A silent cloud drags itself across an otherwise perfectly blue sky and the last patchy pieces of rain evaporate under the hot summer sun. RiverKing emerges from the Lions HQ and walks briskly across the city, anger strewn across his face, muttering obscenities under his breathe. Eventually he comes across a young Capo and pulls him aside

Excuse me young sir, but just to make it clear. I come from the old country where to disrespect a mafioso's funeral meant certain death. In this thing of ours, yes we are liars and thieves, vagabonds and murderers but we do have a code of conduct and there are some things that are strictly taboo.

Afghanmango was a member of my family and a friend. Do I condone his actions, no. However, he WAS a NYer and before he made his decision to go rogue, he was a well resepected member of our NY families. And to disrespect this man's funeral in ANY way is a disrespect to me and the family that housed and protected him.

Its as simple as this. A funeral is a place of respect, its a place where friends and family gather to pay their last respect to their fallen comrade. It doesnt matter if that comrade be Ivan the terrible, attila the hun or little bo beep. If you have nothing good to say about a fallen member of our society, stay the fuck away from their final resting place. You have no business there.

With that a car pulls up and RiverKing leaves the young mafioso standing there.

While I share your views on the practice of disrespectful comments in the funeral, one could argue in this case that the victim in question showed no respect when he decided to carry out his actions while endangering the lives of several men and women, and therefore has lost his right to a respectful funeral. While I don't hold that view, you have to take into consideration the man's actions - During his final breath, was he a man that deserved respect?

Every man deserves respect at his funeral. Like I said, it doesnt matter what his actions were or who he killed, what he said etc etc. Everyone has friends, everyone has family and a funeral is a place FOR THOSE PEOPLE ALONE. If you didnt respect someone or you didnt like someone, stand on your rooftop or your soap box and shout it out to the masses. But stay away from the funeral, it is a solemn ritual for THOSE who loved and honoured the deceased. Its not a place for the masses to have their general opinion.

You not only insult the memory of a man who can no longer defend himself, but you insult his friends and his family. If you really feel like insulting his friends and his family, do so on the streets or in the bars. But to walk up to them while they are in the process of laying their friend and family member under the ground and openly insult the deceased, for me anyhow, is a sure way to ask for a piece of lead to be inserted between your ears, and at high velocity too.

I don't condone afghanmango's actions at all. He made a bad decision and died for it. It's that simple, but to hear someone disrespecting him, and his friends is not acceptable. He was a friend of ours and we dont insult friends of ours. Others will come out and defend this disrepect, they will say it's well deserved. I totally disagree and I stand with Riverking on his thoughts.  Keep your disrespect away from the funeral homes, keep it away from friends and familes ears while they're paying their last respects.

The general rule of consensus is one must earn respect to receive it. While he did earn the trust of his crewleader and was promoted to a rank comparable to yourself, his actions, I'm sure in the eyes of many, were seen as despicable, even moreso for the victim of his shootings. There have been numerous dictators and tyrants in history - who had lead entire countries forcibly - and did not receive your definition of a "proper" funeral because of their actions - quite the contrary. While I understand the anger that you have for people leaving negative opinions at your family member's funeral, again, you must consider the gravity of his actions and the potential impact and damage he may have caused from them, as well as the scope of disrespect he displayed towards his city, his Don, and his Godfather.

I find it hard to give a man respect when I only had two encounters with him. On both occasions he tried to put a bullet in my head while I slept. Does such a man deserve my respect? A man who tracks you down, never having uttered a word in your direction good or bad, and then tries to send you on a one way plane to a grave? I highly doubt that. His actions beforehand have no matter when his finals actions were to prey upon the innoncent bystanders that have never even heard the man's name. I will not attend attend his funeral because I never knew the man. I will not go to his resting place to seek out a man who I never knew before and will soon forget after his time here. He does not deserve my respect nor should it be expected.

Considering the issue at hand here is respect, I would expect for you to show me, a former New York Captain, the respect of bringing the matter to my attention rather than publically telling one of my men to 'stay the fuck away' and accosting him in the streets.

That is the exact way it should be though shouldn't it HayDubs.

You have nothing good to say about the man, you didn't know him and as such you do not attend his funeral.

From where I stand and what I have been taught about funerals is that the man paid any devt he had with his life. He has a clean slate. A funeral is where you go to pay respects to someone. Not to piss all over his grave and upset those who did go to say one last goodbye.

Punishment? It was always death wasn't it? No. It wasn't. It was only death if you meant little in the grand schemem of things. You see, and this is more in the overall state of play and not aimed at this particular subject. If you know how to play 'the game' in this world of ours you can pretty much say whatever you want and get away with it. If you have the ear of a Godfather or a figure ranking twoards his equal you'd have to fuck up massively to even see more than a "don't do it again". If you did it again it'd be your 'last chance'. What I am getting at is as much as it's wrong to do this, this and that. You can come here and complain, rightly so, about subjects such as this but no-one important will ever die over something like this ********IN MY OPINION*********

You clearly still misunderstand me. Im not asking you to give the man respect. He is dead, gone. If you didnt like him or he did something wrong on you, thats another matter entirely.

