Mafia violence settles internal client disputes by negotiated mutual consent

Evidence

Calderone recalled an instance when “one of the Costanzos’ site managers took a beating… He was a big man, tall and strong, and worked on a site near Altofonte. He was rough with the workers, some of whom had been recruited on my brother’s recommendation, and my brother did not hesitate to point out to Gino Costanzo that if the site manager did not stop, he would run into trouble. Costanzo shrugged, and the manager continued to behave badly. So, with my brother’s consent, he was beaten up by members of the local family. It was not meant as an affront to Costanzo, but it was something which they had in effect agreed on” (AC: III, 943). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 974

Categorization

• XREF: This is a clean instance of Milgrom-style third-party enforcement: violence as arbitration, consented to by both sides, not coercion. Parallels Bonasera’s request — the Corleone brand of ‘justice’ through negotiated beating.