To add to Turnbull's answer (above).... Joe Columbo, head of the NY Family with the same last name, led an anti-defamation league fighting Italians being stereotyped as criminals, etc. in the media. Whether he really gave a damn about this is arguable but he sure liked taking the money that the league was raising.

The rest of the NY Families didn't like the fact that the League was getting a lot of publicity (they're not in a public relations minded business ) and Columbo was warned to "cool it" by Carlo Gambino (then the BIG boss of the Mob). Columbo ignored the warning (stupidly) and on the day that "The Godfather" was filming the love scenes between Mike and Kay, Columbo was shot (one half mile away from the movie scene) at a rally for the League. It's been generally acknowledged that Carlo Gambino was behind the shooting.