It's a cold and quiet night when Borkers steps out on his steps, to make his first formal announcement as Godfather Chairman of New York.

Ladies and gentlemen. I have two announcements for you all today.

First of all, from this point on Philadelphia is no longer to be considered an annexed city.

The reign Godfathers have decided that Argyle has shown enough to have earned the right to govern his own city. This means there are no longer any limitations to protection level or HQ size placed upon residents of Philadelphia. Any future auths will be handled by Argyle, as will any matter regarding this fine city.

I offer my Congratulations to Don Argyle as the new city head.

Borkers then pauses, corrects his jacket slightly before he continues.

As for my second announcement, I would expect some of you to be curious about the recent demise of Jigga and Shady_Sam.

We'll to be honest, that's something that's been building up over time, each time adding another piece to the puzzle. I'd go into details on this, but people were complaining alot about the depth of my RH's explanation of the BlackJack takedown, so I'll simply just leave you with a simple; Cause I could, instead.

That be all folks.

Of you are clearing out the free cities 4s there guys, you missed a crew.

I misspoke there, might be the booze I've been drinking.

You choose the worst crew to give a city to, while killing off the rest of Philadelphia.  Smart move there Borkers.

I'd go into details on this, but people were complaining alot about the depth of my RH's explanation of the BlackJack takedown, so I'll simply just leave you with a simple; Cause I could, instead.

There were certainly some people complaining about the length of the explanation, but many people (myself included) praised TsuDhoNimh for the thorough detail he went into. Or at least I intended to- perhaps I should have been more public with my show of support.

If, Godfather-Chairman Borkers, the sole reason for the removal of these two men and their associates was only because you could... well then that's all you need to say. There's no "legality" here where you have to prove anything in court. In the mafia, "I killed them because I could and I wanted to" is all you need.

I would be remiss, however, if I didn't mention that this announcement dismays me and respectfully advocate for the custom of offering a rationale in the streets. In my personal opinion, when a crew is removed it is fitting and proper to offer even a brief explanation in the streets- and I believe this customary precedent exists for good reason. And I'll just note in advance that I'm not applying every aspect of each of these reasons to this incident alone, but the general importance for an explanation after a takedown and why it's important to maintain this habit.

First, providing a good reason demonstrates to the entire society that you acted on a rational basis. We're not a bunch of rabid dogs, shooting every 45 seconds and measuring our lives in hours: we're organized crime. Emphasis on organized. Demonstrating that you had good reason displays your prudence to the rest of those in our business, and it reassures other crews that they won't be swatted away on a whim, which seems to be good for business as well.

Second, providing a reason should keep other people from making the same mistakes. In TsuDhoNimh's discussion of BlackJack's death, he explained the errors that BlackJack made and what he should have done instead. I have no doubt that there were people who learned quite a bit about how to carry themselves based on the content of that speech. Presumably, a good businessman would rather have people acting according to their expectations rather than constantly having to wipe people out for breaking those standards, and an explanation helps avoid situations repeating themselves.

Third, and finally, no one is owed anything. No one deserves anything. But do we want more bloodlines in our world? Or less? It's a harsh world: plenty of children, brothers, sisters wake up and find out that their father or mother died. I would submit that those who are not given a reason are far more frustrated and more likely to quit this life altogether. In a world where fewer and fewer people seem to be present in our world, I don't think this is insignificant, even if it is hard to prove without data. 

Yes, giving an explanation may result in people coming out and bitching. But even if one doesn't want to write an extensive essay like we saw earlier, I believe that our society as a whole gains more from maintaining this custom. 

I guess you must have not have read Kathryn's 3rd point. 

But lack of caffeine will do that for ya. 

I understand not many good coffee shops down in Phi...come up! 

Well take you to a coffee shop! 

She smiled happily, and bowed before Argyle. "Congratulations Don Argyle."

Vincent hears the brief speech Godfather Borkers gave and decided to say just a little on it.

" First off congrats Argyle, hope you do great things with Philly. Secondly Borkers most of the people bitching about the length of your hands speech were salty children who don't understands the cycle of things around here.  As you can see that type of people isn't who you killed in Philadelphia today. None the less as you said you could and you did. Fair enough, no missed shots or wack backs, I'd say you had a good takedown without error. Good luck to all who survived I hope you go far."

Vincent smiles and kicks back his feet waiting for the next fuck feast to commense.

Joe listened intently as various people responded to the Godfather's words and then cleared his throat to speak.

"I am not going to wade into the discussion about the length of your explanation on the take down except to say that I believe my own Don Kathryn made a few excellent points."

