The mafia enforces moral codes as a form of territorial public safety

Evidence

The mafia at times polices its territory as if it were responsible for public safety. Young thugs are recruited just to keep them off the street (see Chapter 3), and Latin lovers who harass women are not permitted an easy or indeed a long life. The presence of mafiosi and their enforcement of moral values may be responsible for the popular impression that Sicilian women are less frequently the target of macho attentions than women in other parts of Italy, presumably because one never knows to whom the potential victim may be related. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 423

Categorization

• XREF: Asymmetric-information logic parallels Gambetta’s own model — enforcement creates a credible deterrent for would-be harassers precisely because they cannot know kinship ties, an example of generalized private ordering.