I'd just got back to St Louis having been on a business trip and I started thinking about the things I'd seen and heard while away. There was that bum in the street in LA, he looked aged and tired, sat on the floor, drunk, stoned and asking me for money, I ignored him and walked by. I'd not walked twenty feet when I heard a gun shot, I turned to see that the bum had been executed. It didn't concern me though, Darwin was a genius and some hitter was doing just doing his work.

I'd seen a drug deal go wrong, a young earner was stood on a shady, badly lit corner looking around nervously. He was pacing up and down starting to sweat when at last his contact, cool, calm and collected walked by. If you weren't looking for it, you'd have missed it, in one swift motion he took the envelope of cash and place a package in the earners duffle coat. With that, he was gone down an alley. 5 seconds later, the blazing sound of sirens and the police were all over the place, the earner was arrested and they chased down the alley after the dealer. I sat and watched for twenty minutes, eventually they came back from the alley empty handed, he'd made it away, good for him. The earner will do a stint in jail so long as he doesn't roll, the jail will be easier. I don't think he's done anything wrong, he's learning his trade poor kid, so long as he keeps his mouth shut when interrogated.

I saw a drug heist, I saw prostitution, gambling and burglary, I'd seen drug deal after drug deal, individual crimes and Mafioso coming together to commit crimes, extrusion, coercion and fraud, this was in a 2 day trip - if you know where to look, you'll see things that will make the average person scream, keep them awake at night and make them tell stories of the horrors they've seen to their 9 - 5 work colleagues who will pat them on the back, earning fuck all and going home discontented. But I'm not an average person and I've not chosen an average life. I was proud of each and every success and failure I'd seen that trip, young Mafioso making the same mistakes I did, experienced pro's moving silently through the streets until the opportune moment, these people weren't to be despised, masters of their art or learning their trade, they were to be admired.

But one thing that did keep me up and night, a rare thing but something that was happening with alarming regularity of late was that of the snitch. Too often had I seen these disgusting little creatures running around the streets telling anyone who will listen about the head quarters of Grin, the structure of Rhuarc, that CrazyNine had maxed the shooting ranges, all real examples of things I have heard. They would volunteer any bit of information they could to anyone willing to listen.

Why? I have no idea why. I tried to think about it, what did they get from their actions? They all died, they have that in common, they died the slow and painful death of an undesirable, cast out from a society surrounded by honour, codes of conduct and respect. So why did they do it? And is punishment by death enough for these people? Can we punish them in any other way though? I do not know the answers, nor do I think there is one but I feel obliged to ask the questions for as I say, this act that achieves so little is becoming a common feature of walking down the street.

Confused, I walk back to my HQ shaking my head.

Death isn't enough for these guys. They should be kept alive and torcherd they went behind their leaders back, their friends backs, and most importantly the back of the entire family in which they were involved. These guys really are scum they shouldn't be in the mafia at all they are traders. The only thing I can think of is that they wanted some sort of revenge, maybe one of those familys killed a father or a mother. They might have killed a brother or a sister but that still doesn't make this sort of revenge right. Once you join a family you take a oath to be loyal to that family and that city for your entire life. Death is really the olny form of punishment we have now so that will be the punishment that they shall recieve. However in my mind it should be worse than death.

Lucky_Mr_Mario walks away shaking his head towards all the people who have done these things.

I really don't think there's such a deep and ulterior motive for such "mischievous" acts. That would of course require having the brain to be able to follow through a plan.

No, I think this is just the act of a destructive soul who think is hurting us by exposing what we consider public anyway.

There may be some truth to the fact that exposing the structure can sometimes make us aware of potential targets, but I would disagree with it. The true targets in a war are the hitters, not the SCLs.

I once heard somebody say that it was stupid to brag about being a SCL since you'll get shot and leave the crew without a SCL. I disagree. A SCL, like a LHM or RHM can do his job even as the rank of a thug. We know that the son of the deceased will be able to pick up the work from where the father left off. So the only real risk is getting the names of the hitters and HSL out in the open, and I don't make that information available to anybody that is not already a proven loyal and trusted member. I'm sure most if not all leaders act the same way.

