But there are also cases in which the source of inspiration and the ultimate consumer are identical and reinforce each other. Certain fictional symbols are inspired by real characters who nonetheless do not embody them in reality. These symbols then become attractive to the individuals who inspired them, who subsequently model their own real image on the fiction they engendered. Mafiosi never viewed the prickly pear as anything other than a prickly pear. But now that that ingenious photographer has used it as a symbol of their murders, what would you think if you found this arboreal specimen in your mail box while on business in Palermo?

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 346