In the village life depends on the mood of the locals.
As a customer, you depend on the mood of the shopkeeper for your wares. If they don't feel like opening today, try again tomorrow.
If you own a shop and the local wholesalers don't like you you will have trouble buying goods for your shelves. If you do not have the right contacts at the market you may have to pay more for your stock than other shops. You need to have the right contacts with illegal fishermen to get the cheap fish from the trawlers which go fishing without the necessary licences and in places where fish are protected, such as marine reserves. These fish are cheaper than legally caught ones.
The locals call this system the "mafia" because they can't find an English word for it and it's always better to present such things as alien by using a foreign word. We don't do that sort of thing in our culture! In German they have a local word - Klüngel - but also like to use the foreign term. It sounds more malificent when others do it.
Here, the local culture protects and maintains its special privileges by whatever means they can. They drive their cars on the fragile beach environments, fish out the oceans, use up the land and prevent all positive change. Is it like this in your locality? Do you have a "mafia"?