The primary victims of collusion are the consumers, who end up purchasing lower-quality goods at higher prices. Potential competitors suffer as well, for successful collusion makes it so difficult for outsiders even to contemplate entering an industry that overt intimidation becomes redundant. The enforcement of internal agreements is thus much more effective than the brutal discouragement of rivals. Finally, "since racketeers increase the confidence of participating entrepreneurs that the cartel will endure, incentives for efficient production are even more sharply reduced than they would be in a conventional cartel, where certainty about future success is always limited and the probability of imminent competition never vanishes" (Reuter 1987: 7-8).

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 532