A mafioso’s protection does not guarantee his customer wins the deal.

Evidence

An incident involving Carmelo Colletti is further illustrative of the weakness mafiosi occasionally suffer relative to the strength of their customers. He once tried to protect one of the Salvos at the auction of a large building in Palermo for which the Costanzos and other Catania firms were jointly competing. Colletti put pressure on another competitor, a public pension fund, to withdraw in favor of Salvo’s bid. The fund failed to win the building, but, in spite of Colletti’s efforts, so did Salvo. The building went to the consortium of Catania firms. Shortly afterward, however, in a clear-cur case of fraud, the consortium sold the building for a much higher price to the pension fund. Colletti was furious with Salvo for dealing with Costanzo behind his back. Colletti was determined to make him pay his cut (pizzo) regardless (OSAG: 196-197, 348, 398; OSAG Arnone: 194-195). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 420

Categorization

• XREF: Directly tests Gambetta’s market model and the private-police claim: the mafioso could not force the auction’s outcome, so protection is limited to dispute-setting and credit-claims, not outcome guarantees. Relevant to Milgrom’s private judge who also cannot compel outcomes.