So all these snitches achieve is making fools of themselves. Grin even came out on top when his HQ was exposed, he was complimented by many prestigious mobsters in our world. So, to be honest, I don't really worry about these little creatures.

I respect Godfather Rhuarc's sentiments. I understand how a destructive soul can make the blood of a hard working mobster boil. I just need to take this stance for my sanity. Since I can't really change other people, I always make sure I don't expose information I could not afford the world of crime at large to know.

"Why? I have no idea why. I tried to think about it, what did they get from their actions? They all died, they have that in common, they died the slow and painful death of an undesirable, cast out from a society surrounded by honour, codes of conduct and respect."

That's an excellent question. Why would someone so new to this world, abandon their family, hopes, and possibility of survival for something as minute as a small confidential file left on the boss's desk?

I'll tell you why. Insubordinate cretins are among the newest "visitors" to our shores. They receive the same fliers, and are recruited just like the others. However, they have no real desire to earn money for their new boss. They have no ambition to succeed in this world of ours. They just want to watch the world burn, and those who invite these men and women into their families are only going to get scorched in the fire.

Now, you're probably asking "How can we keep these people out of our families, if they look like every other newbie?" Well, you can't. These people look honest and trustworthy, maybe even better than some other applicants. So, what's the solution?

The damage that these people do to our society may be great, but it is fixable. Hell, it's preventable. If every new member is taken aside by someone higher-up in the family, and worked with on a daily basis, there's little chance that these hidden agendas will sneak through our fingers. If they do, at least we tried?

Honestly, this may be more work for the Made+ in the family, but isn't it worth it? Won't it be better to see a cleaner world, model mobsters engaging in intellectual colloquies on the street corners, and there's no way this could be bad for business. It brings about activity in every generation.

So, is the answer to kill them? Maybe. But perhaps the problem doesn't just lie in the subordinate.

Tell a child they can't be touched and you get a brat. If newbs had to concentrate on living from the moment they arrived perhaps they wouldn't have time for mischief.

I wouldn't necessarily worry about one guy who decides to be an idiot and copy his crew's structure, or divulge some other bit of information from within their crew.  The problem isn't that they've done that.  They were taken care of quickly.  The problem is that it is happening more and more frequently.  What has been said is true - there seems to be a new breed of gangster making their way to these shores.  And this particular type of gangster has no code, no honor, and no respect.  No respect for family, the community or this thing of ours. 

I don't know the answers in this situation.  I know it's difficult to work with every new member that joins a family on a daily basis.  You hope that you lead by providing a good example. 

But maybe that's the issue - maybe we're not setting a good example for these youngsters.  Or maybe we're just too "soft" on these new members to the community.  We clearly make it too easy for them.  So - it all goes back to that sense of entitlement they are either born with, or develop by virtue of the fact that we have made it so easy for them. 

We throw invites to them before they can say hello.

We throw money at them because of who their fathers were.

We point them in the direction to every easy way to make money there is.

And then we expect that they'll learn any lessons?  What are they learning?  That they don't have to do shit to get a boat load of money and a safe place to stay.

Well - then I would reiterate the same challenge that I've talked about before: make these youngsters work for some of this stuff they've been given in this life.

There is always that part of society that is against what is the 'norm' and will do whatever it is in their power to disrupt the business practices of those they wish to bring down. In a thug and civilians world, they hold very little power.

They cannot kill you, mug you or even touch you but knowledge is also power and they believe showing the inner workings of a family will bring their enemy down or emberass them. In reality, we follow but a few simple rules that nearly every mobster knows and the rest is just image and ground work to set up a structured mobster, so their actions of bringing the information to the streets is a no win battle.

Death is a painful experience just ask I_am_your_god who has just recently lost his own father R.I.P.

Maybe this new breed of gangster are descendants from the same Father? If this is the case, there is a solution!

Vasectomy!

I completely agree with striphe and second that view...the riff raff do not hold any real power...so they cannot harm, let them lie