Lucretia was nearly running circles in her secure office deep within the Den of Sin Casino in Las Vegas. Finally, she forced herself to sit down in the sofa, trying to calm down from the events of the evening. The adrenaline was still coursing strong through her veins, and she had to concentrate to slow her breathing. Finally, after Lucretia had concentrated on the idea that the worst was over and she could afford to relax once more, her body responded to her mental cues and calmed down with a violent shudder.

"Stu, get me a gin and tonic, will you? Oh, with a dash of lime juice instead of a slice to garnish? I know how long those sit out in bars, after all, and there's no need to cut one special. Anyway, I need something crisp to calm me down." Stu wasn't actually his name, but Larry knew by now not to call his boss out when she used the wrong name for one of her bodyguards. Heck, Larry couldn't keep all of them straight either, so how could he blame her? In any case, the boss wanted booze, so he'd get the boss some booze.

Finally, Lucretia was alone in her office. Of course, there were bodyguards at the entrance, in the hallways leading to it, and throughout the Casino as well, so she wasn't literally on her own, but what was important was the privacy. It left her free to muse over the last few hours' events for a while. Lucretia was never really free to do this unless she was alone: her preferred method was talking to herself.

"Criminey, I'm glad that's over with. Always, always, there's always something to throw a wrench in your plans. Sure, the guy on the inside tells you where all the bodyguards will be in Pedro Rourke's mansion so you can avoid them, but does he mention the cats? Of course not! Who would think you'd get sounded out by a cat hissing at you until it happens. All things considered, though, I think I handled that one nicely. A quick pistol-whip to silence the bodyguard that came looking and the rest was simple. Sure, killing a man in his sleep might be dirty, but no one's going to question its effectiveness. And no one's going to doubt that it needed to happen."

About this time Larry returned with the drink for Lucretia. "Thanks, Larry. Where did Stu go?"

"No problem, boss. It's been me here all along, boss."

Lucretia blushed slightly at this revelation. "Oh, I'm sorry Larry. I'm just a bit addled. Under the circumstances, I hope you understand. I need to make some private phone calls, would you mind waiting outside?"

"No problem, boss." At that, he stepped outside, leaving Lucretia alone in her office once more. There was work to be done. You don't just decide to kill the Godfather of Detroit without letting the right people know what happened, after all. People would think you just randomly snapped and started shooting, and that you were a threat to their own business. Besides, it's always better to deal with this sort of thing head on, rather than letting the press shape the story the day after. So as soon as she was alone, Lucretia picked up the phone and called Screaming Butterfly; Deimne wouldn't be awake at this hour and it was always best to let him sleep without any disturbances. The phone rang a few times and Butterfly answered.

"Hello? Scream? ... Hi, Lucretia here. How are you this fine morning? ... I'm glad you're well. Me? Oh, I'm quite stressed out, but I suppose I'm doing fairly well, considering my circumstances. That's what I called about!" A few seconds later, Lucretia laughed. Scream thought she was about to ask a favor. Lucretia always had a hard time deciding what dress to wear out to the clubs, and often called for advice. Modern fashion was not her forte. "Actually, all I wanted was update you on some recent events, let you know my side of the story and all that before the rumor mill takes over and butchers the story. Would you mind just listening for a bit so you'll know the truth when people come asking?"

And with that, Lucretia started her story. "So, to tell you the end of the story first, I shot Pedro Rourke, and along with some friends from another city, my guys are out there butchering the Detroit mob as we speak. But this wasn't just a spur of the moment decision or some bloodthirsty rampage, and it wasn't even my original intention. All I really wanted was to not to fork over exorbitant amounts of money to Pedro on a weekly basis. I was not his friend, I had no stake in continuing pleasant business operations with his city if it meant forking over a pile of gold every week, and simply put he wasn't strong enough to enforce his demands anyway.

"No, I didn't just up and shoot him when I decided that, though. You guys in New York know from experience that I don't just start shooting people because they have a tax, after all. Instead, I and my business partners originally sent Godfather Rourke a letter in the spirit of friendship, asking if there was any way the tax could be waived. We made sure to point out that such a friendly action would no doubt endear us to his city and be greatly profitable in the future if there were any reason he would need to call upon a friend. Apparently Pedro didn't think that was good enough. Perhaps were I in his situation, I would feel similarly. His tax nets him an awful lot of money.

