When Michael Corleone returned to his old home in Sicily, he once planned to go hiking one morning, accompanied by two shepherd bodyguards. They were not there to guard against enemies of the Corleone family, but because it was too dangerous for an "outsider" to wander around alone here. The region was crawling with "bandits," and different Mafia factions had been locked in blood feuds for years, endangering everyone's lives. He might even be mistaken for a thief targeting farm-tool sheds.
In Michael's time, farm tools were important property for Sicilian farmers. The Mafia took farmers under its wing and hunted down and slaughtered every thief who stole from farm-tool sheds.
In the nineteenth century, the same held true if farm tools were replaced with livestock. When the Corleone family struggled to establish itself in America, it began by selling olive oil. Olives were produce from the land, and Viktor Corleone's family had originally owned land as well. But his father had also been Mafia and was said to have died in a vendetta. After his death, there had originally been an older son, but he later died too, leaving behind a widow and orphan, whose land was swallowed up by the owner of a large estate.
The owners of great estates had their own armed forces. Small landowners were like the two shepherds protecting Michael. They might not have been from Corleone Village, but they had joined the Mafia. They protected those in their faction, and those in their faction helped them hunt down and slaughter every sheep thief.
These armed forces of the great estate owners might originally have been bandits. Their role resembled that of mercenaries: they protected the rights and property of their patrons, could fight another patronage network, or betray their own patrons.
Without powerful