The insufferable tyranny of the Bourbon dynasty made every outlaw dear to the hearts of the oppressed people of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Even if he robbed them, they felt that he was the lesser of two evils, and sheltered him from the authorities.

Out of this feeling grew the "Omerta," which paralyzes the arm of justice both in Naples and Sicily.

The late Marion Crawford thus summed up the Sicilian code of honor: According to this code, a man who appeals to the law against his fellow man is not only a fool but a coward, and he who cannot take care of himself without the protection of the police is both....

It is reckoned as cowardly to betray an offender to justice, even though the offence be against one's self, as it would be not to avenge an injury by violence.
It is regarded as dastardly and contemptible in a wounded man to betray the name of his assailant, because if he recovers he must naturally expect to take vengeance himself.