omertà

plural omertàs · alternative omerta

1. countableuncountablecrimeA code of silence amongst members of the Mafia that forbids divulging insider secrets to law enforcement, often also followed outside of the organization for fear of retaliation.

   Where such a thing as Sicilian omertà exists, the most perfect laws, and the most honestly-intentioned executive in the world cannot escape falling into errors.

   1864, Frances Power Cobbe, “Italy Tried by Jury”, in Italics. Brief Notes on Politics, People, and Places in Italy, in 1864, London: Trübner and Co., […], →OCLC, page 107

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   Here we have the unfortunate heirloom of corrupt government—Omertà (a Sicilian word, meaning silence on the part of witnesses to a deed of blood). The Government arrests a delinquent and has him tried before a court; but the latter, for want of witnesses, cannot condemn. "We dare not speak," say the victims themselves; "the robber has powerful friends in these parts; we might be made to suffer worse than we have to complain of; it is better to bear with the past than to ruin the future."

   1863 November 7, “The State of Italy”, in Public Opinion: […], volume IV, number III, London: Cox and Wyman, […], →OCLC, page 520, column 1

   The power of the mafia in action is supported by a code of ethics, prevalent and exclusively respected throughout the island, called "Omertà." […] Omertà requires that your own hand alone should protect your head; but it also requires that in any circumstances in which it should fail to be able to do so, the man who has omertà at heart must bend his head and suffer. Vengeance, however tardy, and obtained by whatever amount of treachery and striking from behind, is in honourable conformity with omertà; but there must be no appeal to law.

   1877 August, T. Adolphus Trollope, “The ‘Mafia’ and ‘Omertà’ in Society”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, volume CCXLI, number 1760, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, pages 160–161

   Among the social oaths dictated by the frieno, by far the foremost in importance is the omertà, the most solemn oath never to denounce, not even at one's deathbed, any wrong suffered through a fellow associate, never to reveal one's own murderer, never to have recourse to the aid of the law for any reason whatsoever, but to avenge the offense with one's own hands, if possible, after having first laid the complaint before the natural judges or the Camorra Tribunal.

   1911 July 29, Ernesto Serao, “The Truth about the Camorra”, in Lyman Abbott, editor, The Outlook, volume 98, number 13, New York, N.Y.: The Outlook Company, →OCLC, page 67, column 2

   Patriarca [Raymond Patriarca Jr.] pleaded guilty in December 1991 to racketeering and conspiracy charges, but he refused to admit he was a member of the Mafia, clinging to his vow of "omerta" to the secret organization.

   2005 March 4, Shelley Murphy, “US seeking to seize Patriarca assets: Ex-mobster owes incarceration costs”, in The Boston Globe, volume 267, number 63, Boston, Mass.: The Globe Newspaper Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, City & Region section, page B3, column 1

   Synonyms: Sicilian code

2. broadlycountablefigurativelyuncountableAny code of silence (especially about something illegal or secret), or refusal to talk openly about something.

   Despite criticising what he [Sadiq Khan] called an "omertà" in British politics about Brexit, he expressed some sympathy for the Labour leader Keir [Starmer]'s wariness about the issue.

   2023 October 6, Heather Stewart, quoting Sadiq Khan, “‘Choose London’: Sadiq Khan steps up efforts to lure EU citizens post-Brexit”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2024

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   The unspoken emotions he [John McGahern] dissects expose a repressive world of ordinary people from both sides in the civil war of 1922: of policemen, nurses and teachers; of ancient hatreds passed down from generation to generation, submerged in the Irish omertàs which make taboo so many aspects of tenderness and sexual expression; of the fear and secrecy surrounding the country's age-old political vendettas.

   1997, Ian Hill, “The Province of Ulster [Monaghan]”, in Irish Counties: A Journey into the History, Culture and Tradition of Ireland, London: Salamander Books, →ISBN, page 89

   There was a time that high-profile killings such as the 1968 assassinations of Robert F[rancis] Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. brought passionate cries for limitations on handguns. A bipartisan omerta now smothers the issue.

   2006 October 27, Ross K. Baker, “Guns—the dead issue”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page A29, columns 1–2

   But although her [Carol Thatcher's] agent has invoked that tradition of post-show omerta in her defence, the truth is that few would trust these days to what it is now possibly risky to call Chinese walls.

   2009 February 7, Mark Lawson, “We're all in public now”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2025

   Over the past ten years, a series of high-profile CEOs have broken unwritten omertas not to address the contentious challenges posed by climate change, human rights, and increased transparency.

   2010, Aron Cramer, Zachary Karabell, “Leadership”, in Sustainable Excellence: The Future of Business in a Fast-changing World, New York, N.Y.: Rodale, →ISBN, page 58

   Of all the media outlets, the New York Times was the only one to mention the close-hold embargo: […] The FDA [Food and Drug Administration] was not pleased that the omertà had been broken.

   2016 October, Charles Seife, “How the FDA Manipulates the Media [print version: How to Spin the Science News]”, in Mariette DiChristina, editor, Scientific American, volume 315, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Springer Nature American, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 May 2025, page 54