Albert Anastasia

Albert Anastasia (February 26 1902–October 25, 1957), also known as the "Mad Hatter" and "Lord High Executioner", was a Mafia boss chiefly remembered for running the contract-killing syndicate known as Murder, Inc.

Anastasia's rise to power

Loyalties during the Castellammarese War

In 1930, Luciano finalized plans to take over crime in America by destroying the two old-line Mafia factions headed by Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano; he outlined his plot to Anastasia. Anastasia joined Luciano and Bugsy Siegel in the plot, and assured Luciano that he would kill everyone for Luciano to be on top. Anastasia, always hungry for power, knew that if Luciano were head of the National Crime Syndicate that he would eventually get a "piece of the action." Anastasia was personally part of the four-man death squad that mowed down Masseria in Nuova Villa Tammaro, a Coney Island restaurant, on 15 April 1931, during the Castellammarese War.

Related Topics:
1930 - Mafia - Masseria - Salvatore Maranzano - Bugsy Siegel - National Crime Syndicate - Coney Island - 15 April - 1931 - Castellammarese War

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The outcome of the Castellammarese War and the subsequent murder of Salvatore Maranzano was that Luciano assumed control of organized crime across America. In order to avoid the power struggles and turf disputes that led to the Castellammarese War, Luciano sought to establish the National Crime Syndicate (more familiarly known as the "Commission") consisting of the bosses of major families around the country, including especially the so-called "five families" of New York. This "Commission" would serve as a deliberative body to solve disputes, carve up and distribute territories, and regulate lucrative illegal activities such as prostitution, racketeering, gambling, and bootlegging (which would soon come to a close with the end of Prohibition in 1933).

Related Topics:
Castellammarese War - Salvatore Maranzano - National Crime Syndicate - Prostitution - Racketeering - Gambling - Bootlegging - Prohibition - 1933

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Murder, Incorporated

For his loyalty, Luciano placed Anastasia in a position of power, combining his talents with those of Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, the nation's leading labor racketeer, as the operating heads of the National Crime Syndicate's enforcement arm, Murder, Incorporated. Murder, Inc. was a group of mainly Jewish killers operated out of the back room of the Brownsville (in Brooklyn, New York) candy store Midnight Rose's. Some estimates have it that Murder, Inc. may have taken, in a decade of operation, a toll estimated at between 400 and 700 victims. Many of these murders remain unsolved. Unlike Lepke and many other members of Murder, Inc., Anastasia was never prosecuted for any of the murders. When indictments and trials loomed, key prosecution witnesses would disappear.

Related Topics:
Louis "Lepke" Buchalter - National Crime Syndicate's - Murder, Incorporated - Jewish - Brooklyn - New York

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Murder, Inc. maintained its power until the early 1940s. After his arrest, hit man Abe Reles made a deal granting him immunity from prosecution for testimony that helped convict many of the group's hit men, including co-boss Louis "Lepke" Buchalter. Anastasia promised a $100,000 reward for his death, and Reles mysteriously fell to his death from a guarded hotel room at Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island on 12 November 1941.

Related Topics:
Abe Reles - Louis "Lepke" Buchalter - Coney Island - 12 November - 1941

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After the arrest and execution of Buchalter in 1944, Anastasia became the sole leader of Murder, Inc., which shortly faded away as contract killings were arranged within individual crime families.

Related Topics:
Execution - 1944 - Murder, Inc.

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World War II

In 1936, Prosecutor Thomas Dewey was successful in convicting Luciano on the charge of pandering, for which he secured a 30- to 50-year sentence. During World War II, Anastasia appeared to have been the originator of a plan to free Luciano from prison by winning him a pardon for "helping the war effort."

Related Topics:
1936 - Thomas Dewey - Luciano - World War II

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To accomplish this goal, Anastasia set out to create problems on the New York waterfront so that the United States Navy would agree to any kind of deal to stop the sabotage. The French luxury liner SS Normandie, in the process of being converted into a troopship, mysteriously burned and capsized in New York harbor. While newspaper accounts suggested it was the act of German agents who had infiltrated the United States, it was actually Anastasia, who ordered his brother, Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio, to carry out the sabotage.

Related Topics:
United States Navy - SS ''Normandie''

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With America needing allies in Sicily to advance the invasion of Italy, and the desire of the Navy to dedicate its resources to the war, Anastasia orchestrated a deal to obtain lighter treatment for Luciano while he was in prison, and after the war, a parole in trade for the mafia protecting the waterfront and Luciano's assistance with his associates in Sicily.

Related Topics:
Sicily - Italy

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Boss

Anastasia's violent ways could be contained as long as Luciano and Frank Costello pulled the strings. In 1951, Costello was regarded as being the prime mover in Anastasia's rise to boss of the Mangano (later Gambino) crime family.

Related Topics:
Luciano - Frank Costello - 1951 - Gambino

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Through the years, boss Vincent Mangano had fumed at Anastasia's closeness to Luciano, Costello, and others and that they obtained Anastasia's services without first seeking Mangano's permission. This and other business disputes almost led to blows between Mangano and Anastasia, and it was only a matter of time before one or the other was ordered killed. In early 1951, Vincent Mangano went missing, and his brother Phil was murdered, after which Anastasia claimed control of the Family with Costello's active support.

Related Topics:
Vincent Mangano - Luciano - Costello - 1951

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Soon after, at a Commission meeting, Costello backed up Anastasia's claim that Mangano was planning to kill him and defended Anastasia's right to act in self-defense. The bosses accepted Anastasia's elevation to boss.

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Costello had other practical motivations for wanting Anastasia in control of the crime family. At that time, Costello was facing a serious challenge from Vito Genovese, who wanted to control Luciano's organization now that Luciano was living in Italy in exile. Until 1951, Costello relied on New Jersey crime boss Willie Moretti for "muscle," but Moretti was losing his mind, blurting out mafia business in public, and would soon be murdered. Costello needed new muscle, and Anastasia, with a family of gunmen behind him, would make a strong foil to Genovese's plan.

Related Topics:
Vito Genovese - Luciano's - 1951 - Willie Moretti

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Unfortunately, as boss Anastasia became more brutal than ever. In 1952, he even ordered the murder of a young Brooklyn shoe salesman named Arnold Schuster after watching Schuster talking on television about his role as primary witness in fugitive bank robber Willie Sutton's arrest. It is alleged that Anastasia raged to his men, "I can't stand squealers! Hit that guy!"

Related Topics:
1952 - Willie Sutton's

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In killing Schuster, Anastasia had violated a cardinal mafia rule against killing outsiders, which ran – as Bugsy Siegel once quaintly put it – "We only kill each other." Schuster's murder brought unnecessary public scrutiny on mafia business. Luciano and Costello were horrified, but they could not take action against Anastasia as they needed him to counter Genovese's growing ambitions and power.

Related Topics:
Bugsy Siegel - Genovese's

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