Oblivion zooms around the corner atop his wonderful black Indian motorcycle, he may sell out and ride, but he sure as hell wasn't going to sell out and buy a Harley. Half-ass manufactured if you asked him. Indian was the way to go. He pulls into a shadowy alleyway and parks gently before wandering to the corner to look at crates. He picks up many, throwing them away almost as swiftly as he grabs them. This one needs to be perfect. He finally finds one that has but a simple creak, with minimal if any blemishes, and carries it out into the middle of the street, completely oblivious to the light traffic zooming around him staring at him as though he has completely lost his marbles. He sets it down softly and steps atop of it before rising his left leg as high as he can and bringing it down with such a thunderous crash that the crate crumbles beneath him. He looks around at the new gathering of people staring at him and grins.

Ah! Now that I have your attention, I have something to say. Hypocrisy. Liars. Players. Cheats. How about those that take on the mantle of Made Man, those that give their very own blood to be a part of something, and then spit in the person's face that gave them this opportunity? I have recently came across some journals of my father, and those of my grandfather, and these very journals have shone a very nasty light on an alarming event. I would like to know everyone's opinion on the matter.

If someone makes a promise, an iron-clad agreement, a bond in blood, and then goes back on everything they said to that person, let's use an example. My good, old, ancient friend T, he promises to work with all the ability he has in him for family A, for the first few weeks of his employment as an associate, he does just that. He works his ass off to be the best mobster he can be. Family A reaches the decision that T has truly earned his place. They make him a Made Man. He is then given certain facts about the family, certain privileged information that simply could not be obtained outside of the inner family. Let's go as far as to say he is even given the prestigious rank of Left Hand Man. Then he gets lazy. He's still about the headquarters of course, he still shows up, but the envelopes stop rolling in. The contracts given to him, they're no longer getting completed. He still listens in at private meetings, but there is a certain far off stare to his eyes. He's listening, he's taking in, but he's not contributing. 

Fast forward a bit. T decides that he has accomplished enough, done enough, that he wants to run his own operation. He leaves to a free city, with all of the privileged information that he has obtained, and he sets up shop so to speak. Everything seems fine, his hypocrisy forgiven but not forgotten. Then you start hearing whispers, T isn't happy being a leader. He wants to trade facts to be spared, to be allowed back into a new family. He wants to join someone else, and he wants to obtain safe passage by giving up the secrets of Family A. 

In my humble opinion, T has now become a hypocrite, a liar, a cheat, a player. He has now completely gone back on every promise he ever made to Family A. He has violated Omertà. 

So my question to the community at large, how should T be handled? How should any hypocrite be handled? Of course the easy solution is death, and then his son begins anew, a new cycle of doing the same thing as his father. Like father, like son some may say. Can the son of a hypocrite learn from his father's mistakes? Can the son be trusted to not make those same mistakes? I look forward to hearing some opinions on this.

Oblivion steps back from the circled gathering around him and dusts off the bits of wood on his left leg that he had failed to notice while he was rambling on.

As Raoh was heading down the streets of LA, his thick collar turned up, he noticed Oblivion discussing an issue that was extremely important to his views on Omerta and what it meant to become 'Made' and decided to stop and give his own opinions on the matter.

Good day to you Oblivion,

Trust, respect, commitment, these are all things which represent how we should live our lives in this world. As a new recruit, you should spend those initial days meeting your family, learning the ropes and understanding what you can do to be a positive contribution. Those who work hard and prove themselves over time are usually then accepted into the inner circle, the true family of Mademan and above. Once this happens, your life should be given for those around you and their protection should be your primary goal. This is the way I have always lived and the way my Fathers before me did too.

Now, to discuss your point specifically, what happens in the event of the example given. The leader of a family should always know the individual in question before giving them their button, this should never be in doubt. Can we live a life constantly in doubt that they have some ulterior motive? No. We must believe in our own judgment and the character of the person stood in front of us. If there is a glimmer of doubt, then that should be dealt with accordingly, perhaps only feed certain details etc. Should you later on find out that a Mademan from your family sold you out, then in my opinion, this should result in their death. Omerta is what we should stand by, its the biggest code we have in this world.

In regards to the children of that person, I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. A new life is exactly that. It's a chance to start again and right the wrongs that may have been made in the past. Should there be a repeat of the same events, then this would be cause for alarm and I would find myself no longer able to trust them, or willing to put the safety of my family at risk for this.