Gang leaders command obedience through expected mutual punishment coordination

Evidence

Perhaps many kinds of social stability and the formation of interest groups reflect the same dependence on such coordinators as the terrain and the circumstances can provide: the band wagon at political conventions that often converts the slightest sign of plurality into an overwhelming majority; the power of constitutional legitimacy to command popular support in times of anarchy or political vacuum; the legendary power of an old gang leader to bring order into the underworld, simply because obedience depends on the expectation that others will be obedient in punishing disobedience. — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 188

Categorization

• XREF: This is the exact mechanism in Gambetta’s model of Mafia as third-party enforcer: obedience rests on each subordinate’s expectation that others will punish disobedience. The Don Corleone reading hinges on this passage. — connects to: Group-based discipline can coerce as powerfully as individual violence — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 5601; Groups induce cooperation through sanctions even without trusting their members — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 808; Hobbesian sanctions produce egoistic macro-motivation to cooperate — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 194 (+5 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The underworld-order sentence packs Schelling’s whole coordination argument into a concrete institution: authority that rests purely on convergent mutual expectations, with no state backing — the load-bearing idea for the Mafia-as-private-judge analysis.
• ADDENDUM: Complements the private-enforcement and sacrifice pieces: hierarchical loyalty upheld by expected collective punishment rather than by legitimate coercion.

Broader Connections

• Power chains exist only when a superior can command a subordinate’s power over others #expands (0.85)
• Group-based discipline can coerce as powerfully as individual violence #corroborates (0.80) — , The Rod and the Child, 5601
• A dominant minority can hold power through threats and enforced coordination costs #corroborates (0.80) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 287
• Social control includes winning consent, not just coercive punishment #qualifies (0.75)
• Groups induce cooperation through sanctions even without trusting their members #corroborates (0.72) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 808
• Hobbesian sanctions produce egoistic macro-motivation to cooperate #corroborates (0.72) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 194
• Order inside groups mirrors the same mutual-restraint mechanism as between groups #corroborates (0.72)