Dara, William (1905-1982)

Born Sicily, July, 1905
Died Kenner, LA, July, 9, 1982.

A longtime member of the Bonanno Crime Family, William Dara is believed to have become an informant for the FBI later in his life.

William was born in Sicily in 1905 and arrived in the United States with his mother and two younger brothers about 1910. His father Nicholas traveled to the U.S. several years earlier. The family settled on Pitkin Avenue, near Vermont Street, in the East New York section of Brooklyn, where Nicholas worked as a barber. The Daras changed addresses through the years - to New Jersey Avenue and then to Crescent Street - but always remained within the East New York neighborhood. As a young adult, William began working as a tile setter. He was known from then on as "Willie the Tile Maker."

William and several of his siblings got into trouble with the law. Crime became a second career for William. His arrest record dates back at least to 1931, when he, his brother Michael and teenager John Cimino were arrested for stealing a slot machine from a candy store on Saratoga Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn. (The store owner did not appear for arraignment, and the three were discharged.) William Dara and Anthony Rizzo were captured in December 1934 as they attempted to rob a tire store on Brooklyn's Lafayette Avenue near Ashland Place. Dara appears to have been well known to police by 1940, when he and some Brooklyn associates were arrested for vagrancy.

He became an inducted member of the Bonanno Crime Family about 1950, serving for a time under his cousin, capodecina Mike Sabella. Dara later relocated to the Miami, Florida, area, where he ran a night club and conducted gambling rackets that were coordinated with Michael Coppola's Genovese Crime Family crew in South Florida.

In the 1960s, Dara appears to have provided information to the FBI on Tampa-based Mafia boss Santo Trafficante, Jr., other members of the Trafficante organization, and members of New York-based and Chicago-based mobs with operations in South Florida. Some of the FBI's information on the "Banana War" struggle within the Bonanno Family seems to have come from Dara.

Dara died in a plane crash at Kenner, Louisiana, a few days before his seventy-seventh birthday. He and his wife were taking a commercial Pan American flight to Las Vegas. All 145 people on the Boeing 727 and eight people on the ground were killed.

Read more:

• "'Willie the Tile Maker' Dara passed Mafia secrets to Feds," by Edmond Valin, mafiahistory.us.

Other sources:

• New York State Census of 1925, Kings County, Assembly District 22, Ward 15, Election District 29, no. 2125 Pitkin Avenue.
• United States Census of 1920, New York State, Kings County, Enumeration District 1416, no. 2125 Pitkin Avenue.
• United States Census of 1930, NeW York State, Kings County, Enumeration District 24-492, no. 321 New Jersey Avenue. 
• United States Census of 1940, New York State, Kings County, Enumeration District 24-2677, no. 584 Crescent Street.
• "3 hold-up suspects freed when victim dodges court," New York Daily News, Oct. 14, 1931, Brooklyn section, p. 14.
• "Thugs escape with $1,300 in bold robbery," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec. 17, 1934, p. 2.
• "Three men were arrested...," New York Times, April 14, 1940, p. 24.
• "149 killed in Orleans crash," Shreveport LA Times, July 10, 1982, p. 1.

Alo, Vincent (1904-2001)

Born New York City, May 26, 1904.
Died Florida, March 9, 2001.

Vincent Alo

Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo was a key figure in the post-Prohibition Genovese Crime Family and a liaison between the Sicilian-Italian Mafia and the organization of Meyer Lansky. His career was the inspiration for a number of fictional underworld characters, most notably "Johnny Ola" of The Godfather Part II movie.

Alo was born in 1904 in East Harlem to Salvatore and Giulia (or Julia) Scalzo Alo, immigrants from Cosenza, Italy. Salvatore worked as a tailor in a clothing factory. Vincent Alo had an older sister, Elizabeth, and two younger brothers, Frank and Joseph. (Two other sisters show up in census records for 1905 and 1910, but they are missing from later censuses, suggesting they did not live long into childhood.) In the early 1910s, the Alo family moved to Hoffman Street near Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.

Alo left school and went to work as a clerk for a Wall Street company after just a single year of high school. Reportedly frustrated by the clerical work, in the early 1920s Alo began participating in robberies.