"At that point, it was clear we'd need to do some serious negotiation regarding the matter. There was absolutely no way I was just going to walk away from the bargaining table with Pedro at a preliminary refusal. So from here I decided to continue the negotiations by reminding Godfather Rourke that at present, his city enjoyed a number of perks while visiting mine which were not reciprocated. Our cities were on an unequal business footing. If need be I could use my control of Las Vegas to level the playing field, but I hoped it would not come to that. I thought that perhaps appealing to his pocketbook would result in a counter-offer.

"It turns out, it didn't. In fact, after that second mail, I sat waiting eagerly for a response for several hours, but alas Pedro was asleep, and it was unreasonable for me to hope for one. Then the hours turned to a day. At this point, I confirmed with Godfather Rourke's secretary that he in fact had no mail sitting in his in-box yet to be read. Surely he was just searching for the proper words to express his response. Then the day turned into two. Maybe he was completely at a loss, and was conferring with his consigliere over the matter? Then two into three. I became annoyed; at this point, he should have at least let me hear some words of explanation as to why his response was not prompt. And three days into four. It was, by now, quite obvious that my message had been both received and ignored. Then four days turned into five. Apparently I, the Godfather of Las Vegas, was viewed with such contempt that Pedro saw no need to even inform me that he had rejected my offer. I apparently just plain didn't exist to him.

"Well, as far as that is concerned, I made him the one that doesn't exist. I made every motion possible so that it would not come to this. I would have considered myself quite in the right to have started shooting sooner, rather than even attempting to find a friendly solution. That I did, and was greeted with utter disregard for my position, sealed Pedro's fate in my eyes. I am, at heart, a business man, and war is, as a general rule at least, not good for business. But if someone is refusing to do business with me and treating me as pond scum, ignoring my attempts to further ongoing business negotiations ... well, at some point shooting them starts looking like a good business plan. I don't really ask a whole lot in terms of courtesy, but replying to my business-related mails and not snubbing me is one of the things I consider essential. So there you have it. That's why I shot Godfather Rourke. It was entirely preventable, and a shame that he didn't have the common courtesy or sense to stop it. I consider my hand to have been entirely forced."

At that, Screaming Butterfly thanked Lucretia for explaining her actions. After a bit of small talk the conversation was closed. Lucretia had other people to speak to, and she hoped that spreading the word as far as possible as fast as possible would ensure that few people got the wrong idea about the motivation for this little scuffle.

Drexl leans forward and kisses his Godfather's ring

I stand in awe of you, Godfather. It is truely an Honor to serve under your command. Enjoy your well-deserved victory. It was one Our World needed.

...so just to clarify....you decided to kill a Godfather, all his crew leaders and thier crews as a result of you not liking one of his city rules. A rule that has been in place for a long time. Then because he wouldn't change his city rule for you or reply to your mail you took matters into your own hands? Who do you think you are SciptaRourke or something??

Well it certainly will be interesting to see who makes the move to Detroit...Anyone like to place a bet that it will be an LV or Philly Don that sets up shop? Who would of guessed it eh??

It's not smart two offend two Godmothers when your fresh of the boat. 

Immortal_T, I think you will find that BigGuns is suffering from "Big Balls - No Penis" Syndrome.

It is a serious case that strikes alot of Thugs new to our shores nowdays. They believe that through their words (Using the Gods protection for 48 hours) they can cause trouble and insult anyone they decide. These thugs are the exact kind that will never have their bloodline amount to much, because they are so busy insulting people under the protection of the gods, they never make it to Goomba.

'It's not smart to offend two Godmothers when you're fresh off the boat. Nice work with the correct start of the sentence with It's though...well done.

I don't believe I was being offensive. Does anyone have anything sensible to say? After a city is plundered the first casualty is often truth and rational debate. I think it's more likely that 'truthful' responses may come from lower ranked member at this point as they have less to lose. 

Man with no name, that wasn't your tone when you just tried to member whore me for your little organisation and didn't like my response!

Please excuse my spelling, I sincerely apologize and hope it didn't offend you too much.

