Drug shipments relied on layered protection and physical identity tokens

Evidence

In 1962 a particularly serious dispute broke out. A large shipload of heroin from Egypt was picked up off the coast of Agrigento by two smugglers, Calcedonio Di Pisa and Rosario Anselmo, who were protected by Cesare Manzella, the embodiment of the quintessential mafioso. After a stay in the United States, where he still had many contacts, Manzella had settled back in Cinisi, where he owned an extensive cirrus plantation, and built himself a reputation as a benefactor of charities. “A violent and bullying individual,” as the Carabinieri described him, “he is cunning and has a well-developed organizational ability which enables him to enjoy an undisputed ascendancy over local criminals and mafiosi… His role is limited to the organization of delinquents” (Li Causi 1971: 273). Feeling safe under Manzella’s wing, the smugglers passed the drug on to a waiter on board the Saturnia, a cruiser sailing to New York, who in turn delivered it to Toto Savona and Emanuele Profaci in Brooklyn. To confirm their identity, each party carried half a business card. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 636

Categorization

• XREF: The half-business-card identity verification is a pre-commitment / authentication device analogous to Schelling’s costly signaling and the tamga-like tokens in private protection markets.
• SEED: Half-a-business-card identity tokens as a narrative device — trust verification in high-stakes underground markets — could anchor a thriller or crime-story essay.