 Many "gabellotti" were associated with, if not members of, the Mafia.Such alliances would allow them to protect themselves and their assets from bandits and cattle rustlers, as well as cut through much of the messy legalities left over from Sicily's transition from feudalism to capitalism in the early 19th century.The word is derived from the Sicilian word "gabella", meaning a “tax or duty in the form of a required payment”.