Mafia-like protection practices predate the industry itself by centuries.

Evidence

According to Orazio Candia (1984), mafialike practices can be detected in Sicily as early as the end of the sixteenth century. He cites a fascinating case suggesting that the exercise of private “justice” has a very long history indeed. These historical traces help explain how protection acquired the specialized features, skills, and traditions that distinguish it from other activities and have enabled it to become a pervasive force in economic life. But it is unlikely that the industry attained the autonomy which makes it identifiable as an enterprise sui generis before the nineteenth century (see Spampinato 1987). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 244

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes scattered “mafialike practices” from the mafia as an autonomous industry sui generis — a crucial conceptual distinction for dating its origins.