In October of 1923, he was caught by police following a jewelry store robbery. He was charged with second degree robbery and possession of a firearm. A conviction the following month resulted in a sentence of five to twelve years in prison. Inside Great Meadow State Prison in Washington County, New York, Alo did further work as a clerk.

Following his release, "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo became connected with Mafiosi engaged in rackets in the Bronx. This apparently provided him a measure of protection from prosecution. Alo was arrested in March 1932, once again for robbery and firearm possession, but managed to be discharged the following day. During the 1930s, he and his underworld colleagues were affiliated with the organization run by Charlie Luciano. Alo was believed to be among the leaders of a policy (lottery) ring operating in Bronx and Westchester Counties of New York in the mid-1930s.

In this period, Alo and his associates established gambling operations in eastern Florida. The FBI noted that Alo was one of the partners in the Plantation Casino in Broward County, Florida, in 1936. Other partners included Julian "Potatoes" Kaufman, Giuseppe "Joe Adonis" Doto and Jake Lansky, brother of Meyer Lansky. Alo rented a home on Dewey Street in Hollywood, Florida, which became his winter racket headquarters.

Meyer Lansky

Alo took a bride in August 1936. His wife, Florence Rose Gelinas Miller, was previously married and was the mother of two sons. Alo, his new wife and two stepsons, lived together on Holland Avenue in the Bronx and Dewey Street in Hollywood, Florida. While in Florida, Alo developed a love of the sport of golf.

The FBI learned that Alo became a partner in The Farm casino in Broward County by late 1939 and that in that winter he hosted a gathering at his Florida home attended by organizers from the International Longshoremen's Association in New York.

In the next decade, the FBI was told that "Jimmy Blue Eyes" had become a top Harlem lieutenant in the crime family then commanded by Frank Costello. Alo's home addresses changed. In New York, he moved into an apartment building at 315 Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. In Florida, he moved to 1228 Monroe Avenue near Hollywood Lakes and Hollywood Beach.

His Florida business interests expanded to include a partnership with Meyer and Jake Lansky in the Club Greenacres casino in Hollywood; a seven-and-a-half percent interest in the Colonial Inn casino in Hollywood; and a share of the Ha-Ha Club in Hallandale. Alo was believed to be a stand-in for Joe Adonis in Florida. The Colonial Inn was a substantial underworld endeavor, involving Meyer and Jake Lansky, Frank Costello friend Frank Erickson, Joe Adonis and Richard Melvin. Alo was also alleged to be a partner with Frank Erickson in a horse race bookmaking racket operated out of the Hollywood Beach Hotel. Alo was one of a number of underworld figures who frequently visited the Wofford Hotel in Miami Beach. Other regular guests were Adonis, Costello, the Lanskys, Clevelanders George "King" Angersola and Alfred "Big Al" Polizzi, New Jersey racketeers Abner "Longie" Zwillman and Guarino "Willie Moore" Moretti, Youngstown Ohio gambling boss Joseph DiCarlo, and Detroit gambler William "Lefty Clark" Bischoff.

The FBI was told that the Ha-Ha Club in Hallandale was "a night club which catered to sex perverts." Later in the 1940s, perhaps after Alo ended his financial relationship with it, the club was targeted by local law enforcement. County officials shut the business down in 1947, stating that "its cast is composed of men who impersonate women and that its performances are conducted in a suggestive, indecent and obscene manner." The ownership of the Ha-Ha Club at that time was said to be Federal Amusement Company and Charles "Babe" Baker. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the closing of the club for conducting "lewd, indecent or nasty" performances and noted "the lawful evidence presents a dirty picture."

In the post-World War II years, Alo worked alongside Meyer Lansky in setting up gambling operations in Havana, Cuba. Alo was noted in immigration records returning with his wife from a brief trip to Cuba in April of 1946.

Alo was arrested for vagrancy by New York Police in August 1947. The vagrancy charge was baseless but it allowed the police to question Alo about his underworld relationships and about the Jan. 8 murder of waterfront labor leader Anthony Hintz. Alo admitted knowing Frank Costello, Joe Adonis and Meyer Lansky. When presented with a list of names of suspects in the Hintz murder, Alo admitted not only knowing them but also seeing them in Florida shortly before the murder was committed. He claimed not to have any awareness of the murder plot, telling investigators, "If they wanted to kill someone, that's their business."

