Vendetta, practice of a family taking vengeance on the person who shed the blood of one of its relatives. Vengeance is taken in kind, that is, an eye for an eye, and may also be taken on one of the offender's relatives. An established institution in many primitive cultures, the vendetta served to punish crimes in societies where governments did not yet exist or where they were greatly distrusted. It was practiced particularly in Corsica and Sicily, where it was part of the code of the secret society of the Mafia. A form of vendetta used to be common in certain areas of the southern U.S., where it was known as a feud.