Although perhaps their most important clients, the Costanzos were not the only customers protected by the Catania family. The owners of a furniture store, for instance, asked for help in getting rid of an unlicensed extortionist. According to Calderone, Nitto Santapaola went in person to deliver the 200,000 lire the crook had demanded. The unfortunate man immediately understood his mistake, which cost him his life. Subsequently Santapaola became a partner in the furniture store, a comfortable and characteristic method of indirect payment for protection (see also Bonanno 1983: 152). Calderone tells us that Santapaola was also frequently invited to dine at the Costa Azzurra restaurant in the early 1980s, where he served as a warning sign directed by the owner at a freelance extortionist (AC: I, 179).

XREF: Connects to literature on racketeering and how criminal organizations regulate markets through violence and reputation.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 449