Mafiosi made without family affiliation work as laborers until adopted

Evidence

Calderone narrates the revealing case of a group of “illegal” mafiosi who lived in Turin. This group was formed by men born in Riesi who had been made men of honor by an old mafioso from Caltanisetta who lived in [Turin]. But these were unauthorized, illegal initiations, and these people did not know… which Sicilian family to belong to. They were all able people, but they were abandoned. They lived as best they could working as la borers. [Francesco] Di Cristina put an end to that situation by forming the decina and including these men in his family” (Arlacchi 1992: 135). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 409

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors Milgrom’s point that reputation/credit only works when embedded in an identifiable institutional structure — codeless membership is worthless capital. This is evidence for the reader’s core claim that family affiliation is the brand/credentialing mechanism.