Asked why the fish market was so lacking in competition and populated by far fewer dealers than was either reasonable or desirable, he replied that there was really no one up to the task of wholesale dealing in the Sicilian capital. Probed further, he added that the inhabitants of Palermo had a special vocation for using the hand-pulled cart (carrettino), suitable only for hawking. Typical of a uniquely Sicilian behavioral science, which impassively maintains the most extravagant explanations when at odds with officialdom, Professor Macaluso's insight did not impress the commission, which politely described it as "strangely banal."

XREF: Connects to Sicilian honor culture and resistance to centralized authority found in other Southern Italy studies. SEED: The carrettino as a metaphor for local resistance to markets could seed a piece on informal economies.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 533