Federal agents determined that Alo was part of an "Eastern Criminal Syndicate," including Costello, Erickson, Adonis and the Lanskys, that in 1949 operated the plush Hallandale Beach casino known as Club Boheme. The same group was said to have run the Club Greenacres and the recently closed Colonial Inn. In May of 1950, records seized from the New York City offices of Frank Erickson defined his business relationships with alleged Syndicate members, as well as Mert Wertheimer and others in Broward County, Florida.

The discovery was made just in advance of hearings before the U.S. Senate's Kefauver Committee. In July, Daniel P. Sullivan, operating director of the Crime Commission of Greater Miami, testified before the Kefauver panel. He detailed the underworld gambling operations in Broward, Palm Beach and Dade Counties. According to Sullivan, the Colonial Inn gambling partnership included the Lanskys, Alo, Adonis, Erickson, Bert Briggs, Claude Litteral and Samuel L. Bratt. Originally, the group included Detroit gamblers led by Mert Wertheimer, Reubin Mathews and Danny Sullivan, but the Detroit interest was bought out by New Yorkers after 1946.

Following Kefauver hearings into Florida gambling rackets, Florida Governor Fuller Warren became involved in the fight against the rackets. Warren removed a local sheriff for accepting bribes and ordered an investigation of law enforcement corruption at Daytona Beach. Grand juries were formed to investigate the Florida rackets. These issued indictments against Alo, the Lanskys, Bischoff, Litteral, Bratt, George Sadlow, Frank Shireman and others for their roles in the running of Colonial Inn, Club Greenacres and Club Boheme.

On Sept. 16, 1950, Alo and nine other accused gambling racketeers appeared in criminal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They all entered guilty pleas to the gambling charges. They were sentenced to pay cash fines. Alo, Bischoff, Louis Oliver and T.E. Alexander were fined $1,000 each. Jake and Meyer Lansky, Bratt and Sadlow were fined $2,000 each. Litteral and Shireman were fined $3,000 each.

New York Police began a harassment campaign against known hoodlums in 1957. Alo was rounded up with more than 150 other reputed racketeers. Most were charged with vagrancy. Alo was held for questioning for several days. It probably was not a coincidence that Alo afterward began spending much more of his time in Florida. He gave up his Riverside Drive apartment, but maintained a presence in Manhattan by renting rooms at 19 West 55th Street.

FBI reports in 1958 suggested that Jake Lansky represented the financial interests of "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo and Meyer Lansky in the operation of the gambling casino at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba.  Those interests, along with other investments by American racketeers in Cuban gambling enterprises, were lost following the Castro  revolution. The hotel-casinos of the Havana area were nationalized by Castro in 1960.

A police raid in September 1963 turned up records of a Bronx loan shark racket apparently financed by Vincent Alo. Bronx District Attorney Isidore Dollinger brought evidence to a grand jury that Alo, a top lieutenant of crime boss Vito Genovese, backed the enterprise. According to Dollinger, the racketeers lent an estimated $4 million a year, preying on indebted gamblers and charging interest rates as high as 156 percent. Alo's brother Frank, a Bronx resident, was called to testify before the grand jury. Frank Alo refused to make any statement, citing Fifth Amendment protections.

Sixty-one-year-old Vincent Alo was himself called before a federal grand jury in December of 1965. Officials identified Alo as a top figure in Harlem and Bronx gambling rackets and said he also had influence in waterfront and garment center rackets.

