The Economics of Gangbanging
Supply-chain innovations reinforce natural scale economies - the incumbent's got such a big advantage that it charges competitors for prison insurance. Also interesting is that the risk of imprisonment is assessed at least quasi-rationally - as the price of doing business.
"...Still, police said, the Mexican Mafia dominates Southern California, in part because of its powerful control of inmates in the California prison system. Zeigler and other police officials said gang members know their day in prison is inevitable, so smaller gangs pay taxes to the Mexican Mafia, for peace on the street and protection behind bars.
The tax can be as much as $10,000 a month, and Zeigler said the Mexican Mafia taxes "the hell out of MS." If a gang has paid its fees, it can place the number "13" after its name, for the "M" in Mexican Mafia, the 13th letter of the alphabet. Thus, in California, Mara Salvatrucha is known as MS-13."
Very nice.