John Dickie goes into some detail about this in his book.
Basically, he was a drugs trafficker, rather than a boss at the top of a hierarchy/Family like he had been in the US. His influence came from his connections with actual bosses who protected and shielded him, in return for drug money profits presumably, but he had very little actual power himself.
This is one of the books that we used in my university class on mafia. I think you’d enjoy it
https://www.amazon.com/Cosa-Nostra-History-Sicilian-Mafia/dp/1403970424