There is something that can stop it. It's the same thing that has been preventing it since Deimne took up his post as Godfather. That is the respect and loyalty of his members. Those who are loyal to him will fight till their dying breath to protect him. That is enough to stop it. When that foe comes up to defeat NY, we will be there to defend the castle and ensure victory with him in the lead. Much the same as has been going already. You can only break an enemy if they are not unified.

Me putting spin on this?

Heyhoo little nelly. Back it up here. Where in the hell is there any spin from me?

I put the conversation, which was the reason for war, into full context. All of the events preceding this, which I outlined in great detail weren't to add weight to the justification of war, they weren't to make me look right, they were included to show that while the comment made by Don balian were wrong and ultimately deadly... the guy had some reasons to make them.

I'm not a fool. I know that when I slap a city on the wrist, hit them with a fine and tell the Godfather of that city that he messed up, it will have consequences. I'm not saying balian didn't have a right to say what he did, given the circumstances of me hitting him and his city on the wrists so many times in such a short period of time I'd probably be more surprised if he DIDN'T feel that way. But, when he makes those comments and they get back to me, he in his position as a Don of Las Vegas (not to mention making them in the presence of his Godfather who responds to the comments) gets his city condemed to death once they reach me. End of.

A play for power? You're joking? Even prior to the losses suffered in the Philly war, Las Vegas were about as much threat to toppling New York as Chris Vaughn's speaches are of making sense. That said, if a single member of New York is put in danger, I'm going to move to remove that danger. Could Las Vegas have wiped out New York? No chance. Could they have killed a few people that I deeply care about and will do ANYTHING to protect? Yes. Hence, they're dead.

So when telling me what my reasons were for war, do your homework first. Claims that I simply wanted Cryptic dead? Bullshit. Talk to the mans next of kin. The man had always been a close friend of mine. Someone who grew up under my wing and that I had a very close friendship with.

As for 'they weren't going to attack yet, you should have waited', dear god, are you an idiot? Actually, don't answer that. As I've previously said, I'm a cold heartless bastard. If you make a comment that you're going to attack the city that I love, I'm not going to wait. I'm not going to let you build and plan. I'm going to shoot you in the face so many times that you actually might look half decent when you're placed in that pine box.

"Balian certainly had no plans to war New York, as a LV Crew Leader who had just survived an epic battle, he was rebuilding and merely making a Hit Squad Channel comment we have all become used to."

So let me get this straight, talking about warring NY was such a common feat that you "all became accustomed to" and yet you wonder if Deimne had justified reasons to remove them?

Shasta:
"the victorious side finds it necessary to put on their 'i had no choice' or 'I was the reasonable one' hats."

Not really. He knows people get curious and he was in a generous enough mood to share a little info on what happened.

"The fact was, Cryptic was the only remaining force that could challenge your power. Iota and his water pistol? I think not. DirtyLittleWho? hmm."

You obviously were never shown the true map of this place. If you think Chi or LA have no power then your days were numbered anyway as you'd be bound to piss them off eventually.

"My only issue lies with the desire to make yourself sound like the innocent victim who had no other choice but to war with LV. It cheapens the whole thing."

What I actually see cheapening the whole thing is the sons of some people questioning somebody for ensuring the safety of his people. So he is not trying to be seen as benevolent, just protective of his city.

RIPLV, to be more powerful, you don't need to kill the people around you. I'm pretty sure that Deimne didn't need to start killing leaders to realize he was the most powerful person in this world right now. He only killed people planning to attack him and the people that did attack him.

As we have seen, Godfathers can fall due to a lucky shot of an untrained (or not so well trained gun) so why would Deimne wait to be shot at before putting down the threat no matter how small it is.

Look at it this way, he did LV a favor in killing them ASAP so they could start rebuilding sooner rather than later.

Hoopi put it brilliantly at one point with his sarcasm of NY having to wait and hope for the first wave to be a failure.

CrazyNine, you're right, it was unnecessary for me to include any comments about Iota or any other city for that matter. My first post was too emotional and ultimately clouded my original intent in making it and I apologize.

I never questioned Deimne for taking us out. I actually think it was a good leadership move to strike when he did. I think Deimne most recent speech would have been more satisfying if it were his initial comments. More passionate.

Seeing as my single aim here is to leave you with a sense of satisfaction, not to lay out the facts for people to understand and learn from, I'll bare that in mind next time.

