Mafiosi emerged as private enforcers of a public justice the state eroded

Evidence

In this context, we may begin to understand why mafiosi do not emerge as ordinary criminals, acting in isolation as individuals (Franchetti 1974: 101). Or, at least, why they are not perceived as such: the pubblica opinione in Sicily sees them more as men capable of enforcing privately that public justice the Spaniards had eroded (p. 93) and that nobody could trust. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2159

Categorization

• XREF: Maps to the reader’s Hardin claim that trust requires observable constraints — the mafia as private substitute for failed public enforcement.