MB takes a look around, see’s people with mail falling from their pockets and seemingly mumbling to themselves as the hustle of holiday season and crisp air grabs them.

As I have grown and attended funerals, my ancestral blood travelling two versions of our world and lands. A lot of good has been injected to our lives, giving us more purpose and duty. However is progress always positive? A pet peeve of mine has been lately, Mass Communication and sharing of Information. I am not singling out any one city, GF or upper Structure as to be fair they have all been similar in this however I will use some examples. This weekend I was getting Mass Communication from all sorts of places. Right Hands from Other Crews asking for WS Statements, Left Hands sharing maps for the latest hideouts of the Durden Crime Family and of course SR Requests from Hands and Leaders with in my city. Most recently a Mass Mail we all probably saw, offering information on a killed CA IF you happened to be the one to have lost it.

Now I will be honest and nothing against any of those requesting information but 90 % of the time my initial reaction is “Who the fuck is this”, because they are not in my family. Do I show disrespect and not answer or blow them off, of course not. I respond when appropriate and with tact, but it really started to hit me. Why, do I? I do not owe anything to anyone but Cato – Miss_Niki and Frank, they are who I pledged my loyalty, honor and life too. If I wanted to share all my deepest secrets with everyone else in New York I would crew hop spending a week with each one or simply keep an open diary in the streets for all to read. I begin to wonder, is the information really that important if it is passed around the city in such a loose manner? I would hope that my Boss or GF if I were a leader would trust me enough to simply say – I have for sake of argument 5 Made associates or higher ready if we go to war. The rest are still building. Why should my entire crew’s birth certificate and career path have to be turned over?  Is this really progress, sharing of information in such a wide spread way simply because we have the tools to do it?

The one today really dampened my spirits regarding our lives, why would you proactively throw your own member under the bus? Had I been the one to take a shot at a CA on accident, I would go to my boss and explain. However I would not expect them to reach out to everyone and anyone sharing my misstep… Yes I would be prepared to face the consequences, pay recompense and even forfeit my life if that is what was needed. But the key word is IF, why should we actively search for such an outcome? This is beginning at times to feel a lot less like the Mafia and a lot more like the United Nations Peace Corps. I see a sad, downward spiral that we may never come back from. I could be over reacting or simply too old to see the new way as correct, but I feel in all of our progress we have taken huge steps back.

MB- takes a sip of his hot cider and looks around 

I think the point that Money-B is trying to make is this - while it was beneficial to ask around about who the CA belonged to that got shot, there was no need in saying WHO shot the CA. That should have been an internal matter dealt with by the CL and GF of the district in which he resided. 

I think you raise some interesting points Money-B and i will do the best I can to provide you with answers. 

For many, many generations information has been shared between cities and districts. Now, strictly adhereing to the code of Omerta, I can understand where you are coming from, but imagine this scenario:

You are going about your business, walking the streets of New York and some punk takes a pot shot at you whilst you have your back turned, the bullet narrowly missing, only to plough into the wall beside you. As you turn around, the shooter is gone and you have no idea who's done it. 

Now I assume that you'd tell your crewleader and a witness statement request would be sent out as is the commonly accepted practice. The witness request lands on my desk and a member of mine has sent up the witness statement to me. I however, do not believe in sharing information with other cities so i simply tear up the witness statement. 

This has allowed a stealth shooter to evade punishment and chances are they will strike again, and the next intended victim may not be so lucky. 

Having had several conversations with you, and understanding your views on the old ways I don't think even you would agree that this would be a good thing? Forgive me if my assumption here is wrong. 

This also holds ramifications for myself and my family also. This kind of behaviour may imply that I have issues with members of New York, or that I condone and encourage behaviour such as random killings and would likely lead to a very quick and public death for me. 

As for sharing maps of the Durden crew's locations and safe houses, I think you have to accept that in the current day it is often a communal effort in order to draw in their greedy, zombie like arses to our cities, so that they may attempt to take over.

At the end of the day, we all have our family units, and these are first and foremost but at the same time we all have allegiances and loyalty within our cities and across the country, this has always been the case and I think it would be naive to pretend otherwise. 

On to your final point, proactively throwing members under the bus. As a general rule, I do not agree with this and I feel that you should do whatever you can to protect your members, within reason. At the same time however, I will not pretend that I know any of the circumstances surrounding that mobsters demise, for all we know they could be a repeat offender, I also don't consider it any of my business, other cities discipline their members as they see fit. 

I hope this has gone some way to answering your question, however this is just my perspective upon the points you have made.

It's nice to see such an interesting and entertaining debate take to our streets.

Rory tips his hat to Money-B and the others.

MB - looks on and nods

@Wiggle_Butt Miss_Niki let me clarify a little further - because you are both correct. 

1. I believe it should have been handled internally by his Crew Leader and the GF. His willingness to atone was not the question, that showed great morality and honesty. 

2. Your statement @Wiggle_Butt is precisely my issue here, it was "passed on". So in short like every other Mass Mailing or Communication it was just short of Junk Mail. In a "True" ideology you (who ever simply forwarded) just gave the feds the link they needed to your GF and organized crime. You by simply, and I will try and keep this appropriate, using the tools at our disposal with out forethought could have just sealed the fate of your entire organization from a Criminal / Law perspective. 

For me it isn't just a longing back to the old days, I don't believe those were all roses and unicorns either. But it seems in this new day, with all of our advancements we have grown lazy as a culture. Personally I feel Mass Mail should be stricken from us, force people to develop relationships and bonds. Use those bonds and working relationships to grow and develop our city, that is what makes it strong. Not the fact that one can yell from the roof tops and everyone hears... 

