I’ve seen this plot point in fiction a number of times, but basically somebody who’s literally either just a cousin of a Mafia/cartel member or is basically just a super low level “associate” with no real pull in the mob gets into an argument with a “civilian” and then somehow that mob-related person gets actual mob/cartel hitmen to beat up or kill said civilian. The question that always nags me though, is why would they care?
I understand a scenario where the civilian does something horrendous to mob-related person, or if the mob-related person was the leaders godson or close friend, but in these films it’s always just some low level egotistical jackass just using his “connections” to protect him.
I’m curious if anything like this has ever happened, like the distant cousin of a mobster/cartel person gets his cousin to murder someone over an ego trip.
Well, money. I doubt that these scumbags are ever doing anything unless there’s a buck in it for them. It’s not really like the “honor among thieves” fantasy of the movies. Just knowing some scumbag who might be willing to hurt or kill someone for money puts you one step ahead of the average person putting an ad on Craigslist.
Do you have an example? You excluded the type of favor asked for in The Godfather, where something horrendous was done to a man’s daughter. I’ve certainly seen the trope where people are unduly afraid of someone for their mob connections, though their fear is unfounded. I just don’t recall the scenario of someone getting whacked over a trivial incident with a minor player.
I don’t know the answer to your OP but the answer to this specific question could be “because they want to have a fearsome reputation as people never to be slighted”. It’s not hard to see how that might provide practical benefits, overall.
I’d imagine one way that the weight of the organization would be put behind an offense to a low level associate would be if the offense also disrespected the organization as a whole. In which case, the retribution would be for the disrespect, not what happened to the low level associate.
The only other way I can think of would be if it was some sort of family-related issue. Like if say… one of the capos’ sons was not yet a made man, and someone did something that needed correcting with them, then it might gather more attention from the larger organization, although I also suspect that it might more likely be treated as a learning experience in handling your own issues, like @Lumpy suggests.
I believe the OP may be based on a mistaken premise.
The OP seems to be based on an assumption that these organized crime entities are tighly controlled organizations, such that anything which happens in connection with any of their people has been authorized by some higher-up figure. From that vantage point, the question of why the organization should exert itself on behalf of some low-level or connected guy makes a lot of sense.
But the reality is that these organizations have a lot of structure as to the business interests, but the individual members have a lot of autonomy as to their own personal lives. And many of these people are rather violent, and it doesn’t take a lot for them to decide to beat someone up.
All that’s needed for the scenario in the OP to occur is for one guy who is friends with some violent low-level mob thug to complain to his pal about how so-and-so is mistreating him, and for that thug to decide to help out his buddy. I wouldn’t be surprised if this happens fairly often.
The Arnold Schuster killing in Brooklyn in 1952 comes close to the scenario in the OP.
Schuster was a Brooklyn clothing salesman who spotted bank robber Willie Sutton on a subway train and tipped off police, resulting in Sutton’s arrest. Schuster enjoyed brief notoriety in the news media, making a couple of paid TV appearances. This reportedly enraged mob boss Albert Anastasia, who ranted that Schuster was a “squealer” and ordered “Hit that guy!”, according to Joe Valachi. Schuster was shot dead near his home; the suspected hit man vanished and was himself eventually the reported victim of a hit, as was Anastasia. Sutton is not believed to have had anything to do with Schuster’s murder.
The Schuster hit may in part have been conceived of as a favor to Sutton, who wasn’t exactly low-level but had no mob standing at all.
Since, as you say, Sutton had no connection to the mob at all, he wasn’t low-level or high-level or any other level. It’s hard to conceive of a reason for a high-level mobster like Anastasia wanting to do him a favor.
It’s far more likely that the version as reported is accurate as to motivation. Anastasia hated “squealers” and was enraged at seeing Shuster being celebrated for such actions. And when a guy like Anastasia got enraged, bad things happened (he was a prime manager of the so-called “Murder Incorporated” hit squad). Nothing to do with Sutton at all.
Sutton himself speculated that the alleged Schuster hit man, Frederick Tenuto (who earlier broke out of prison with Sutton), may have been trying to do his old acquaintance Sutton a favor.*
*Tenuto was known as the Accomodation Killer because one of his murders was committed as a favor for a friend.
**his other nickname was “Angel of Death”.
I can’t give you an example immediately but it’s a common thing in your “action hero” movies/shows where the opening scene to establish the main character is a badass or to kick-off the trouble for the rest of the plot is the main character winds up fighting a super low level person in organized crime and this gets him roped into the mobs sights.