Influential Mafia Boss
Antonio Nino Cottone had worked for the Profaci brothers in New York City and was deported back to Sicily. He became the boss of Villabate where the Profaci family originated. Cottone was not only influential in his own town but in Palermo as well. After the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II (Operation Husky), Cottone was made mayor of Villabate by the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT) who looked for anti-fascist notables to replace fascist authorities.
A onetime butcher who prospered mightily during the U.S. occupation of Sicily, Nino Cottone was respected for his wealth and for his excellent connections in the Christian Democrat party (DC—Democrazia Cristiana). The foundation of Nino's respectability was the fact that he was a boss of the "Mafia of the Gardens"—the section of Cosa Nostra that "protects" Palermo's fruit market men and citrus growers. Cottone also ran the meat supply to Palermo's wholesale market and got his meat from cattle thief Luciano Leggio from Corleone.
Cottone mediated the peace in the violent vendetta within the Greco Mafia clan between the factions of Ciaculli and Croceverde Giardini. The daughter of Nino Cottone, Maria Cottone, married Salvatore Greco The Senator.
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