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this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2026
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Mafias are basically proto governments. They have all the functions of government but they’re less formalized and they struggle to achieve a monopoly on organized violence.
In some places, it was easier to go to the Mafia to get things like landlord disputes or infrastructure dealt with than it was to do things the legal way. A surprising amount of major US cities operated this way for a decent while at the turn of the century.
Technically it's still "easier" to threaten someone with violence than to jump through all the legal hoops to get something done.
Not even violence. Why do you think the Mob has always been in industries like construction and waste management?
Because it's easy to launder dirty money through those industries, money which is obtained through violence. The legitimate competition is also forced out through violence. Even if said competition isn't overtly threatened with violence, the crime orgs can undercut their prices thanks to blood money and lack of regulatory oversight, which also inevitably leads to violent working conditions. If any part of an enterprise is funded by violence, it all is.
IIRC, and I may not, the Sicilian Mafia is arguably a Roman rump state.