Salvatore Albert Cotillo (November 19, 1886 – July 27, 1939) was an Italian-born New York lawyer, Democratic Party politician and judge.

As such, he stood between the mores of the Italian ethnic ghetto in East Harlem where he grew up, and the judgment and norms of American society where he made his career.

[2] During those formative years he worked in the family's pastry shop, where intellectuals of the neighborhood gathered in the evening to discuss social and political issues with his father.

"Neighbors and friends sought his aid in the preparation of applications for various licenses, or petitions on behalf of their relatives who wished to emigrate to the United States.

[12][13] As a young attorney Cotillo had to distance himself from the local underworld that incorporated many members of the Camorra from Naples who tried to impose their "services".

When the so-called King of Little Italy, the Camorra boss Giosue Gallucci, was arrested for carrying concealed weapons, Cotillo was asked to testify as a character witness on his behalf, but refused.

"Many problems were personal; but some had a community aspect and Cotillo was exhilarated by the challenge they offered to find a solution .... An earnest group of the more frequent callers regarded him as their leader in planning for the realization of a better life for their immigrant neighbors," according to his biographer.

Others seeking employment in the municipal street-cleaning department were asked to pay weeks and months of their earnings when appointed.

Lazarus got beaten in the electoral contest, but Cotillo, supported by the Italian-American vote, made a deal with Hayes that gave Little Italy a political foothold in the city.

He drew support from the Citizens Union and was identified for two notable pieces of legislation; pensions for widows and the Workmen's Compensations Law.

[11] From mid-June to the end of September 1918 Cotillo traveled around Italy, meeting officials and politicians, giving interviews to the press and addressing large crowds.

When he returned to New York, Cotillo had risen from a largely unknown local politician to achieve public stature and become a leader of the Italian community.

[25] With the return of progressive Democrat Al Smith to the Governor's office in 1923, Cotillo introduced new bills to reduce the weaknesses of the 1921 concessions.

During the hearings on Cotillo's bill in March 1923, a devastating crash of the Tisbo Brothers immigrant bank at 121 Mott Street in lower Manhattan left 2,000 angry depositors, demanding their money they had deposited, with losses of more than two million dollars.

The committee investigated renting and building conditions in the City of New York and ended a spate of rent-raising as a result of the housing shortage after World War I.

[31][32] The group found that the housing conditions at the time constituted a serious menace to public health in New York since some 400,000 persons were directly affected by the scarcity of affordable dwellings and the poor quality of the existing ones.

[36] As the foremost force on the New York State Commission to Examine Laws Relating to Child Welfare, concerned with issues of custody, orphanage, child support, and state wardship and institutions, Cotillo pushed a comprehensive reform through the legislature with the support of the social-welfare advocate Sophie Irene Loeb and the Hearst newspapers.

[11][39] Pro-Fascists opposed the assimilation policies of Cotillo, who had become Grand Venerable of the New York State branch of OSIA in 1921 and had started an ambitious English language program as a means for upward mobility of the Italian-American community.

[41] Eventually, he joined Fiorello La Guardia and Luigi Antonini, of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, in founding an anti-Fascist New York State chapter of OSIA, the Sons of Italy Grand Lodge.

In a letter to Il Duce he tried persuade the Italian dictator that Fascist Italy's recent anti-Semitic legislation was unwise, and asked to "postpone execution of such drastic action for a reasonable time until an opportunity has been afforded me to appear before you and present the worthy cause because your edict may result in serious consequences in America.

"[42][43] He asked for the repeal of the anti-Jewish laws and warned for a boycott of Italian goods in New York, where, as he wrote, "we live in close interdependent relationship" with Jewish people.

[44][45] After the 1922 elections, Cotillo became the chairman of the influential State Senate Judiciary Committee, a sign of his rising authority.

A naturalized citizen had the same rights as native-born and fingerprinting would make the foreign applicant feel like a criminal, Cotillo pointed out.

[50] On July 27, 1939, he died following an operation for a chest tumor at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Manhattan, New York, at the age of 52.