Southern Italian code of honor and silence
Omerta
(
,
Italian pronunciation:
[omer?ta]
)
[a]
is a
Southern Italian
code of silence
and code of
honor
and
conduct
that places importance on silence in the face of questioning by authorities or outsiders; non-cooperation with authorities, the government, or outsiders, especially during criminal investigations; and willfully ignoring and generally avoiding interference with the illegal activities of others (i.e., not contacting law enforcement or the authorities when one is aware of, witness to, or even the victim of certain crimes). It originated and remains common in
Southern Italy
, where
banditry or brigandage
and
Mafia
-type criminal organizations (like the
Camorra
,
Cosa Nostra
,
'Ndrangheta
,
Sacra Corona Unita
and
Societa foggiana
) have long been strong. Similar codes are also deeply rooted in other areas of the
Mediterranean
, including
Malta
,
Crete
in Greece,
[1]
and
Corsica
, all of which share a common or similar historic culture with Southern Italy.
Ostracism
,
shunning
, intimidation, societal pressure or
peer pressure
, and strong
cultural norms
are often used to reinforce
omerta
and encourage silence and non-cooperation with authorities; however, violence and retaliation against
informers
or those who break the code of
omerta
is also common in criminal circles, where informers or traitors to the code of
omerta
are often described in English by terms such as "rats" or "snitches" and in Italian as
infami
or
pentiti
, depending on the context.
Etymology
[
edit
]
According to the
Oxford English Dictionary
, the phonology of the word
omerta
indicates that it is not of Sicilian origin; it may derive from the now rare Spanish word
hombredad
, meaning
manliness
, after the Sicilian word
omu
"man".
[2]
It has also been suggested that the word comes from
Latin
humilitas
(humility), which became
umilta
and then finally
omerta
in some southern
Italian dialects
; this suggestion is not well supported by the geographical distribution of the word.
[2]
The first Antimafia Commission of the Italian parliament in the 1970s accepted the origin based on
omu
on the authority of Antonio Cutrera, with no reference to Spanish.
[3]
Code
[
edit
]
The basic principle of
omerta
is that one must not seek aid from legally constituted authorities to settle personal grievances. The suspicion of being a
cascittuni
(an informant) constitutes the blackest mark against manhood, according to Cutrera. A person who has been wronged is obligated to look out for their own interests by avenging the wrong himself, or finding a patron?not the state?to avenge him.
[4]
Omerta implies "the categorical prohibition of cooperation with state authorities or reliance on its services, even when one has been victim of a crime."
[5]
A person should absolutely avoid interfering in the business of others and should not inform the authorities of a crime under any circumstances, but if it is justified, he may personally avenge a physical attack on himself or on his family by
vendetta
, literally a taking of revenge, a feud. Even if somebody is convicted of a crime that he has not committed, he is supposed to serve the sentence rather than give the police information about the real criminal, even if the criminal has nothing to do with the Mafia. Within Mafia culture, breaking
omerta
is punishable by death.
[5]
Omerta
is an extreme form of loyalty and solidarity in the face of authority. One of its absolute tenets is that it is deeply demeaning and shameful to betray even one's deadliest enemy to the authorities. For that reason, many Mafia-related crimes go unsolved. Observers of the Mafia debate whether omerta should best be understood as an expression of social consensus for the Mafia or whether it is instead a pragmatic response based primarily on fear, as implied by a popular Sicilian
proverb
:
"Cu e surdu, orbu e taci, campa cent'anni 'mpaci"
("He who is deaf, blind and silent will live a hundred years in peace").
It has also been described as follows: "Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward. Whoever cannot take care of himself without police protection is both. It is as cowardly to betray an offender to justice, even though his offences be against yourself, as it is not to avenge an injury by violence. It is dastardly and contemptible in a wounded man to betray the name of his assailant, because if he recovers, he must naturally expect to take vengeance himself."
[6]
History
[
edit
]
Omerta is a code of silence, according to one of the first Mafia researchers Antonio Cutrera, a former officer of public security. It seals lips of men even in their own defense and even when the accused is innocent of charged crimes. Cutrera quoted a native saying which was first uttered (as goes the legend) by a wounded man to his assailant: "If I live, I'll kill you. If I die, I forgive you."
[4]
Sicilians adopted the code long before the emergence of
Cosa Nostra
, and it may have been heavily influenced by centuries of state oppression and foreign domination. It has been observed at least as far back as the 16th century as a way of opposing Spanish rule.
[7]
The Italian-American mafioso
Joseph Valachi
famously broke the
omerta
code in 1963, when he publicly spoke out about the existence of the Mafia and testified before a
United States Senate
committee. He became the first in the modern history of the
Italian-American Mafia
to break his
blood oath
.
[8]
[9]
In Sicily, the phenomenon of
pentito
(
Italian
he who has repented
) broke omerta.
