Easily copied symbolic markers lose their credibility and die out.
Evidence
The fate of the name Black Hand runs counter to that of the other expressions I have discussed so far. It never became popular among mafiosi and never spread to the general Italian community, either in the United States or throughout Italy. Born, in all likelihood, of fiction, the term never quite managed to escape it. The fact that its use was confined to outsiders suggests that the appropriation of symbols is not indiscriminate: the expression lacked any linguistic grounding in the Italian language or experience; in addition, it suffered from association with petty letters of extortion rather than an elevated and inspiring sect. It failed, in short, to capture the imagination of the insiders. There is, however, a bolder argument to explain its failure as a name. Reputation is vulnerable if its symbolic markers are easy to pirate: names and symbols may lose their credibility and even perish under the weight of too many competing attributions. During the 1960s in France a gang of vicious criminals began robbing banks while wearing comical masks consisting of a big nose, a mustache, and eyeglass frames. They became known as “the mustache gang.” Soon, throughout France, robbers of all sorts, including some incompetent ones, took to wearing masks; “mustache gangs” proliferated, and the disguise eventually lost its potency. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 366
Categorization
- XREF: Directly extends the reader’s Gambetta/private-protection frame: name-branding in the protection market works like trademark dilution in Milgrom/Shapiro-style analysis of product reputation. — connects to: Rotten boroughs show that custom-based representation becomes absurd over time — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 194
- DEFINE: Explains why the Black Hand name failed as a protection-industry brand while mafia and Cosa Nostra succeeded.