Anselmo fears no cop, be it an FBN Agent, Detective, or lowly patrolman.  I speak openly about my crimes in the streets because I can.  No cop would dare darken my door with an arrest warrent.  Besides, many of us regularly bribe these law enforcement officials, making them a routine part of our payroll.  Perhaps certain Friends of Ours feel comfortable openly discussing their activities and statuses within This Thing Of Ours because the right people have been paid to turn a blind eye. 

Anselmo shakes sneakyrat's hand and procedes down the street to rob a bank in broad daylight with no mask

sneakyrat listens to Anselmo's reply carefully...

Yes Anselmo, i dont agree with you... but there are certain things like "Omerta" another word that came out of this cops mouth, that we should also consider. Even though we have certain cops on our payroll does'nt mean we should'nt be a little careful. Now, i am not one to hide... on the contrary. But i also think we should be wiser in our choices of words. But i respect your thoughs on this topic sir!

sneakyrat accepts the handshake with a smile, and a pat on Anselmo's arm!

What? Did i say i dont agree? Oh... sorry my friend, i meant to say that i do agree with you! Now i'll go get myself a cup of coffee!

"Ah, we should of course be wary in the words we choose, because they may be our last. But who's gonna' stop us if we don't. We're bigger than US steel, you can quote me on that if you like"

Albert punches an elderly lady in the face and sneaks off with her purse...

If you're being completely legitimate, then yes. It is very unlikely that any of us would ever be out on the streets discussing much of anything.

However, this place would be extremely boring if we did not make allowances for where we are, which I've said many times before. I personally couldn't care less if one of my associates said "criminal activities" or "business interests", why? There aren't any cops on the MafiaReturns streets, other than the ones who book you or slam the cuffs on you. Nobody here is going to be arrested for speaking in the Streets.

So, whilst you're technically right in a purely Mafia sense, obviously nobody would be stupid enough to come out here discussing mob wars, new criminal enterprises and the ascention of our friends to higher levels within Cosa Nostra. However, as this is MafiaReturns (OOC: a text based game, revolving around the forums in theory) how dull would it be if we stuck to this religiously?

I also don't think there is any merit in replacing the words people are using, if that is actually what is going on. Most people struggle to understand the concepts of the Mafia that we can follow and apply to our World, complicating it further, in my opinion, would be a mistake.

~G~warble.

I also don't think there is any merit in replacing the words people are using, if that is actually what is going on. Most people struggle to understand the concepts of the Mafia that we can follow and apply to our World, complicating it further, in my opinion, would be a mistake.

Although i respect you line of thinking Gwarble, but i dont believe respecting Omerta is complicating things. The ways we express ourselves is as important as our own activities. I dont think saying things like "I killed this guy because he did this..." is less complicated than simply saying "The guy made a mistake and was at the wrong place at the wrong time! I did'nt like him anyway". sneakyrat adds sarcastically, looking at the cop in the eye... if i had my gun at the time, i would've shot him myself! Come on man, what do you take me for... a criminal?

Now, how complicated is it actualy. It is simply taking things to a different perspective... and is it boring? I think not... but that, of course, is my own opinion.

Sneakyrat, even spelling those things correctly is making things overly complicated for a large percentage of the mobsters here. You give people far more credit than they deserve.

I can appreciate where you are coming from sneakyrat and I see your point to some extent.  I try and look at it like this when I hear other Mafioso and Leaders speaking openly about our way of life in the streets...

We live in a day and age where our city streets are swarming with mobsters.  Any civilians that may be in earshot of our conversation are smart enough to mind their business.  Some are even thankful that the Mafia exists in their neighborhoods.  They almost feel safer with us here, so they'll proceed about their business whever they see a Friend of Ours mount their soapbox or whatever platform they choose to speak from.  The cops don't care so long as their pockets are being lined.

Besides, it's not like these cops have any mythical technology such as wiretaps or listening devices that could be held against us in a court of law.  The mere thought of such futuristic magical equipment is laughable and absurd.  But I'd imagine that if it did exist, and the feds did have fictional tools like that at their disposal, Friends of Ours would be forced to be a little more discreet when speaking in public.

Within the context of the world we live in (MafiaReturns), the definition of Omerta almost needs to be slightly adjusted to keeping private Family business secret and off the streets, if you catch my meaning.

The way we express ourselves is in no way as important as our activities. If this was the case all the mute rankers in our world would still be at square one.

It is nice to approach things from an ideological perspective, which is what you're doing with this, but how does it work in practice? What are you going to do if someone says criminal activities instead of business interests? Shoot them? I doubt it. Are they going to be arrested? No. We don't have any police.  Therefore, what's the benefit/consequences?

You're advocating we do this to tie in with Omerta. Fine, where do you draw the line? Discussion of mafia business in public, which is pretty much everything discussed in the streets, shouldn't exist. Do you think your mythical police force are stupid enough to not realise that your 'business interests' are your 'criminal activities' when you advertise right on your chest; "DirtyLittleSekrit is my Godfather... -Lana-'s my Boss... i owe them both my life!" and "The Montreal Connection"? Maybe they'll start listening in to your conversations over coffee? Going through your mail? Try to turn members of your crew and get them to become eye witnesses, then what? "You were found guilty of 400000 counts of racketeering, have 30 years in jail"?

