Mafia rules. The role of criminal codes in mafia organizations

How can organizations that lack mechanisms of legal dispute resolution and cannot create binding contracts work efficiently? They establish and enforce organizational rules. Rules are an essential aspect in the life of any organization, and they are even more important for criminal organizations because they serve to regulate interaction among dishonest people. Using a wide range of sources, this article analyzes the role of rules in mafias, in particular in the Sicilian “Cosa Nostra” and the American “La Cosa Nostra”. The main contribution of this paper is to unveil the organizational rationality of mafia rules. Through a comprehensive analysis of the few written, and several unwritten rules, I find that rules in mafias serve three main goals: (1) to ensure organization, coordination, and cooperation among members; (2) to settle conflicts and contain violence; and (3) to maintain secrecy and conceal information.