Bonkers had aged. Having arrived on these shores some time ago as a chirpy and feisty hoodlam the recent events had begun to take their tole. His mind wandered back to his youth and in particular the teachings of his old priest Father Tomassino - he recalled his Sunday school lessons and in particular the topic of what, in the eyes of the Church, constituted a "just war".

He pondered whether or not these teachings applied to his new found way of life...and whether or not they tended to be followed...he couldn't make his mind up...perhaps others in the community could share their thoughts...

In the eyes of the Church for a war to be justified it had to fulfil the following criteria:

• A just cause - for example to protect innocent lives
• Comparative justice - the atrocity of the war itself must be no worse than the original cause
• Competent authority - war may only be waged by constituted authorities (perhaps a godfather council)
• Right intention - righting a wrong, not making a gain
• Probability of success - only attack if you expect to win
• Last resort - have all peaceful avenues been explored?

Does this apply to our way of life?

My ancestors have certainly waged wars in the past to gain power and mafioso are rarely trusting enough of one another to explore a more diplomatic alternative.

This brings me back to recent events - was peace ever likely to last? Was it right for NY to move first - even though they were outgunned and realistically stood little chance of victory?

Sometimes paranoia gets the better of us, but then again paranoia has saved lives.

In their shoes I would probably have done the same, why risk it? Why not strike first?

But then the key issue for our community - last nights events actually ended swiftly. Once the odds were clearly stacked against them they key individuals lay down their arms or took their own lives. An honourable fight was had. But on other occasions underdogs striking first have led to drawn out conflicts that have wiped entire bloodlines from our shores, never to be seen again. Is this just?

It seems that the Church's teachings concerning a 'just war' do not apply to our way of life. What's a 'just cause' for example? I don't think we value innocents and their lives or livelihoods as the most sacred or important thing on our little list, while I'm damn sure that things like money, old feuds and paranoia all constitute 'just causes'. Comparative justice is also a joke for us - we don't have any problems with razing an entire city and all her crime families to the ground because of the actions of some lowly schlub who shot or insulted the wrong person. As for competent authority.. If you lead a family, then in my eyes you enough of an authority figure to wage war - hell, I'll even consider a rogue a competent authority. If you can do damage, you are competent in my eyes, eh. The 'righ intention' is the same nonsense as the 'just cause' bit - it's entirely subjective and no-one really cares about good causes, because in the end they still die and their sons 'n daughters are still going to be busy crying their eyes out and annoying everyone on the streets, because why the hell wouldn't they? Righting a wrong and making a gain are,from time to time, perfectly compatible. 

The probability of success is also rather irrelevant, really. If you know you're on the bucket list of 'big bad tyrant city', you sure as hell shouldn't sit back and twiddle your thumbs, nay, you should make a stupid daring batshit suicide run that's gonna hurt them. Yeah, you're gonna die and it's going to be nasty but hey, at least you got some of their shitty arses too.

As for peaceful avenues, well, they usually don't go past a few messages, coffee shops discussions and whatnot, before the paranoia kicks in or the 'why don't I just shoot them' mentality takes over, and rightly so.