Omertà developed from a long-standing distrust of state authority in southern Italy that predated the rise of the Mafia. In the late 1840s Bourbon rule imposed heavy taxes and strict policing, which helped spark the Revolutions of 1848 and deepened public resentment. After Italian unification in 1861, further burdens such as new taxes, forced military service, and harsh crackdowns weakened trust in government even more. In the resulting vacuum created by absent landlords and ineffective courts, communities turned to local strongmen who offered protection for a price. Their power rested on the threat of violence rather than law. In this environment, silence came to be valued and cooperation with authorities was viewed as weakness or betrayal. Organized crime groups that emerged in Sicily and Calabria in the 19th century formalized these attitudes into the code of omertà.
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