Another phenomenon that provoked the hostility of citizens to the regime was the thirst for overreacting, for excessive force that overcame all party hierarchs, from top to bottom. … Hierarchs big and small saw no other mode of affirming their authority than assuming and illegally exercising powers entrusted to the organs of the State, often reaching the point of invading the sphere of the personal liberty of citizens. It even reached the point that party authorities believed it was their right to intervene in conflicts of a personal nature.

A disagreement with the head of the local fascio, even an apolitical one, is enough to legitimize a confino sentence. What counts is not the text of the written law, but the ability to apply it whenever one pleases.