Relocating the market to new territory triggered mafia-family conflict

Evidence

The change of location unsettled the equilibrium which had previously guaranteed stability, provoking a scramble among established scaristi to obtain the best stands, generating tension over the allocation of additional ones, and sparking off a conflict between the two mafia families with jurisdiction over the old and new market areas. The process of adjustment was “left in the hands of the strongest,” while local authorities abstained from intervening (CPM-RMI: 68). — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 543

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Territorial jurisdiction over market turf maps onto the reader’s model of mafia-families as sovereigns conceding jurisdiction; a market move is a boundary reassignment, unsettling the credible-commitment equilibrium.

Related

• Relocating a protected market triggers violent conflict over reallocation of stands (similarity 0.87)

Broader Connections

• Mafia emergence needed land conflict, mobile wealth, or political factionalism #corroborates (0.80) — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 206
• Territorial jurisdiction, not function, organizes mafia protection markets #expands (0.75) — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 523
• Mafia firms exchange labor and favors across families in reciprocal deals #responds-to (0.72) — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 176