Godmother Lucretia_Borgia stated her reasons for the war, and I agree. It shows immense disrespect to ignore another Godmother's/Godfather's proposal even if you're the same rank. 

After a city is plundered the first casualty is often truth and rational debate.

I think that Godtucker(?) Borgia's choice to take action against the late Godfather Pedro has plenty of truth behind it. Why would a Godtucker(?) not wish to save themselves money on a Tax which, in honesty, Pedro's did not have the power to enforce. Sounds like the truth to me.

I think it's more likely that 'truthful' responses may come from lower ranked member at this point as they have less to lose.

Not true. Truthful responses come from any rank. The only thing more likely to come from a thug with nothing to lose is Disrespect.

Godmother Lucretia_Borgia stated that she had got a reply from Godfather PedroRourke, the fact was she didn't like what it said. So as a result she runied a city and dozens of lives...rational??

Try actually listening to Godtucker Borgia's speech?

A second mail was sent and Ignored.

I like how you just ignored the rest of the Speech. Maybe you should try reading the whole speech before coming to conclusions. There was another mail sent, which you would have known had you'd bothered to listen to the rest.

Big-Guns, I think you'll find that this thing of ours, the life we lead and the famillies we form are essentially brought about by a need to do business.

We happen to be in the business of crime. Regardless even of a letter being ignored, the business case for going to war as stated earlier was a sound one.

To answer Big-Guns, yes, that's exactly what I did. I decided that Pedro's extortion of two million dollars a week per family (or, with a "great discount rate" of "only" five million for everyone! What a bargain! It's only slightly more painful than a kidney stone that way!) was something I was not willing to put up with. I don't care about how long it had stood before I became a Godfather and had an opportunity to deal with the situation personally. The fact of the matter is, I started working to find a better solution to the Detroit situation almost immediately upon taking my new position. The main reason it took so long was my belief, apparently foolish, that my mails on the matter would not be ignored.

What exactly is your objection to this? Pedro bluffed. We called. He died.

My hearing is working perfectly, thanks for checking. 

Is it proportionate to kill a Godfather for disliking a long standing rule within thier own city? Or is there something much bigger going on here? The birth places of the new crew leaders of Detroit will answer this question.

I understood that the first mail was replied to by Godfather PedroRourke and seemed clear and easy to understand. He is not under obligation to repeat his refusal to change his own city rules to suit another Godfather/Godmother...

BigGuns, to clarify your point from Chicago's angle, Yes. That is exactly what happened.

There was something we did not like. It was a negative and unnecessary vig that was impeding on our profits. It was decided that Godfather Rourke did not have either the iron fist of brawn nor the velvet glove of democracy to enforce it. We tried to point this out with mails, but it seems the point was not understood, perhaps deliberately so.

Therefore, the sensible path was to illustrate that he did not have the resources to enforce this tax in the plainest way possible. Job done.

Mr Levenstein thank you your clarification and your honesty. 

From a work a day gangster days point of view this does still seem disproprtionate to take out a Godfather and all the city crews as a result of disliking a city rule. Surely part of the role of Godafather of a city is to set rules and implement them. Also in the event of a challenge to those rules to defend them and if needed refuse to alter them because of pressure from others. Some may say this shows strong leadership and strength of character.

He is not under obligation to repeat his refusal to change his own city rules to suit another Godfather/Godmother...

When you make a rule or Tax, you had better have the power to enforce it, otherwise why should people follow your rule? It's simple buisness, It made sense to get rid of someone whom was trying to tax something that they did not have the power to enforce.

"If you want something, and they are not willing to give, Take it."

War well fought Godmother. I am proud to have stood by your side during the attack.

You have given me a wonderful birthday present on this day.

Excuse me, Big-Guns, but this isn't just a "longstanding rule." This was a demand for money from other cities not justly earned. If I made it a rule that I could shoot anyone I wanted in Las Vegas unless they sent me all their money, how long do you think I would last before the other Godfathers put an end to it? Not long, I figure. That the Detroit tax lasted this long was a testament not to the fairness of the tax but to the historical position of the city as being either strong enough to bully others into submitting or friendly enough to request and receive. Well, that day in history is over, and so is the tax.