Omertà, although etymologically related to manliness and strength, has come to signify specifically the capacity for maintaining silence under adverse conditions, presumably because this quality is held by those who value it to be one of the manly virtues. In particular, the term traditionally refers to the silence a large sector of the Sicilian population is capable of maintaining in the face of public inquiries into crime, and their general reluctance to talk to strangers. The mafia represents the quintessence of this capacity for secrecy, which, along with the capacity for violence, usually heads the list of mafioso attributes. Against this view I argue that secrecy vis-à-vis the authorities is but one of several forms of secrecy, and perhaps not the most important one. Hand in hand with secrecy goes information, a fundamental aspect of the business which has hitherto been virtually ignored. Furthermore, secrecy and intelligence are not mythic cultural codes but necessary attributes if one is to trade in protection.

XREF: Challenges the romanticized view of 'omertà' as mere cultural virtue; reframes Mafia secrecy as economic strategy — a parallel to Gambetta's signaling theory.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 93