But I am asking you to give ME AND MY FAMILIES IN NY respect. And Im asking you to keep your hatred locked up and not to come to the mans final resting place and use it as a forum to display your disgust or your hatred. Because by doing this, you are blatantly disrespecting myself and the whole of NY.

Like I said earlier, I do not condone the actions of my friend. Yes, he does not deserve the respect of the masses for what he did. But he is STILL a member of New York and a made member of New York. And that in itself deserves the respect of HIS friends and family. How the rest of the world want to respect or disrespect our member is entirely up to them, but keep it out of the funeral. There are other forums about for you to show your negative opinions.

This is a family funeral Im speaking about. A FAMILY funeral. You have absolutely no business there unless you have something good to say about our fallen member. It is a place where someones friends and family have gathered to pay THEIR last respects to THEIR fallen comrade. Do you really feel that just because you didnt like someone or didnt respect someone that this gives YOU the right to walk into a funeral and desecrate it in front of people with guns trying to pay their last respects. How can you think this is ok? Seriously?

Gwarble, I did actually go looking for you in the coffee rooms but I couldnt find you in all the usual haunts. And the reason I brought the matter to the streets was not to disrespect you or your family, but to air my thoughts on this matter.

This seems pretty clear cut to the Rock. Sure AfganMango fucked up, and he paid the ultimate price by taking the Perpetual Dirt Nap. As such this entitles him to a respectful burial. Every family the Rock has been in has had a rule saying no disrespecting a funeral, and usually breaking the rules is punishable by death. However, and listen up Jabroni, because the Rock does mean however. RiverQueen, Gwarble is right when he comes out here and says you fucked up. You should have went to Alf-the-Cretin's boss and told him of you issue, not ran straight to the streets and squealed like a stuck pig. You have disrespected Gwarble, and you have disrespected your own boss my friend, and if memory serves the Rock, that is another crime covered in the rules of every family the Rock has ever been in.

So to sum up. Afgan was a moron, Alf was a cretin, and RiverQueen is a tout, a grass, a squealer, a confidental informant, a whistle blower, a what the hell does it matter what he was, he's the biggest Roody poo Candy ass the Rock has ever had the misfortune to clap eyes on.

Hmmm, thanks for your input there Chris Rock, or is it just Chris or Rock, I can never remember.

Well of all the things Ive ever been called, a taut has never been one of them. Surely the streets is the place to discuss these things that are the backbone of our society. Great debate on these issues brings about method and education into the finer workings of our society.

If everyone kept their opinions to themselves and nobody spoke about the real issues, our streets would be empty indeed.

"But I am asking you to give ME AND MY FAMILIES IN NY respect. And Im asking you to keep your hatred locked up and not to come to the mans final resting place and use it as a forum to display your disgust or your hatred. Because by doing this, you are blatantly disrespecting myself and the whole of NY."


Where was the respect due to me, when afgan went rogue? Me being a fine upstanding member of New York I think mango would want to give me the same respect he was given by everyone else, but he did not when he disrespected my Boss and my family as a whole by buying out and going to a new city to set up shop.

He carried his family tag proudly as he shot at people for no reason at all, thanks for repping our something i love as you spit on it and disgraced it.

Did he deserve respect? He surely did before all of that, one bad choice over shadows 100 good ones.

He might have once been a respectful man but that is all gone.

Bringing it to the streets is fine, when the issue is resolved. You bring it to the streets before talking to Gwarble, then you taint your plea of disrespect. If you saw me kill one of Tyrion's Men in cold blood, would you go to The Dean and Tyrion first, or would you come to the streets and have a debate about it?

There is such a thing as common sense, and you either have it or you don't. It can't be taught, and god knows the Rock has tried to teach many a jabroni common sense. The Rock isn't calling you a tout for debating the issue, the Rock is calling you a tout because you didn't exercise common sense. You should have waited for Coplin, or Gwarble to appear, resolved the issue, waited 30 minutes or so out of respect and to allow Gwarble to carry out any in house cleaning he needed to perform, then had your little pow-wow in the streets.

And seeing as you can never remember what to call the Rock, the people's Champion, THE most electrifying man in all Mafiadom, allow the Rock to take a name just for you jabroni. You can call me, Mr Rock.

"...RiverQueen is a tout, a grass, a squealer, a confidental informant, a whistle blower, a what the hell does it matter what he was, he's the biggest Roody poo Candy ass the Rock has ever had the misfortune to clap eyes on."

Out of curiousity Mr. Rock how is he a confidental informant? It's been nagging at me to ask since I clearly cannot see it and to me that would be something quite serious.

 "There is such a thing as common sense, and you either have it or you don't. It can't be taught"

I think common sense may be able to be taught. Otherwise I am not sure how all my ancestors managed to screw up and I have outlived them.  Someone must have taught me some common sense.

