Colluding competitors invite racketeers in rather than being coerced.

Evidence

But in addition to being of no theoretical interest, cases such as these are also not the mafia’s primary way of discouraging competition. Mafiosi prefer to oversee collusive agreements rather than to engage in outright intimidation. Several U.S. studies have shown how competitors seeking a collusive solution to market problems provide racketeers with the opportunity to acquire a role in that industry—racketeers enter “by invitation” rather than on their own initiative. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 515

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels Milgrom/North’s voluntary private-judge model and Gambetta’s own claim elsewhere that mafiosi enter where demand already exists — this is the demand-side story.