A change of mafia boss rewrote the terms of protection contracts

Evidence

In one instance the new boss, learning about a transaction involving the sale of some land, demanded protection paid in cash, whereas Don Mariano had been in the habit of dealing with this particular customer on the basis of reciprocal favors (VM: 44). … In another case the overseer of an estate lost his job because he had remained loyal to Don Mariano and had established no connection with his successor (VM: 46). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 833

Categorization

• XREF: Concrete evidence of the personal, non-transferable nature of protection contracts — loyalty attaches to the person, not the office, exactly the commitment problem Gambetta’s model predicts when a protector dies or is replaced.