The conventional Marxist view which holds that the rural mafia was a staunch ally of the landlords and worked for their exclusive benefit is not consistently supported by the evidence. In several recorded cases, in both Sicily and Calabria, mafiosi acted more as brokers taking peasant interests into serious account. Within the theoretical framework of this book, the ambiguity is not difficult to explain. When the choice was between a rich landowner or gabelloto on the one hand and a wretched peasant on the other, a mafioso had little doubt about which side to take. When peasants joined forces as a collective, however, acting on their behalf could, under certain conditions, pay handsomely. The link between mafiosi and landlords was not ideological but circumstantial.

XREF: Challenges the conventional Marxist historiography of the mafia; connects to any broader reading on mafia-state relations and clientelism.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 229