[idiotsecant]

The most important part of the mafia state is making everyone else a participant. It enforces your personal power and once in the system those parties will do things they would never imagine doing when they were outside of it.

[Terr_]

It's also a defensive self-interest: A corrupt senior who takes bribes is indirectly threatened by any junior with a clean record, because they aren't "in the same boat."

So each wave corrupts (or eliminates) members of the next, in order to secure the safety of their own retirement when they won't have direct power.