Mafiosi’s real product has nothing to do with their nominal jobs
Evidence
The dramatic contrast between the official position of mafiosi in the community and their scams within, and sometimes beyond, their community suggests that the transactions in which they specialize have little to do with their nominal employment. “The consideration in which a mafioso is held within the Cosa Nostra is not tied… to his profession or degree,” says Anconino Calderone (Arlacchi 1992: 29). Mosely the mafioso’s work is mundane: mafiosi double as drivers, guards, janitors, garbage collectors, farmers, shepherds, butchers, small contractors, agricultural middlemen, millers, clerks, undertakers, bartenders, gas station attendants, sellers of stationery, flowers, linens, men’s clothing, new and used vehicles. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 412
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
Related
- Mafiosi are fundamentally protection entrepreneurs, not dealers in any protected good. (similarity 0.84)
- Construction firms pay mafiosi for dispute resolution and labor control, not intimidation (similarity 0.79)
- Mafiosi describe their own role as fair contract distribution among bidders (similarity 0.79)
- Mafiosi are defined by supplying protection, not by any particular profession (similarity 0.79)
- Mafia protection customers span legal and illegal enterprises alike. (similarity 0.78)
- Mafiosi are entrepreneurs in protection, not in the goods they protect (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Construction firms pay mafiosi for dispute resolution and labor control, not intimidation
#exemplifies(0.90) — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 428 - Mafiosi kill breached partners, not customers who decline protection
#expands(0.85) — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 142