In this thing of ours you have vital concepts forced upon you from the moment you set foot on our Streets. Honour. Respect. Family. These concepts, sadly, are lost on many people and it is sad for me to witness.

By the nature of our business, we all understand the importance of joining up with a crew for protection. This crew allows you to have a little action going without stepping on any toes and in return you give this crew a taste of whatever you make. This is a very simple concept at the lower levels of our thing and one (I hope) that the majority of people comprehend. If you don't, our organizations have a feudal structure to them, as I've kindly demonstrated for you here.

Money and respect go up the pyramid and shit flows down. This means that you pay your dues to your sponsor, then to your Capo, then to your Boss, then to the Street Boss, then to the Godfather until you're the head honcho yourself. Shit on the other hand, flows downhill, meaning that the lower you go the less important and less meaningful responsibilities and tasks you're left with. This is the nature of our thing. Now, with this in mind, knowing that at the lowest tier you have the worst of everything, meaning you get the shittest jobs, the least responsibility and the least power, why would you risk offending someone towards the top of the pyramid right away?

What am I talking about? I'm talking about when you choose to join an organization. Tyrion recently gave a history lesson and then just a lesson on a street corner not too far from here, regarding the way things used to be and the standard that the very elite expected to adhere to. Unfortunately, it didn't end with being silent as a leader, it stemmed a lot further than that into, amongst other things, recruitment. Whilst this is something of a taboo topic in this day and age, but I feel this needs to be addressed.

In the old country, leaders got clipped over their recruiting practices, some for whoring, some for trying to poach members of other families and some for taking on associates who had approached multiple crews. Today, I was approached by a young man keen to impress and to start making his money working out of LA. Of course, as Street Boss, this was way below my level and I promptly dispatched one of my men to speak to this man, see what he was capable of and whether it would be worth our while to put him to use. Imagine my surprise then when this friend of mine returns to say that he hasn't had chance to speak to this guy, because he's found himself work in another city entirely.

This constitutes a slap in the face. When you approach a leader, a sponsor, whomever about joining their crew, it is supposed to be a huge step for you in your career in our thing and it is for life. You are not supposed to approach everybody and hope for the best. This is probably the most important decision you will ever make. How then, will any crew do? How can it not matter who you run with? Are you that desperate to get into a crew that you'll join the first person who invites you to do so?

I would suggest that any civilian about to embark upon a life in our business ask themselves the following questions: Who do I want to join? Why do I want to join them? What am I prepared to do to be a part of this crew?

The first of these questions can be solved by any number of reasons. Who is the most powerful? Who is likely to have the most opportunity for me to progress? Who takes care of their members? Who are my contacts with? And so on. The important thing is that you think about it. Not everyone is the same, not everyone has the same opportunities, intelligence, ability and standing. These will make a huge difference to you in the long run.

The second question, 'why do I want to join them?' is entirely personal to you and you need to consider what you want out of this life. Look around for the things these leaders say and how they act. What do you know about them? What do you know about their crews? Could you succeed with them? Could you surpass them? Could they benefit you? Could you benefit them?

The third question 'what am I prepared to do to be a part of this crew?' is what you should ask yourself once you have made your decision on who to join. Once you have studied the evidence before you, examined the organizations, considered the cities, evaluated the position, capability and intelligence of your prospective crew, and then you need to impress them. You should only have one crew that is right for you and you should endeavour to impress that leader/sponsor into wanting you to become a part of their organization. As a friend of ours has aptly put it 'your words are all we have to read you by, so make them count' - with this in mind, why is 'hey can I join you?' a good representation of what you want to be? They will consider you a moron.

I would suggest to any sponsor/leader who believes it is acceptable to recruit a petty thief who has approached every other organization, that they evaluate themselves and what they want their organization to be viewed as. I'm tired of people approaching me, everyone else and then joining whoever responds to them first. This sort of behaviour used to earn the potential member a bullet in the head and if a leader persistently recruited people after they had approached someone else, they could wind up getting clipped too.

In this thing of ours you have vital concepts forced upon you from the moment you set foot on our Streets. Honour. Respect. Family. Learn them. Live them. They are much more than empty words and tired ideas that do not apply to you. They are what seperate us from the common scum bags and make us what we are.

So you want us sponsors to go around asking other sponsors if they've been approached  by someone who's sent you a request?

You see the man walk out into the street and begin to speak the crowd standing before Gwarble at the podium

My father once told me a story of one of my ancestors and how he was a street boss comparitively speaking to the diagram shown by Gwarble. But the story was, my ancestor, was attacked by the acting Godfather of the city he was setup in. The reasnoning behind said attack was because he had brought a member into his family that had approached a different city requesting to join them. Now obviosuly, this was not my ancestors fault but it STILL lead to his death.

So back in the old days it seems things were much more strict. Maybe this speech will reach some new peoples ears that are coming off the boats and make them think twice about expending a resume towards a city until they are absoluetly sure thats whom they are willing to commit there life to protect and everyone inside said crew.

Very good read Gwarble.

