Organized Crime In Sicily And Russia And On Merseia

The meaning of a word may be either specific or generic. Thus, a Sikh man confused me by using the word, "Bible," in a generic sense to refer to the Sikh scripture, the Granth. I advised him that "Bible," "Koran," "Granth" etc are specific scriptural names whereas "scripture" is the appropriate generic term.

Similarly, "Mafia," having meant specifically "Sicilian organized crime," has come to be used more generically at least to include "Russian organized crime" - although perhaps not also Japanese organized crime, the Yakuza.

In any case, organized crime has existed in Russia since Tsarist times and flourished since the collapse of the Soviet Union (see here), becoming a new collective villain in Western spy fiction. My relevant point finally is that organized crime, the Gethfennu, had existed on Merseia since before the intervention of the Polesotechnic League and might be expected to flourish again after the collapse of the Roidhunate?

I suggest that:

the Sicilian Mafia was a survival of feudal relationships (loyalty to the capu/boss, exaction of tribute and violent enforcement combined with overt religiosity) into modern times;

the Gethfennu was the Merseian equivalent - "...the baronial tradition survived, in a distorted form...," (David Falkayn: Star Trader, p. 244);

the conditions following the collapse of the Roidhunate would parallel those after the collapse of the USSR.

Thus, we might read a Long Night story about a revived Gethfennu?