Mafia territorial control combined written expulsion notices with physical fortification of roads

Evidence

Unfriendly families were sent an anonymous letter inviting them to sell all their property in the area and leave within a month. The roads of Ciaculli were also equipped with a complex system of gates and roadblocks meant to decrease the possibility of surprise attacks by either the police or enemies within the mafia (OSPA: XII, 2461-67). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 891

Categorization

• XREF: Gates and roadblocks are a territorial-monopoly enforcement mechanism echoing Gambetta’s model of physical defense of protection turf; also parallels the Champagne Fairs’ controlled entry as entry monitoring.
• SEED: The anonymous letter as an ultimatum instrument—civil notice of expulsion via threat—is a concrete enforcement ritual worth an essay angle on how private protection writes its demands.