I am not replying to anything other than WildTurkey here.

His comments along the lines of the people who grassed were just loyal to their dead leader. Er, no. If they were so fiercely loyal they would have stood and fought until their blood fell upon the ground. They didn't. They accepted an invite and as such decided to transfer their allegiance elsewhere. End of. Full stop (here --> .)

They were a rats grass or whatever else you wish to call such scum. They and those around them should be seriously questioning their motives for what they did because it certainly wasn't for the good of their families and would they be capable of doing it again?

I don't know who it was either. I don't know whos family they are now in. But if they were in my family they would be having a accident any day now.

Whatever you want to call them, they knew where their loyalties lay. People get the automatic assumption that once you join someone, you follow them to the end. This may be true of our customs, but that leader has to give them something worth dying for. They felt that Cryptic was such a shit leader that they had to act upon something. That... is truly the sad part.

His comments along the lines of the people who grassed were just loyal to their dead leader. Er, no. If they were so fiercely loyal they would have stood and fought until their blood fell upon the ground.

Cryptic didn't earn their respect, so they didn't fight for him. If a general can't earn the respect of his soldiers then they won't fight for him. They were loyal to the last person that they had respected as their leader, Lucretia_Borgia. Not a question of customs or traditions, just human nature.

And why should New York hold anything against them? They saved New York lives as Deimne already stated. They will have to make their name here, and Deimne will decide when they are trust worthy. Let him worry about his city.

It's not just disloyalty to a leader, WildTurkey.  It's a spit in the face to Cosa Nostra.  It is the most old and significant of our traditions - keeping your mouth shut.  Family business stays in the family.

If someone can so easily disregard the most important Cosa Nostra tradition, they can never be trusted.  Whether they respect their leader or not is irrelevant.  They should have respect for the foundation this thing of ours is built upon.  You should know this.

"It's not just disloyalty to a leader, WildTurkey.  It's a spit in the
face to Cosa Nostra.  It is the most old and significant of our
traditions - keeping your mouth shut.  Family business stays in the
family.

If someone can so easily disregard the most important Cosa Nostra
tradition, they can never be trusted.  Whether they respect their leader
or not is irrelevant.  They should have respect for the foundation this
thing of ours is built upon.  You should know this."

Exactly the point FlyingPig. Well said Sir. How could you expect the person who caused all the uproar recently could still be alive? Still walking our streets? Actually a member of the same city he reported to. Tell me that, please.

I am not saying that I condemn or applaud in either direction. I am saying that I can see the very human reason why they have have turned to this course of action.

Feeling tapped makes people act in odd ways at times do they not? Not excusing what happened at all, but if its to the point where 2 Crew Leaders, 5 Made Men + and 8 total members of Las Vegas wanted Cryptic dead it is not implausible that this would happen.

Emoretti, given that you have no idea of the events that lead to me gaining certain information (in fact, the only facts you do know are the ones I told you, yet still managed to get those wrong on more than one occasion), I'd prefer to see you not come out here and state your personal assumptions (from our private conversations, I know for a fact that about 80% of them are incrediably wrong.... hell, looking at the same conversations I even had to correct you on how many of your fathers members were in the room at the time) as fact.

Now, on a more salient point, what in the hell is a member of Saint Louis doing here or in certain coffee shops making quip remarks to me or my guys? It's a little baffling. If you care about the tenants of our cosa nostra traditions as you claim... I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be the case.

She looks at Shasta with a quizical expression.

Shasta right? Who the eff are you? Do I know you? Did I know your father?

She quirks her head to the right and tries to remember.

Well, if I did he didn't have enough of an impact to make any impression upon me...

She smiles sweetly.

You though... You can be assured that I will remember you for the rest of your days... Where do you get off making any disparaging comments regarding myself? You didn't bring my city into it directly.. You insulted ME personally.. Through insulting me you insulted my city of course. I don't take well to being disrespected.. I would think that a person in your position would be a little more thoughtful of your words, especially those spoken in public.. Thank you for apologizing to Crazy Nine.. Where's mine? Where is Iota's?

Since you feel you are capable and deserving of passing judgement upon myself I'd like to know where you have gathered all of the information used to base these assumptions is. Your father's diaries? Doubt it... I'm DirtyLittleWho remember.. Why would he worry about little ol' me? I'm of no consequence.. He never even met me. I'm pretty sure he didn't know Lana either.. Or Madejski... Or Misery. I don't think he took the time to get to know any of the Los Angeles leaders or our members... I highly doubt you've had the time to do so since you arrived on our streets not long after your arrival in the cities.