A year later, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, California, investigated a fall 1965 gathering of mobsters in southern California. The meeting coincided with the Major League Baseball World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins. Attendees included Vincent Alo and Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno of the Genovese Crime Family, Miami Beach bookmaker Ruby Lazarus, and Jerome Zarowitz and Elliott Paul Price, gambling operators for Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Alo was believed to be part of another meeting of racketeers in 1969. That meeting reportedly occurred in Miami Beach, Florida. The meeting was said to have included Anthony "Big Tuna" Accardo, Paul "the Waiter" Ricca, John "Jackie the Lackey" Cerone and Dominic "the Angel" Angelini of Chicago; Carlo Gambino, Meyer Lansky, Vincent Alo and Anthony "Tony Goebels" Ricci of New York. Officials surmised that fourteen Kansas City mobsters, arrested as they arrived in Miami a month earlier, were also to be part of the meeting. There was some speculation that Chicago racketeer Sam "Momo" Giancana, in self-imposed exile after serving a year in prison for contempt, was also to be present.

Though Alo was constantly under law enforcement scrutiny, he had avoided prison time since the jewelry store robbery sentence of his youth. The authorities began to catch up with Alo as he moved toward retirement. In October 1969, a federal grand jury in New York indicted "Jimmy Blue Eyes" for obstructing justice by giving false and evasive answers in a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. SEC previously questioned him about Mafia influence in the Tel-A-Sign advertising company.

'Johnny Ola'

Alo was convicted in September 1970 of two counts of giving false and evasive answers to the SEC. On Oct. 27, the sixty-six-year-old was sentenced to serve five years in Atlanta Federal Prison. He served three years of that sentence before being released. A year after he got out of federal prison, The Godfather Part II appeared in theaters. The character of "Johnny Ola" (played by Dominic Chianese), Italian aide to Havana's Jewish gambling czar Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), paralleled Alo's earlier career.

"Jimmy Blue Eyes" was in his seventies when he next came to the attention of law enforcement. He was described in 1978 as a capodecina under Frank "Funzi" Tieri in the Genovese Crime Family. The Pennsylvania Crime Commission noted Alo's connection with Miami Beach attorney Alvin I. Malnik, who happened to own two resort hotels in the Pocono Mountains and who also happened to be a close friend of Meyer Lansky. According to the crime commission, Malnik once sent Alo to represent him in business negotiations. The commission stated that the Pocono resorts were home to money laundering, gambling, prostitution and other rackets.

Alo's old friend Meyer Lansky died at Miami Beach, Florida, early in 1983. Alo's wife Florence died in Las Vegas in April 1990. "Jimmy Blue Eyes" lived quietly another eleven years, dying in Florida in March 2001.

Sources:

•  Arrest record of Vincent Alo, New York City Police Department, Feb. 24, 1951.
•  Daniel P. Sullivan testimony, Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce - Part 1, Florida, Hearings Before a Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, United States Senate, 81st Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950, p. 152-174.
•  Federal Amusement Company, a Florida corporation, and Charles (Babe) Baker, v. State of Florida, upon the relation of Frank Tuppen, appeal from the Circuit Court for Broward County, Supreme Court of Florida Division A, Oct. 3, 1947.
•  Nevada Death index, April 8, 1990.
•  New York City Birth Index, Certificate no. 23392, May 26, 1904.
•  New York City Marriage Index, certificate no. 1907, June 6, 1902.
•  New York City Marriage Index, Certificate no. 24281, Aug. 26, 1936.
•  New York State Census of 1905, County of New York, Assembly District 33, Election District 10.
•  New York State Census of 1915, Bronx County, Assembly District 34, Election District 68, Block 4.
•  New York State Census of 1925, Washington County, Town of Fort Ann, Assembly District 1, Election District 1.
•  Passenger manifest of S.S. Britannia, arrived New York City on June 25, 1894.
•  Passenger manifest of S.S Monarch, departed Hamilton, Bermuda, on Aug. 9, 1939, arrived Miami, Florida, on Aug. 11, 1939.
•  SAC Miami, "Criminal Intelligence Program," FBI memorandum, MM 92-515, Sept. 5, 1963, p. 1
•  Salvatore Alo Declaration of Intention, Supreme Court of New York at Bronx, No. 106279, April 21, 1931.
•  Social Security Death Index.
•  U.S. Census of 1910, New York State, New York County, Ward 12, Enumeration District 295.
•  U.S. Census of 1920, New York State, Bronx County, Assembly District 7, Enumeration District 395.
•  U.S. Census of 1930, State of New York, Nassau County, Hempstead Town, Seaford Village, Enumeration District 30-132.
•  U.S. Census of 1940, State of Florida, Broward County, Hollywood City, Enumeration District 6-41.
•  Vincent Alo fingerprint record, Federal Bureau of Investigation, May 28, 1971.
•  "Vincent Alo," FBI memo, March 28, 1952, p. 1- 6.