Note this is not something I see as a local issue, just the example used. It happens all the time all over so it is more a global phenomenon.  

After listening to everyone speak, at great length, Bender realises the chatter has quieted down just long enough for him to get a word in edge ways. He clears his throat and quotes Money-B back

"I do not owe anything to anyone but Cato – Miss_Niki and Frank"

"Screw you, chump. I totally half arsedly supported your causes.. Though it was of my own free will unit and because it got me laid a couple times, I still feel like you owe me something, even if it's only acknowledgement of the further advertisement of said causes!"

After giving up pretending to be offended

"To be honest, after listening to what you said, I'd have to say I agree." Bender was already smoking a ciagar, he took another out and used the one to light the other, then he flicks the old one away

"Even if it does place me in a bad light to other crews and their leaders, and I can't see how as I'm just so cool... I'd probably not give a statement about I may or may not have witnessed you accidentally throwing a rock at the back of someone's payroll enticed corrupted agent." Bender grabs a passing by lady, passionately makes out with her, then shuffles her on down the road feeling surprised, aroused and confused

"That's not to say, I'd do that for any old chump though. If I didn't think I could extort the mobster I witnessed, I'd probably go ahead and make a statement, in exchange for a bribe, then re sell that information onto one of the local wardens"

"I believe demands for witnesses is honestly a bad practice, you're training people to be unmindful and to lack initiative. Remember when we used to see someone kill someone else, and the first thing we did is run over and search the corpse for their wallet or purse (and after stealing their cash) to check their I.D, to see if they were worth giving a crap about, before deciding it wasn't worth remembering? ... pepperidge farm remembers.

I don't know about all of you, but if I see someone wack someone else in this thing of ours, I take notice and keep the memory fresh to give a witness statement to my family, if it looks like it's needed. ESPECIALLY when most mob bosses are so untactful as to go people's funerals and announce casually infront of their grieving widows and family that no one gives a shit who did this, so don't bother letting us know... if they don't give a shit who did it and don't want to know."

Bender gathers his thoughts for a moment before continuing

"The over use of the mass mail, is frankly, something I cannot stand. My family ancestors have been in positions where they were capable of making use of the mass mail delivery services. They chose to use it sparingly, from what I understand."

Bender finishes his beer and opens another

"There are multiple methods of communicating, through the coffee shops, notice boards in the VERY dusty HQs, as well as good ol' fashion chatting to which ever criminal buddies are awake in real-time."

"Still there are repeated demands for my personal information usually accompanied by threatening words, promises of punishment, and begging me to go else where, to weird places... sites, i've just... no idea why my eyes are being directed to, to complete forms... like some beaurocratic chump... AFTER I've already done it, just because being selective with who the mail is sent to is sooooooo much like hard work, it's just unbarable and has made me inform the post master to throw mail directed to me from certain senders, strait into the trash."

"Like Money-B said, this IS a common theme, the norm, the standard practice and it's baffling why... From the diaries I've read through, mostly to have a good chuckle at sappy private moments, I discovered that my ancestors who were part of take downs and survived through wars, were ALWAYS updating their 'SR' for others and would ALWAYS be asked when it came to crunch time, right before the start of the event, how skilled they were at using a gun... thus defeating the purpose of them updating their 'SR' anyway." exacerbated, Bender sighed.

 Why, do I? I do not owe anything to anyone but Cato – Miss_Niki and Frank, they are who I pledged my loyalty, honor and life too.

Perhaps you don't, but, perhaps your crew has allies with other cities. Someday if they find themselves in the same boat, they may want to be treated the same way. If you take issue with requests like this, wouldn't it be more appropriate to pass along the info to your upper structure and let them decide whether or not to pass that along to the one who originally requested the information? Just because you get a request doesn't mean that you have to reply to the person directly.  

MB Smiles at L and looks on inquisitively

Sir or Madame L - your name is mysterious and has an air of Early English Spy to it, like the Radio show "The Shadow". My wee little ones, like to gather around the radio, infront of the fire and listen. 

But, on to your topic.. Yes my Crew/Family/Glowing Beacon of everything that is right in this world very will may have alliances and ties that help grease the wheels of security. However, what does that have to do with me handing private diaries over? Lets take this example: 

1. My LH comes to me and says " Oh great lord of everything I know" (he really does call me that) we need to know how your training went this week, incase we need your help. I relay that information to him, he relays it to the RH, the RH relays it to the boss. The boss relays what information he need's or wants to our GF. 

2. A random ass name pops up in my mailbox, asking me for information I feel is dear and important. I ask around and learn he/she is from our GF and is their RH. I give the information to them directly, in a pouch that contains the same intel on everyone in our city. 

In scenario 1, we have added buffer zones or layers in between myself who is into all kinds of nefarious dealings and the GF of our regime. Keeping them clean from my dirty deeds and eliminating the ability for the pigs to tie us together. My boss has also buffered himself from my doings etc. I have done what is needed yet stayed loyal to those that I grew up with. What happens from their to retain the alliances and ties we grow as a city is up to my boss. 

In scenario 2, I have tied myself directly to the GF immediate circle. Thus implicating him in anything I get caught doing, I have skipped the communication with my own family and as this goes on the waters get muddied on who I answer to and who I am really fighting for and with. 

I know it is a stretch to push our boundaries and leave the comfort of what has become common place and simple but me pah always said " The emperor once got new clothes, he was told they were grand and fit for a leader but when he paraded his naked ass around the square, he realized he wished he had his old pants on" 

MB tosses some bread crust bits to the pigeons gathering around WadeWilson as he performs his Mime routine