Misreading others’ commitments and strengths causes many mafia deaths.

Evidence

Life in the mafia is fraught with uncertainty, distrust, suspicion, paranoid anxiety, misunderstanding: Who is the strongest? Who will be the successor? Is Don Peppe really a mafioso? Is he about to arrack another Don Peppe? Is Mr. X really protected by Don Peppe or just pretending? Is Don Peppe still strong enough to protect Mr. X? Mistakes in answering these questions occur all the time and account for many of the deaths which notoriously afflict this trade. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 404

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s Gambetta/Schelling framework: uncertainty over who is genuinely protected drives the demand for credible commitment signals.