Omertà 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." 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. Italian-American mafioso
Joseph Valachi famously broke the
omertà 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. In Sicily, the phenomenon of
pentito (
Italian he who has repented) broke omertà. Among the most famous Mafia
pentiti is
Tommaso Buscetta, the first important witness in Italy, who both helped prosecutor
Giovanni Falcone 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. ==In popular culture==