No mobster would have killed 250 Gangsters in broad daylight, but here we have people with way over 500 names on their gun. Where is the line on realism? We should all be able to trace our roots or we wouldn't get beyond Wise Guy. TylerDurden? Who the hell is that? Funny sounding Mob Boss.

This is after all my point; you can't be 100% legitimate by the very nature of MafiaReturns. You have to make allowances for where we are and what this is.

I appreciate the strive for realism, I really do. However, we have to make allowances for where we are or it starts being counterproductive to the purpose of that place (to have fun).

(OOC: This is a game that, in theory revolves around the forums. Omerta is an important concept in the traditional mafia, but as we have no law enforcement here, it really doesn't apply. We interpret this to mean the discussion of family business, rather than just our business in general. This in turn allows something of a blank canvas over the already underutilised forums. I would not want to advocate anything that further restricted the use of them in any way. Hell, I think some of the deletion of posts for referencing out of date products was ridiculous as it forced players away when we should be promoting and encouraging all type of activity from as many sources as possible. If someone wants to tell how they wacked Billy the Idiot, let them do it. It is personalities and relationships between characters that make this place worth bothering with from one day to the next. If dropping the ball from a realism perspective occasionally is the consequence of that, fine by me)

The only other thing I can add to Gwarble & the Pig's statements is that perhaps you're forgetting all of the business that is not spoken in public.  I'm sure you, as a LHM, know that the true business of this Thing of Ours is done behind closed doors. 

The streets are merely a way of keeping the masses satisfied.  A way to feed information without giving away the goose.  That includes the fuzz.  Dom shrugs, then smiles  This is an interesting subject to bring up, however.  I can see where you're coming from, sneakyrat, and if the fuzz were as much of as issue to everyone as they seem to be to you, I could understand why the way we speak would be a problem.  But it's not, so why worry about it.

"am i the only one in this line of thinking."?

Probably not, but I don't agree with it. Like Gwarble already explainedin length, concessions must be made.

If anything, I just try to be a part of the world I want to be in. For instance, my uncle Adrian had a thing for stepping on top of park benches and make grand speeches.

I don't recall when was the last time I was in the middle of the street when I spoke about my "businesses". I'm either at a bar and some important people just happen to be within earshot when I decide who is going to be my next auth. Or I'm in my office and somebody spreads the rumors about how I decided to move from SL to PH. I'm not really announcing it in the middle of the streets.

DLS is my godfather... sure, i lost my parents at a very young age and quite a few people had to take care of me. DLS wants to be called godfather, i believe granting her wish is'nt a crime. -Lana-'s my boss? Sure she is... it would be false statement to say that i am my own boss. It simply is'nt the case. I owe them my life... yeah i do, they nurished me and made me the man i am today. As for the montreal connection... just another compagny name like any other.

Godfather CrazyNine, i honestly say that i respect you as much as my bloodline respected your father. And whatever you choose to do, you just honor yourself and that is the most important. I am not here to change people's ways... i am here to see if others have the same line of thinking than i. To understand more about this thing of ours i choose to be the curious one. To learn what others think... i respect all thoughs on this topic and i appreciate the comments. And having the honor of a godfather commenting on this topic is extremely appreciated. Just like you, i am much different from my father. He hardly spoke in our streets and retired well before his prime, he had great potential... but blew it. So i have taken his errors upon my shoulders and made my way up doing my own thing. I chose a different route, i use the streets as a tool. I guess i am a cautious man, i dont think that is a crime. And i certainly dont think it is a mistake. It is the way i am, it is what got me to where i am today. We all have our own routes to follow, and our own ways to getting to where we want to go.

sneakyrat tips his hat to Godfather CrazyNine as recognition for his presence in the streets!

After listening to the fine gentlemen’s speech he starts to look back and think of how many times mis wordage while speaking in the streets has happened…

You have a good topic here my friend if I do say so myself, their has been countless times people have mis used there slang so to speak maybe saying things they shouldn’t have. Luckily word doesn’t find the police as fast as it find us, for example a new gangster comes into this thing of ours egger as ever, determined to work for a family and make money there is no doubt he is going to see some bumps in the road, even more to when it comes to our slang. At the same time in this thing of ours we have closer ties to the cops then people would think, there is no way the mass production of drugs or criminal organization could happen without being noticed or found or having dirtying a couple fingers on the way with that oh so beautiful illegal money. You are going to run into those die hards once and awhile but everyone enjoys free money as much as the next guy, including the police. Anyway just my two cents.. Thanks.

I'm going to keep this short and simple, when it comes to the law it aint what you know it's what you can prove. Also we line thier pockets so that they won't stop buy and if they do most time they only want a biger slice.