A vaccaro (cattle breeder) I interviewed in Palermo succinctly expressed the core elements of the hypothesis I wish to present: "When the butcher comes to me to buy an animal, he knows that I want to cheat him. But I know that he wants to cheat me. Thus we need, say, Peppe [that is, a third party] to make us agree. And we both pay Peppe a percentage of the deal." This statement has far-reaching theoretical consequences. There are mutual low-trust expectations generating a demand for guarantees on both sides, and there is "Peppe," a man capable of meeting this demand and trusted by both butcher and vaccaro to be capable of doing so.

Builds on: "Mafia protection substitutes poorly for trust in transactions."

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 35