“It is clear there is a subordinate relationship between Cosa Nostra and the Nigerian clans, with the former controlling the latter,” said Agueci. “If a Nigerian boss tried to rebel against Cosa Nostra, he would probably end up incaprettato [tied up and killed] in the countryside.” In Ballarò, profits from pizzo – the tax levied on merchants by the Sicilian mafia – are reinvested to buy drugs for resale to Nigerian clans and their dealers. To have better control of their new African partners, Cosa Nostra seems to have made another rule clear: no guns. “We have reason to assume,” said Agueci, “that the mafia prohibits Nigerians from owning firearms. So when Nigerians have to settle accounts within their community, they do it with axes and machetes.”