In 1990, for instance, Sicily, with only 9 percent of the total Italian population, accounted for 24 percent of the nationwide number of robberies. Although crime may be related to other causes such as unemployment, it is natural to infer that mafia protection is useless at best and possibly bogus. But even without the benefit of any conspiratorial logic, there is a sound theoretical reason why the presence of the mafia encourages crime. This does not imply that mafia protection is not effective; on the contrary, it is effective—but in protecting the wrong people.

XREF: Connects to the reader's understanding of organized crime economics and how protection rackets function as selective justice.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 83