Mafia protection creates a shadow state even petty criminals rely on instead of police

Evidence

All muggers pay protection to the capo zona and live in fear that he may be wiped out in some mafia war. “You are a journalist,” said the young purse snatcher, “and if someone owes you money you can turn to the authorities and call the police. But what can we do?” Besides, there are always new candidates clamoring “to work” in one’s territory who need to be scared off. When a purse snatcher is told off by a shopkeeper concerned about his customers, he may compromise and avoid that neighborhood for a while because “you never know, [the merchant] may be connected with the capo zona.” Lack of information can sometimes be fatal: “Winter is nasty here in Palermo; you are forced to steal from your compaesani, and you never know if by chance you may be hitting a visiting boss from Naples.” — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 613

Categorization

• XREF: Directly illustrates the reader’s core question: criminals who cannot access the state turn to the capo as their only enforceable dispute channel — an echo of Bonasera’s dilemma in The Godfather’s opening.
• QUESTION: The purse snatcher depends on the capo but fears his death — what happens to licensed territories during a mafia war when the licenser dies? This is exactly the failure-mode of private protection the reader could chase.