Membership reverses its value as a dealer’s wealth grows

Evidence

But had Costanzo become a man of honor, he would have had to be introduced as such to all the other men of honor, who would have felt entitled to go directly to him in order to obtain jobs and other favors; and had he refused, he would have run the risk of being ‘deposed,’ no doubt losing his tranquillity … The exchange in kind, which represents a drawback for members who are rich and powerful and have a lot to give, becomes an advantage for smaller dealers. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 415

Categorization

• XREF: Membership as a liability for the wealthy parallels Gambetta’s core tradeoff between protection provided and protection extracted—useful for the reader’s framework.