The Mafia's system of silence in communication, film and literature: perversions of society and transgressions of omertà

The Mafia's communicational codes, whether written, unwritten, spoken or unspoken, demonstrate a system of silence that overpowers individuals and institutions within its society. This domination reveals itself through the Mafia's perversions of common societal structures. The Sicilian Mafia, for example, distorts and exaggerates both the Sicilian family structure and the Roman Catholic tradition. Cosa Nostra appropriates certain values and rituals from the Church and family to benefit their own cultural system. The Camorra exposes a perversion and manipulation of the Campania region's communication and economic systems. This examination looks at the literary, factual, cinematic, economic and journalistic manifestations of the Mafia's linguistic and behavioral codes, both within and outside the system of silence