From the point of view of the state they wish to overthrow, a revolutionary society or an association for criminal purposes [associazione a delinquere] will not be lawful [giuridici] ... but this does not rule out the possibility that such associations can comprise institutions, organizations, and codes which, intrinsically and in isolation, are lawful.... We know that, under the threat of state law, there are often shadow associations whose organization could be deemed analogous, on a small scale, to that of the state. They have legislative and executive authorities, courts which settle disputes and mete out punishments, agents who carry them out inexorably, and complex and precise statutes similar to those of the state. These associations therefore create their own order, like the state and its legal institutions.

DEFINE: Explains how criminal associations internally create their own lawful order and institutions akin to state governance.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 20