This painful transition, however, had unexpected consequences. The substantial increase in the number of commissionari, coupled with structural changes within the trade, had the dual effect of enhancing competition and decreasing the demand for mafia services. The last episode of violence took place in 1977, when two brothers were murdered at their stand. (This murder evidently had nothing to do with the market and was apparently in retaliation for the kidnaping of a relative of the boss of Monreale; Santino and La Fiura 1990: 402).

QUESTION: What specific structural changes within the trade drove this decline? Worth chasing to understand the mechanism behind organized crime retreating from markets.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 544