- "God has blessed you with good fortune. We will miss you though, the neighbourhood will not be the same without the Corleones"
- ―Anita Colombo[src]
Anita Colombo was a friend of Carmela Corleone and the Corleone family, as well as the grandmother of Sandra Corleone.
Biography
Anita Colombo was born in Messina, Sicily, and was one of many Italians who came to America in search of a greater future. She married and had several children, but her husband died in the 1920s, leaving her to fend for herself. To make matters worse, several tenants in her apartment block complained about the noise made by her dog, and the landlord, Signor Roberto, threatened to evict them.
Desperate, Anita turned to her friend Carmela Corleone, who asked her husband Vito for help. After initially attempting to reason with Roberto, Vito asked the man to investigate him as one who knows how to return a favour. Roberto discovered Vito's connections with La Cosa Nostra, and immediately allowed Colombo and her family to stay, with several months rent paid for her.
She had a son, Ruggero. When he left for Nevada, Anita took care of his daughter Sandrinella "Sandra" Columbo for him, raising her to be a good Italian girl and chaperoning her visits with the young Sonny Corleone, Vito's son. Sandra later married Sonny, and the Columbo and Corleone families were permanently linked.