You see the man extend a cigar to Gwarble as he lights his own

fulmineo, I don't think Gwarble was meaning to that extent. But if someone approaches multiple cities, and you are notified of these events, actions should occur is what I think he is trying to put across.

fulmineo, where did I say that was what you should do? There is no need to grossly exaggerate what I'm saying.

What I am suggesting that you do is find out about the intended member so as not to devalue your entire organization. "Why do you want to join our crew?", "have you approach any other families?" etc.

fulmineo, you don't think that asking how many other requests the guy has made is a pertinent question before you sponsor him?

If not, with all due respect, I'd suggest that you don't know the guy well enough to sponsor him.

Glancing at the diagram Gwarble presented, Tyrion promptly spat his coffee all over his suit. After some moments making a peculiar combination of choking and giggling sounds, he wiped off the spray from his suit and resigned himself to having to buy another. Again. Looking at his friend with a wry smile he ventured some experience on the subject in hand.

Ok. That's the third time you have made me lose valuable coffee over a valuable object. Next time it will cost you a fine fillet and an expensive red wine. Now, to your points...

Your advice to anyone looking for a home and a start in this life should be pasted in every city, on every dock and stuffed into the hand of anyone arriving on our shores. The gravity of the decision is only amplified by it being the first major decision anyone will make. Day one and day two of any new life are all about making what will in all probability be the most important decision they will make in their life. It is not something to be taken lightly. Any new arrival listening to this should heed Gwarble's advice. You have 48 hours. Do not rush. Take your time and evaluate all the options open to you. This can not be stressed highly enough.

Taking a relaxing drag of his cigarette he went on.

I have also encountered the type of applicant you mentioned. The one that has clearly put in 0 effort. fulmenio, you ask how we can know if someone has applied to more than one crew? Quite apart from most leaders speaking to each other, I can give you a classic example. I had a mail arrive on my desk from a new arrival. I opened it expecting to find an introduction and a request for work in return for a home. Instead I got a large white page with 'Can I join ur crew?' scribbled in the middle of it. As desperately unimpressive as this was I am not in the habit of ignoring people so I replied, instructing the young man to go and speak to one of my sponsors and advising him to put in a considerable amount more effort if he wanted to impress them enough to take him on. I got a reply saying he understood and that was that.

A short time later a mail from the same individual arrived on my desk. Opening it I found a carbon copy of the first mail I had received. 'Can I join ur crew?'. I was amazed that not only had this person clearly been mailing the same moronic request to anyone he could find, he hadn't even had the common courtesy to keep track of who he had and had not mailed. I was given no option to reply and inform him that my initial offer had been retracted and my sponsors would not be taking him on.

Gwarble is right, it needs to be stressed as much as possible. Joining a family is the single most important decision anyone will make in their lives. It will determine almost every aspect of your entire life. Please give it serious consideration and serious effort when choosing and approaching the family you want to be a part of.

Thanking Gwarble for his speech, Tyrion raised an eyebrow and looked down at his spoiled suit jacket and shirt.

I like my fillet rare.

Winking at his friend he went into a nearby cafe to clean himself off. After instructing one of his guards to quire him a clean suit and shirt, he returned to his seat.

In times of old multiple request's sent to every crew leader was not acceptable,nor whas this behaviour something that was common,the simple solution to this was;it was made clear and practiced that it would not be tolerated.This is something all of the crew leaders and godfathers all had in common and a unity amoungst them all would allow these situations when the came up to be instantly sorted out.

To fulmineo, i think your response was one of rash, its not a case of "So you want us sponsors to go around asking other sponsors if they've been approached  by someone who's sent you a request?" its purley the principles of which we base our life upon and thats respect, which can be rectified with a little common sense,and unity.

In days of old,alot of effort and thought whent into an application for employment, and only the best amoung them would be accepted,after all first immpression's are all we have to go on,i used to and still do take an extreme amount of pleasure in thinking up what my next application will consist of,that im sure gwarble can confirm if he can remeber all those months back. However i think these days now suffer that fate, because of the lack of need to impress,just the rush to get sponsored,unjustly or wrongly,with famillies taking them, maybe because numbers look good and the more bodies with-in that crew the better? no not really!

As am sure we are all aware of the laws that we can now member whore,to wich i think has a lot to answer to. I feel in allowing this to happen that we contradict the very principles of which we set our rules,its blatent disrespect tgo all parties involved.

A question i would ask; why as a crew leader would you be interseted in taking on a thug.associate if the man/women in question as asked 80% of the crew's here?,does this not show who you are dealing with, first impressions hey? There should be something with-in the citie rules that we directly out law this type of behaviour,this is something that all crews in my humble oppinion should be unite and back, lets set the rules and not allow this to happen,most importantly practice what we preech.

I couldn't have put it any better myself Gwarble, it is an issue that has trouble me for a long time now but i never really knew how to talk about it. Luckily, you have the answer.

