If X sets a price, Y (or Z) is free to set a lower one; if Z and Y win customers from X or move into X's area, they are not violating any pact, nor are they considered traitors. Betrayal, loyalty, and friendship—key terms in the mafia lexicon—are, as it were, killed by inflation: everyone is invited to betray everyone else, and friendship never stands in the way of commercial gain. Where choice is governed by price, a "miracle" occurs which no political agreement can easily achieve: the demand for trust is minimized. By contrast, since cartels rely on agreements, defection is a permanent hazard, and the demand for protection, first of all against other members, is intense.

XREF: Connects to economic theory on trust as a market mechanism, and mafia/governance literature on why protection rackets arise where trust is scarce.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 59