If you could not find me in a speakeasy, I'm sure anyone could have advised you where to address any matter that requires my attention. I am rarely away from business for more than a day or two.

By first of all threatening my Capo at this funeral and then making it perfectly clear who this discussion was primarily concerned with, I do not believe that this was just you airing your thoughts on the general concept of eulogies in funerals. You are discussing a specific eulogy, given by one of my Capos. I'm a great believer in debate, however I do not believe this was a matter to be offered up to everyone, when the incident does not concern them.

I served the city of New York for in excess of 5 months, firstly as a man of honour, then as a Captain to then Boss SpaceMountain. I still count many within the New York hierarchy as friends, as I'm sure my Godfather and his advisors do, who served the city faithfully, loyally and diligently for even longer than I did. That is why we had been entrusted to make the move to Los Angeles by your Godfather.

The Capo in question here wasn't just someone moved up the chain without thought or promoted on a whim. Anyone who knows me can attest to that not being my style.

This man has been through a lot, actually making his bones within New York before we moved to Los Angeles. He has served me loyally and professionally from the very first moment he joined my crew, being the first member I invited as it happens. This isn't a two-bit thug to be threatened and accosted; this is a man who has made me, Los Angeles and New York millions and millions of dollars. This is a man who has been made.

You determine he is a young mafioso in need of your counsel on respect, when you had neither the courtesy nor the patience to bring this matter to me in private. You're here asking about respect, whilst openly threatening a Capo of my family, who served in the same city as you for the majority of his life. Where is your respect? Why do you think this is an acceptable way for a Consigliere to behave?

I have long standing ties with our friends in New York and if you have an issue with someone within my family, there are many people within New York who I would gladly sit down with alongside you to mediate any issue that you may have. We are men of honour, not hotheads out to have a pissing contest over any perceived slight. We deal with things as they are meant to be dealt with, especially when they concern a Capo.

~G~warble.

Mr. CRock, I can see from your dribbling that you get your kicks from coming to the streets and mouthing off offensively to whomever you think you can. But your dribble doesnt work on me. I am and always have been a man of honour within this thing of ours. I am neither a tout, taut, whatever the word is, nor I am in any way stupid, nor have I ever been.

Should you have an opinion of your own, one that you have come up with yourself. (We call this an original opinion), then by all means, step up to the plate and join in the debate.

Harmony, the Rock was expressing a point and using synonyms for the word Tout, on the off chance that some of the non natives, or if you will foreigners, would not be confused. Tout can have many different meanings depending on where you call home. A confidental informant is just another name for a tout, or a grass or whatever else you want to call it. Allow the Rock to withdraw the term and merely replace it with deponent.

And that isn't common sense you have learned Harmony, that is Genetic memory. If you had learned common sense, you would know the difference. Coming sense is knowing a course of action instinctively, you have a frame of reference to compare it to. If I do A, with the result B, C will happen.

Gwarble, when I am wrong I will admit I am wrong. I did not come to the streets here to 'air my dirty washing' as it were. I am certainly very familiar with the hierarchy and structure we have within our community, and with how we deal with our issues. But we are not speaking here about a killing or a witness statement. We are speaking here about one man walking into a place he had no business in and disrespecting the party of mafioso gathered there.

So let it be said, YOUR MEMBER came to MY FRIENDS funeral and butted his nose in where it wasnt wanted. Did he come to TheDean to air his opinions or his misgivings, no. He waltzed straight into my friends funeral shooting his mouth off like a child.

This act clearly upset me enough to bypass yourself and go straight to the mafioso in question and speak my mind to him. Was this wrong of me, in hindsight, yes, maybe not the easiest way to deal with issues. But I am human after all and have great respect for ALL my family members. You see for me, 1 stupid act does NOT eradicate 100 great acts. I prefer to look at the whole picture.

While I somewhat agree with RiverKing's general opinion concerning all funerals which, as I understand it, is one of those where if you've nothing nice to say about the deceased then don't say anything at all, I must agree with Gwarble and state that your methods aren't entirely acceptable.

Of course a funeral is a place where people should go to pay respects and grieve for the dead, I do not believe that anyone has the right to be able to go to a funeral and scream abuse and other such things at the coffin of a dead man. Perhaps the aggreived party who has no respect for the individual believes that the deceased individual should not rest in peace, but that is not for them to decide. You judged him in life, try not to judge him in death. I'm not a great religious man, but for the sake of argument I will say that we should allow God to decide his fate in death.

On your methods RiverKing, you cannot come out onto the streets to preach respect and get irate over a funeral of your friend because he was disrespected when you are disrespecting a Don of Los Angeles, a man of great power and very little wisdom. Sorry, slip of the tongue there. I intended to say a man of great power and great wisdom of course. You should have known better than to call it out on the streets before discussing it with the leader of the disrespecting individual concerned before you created a debate on the issue, as Gwarble has stated. No disrespect intended to you, but perhaps you should have thought it through slightly more thoroughly before arriving onto the streets on a whim, outraged and firing metaphorical pot shots at a Capo from Los Angeles.