Daniel A. Nigro is the former Fire Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), protagonist of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, then Chief of the same Fire Department. He was presented with the Magna Grecia International Award in 2016 on the occasion of the XII Magna Grecia International Week organized by the Magna Grecia Foundation, chaired by President Nino Foti.

Originally from the center of the Crater area, in the province of Salerno, Daniel Nigro's family emigrated to America more than a hundred years ago from the city of Valva, of which he is currently an honorary citizen.

Raised in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens, New York, he later attended Baruch College, and then joined the FDYN in 1969.

In 1993 he became deputy chief of the New York City Fire Department and in 1996 he put his skills to the test when he oversaw the merger of the city's ambulance teams with the fire department.

After the death of Chief Peter J. Ganci Jr., he assumed the position of head of the department during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, showing great skill in managing the oversight of all rescue and recovery operations at the World Trade Center site and the beginning of the unprecedented reconstruction of the Department, so much so that after retiring in 2002, he joined an FDYN counterterrorism task force.

Having held the highest rank as Head of Department and being only the sixth individual to hold every department rank in the agency's history, he was appointed by New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio as the 33rd Commissioner of the Fire Department in 2014.