Mafia families existed even in provinces considered untouched by 1990
Evidence
- A 1990 Carabinieri report differed slightly (Epoca, October 3, 1990). It lists 48 families in Palermo, both the city and the province, instead of 46; 38 in Agrigento instead of 36; 21 in Trapani instead of 14; 6 in Caltanisetta instead of 5; and 4 in Catania. This report also provides an estimate for Enna, a remote province in the interior, of 12 families, and identifies a few even in the provinces traditionally considered untouched by the mafia: 3 in Messina, 3 in Siracusa, and 7 in Ragusa. From the testimonies of the pentiti we know that these last groups are either subsidiaries of families based in other provinces or racketeers operating independently of mafia cartels. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 879
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- XREF: Evidence of the mafia’s geographic spread supports Gambetta’s claim of supply-side expansion into new protection markets.
Related
- The mafia has remained confined to western Sicily for over a century (similarity 0.88)
- Mafia cartels formed per province only after the late 1950s (similarity 0.86)
- Established mafia families never successfully transplanted outside Sicily (similarity 0.85)
- Apparent mafia fragmentation may actually be centralization plus new entrants. (similarity 0.84)
- Sicilian cartels organized per province, not as one unified mafia-wide cartel (similarity 0.83)
- Sicily’s mafia is fragmented across 105 firms, not one monopoly. (similarity 0.82)
- Sicily’s 105 mafia families preclude a region-wide centralized monopoly (similarity 0.82)
- The Mafia industry shows strong geographic rigidity within Italy (similarity 0.82)
- The mafia originated in southern Italy and nowhere else (similarity 0.82)
- Mafia emerged in prosperous divided-property districts, not poor ones (similarity 0.81)
- Mafia families before WWII were largely independent and non-systematically linked (similarity 0.81)
- Mafia affiliation is defined by territorial family control, not apparent residence (similarity 0.79)
- Early mafia flourished in wealthy areas, not backward ones (similarity 0.79)
- Mafia families vary in their openness about recruitment and membership (similarity 0.79)
- The mafia originated in diverse occupational groups sharing reputation as guarantors (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Mafia cartels formed per province only after the late 1950s
#qualifies(0.82) — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 283