| |
| Umberto Anastasio | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Aliases | The Lord High Executioner |
| Gender | Male |
| Born | September 26, 1902 Tropea, Calabria, Italy |
| Died | October 25, 1957 Midtown Manhattan, New York, US |
| Affiliation | Murder, Inc. Gambino crime family |
| Title(s) | Don |
Albert Anastasia was a Murder, Inc. hitman who was responsible for the murders of Dutch Schultz and Frank Scalice and later became the boss of the Gambino crime family. He was a close ally of Genovese crime family boss Frank Costello, and in 1957, Costello's rival Vito Genovese ordered Anastasia's murder, which caused uproar within the Italian Mafia.
Biography[]
Albert Anastasia was born in Calabria and arrived in the United States in 1919 on a freighter with his brothers, including future Gambino Soldier Anthony Anastasio. The Anastasio Brothers deserted the freighter, which they had worked on, illegally entering the USA. He changed his name to "Anastasia", while his brother did not.
In 1921, he avoided the death sentence for killing longshoreman George Turino, using a retrial to prove himself innocent. Soon, he became the leader of the International Longshoremen's Association, allying with Joe Masseria for protection. Associated with Lucky Luciano, he took part in the Castellammarese War, as he aided Luciano's plan to put Salvatore Maranzano and Masseria on a collision course that would let him take over the Italian Mafia. In 1931 Anastasia, Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis, and Bugsy Siegel assassinated Masseria. Because of his service to Maranzano, when Maranzano organized the New York Mafia into a hierarchy of five families, he became the Underboss of the Mangano crime family, headed by Vincent Mangano.
In 1933, as a reward for his services to Luciano, Anastasia and Louis Buchalter became the two heads of Murder, Inc., based at Midnight Rose's, a joint owned by Louis Capone. In 1941, he paid a police officer $100,000 to kill Abe Reles, "The Canary Who Could Sing, But Couldn't Fly", and in 1942, murdered Anthony Romeo, who also offered to testify against Anastasia and Murder, Inc.; by then, Buchalter and Capone had been sent to the electric chair.
In 1942, Anastasia joined the US Army during World War II, hoping to escape criminal investigations that dismantled Murder, Inc., and became a Tech Sergeant. In 1944, he was honourably discharged and moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey, where he stayed with his family.
In 1951, he refused to answer and Kefauver Committee questions. By then, he was nominally the Don of the Manganos, with the real power in the organization. Mangano was furious at Anastasia's ties with the Genovese bosses Luciano and Frank Costello, so Anastasia had Vincent and Philip Mangano both executed. He claimed that the Mangano Brothers wanted to have him killed, but did not say that he killed them, in a meeting with The Commission. The Anastasia crime family was formed that day, and allied with the Costello Faction of the Genovese, as well as Joseph Bonanno of the Bonanno crime family.
In 1957, Anastasia had Frank Scalice, Gambino Underboss, killed, because he was selling family positions to the highest bidder, leading to unreliable members. The Scalice murder was easily linked to Anastasia, who killed Arnold Schuster in 1952 for ratting out robber Willie Sutton, and some other people because he felt like it; he was going mad.
Downfall[]
An ambitious Vito Genovese wanted to take control of the Genovese Family from the peaceful Frank Costello, whom he felt was going soft. However, as Anastasia was a close ally of Costello, Genovese had to have Anastasia killed before he could take over. When Vincent Gigante failed to kill Costello that year, Genovese decided to wait a while until the next hit and ordered the death of Anastasia. Genovese gained allies through a propaganda war, telling them of Anastasia's evil random murders. He also sold positions in the family for $50,000 each, a violation of Mafia law. Anastasia's greed left Meyer Lansky on Genovese's team, and soon, many members of The Commission declared Anastasia a marked man.
Death[]
Anastasia, shot dead
Anastasia Underboss Carlo Gambino gave the hit job to Stephem Grammauta, Arnold Wittenberg, and Stephen Armone, three Gambino heroin dealers. The day that he died, Anastasia was in a barbershop getting a shave and haircut. Anastasia was rushed by the gunmen, entering the shop with guns blazing. They pushed the barber out of the way and shot at Anastasia, who jumped up. Anastasia, covering one of his eyes with his arm, tried to attack them, but hit their reflection in the mirror and shattered the glass. The gunmen, reloading their pistols, gunned him down as he fell to the floor next to his chair, and he died in a pool of blood.
Aftermath[]
In light of his takeover, Vito Genovese called the Apalachin Meeting to talk about reforms to the Mafia but the meeting was raided. In 1958, a mere year after being boss of the Genovese, he was arrested on drug charges trumped up by Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, Carlo Gambino, and Frank Costello, who were mad at the outcome of the meeting. He was given 15 years in jail.