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Tribal Patterns. Italian police were unhappily forced to concede that they have little effect on either Mafia or Crime Inc. Many Italians are inclined to blame police ineffectiveness on the fact that carabinieri forces in Sicily are staffed and directed by mainland Italians, who do not understand the Sicilian temperament and the intricate, tribal patterns of Sicilian behavior.
Said one Sicilian last week: "The people know that good people aren't attacked. It is the criminals who eliminate each other." Besides, it is doubtful whether even a Sicilian-run police force could soon overcome the centuries-old code of omertá, which makes informing—even against a rival gang—the greatest sin. Commenting on last week's murders, one Palermi-ano said with undisguised pride: "The black-clad widows don't speak; nor the children who nourish in their breasts their first thoughts of hatred and vengeance. That is the way of Sicilian blood. "