"The real reason I am saying anything, however, is to congratulate Don Argyle on his accomplishment. I do not know the Don personally and I am not aware enough of the goings on of Philly to really comment on how things are but I do know that if you gained the trust necessary to be given the nod to run the city you are obviously doing something right. Congratulations and best of luck to you and your family."

Argyle agreed to the sacrifice of those two families in exchange  to Govern PH.

It was an extremely cool day in Philadelphia, the kind that you recall for years after as that damn day when it was really cold outside for a lack of a better description. Argyle huddled over a fireplace, or rather, a few logs burning outside that were rammed so far down into a trash can that if you squinted it all kind of resembled Chocola on Valentine's Day; fire blazing and all.

That's when it all happened.

He could barely react before the two... no, five... no, eight! men snuck up from behind him, completely incapacitating the dashing young sport before he had any time to react. Taking his whiskey and stamping out the fire, when Argyle finally had awoken, the entire scene was so different, as too was Philadelphia. Sam and Jigga lay dead and he was the sole proprietor of an entire city. There was not much left to be said, and so walking over to his headquarters he began the renovations to fully accommodate such a large change.

I would like to thank New York for giving me the opportunity to run Philadelphia. There had been a lot of wondering from me on where this would all lead, at times everything seemed somewhat fruitless, but today I can hold my head high and...

That's when the pain in his neck began acting up from the entire ordeal just a few hours prior. Trying to force his chin upwards as to not look like a liar, Argyle finished the rest of his speech with much aplomb.

...say that I will do my best to make this city into what I believe it can be.

Dropping his head downwards he took a brisk pace back to his headquarters so that he could continue working on what his vision for Little Caesars is. The largest Pizzaria/Crime Syndicate that Philadelphia, nay, the entire world has ever seen before, it would not be an easy task but it was just the kind of thing that Argyle was born to do.

The King... of Pizza. Has a nice ring to it.

"If, Godfather-Chairman Borkers, the sole reason for the removal of these two men and their associates was only because you could... well then that's all you need to say. There's no "legality" here where you have to prove anything in court. In the mafia, "I killed them because I could and I wanted to" is all you need."

Oh sweet Katherine who lives under a rock.  Hopefully you will rest well under that rock.

You're kidding right? You praise TSU, or should I say take the words of another and call it good business and you support Borkers who revealed no business aspect what-so-ever to this wipe out?  Living under a rock sucks. I like to equate that to being have your ass wiped for you. When is your next campfire sing along?

"The reign Godfathers have decided that Argyle has shown enough to have earned the right to govern his own city"

Beings the favour system has been brought back by supposed requests, which I cannot find,  the very least you could do is support your claim on this decision from the reign of Godfathers.  Beings the only claim you have is the buddy system, we understand this speech with no substance.  I am surprised Disorder did not give the speech.

"You choose the worst crew to give a city to, while killing off the rest of Philadelphia.  Smart move there Borkers."

Argyle agreed to have them killed to govern PH now.

"If, Godfather-Chairman Borkers, the sole reason for the removal of these two men and their associates was only because you could... well then that's all you need to say. There's no "legality" here where you have to prove anything in court. In the mafia, "I killed them because I could and I wanted to" is all you need."

Oh sweet Katherine who lives under a rock.  Hopefully you will rest well under that rock.

You're kidding right? You praise TSU, or should I say take the words of another and call it good business and you support Borkers who revealed no business aspect what-so-ever to this wipe out?  Living under a rock sucks. I like to equate that to being have your ass wiped for you. When is your next campfire sing along?

You were correct in saying that I did praise TsuDhoNimh's thorough explanation in BlackJack's death. But regarding Borkers speech, I did my best to advocate for what I consider is an important tradition: providing good reasons  in any case when a crew is removed, and I think I made my case as well and as respectfully as I could.

Acknowledging the reality that nothing and no one can or will force Borkers or anyone else in the future to provide reasons does not invalidate the other points that I made about why I think giving these reasons would be beneficial.

Saying that no one is forced or required to give an explanation is not the same thing as saying that no one should.

So if you think that I'm praising TsuDhoNimh for giving an explanation and praising Borkers for not giving an explanation, then you either misread what I was saying or you're willfully distorting it- because I think I was pretty clear in my original comment. 

There were certainly some people complaining about the length of the explanation, but many people (myself included) praised TsuDhoNimh for the thorough detail he went into. Or at least I intended to- perhaps I should have been more public with my show of support.

Always.

I've very fragile confidence from my years of bullying, apparently. I need the validation of others, just like MonsterHair needs conditioner. It's a never ending cycle.