So here's a bit of history for you... That way next time you choose to insult my city, my leaders, or myself you'll have something to base it on. I'd hate for you or your children to be uneducated in the ways of Los Angeles.

Part 1: New York
I was introduced to a man named Will Hayes that had employed my mother... His father had been friends with her.. His grandfather a friend of my grandmother.. You get the picture. Well he offered me a job. I took it! Shit, I was starving and cold. Winter was setting in. While in New York I became reacquainted with Deimne (as children we played while his pops and my grandmother shot people together). He and I grew close... Will was taken from us by a foolish idiot that I shall save the embarrassment of naming.. Deimne trusted me and felt I could take over The Knickerbockers.. Not because I'm a pushover of course. Wars came, wars went.. He decided I was strong enough and my family was strong enough to head west... So we did.

Part 2: Los Angeles
Upon arriving in Los Angeles I looked around, took in the sights... AND went straight to work. Look where The Knickerbockers and myself are now.. Look where you are. See the difference? Obviously I have enough of something to keep us alive.

If it were not for Deimne I would not be where I am today.. None of Los Angeles would. We were all raised in New York after all. Now, this does not mean I have taken over Lucretia's title of lapdog, what this does mean is I respect and will always hold the bond between New York and LA close to my heart and remember it daily.

Unless you have spoken to myself, my members, my bosses, and their members for long enough to get to know our personalities, our strengths, our weaknesses, where we come from, what we believe in... Unless you have recorded EVERY shot we have taken, every bodyguard we have purchased, every trip to the range, every pocket picked.. Every appearance in the Streets or any other part of our world.... I kindly ask that you refrain from insulting ME again... as well as my city.

I hope that you can remove your head from your ass long enough to get up off those knees, brush off the dirt, and move on.

Oh, and the name is Dirty Little Sekrit. DLS to those I like.... Godfather to those I do not know. You may address me as Godfather of Los Angeles when you speak to me, of me, or in regards to my city and those that populate it. They are my family and I will fight for them tooth and nail... Just as Deimne would for New York and those of us he cares for.

You were included in my apology to CrazyNine. I admitted that what I said was stupid and unnecessary. You shouldnlt have to spell out your pedigree to anyone, let alone me. Being a Godfather speaks for itself.

Now can someone please kill me? I am astounded I've lasted this long having said the things that I have.

Rank up

You are obviously new around here.. You are too young to die... You have to be at least a Gangster to die.. Even then most won't kill anyone under 48 hours....

I am impressed, not, that you chose to directly apologize to Crazy Nine yet just group Iota and myself in like we are not as important... That is NOT an apology in my eyes. Something you may want to teach your children is how to show respect.. It doesn't mean you have to actually respect the person, just show it. One day I hope your bloodline learns that along with many other lessons.

Not if you sponsor me and HQ me (feel free anyone) Im actually pretty astounded that you would get dragged into a war of words by a thug. Why should my comments make you feel so insecure as to post your life story.

Oh hunny, you really are digging yourself a hole here aren't you? Instead of using that shovel to dig yourself deeper... Try using it to get out of the pit you are in.

It's nothing about insecurity... It's about education. It's about teaching you. It's about giving you information you can pass on to your children so they do not make the same mistakes as you have today.

She hands Shasta one of Fatman's sports socks.

See if you can figure out a way for this to help you before you get yourself into any more trouble than you already are.. Not everyone forgets the misdoings of one's parents.. Keep this up and you may guarantee your child a rough start in this thing of ours.

Well, firstly Shasta. I knew your father, he was a really good guy but he was, unfortunately nothing compared to who Godfather DLS is today and who she is renowned as. So, kindly do not sully her or the other Godfathers.

Secondly, Godfather DLS is definitely not insecure, an insecure person would never have the guts to survive in the Mafia and could never reach where Godfather DLS is today.

Thirdly,If you have a death wish, please feel free to raise your own gun to your head and blow your brains out.

Godfather DLS, I just want to ask you something,'Do I have to call you Godfather for sure?'

She grins at William and tries not to laugh..

You can call me DLS if you buy me a coffee next time you're in Los Angeles.... I'll make you that deal.

Thank You, DLS.... I mean Godfather

Smiles Shyly and then runs off to get a ticket to Los Angeles