Whenever norms are handed down by institutions, they are likely to concern areas of human behavior which cannot otherwise be effectively governed. They flourish on the sore spots for which no better medicine has been devised. Perhaps the sorest of them all—not only in the mafia—is information. At the top of the list is the rule of secrecy. The code of silence must be observed at all times, and a man of honor is never to reveal to anyone his mafia membership or confirm the existence or activities of the organization.

XREF: Connects to institutional theory and the sociology of informal governance — Elinor Ostrom's commons norms and informal institutional enforcement.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 315