If, Godfather-Chairman Borkers, the sole reason for the removal of these two men and their associates was only because you could... well then that's all you need to say. There's no "legality" here where you have to prove anything in court. In the mafia, "I killed them because I could and I wanted to" is all you need.

I'm not sure if you misheard of possibly arrived late Don Kathryn, but you'll probably be glad to hear that was explained already.

For anyone that did miss it, there's a big difference between something being the only reason and something being the reason given. You seem alarmed that it might be the 'only' reason, but you need not worry about it. As Godfather Borkers was good enough to share it wasn't the only reason. Just the only one needed to give.

"Why?" I hear so many of you gasp with anticipated excitement. Mainly because this stuff has been covered ad nauseam already. Also because that's all he needs to offer should that be his fancy... but it's mainly the being sick to death of the same stuff being rehashed time and time again.

When the option to step up in an open city was first proposed, when the standing leaders did a Q&A on the open cities, when a reigning Godfather gave guidance on what it takes, when the same Godfather explained exactly what happens when a leader didn't achieve what was required in an open city, in the absolutely fantastic The Potato which we're all waiting on future issues of with baited breath, and most comprehensively when Don LuciusSweet was kind enough to do us all up detailed handouts the entire system has been explained in detail time and time again.

Taking it all a step further, I personally offered multiple talks on how important it was for leaders to build bridges in this thing of ours. Not just once, not just twice, but on three separate occasions giving three separate topics of discussion.

So what happens when bridges aren't built? What happens when the favor isn't earned? What happens when leaders don't achieve what they are told is expected of them?

It should come to no surprise to anyone that each of the parent cities closely watches what happens under them. It should come as no surprise that most of us watch what happens all around us too, as any good leaders should. We often sit down and discuss these things. We talk to the leaders around us, we talk to leaders all over and we ask ourselves to come to a measurement of the ability and the potential of what we see.

What happens if leaders and trusted friends are asked would they vouch for one of those removed? Silence. What happens if they were asked if they'd trust one of those removed? Silence, in spite of this being a far less onerous measure. What happens if they were asked if the leaders removed were making a positive contribution to the community? A resounding chorus of "Seems like a really nice person". That's it. The grand total of the contributions made was this. So what happens when all of this happens? It should be pretty obvious. It means "I could". Hell, if Borkers weren't so damn humble and polite he'd say "I must", but he's probably worried he'd have hurt some feelings. He's all sweet like that.

Now, don't get me wrong. I was one of the voices that said exactly that. They both did seem like really nice people. I imagine, under different circumstances, either or both could have been people I might have called a friend. Possibly. I'll never know?

This one wasn't personal, it was business. Avoiding fucking up and being 'nice' isn't a sure ticket to staying alive and earning the right to have a family. It's the bare minimum to stay alive. The goals, the aims, and the expectations are higher than that. Our world needs them to be higher than that. Earning a family and the right to guide the hands and minds of this thing of ours for the future is a huge responsibility. It's damn hard.

There seems to be a lot of confusion filling the streets at times about this point. Nobody gets the right to do crime in the cities without living up to the expectations of those that control those cities. Nobody has the 'right' to do what they like in a city. They earn it. They keep earning it. Or they lose it. That's how cosa nostra works. We have a hierarchical system where this is a fundamental part of it. I'm not sure if it's genuine confusion over this point or simply those in mourning willfully choosing to ignore it at times, but it's a fact.

*Thinking back on all he had just said, Tsu realized there wasn't a word of this that was new. It was all stuff that had been mentioned before, discussed at length before and that he wasn't adding anything unique or expanding upon it. He wished he could, but it had been covered pretty damn well in the past so he was pretty much stuck just listening to the dulcet tones of his own beautiful voice at this point. It was so pretty, though, he was sure everyone would enjoy it just as much as he did.*

So yeah, as was said before... "Cause I could".

On the other hand to all of this, Don Argyle managed to achieve the targets put before him. He managed to earn enough trust to have people speak up for him. It should be noted that these aren't people with long term bloodline friendships, those we would be happy to ignore as a vested interest, these are people he made a positive impact on in recent days with recent work. Exactly how it should be done.

Bitter bullshit claiming otherwise is no surprise, but none the less is bullshit. He managed to make positive contributions that had people speak in their favor. He managed to get his family contributing along with his own activities. He managed to earn the keys to the city he stood in. I'd like each of those flapping their lips towards either Borkers or I on how we might choose to address a topic to pay the man a little bit of the respect he deserves for what he has achieved. It sure as hell wasn't easy. We raised the bar on expectations with each step. Each time he managed to exceed them. Well done Argyle, we wish you all the best with your city.