The Economics of Mafia Hostages
In the novel The Godfather Returns, the heads of all of the Mafia Families meet to have peace talks after a plane "accident" killed several people. In an attempt to ensure that nobody was "whacked" during the meeting, each Family bought insurance by securing an independent hostage. In the following example, the Corleones (no introduction needed) paid for a boy hostage from the Bocchicchio family, who were in the hostage business. From the book: bq. The peace talks started at two. By now, each Family coming to the table was holding a Bocchicchio hostage. The hostages went willingly. It was how the Bocchicchios made money. If for example, anything happened to Michael [Corleone] or Clemenza, one of their men would kill the boy. No Bocchicchio would rest until the boy's murder was avenged - not on his killer but rather on those who'd harmed the killer's associates. The Bocchicchios were the most single-mindedly vengeful clan Sicily had ever seen, wholly undeterred by prison or death. There was no defense against them. Bocchicchio insurance was better than a hundred bodyguards. [emphasis added, page 224] While the book didn't give any more detail, it was clear that the insurance premium was very expensive, and why not? Like all good insurance, when you buy a contract, you aren't buying a claim, you're buying a promise that a claim will be paid. And the reputation of the Bocchicchios is a clear signal that they always pay the claims. But what would be interesting to know is the size of the damages paid. For instance, if Michael Corleone was "offed" by the Barzini family, and the Corleones subsequently "clipped" the hostage, how many members of the Barzini family would the Bocchicchios give the "Moe Green Special" to? I would assume the terms of the contract would be negotiable and reflected in the price of the contract. And for strict compliance, that information would be available for all the Families to see at the peace talks. But then hey, I'm no expert on this stuff, capice?
