Protectors need to have a monopoly over their clients, and if this ambition is frustrated, they become very unhappy. The face of the would-be extortionist, however, is not always equally cheerless. If he is an isolated counterfeiter, he is doomed; but if he is someone to be reckoned with, and susceptible to negotiation, the monopoly may either be restored by less extreme means or occasionally even shared.

XREF: Connects to economic theory on protection, extortion, and state formation — reminiscent of Olson's stationary vs. roving bandits.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 450