This suggests that, if many dealers employ private protection, it becomes difficult to distinguish genuine abuses from failure of protection. This problem is the source of much confusion for police and observers alike, who, by applying a universal logic typical of legitimate states, are inclined to be inflexible in their interpretation and to believe that victims are invariably innocent. And indeed sometimes they are; but the role of victim is a shifting one, and those who complain may simply be those who on that particular occasion were for some reason let down by their own protector.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 494