These minor services rarely require monetary compensation but are rendered for free, at most creating an unspecified debt whose settlement is postponed. Still, they perform a valuable economic function in the mafioso's strategy: like a free wine tasting, they offer a sample of his abilities, boost his reputation, and indirectly mock the public authorities incapable of recovering the cherished necklace, a gift from one's dear deceased grandmother, snatched on the street.

XREF: Connects to marketing and behavioral economics on free trials and sampling as trust-building mechanisms, applied unexpectedly to organized crime. Builds on: "Violent action tests and sustains an authentic reputation."

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 122