Not so long back, a mere civilian came to me asking for a place in my crew. I replied asking him what he could offer my crew and why he wanted to work for me. He promptly replied with, "Sorry, got a better place to go" This enraged me, when i first came to these shores, that sort of attitude was unthinkable, never mind stood for.

I then continued to inform his new Crewleader who had no idea of this kid's exploits. It later turned out that this guy had a serious attitude problem and was shot for it. Skin off my nose, not at all. In this instance i missed out on nothing. But still it stands to reason that this attitude cannot be accepted.

I personally can say, there is no place in my organisation or Las Vegas for any potential mobster who engages in such practices.

This is something I would have to agree on, I believe, albeit from a quite miniscule perspective as I am new to these particular shores, that the offer should come both ways. Though ultimately a leader should make a decision from a full family view point. What is the point in having 'x' amount of members if each and every one does not contribute to te family as a whole. If I ever have the honour of having my own family, passed to me from my family head of course, I would ensure that only an elite amoun tof members be allowed in.

Then again, we have seen in times gone passed infiltration methods falling families from within, again this should be a lesson for recruitment. Trust your closest commrades only, or, this can be a double edged sword as you could keep at arms length potential godfathers.

I didn't mean to sound rude. If that is how I sounded I apologize. I just wanted to know what you would do in that situation and what you have done. (Perhaps I should've said that instead)

But I do understand what you mean by these Civilians joining this thing of ours by sending out random requests. But I think I understand why though. I mean from the very beginning they are told that if you don't get invited to join a family in seven days...your eligible to be killed. So they're are in a rush to join. Some of them might not have had the Luxury of having a Father Involved in This Thing Of Ours to teach him the ropes. Wouldn't you want to find a good family to join as soon as possible? Granted they should find a good family and not send out requests to every  CL they see, and show respect and all that Good stuff.

fulmineo, I don't think Gwarble was meaning to that extent. But if someone approaches multiple cities, and you are notified of these events, actions should occur is what I think he is trying to put across.

I'm not entirely sure that is what he means, Sticks. That's some murky water to tread. I see your point and recognize the frustration of such an occurance, but in some cases it's not as cut and dry as that.

Here's where I see the lines being blurred, to the detriment of the 'fresh off the boat civilian' if any practice such as 'taking action' were to be adopted as an unwritten law or country-wide policy for incidents such as these.

Say I'm a civilian. I am looking for a crew to offer my services. I approach a leader and tell them a bit about myself; I'm hard-working, dedicated, they won't be disappointed, and all the other horseshit you say when you approach a leader for an invite. But I also have a few questions of my own. I ask the crewleader a bit about what would be expected of me and the leader responds with something that would be an automatic turnoff for me. Let's say the crewleader tells me I need to make a minimum of X amount of street appearances in order for me to be considered for formal initiation into the Family. Cheers to any leader who has a street appearance requirement, but it is not for me. In the meantime I'm also speaking to another leader and ask them a bit about their structure and philosophies about This Thing of Ours. The answer I get from that sponsor sounds more appealing to me, and I request a formal invite to their crew. The original crewleader I approached notices I've offered my services to another crew. Forget the fact that I haven't actually requested an invite from that leader. Outraged, he contacts my new crewleader and cites disrespect as the reason why I should be killed, or at the very least 'actions should be taken'. Last thing I hear is my crewleder whispering in my ear before he blows my brains out. My next of kin enters this world confused and frustrated, probably moreso than the original crewleader I spoke to. This would be unfair to a civilian looking for a crew he or she thinks they would be a good fit for and would be an exploit of this philosophy should it be practiced by the crews country-wide

Of course my argument would be null and void if I just approached every bold suit I saw and asked them 'can i join ur crew?' This scenario is what I believe Don Gwarble is referring to, and I believe he is moreso suggesting new mobsters do a bit of research like in the example I used. I bring up my hypothetical because if 'taking action' were to become a universally accepted practice in instances like these, leaders as well as sponsors would need to exercise judgment and look at each case objectively before exclaiming outrage over a civilian aligning him or herself with another faction post-conversation with said outraged crewleader.

So where does that leave the sponsors in all this? Is "Have you been speaking to other crews?" a valid question? Sure it is. If the answer is "yes", should that person be disregarded? I suppose it would depend on whether or not said civilian was asking every sponsor he saw for an invite or merely striking up a conversation with potential sponsors. Not every fresh off the boat civilian is going to be able to recognize a crew they would be a good match for by that crew's leader alone, even if that leader is active in our streets. Another thing sponsors should consider if a civilian they were speaking with decides to join another crew is "Did this person contact me?" Or "Did I approach him/her straight off the boat?" If the answer is "I approached them", then some consideration should be given before making an issue of it to your leader or that thug's new leader.

Don Gwarble brings up a very valid concern, as is evident by some of the responses he has received. But I think it is equally important to discuss other scenarios because I could see examples like the ones I've mentioned coming up if any adverse action were to become a formal, or even an informal practice.

In a nutshell? Do a bit of research about a crew before you request an invite from a leader or sponsor. You'll find This Thing of Ours a much more pleasurable experience if you do, so it would be to your benefit.