Your confessional!

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

Bonnano business...

Paulie Walnuts was quick to start a trio chat with me and Robster.  They both profess a desire to stick together.  I did too of course, but it remains to be seen if the former Lucchese will also be a solid three.  I am not interested in drawing rocks for anyone.

Crystal is the most social player I've met so far.  I'm going to get close to her and I hope she can be a big time social threat come merge.  I need challenge threats and social threats around so I can keep a low profile on all fronts.  All the challenge threats are on the other tribe and everyone here seems to realize we are underdogs in all the challenges for this tribal phase.  Hopefully it is only two eliminations until the merge.

Shady Shin and Vincent Vega are underwhelming thus far, but so was most of my old tribe.

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

Crystal and I are aligned and we are discussing the benefits of getting rid of people who have stronger connections on the former tribes.  That puts Paulie and apparently Vincent in our crosshairs.  She and I should be positioned as the swing in a hypothetical first vote for this tribe without anyone else realizing we are coordinating.

Shady Shin is trying to pressure me with the specter of Lucchese unity but I checked in with Crystal about that and she is just as lukewarm in the trio chat Shady started as I am with Paulie's Gambino chat.  Meanwhile Paulie told Crystal that he thinks they should have some kind of threesome with Robster because they are the most social three.  So on both sides Crystal and I are the players the others are trying to flip which means we are unlikely to be anybody's target to vote.

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

Not knowing anything of the dynamic among the three Lucchese over there I would hazard a guess that Meyer and Al will dump Viola in this vote, but maybe the Lucchese will be playing the long game and take Viola in for a shot at one of the challenge threats instead.

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

As the first eliminated player I have seen hanging around the boards after going out Al Capone wins the Invested Player of the Season award.

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

...maybe the Lucchese will be playing the long game and take Viola in for a shot at one of the challenge threats instead.

Did I call it?

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

I have not gotten any better at this game since the last time I had to play it

[Skinny Mickey]

Cant improve upon perfection, ayyy!

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

Shady Shin is in trouble here, but Vincent Vega does not PM me at all.  Shin thinks his three Lucchese will stick together because he sees no reason to believe otherwise, but buddy has not been paying much attention.  Crystal is all up in the Gambino business at this point and Vincent has been whispering sweet nothing in Robster's ear.  They will both want to dump Shady to move forward with new allies.

I am undecided right now.  It is really no skin off of my back to let them dump Shady Shin and live to fight another day.  But I would rather Vincent go home, and I think that Shady Shin is the kind of only-active-for-votes absentee that would make a really attractive FTC opponent.

Shin thinks I am the Gambino he can flip to the Lucchese side, because he doesn't know the Lucchese side is turning on him already.  I told him to make me an offer.  Here it is:

I've got three allies in this game at this point (Crystal, Vincent, Bobfather), though no one I've promised a ride-or-die partnership. You'd be going out on a limb here for me, so I can promise you'd not be at the bottom of any proverbial totem pole. You've got Shady Shin's word on that.

Words are cheap though. If we do make the merge and I win an immunity I'd be willing to pass it off to you as payment in action.

Do I want him to give me an immunity necklace during the merge?  Certainly not early on.  If he wants to offer it up somewhere between final six and the FTC on the other hand I would be pleased.  But what I would really want, if I am going to shake things up to save him, is a promise to be that ride-or-die he says he doesn't have.  I'm not going to vote for Paulie or Robster here though because I know Shin has already lost the people on his side.  So I would need him to agree to a Vincent vote.

Lots to think about.

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

Crystal is way too timid to actually be a good partner-in-crime type ally

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

Verily, villainous vermin Vincent Vega vexingly vanishes, vindicating vain voters.  Voilà!  Vicious viper valorously vanquished, virtuous vision vouchsafed.

[Brown Eyes]

Very cool!

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

Victory!

[John Gotti]

A winner is you!

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

I would like the Bonnano Tribe to go into merge with a plan to stay unified because I think I come in at or near the top of individual connection for each of the other four.

[Bill "The Butcher" Cutting]

Paulie's #1, check
Crystal's #1, check
Shady Shin's #1, check

The only hurdle to getting a completely unified tribe was Robster worrying that Shin would not be loyal because he might know Robster was floating his name last round.  I solved that by encouraging Shin to start a five person group PM for us all, and now we are all bonding with silly messages and I got both Robster and Paulie to say in our three person message how good it looks for Shin staying loyal that he started the Bonnano tribe PM.