Quote Originally Posted by Rainfall
"We all of us agree in loving your people when we meet you personally, but when we read, day after day, of your kidnappings and honour slayings and racketeering, bootlegging and graft, we get a distorted picture that makes us laugh with the cynic that described you as having stepped straight out of barbarism into decadence."

Letter of an English couple to the American people, printed 23.06.1932 in a Connecticut newspaper

Mmh, that's odd. 'Honour slayings'? Americans love to point to Muslim honor killings, any idea what the English folks refered to?
Presumably "Honour slayings" was in reference to the mafia gang warfare of the time. Mafioso or man of honour or uomo d'onore is the probable reason for the phrase. Another time-honoured era in the USA of men with guns..... When will they learn?