fresh recruits, attention and guidance is a must. "

"Although each family will want to train their new members, I feel that often training is left to chance to a sponsor willing to put forth the effort and also a trainee to pro-actively seek for help. Recruits are a sponsors responsibility until they get promoted into the higher ranks of the family. Having rules for sponsors that they need to get their recruit involved, making money and learn and train in other important aspects of this life would be good. A lot of people never really grow into this thing of ours, while in reality it would only take a few well aimed instructions and motivations to really spike someone's interest into growing in this place."

"More clear responsibilities for sponsors to not only bring in the numbers, but actually train associates to become valuable assets within the family. It's not something that is lacking, cause there are great sponsors out there, but there's plenty of lazy ones as well."

Tycho looks around and wonders if from all these people entering the speakeasy, only a few can remember ideas that might work in this day and age. Probably the ideas are there, but the will to share is missing. Judging is usually easier then contributing. Tycho signals for the bartender to just line up a row of glasses and fill them up with booze. That usually does the trick.