Similar reasoning applies to secrecy. While secrecy is the most elementary means of practicing self-protection, vis-à-vis both rivals and the state, it is primarily a requirement for selling protection to others, for if our customers know anything which can be used against us, our position as guarantor is weakened since it is difficult to control someone who can fight back. Leading a discreet life, allowing only creditable information to filter out—these are essential prerequisites for selling our product. Omertà is not, as many have suggested, merely a traditional code which has matured over long periods of foreign domination and is now inertially retained, nor is it simply a means of keeping the state out of our business. It is a crucial part of our ability to serve as an entrepreneur of protection. This is one of the differences between selling protection and selling cars. Whereas in the latter case our private life is not necessarily an indication of how reliable our cars will be, in the case of protection, although what is considered honorable may be historically mutable, what we are—or what we appear to be—counts as one of the most important signs of good faith.

DEFINE: Reworks omertà from a traditional cultural code into a functional economic requirement for selling protection as a service. Builds on: "Mafia secrecy is purposeful protection trade, not mere culture"

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 101