This particular Mob of Meerkats had practically run South-County for three and a half generations. Their hole-in-the-ground diner, laundromat and pool parlor had been fronts for nefarious critters and shady dealings of all kinds for 50 years. They were all in separate holes, of course. The legacy and wealth of the Suricatta family had been built on broken bones and caved-in burrows. On the backs and exploitation of weasels, rats and lowlifes – those lesser vermin not deemed worthy for true places in the gang. Jamison Suricatta had been running the Mob for 15 years. He was growing tired. Leaving the burrow was getting harder and harder as his eyes became glassy and glazed with age. He had become fixed to his desk, a barrier and stronghold. Now, his oldest daughter, Luna, thought it was time for him to retire his stick for a cane and his snake-skin armchair for a recliner. It was time for her to take over. Not that there was much to take over… her decrepit father had squandered the family’s fortunes away along with much of their credibility in the grassland. She didn’t want to continue the family tradition. It had been mostly quiet for the last couple years, and it was time for Luna to retire the Suricatta Mob from its mob life. That’s what she thought, at least… with six younger siblings, most as charmed with criminal life as their father had been, it would be a tall order to see the family turn a new leaf. And with rumblings of a new Mob moving in uptown along with the devilish pair of jackals that had been slinking around south-county for far too long… And of course, there was the odd disappearance of the aardvark just days after Luna’s father had met with him late in the evening a few weeks ago. But no – it simply wouldn’t do to continue digging into the dirt where her paws didn’t belong. She had to think of her children. And her dear dear Jamison – as wonderfully oblivious to her family’s affairs as ever. She did not want to be a Mob boss… Yes. It was time to settle down. It was time for her father’s reign over south-county to end. Now just had to find the keys and it would all be over.
Rough rough writing, but I think the idea is such an incredibly fun one. Like Arrested Development, except they’re meerkats and it’s an old crime family.