Among the most famous Mafia
pentiti
is
Tommaso Buscetta
, the first important witness in Italy, who both helped prosecutor
Giovanni Falcone
to understand the inner workings of
Cosa Nostra
and described the
Sicilian Mafia Commission
or
Cupola
, the
leadership
of the Sicilian Mafia. A predecessor,
Leonardo Vitale
, who gave himself up to the
police
in 1973, was judged
mentally ill
and so his testimony led to the conviction of only himself and his uncle.
[10]
In sport
[
edit
]
Omerta is widely reported in sport in relation to use of prohibited substances by athletes. The Cycling Independent Reform Commission report of 2015 contains the word "omerta" no fewer than 17 times, and stated:
A former directeur sportif described omerta as a system in which riders were open among themselves about doping, and omerta operated externally so doping was not spoken about in public.
An academic paper highlighted that those who broke the code of silence within cycling were ostracised and sometimes pushed out of the sport because they were not willing to support or join in with doping. Any rider who did speak out about doping could find himself informally sanctioned by the rest of the peloton.
[11]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
Mario Puzo
wrote novels based on the principles of omerta and the Cosa Nostra. His best known works in that vein are the trilogy
The Godfather
(1969),
The Sicilian
(1984), and
Omerta
(2000).
[12]
The 2010 videogame
Fallout: New Vegas
features a tribe of gangsters called the Omertas. The 2002 videogame
Mafia
names its campaign's ninth chapter "Omerta".
Swedish
metal
band
Katatonia
released a song titled "Omerta" on their 2003 album
Viva Emptiness
, detailing the fictional killing of a mafia informant who had broken omerta.
American heavy metal band
Lamb of God
also released a song titled "Omerta" from their third studio album
Ashes of the Wake
(2004), which begins with lead singer
Randy Blythe
performing a spoken word description of omerta.
In 2019, Canadian rapper
Drake
released a song called "Omerta" in the extended play
The Best in the World Pack
.
in 2020, Spanish singer
Rosalia
and American rapper
Travis Scott
released their second song together titled "
TKN
", the song revolves around a gangster family and in the song Rosalia mentions "Mas te vale no romper la omerta" (You better not break the omerta).
See also
[
edit
]
Look up
omerta
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Explanatory notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Michael, Herzfeld (2004).
The Body Impolitic: Artisans and Artifice in the Global Hierarchy of Value
. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
ISBN
0-226-32913-5
.
- ^
a
b
"omerta"
.
Oxford English Dictionary
(Online ed.).
Oxford University Press
.
(Subscription or
participating institution membership
required.)
- ^
Relazione conclusiva, Commissione parlamentare d’inchiesta sul fenomeno della mafia in Sicilia
, Rome 1976, p. 106
- ^
a
b
(in Italian)
Antonio Cutrera,
La mafia e i mafiosi
, Reber, Palermo: 1900, p. 27 (reprinted by Arnaldo Forni Editore, Sala Bolognese 1984,
ISBN
88-271-2487-X
), quoted in Nelli,
The Business of Crime
, pp. 13?14
- ^
a
b
Paoli,
Mafia Brotherhoods
, p. 109
- ^
Porello,
The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia
, p. 23
;
- ^
"Know Italy Travel Guide & Places to Go"
. Knowital.
- ^
Killers in Prison
Archived
2012-07-09 at
archive.today
, Time, October 4, 1963
- ^
"The Smell of It"
Archived
2012-07-09 at
archive.today
, Time, October 11, 1963
- ^
Suro, Roberto (1986-05-18).
"Sicily and the Mafia"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2020-02-09
.
- ^
"Cycling Independent Reform Commission ? Report to the President of the Union Cycliste Internationale"
(PDF)
. pp. 25?26
. Retrieved
2019-04-22
.
- ^
Puzo, Mario
(2000).
Omerta
. Mario Puzo's Mafia. New York: Random House.
ISBN
978-0375502545
.
OCLC
1031631136
.
General sources
[
edit
]
- Blok, Anton (1988 [1974]).
The Mafia of a Sicilian Village, 1860?1960: A study of violent peasant entrepreneurs
, Long Grove (Illinois): Waveland Press
ISBN
0-88133-325-5
- Nelli, Humbert S. (1981 [1976]).
The Business of Crime: Italians and Syndicate Crime in the United States
, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press
ISBN
0-226-57132-7
- Paoli, Letizia (2003).
Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style
, Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press
ISBN
0-19-515724-9
- Porrello, Rick (1995).
The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia: Corn Sugar and Blood
, New York: Barricade books
ISBN
1-56980-058-8
- Servadio, Gaia (1976).
Mafioso: A history of the Mafia from its origins to the present day
, London: Secker & Warburg
ISBN
0-436-44700-2
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