•  Carr, Charlie, New York Police Files on the Mafia, Hosehead Productions, 2012, p. 388.
•  Janson, Donald, "Crime figures found involved in Poconos," New York Times, April 17, 1978, p. 1.
•  Lansky, Meyer II, "The Real Johnny Ola: Vincent 'Jimmy Blue Eyes' Alo," The Blog, huffingtonpost.com, Dec. 15, 2014, updated Feb. 13, 2015, accessed March 1, 2016.
•  Whitney, Craig R., "Realty man denies he knew of employe's alleged link to Mafia," New York Times, Jan. 24, 1970, p. 14.
•  "3 balk at inquiry on loan-shark case," New York Times, Oct. 24, 1963, p. 18.
•  "Alo, reputed Mafia figure, faces jail in S.E.C. case," New York Times, Sept. 29, 1970, p. 48.
•  "Fem impersonators irk Florida court," The Billboard, Oct. 18, 1947, p. 38.
•  "Florida crime drive is suddenly speeded," New York Times, Aug. 25, 1950, p. 40.
•  "Miami Beach secret Mafia meet probed," Cumberland MD Evening Times, April 8, 1969, p. 1.
•  "Police jail 155 hoodlums in New York," Troy NY Times, June 15, 1957, p. 8.
•  "Reputed Mafia man indicted after an S.E.C. investigation," New York Times, Oct. 28, 1969, p. 16.
•  "Senate group hearings on crime open here tomorrow," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 11, 1951, p. 2.
•  "U.S. jury on coast said to investigate gamblers' meeting," New York Times, Dec. 18, 1966, p. 71.
•  "U.S. jury hears Mafia figure," New York Times, Dec. 4, 1965, p. 28.
•  "Vincent 'Jimmy Blue Eyes' Alo," Find A Grave, findagrave.com, accessed March 2, 2015.

Lucania, Salvatore (1897-1962)

Born Lercara Friddi, Sicily, Nov. 24, 1897.
Died Naples, Italy, Jan. 26, 1962.

Salvatore "Charlie Lucky" Lucania is probably the most talked about New York Mafia boss. He is the subject of numerous legends, many of them false, while his actual underworld career remains largely unknown. He was a pivotal figure in the Castellammarese War of 1930-31, benefited greatly from the assassinations of two who occupied the position of Mafia boss of bosses and participated in the dismantling of the boss of bosses system and the creation of a Commission system for resolving underworld disputes.

Lucania was the third child born to Antonino and Rosalia Lucania in the Sicilian sulfur-mining community of Lercara Friddi. The family grew to include five children before its migration to America. Lucania, his mother and two of his siblings, reached New York in 1907, joining his father in an apartment in Manhattan's East Village.

A chronic truant from school and frequent gambler, Lucania in his childhood acquired the nickname "Lucky," a result of the first syllable of his surname sounding like "Luck." The source of the "Charlie" portion of his nickname is uncertain. Often, Italian boys seeking to Americanize the name "Salvatore" opted for "Sam." Possibly, "Charlie" came about through the mispronunciation of "Turi," the Italian familiar form of "Salvatore." (In later years, Lucania was known in the press as Charlie "Luciano." The "Luciano" surname appears to have been the result of a persistent misspelling by reporters. Though he is now known to history as "Luciano," Lucania is not believed to have personally used that surname.)

At this time, he became close friends with orphan Michael Lascari and reportedly with future gangland leaders like Meyer Lansky and Benjamin Siegel. He dabbled in criminal activity and was caught in possession of narcotics in 1916. He was served six months in prison as a result.

During the early Prohibition Era, Lucania worked for a number of non-Italian underworld leaders, including Arnold Rothstein and Jack "Legs" Diamond. He often served as a driver, and referred to himself as a professional chauffeur. He was again caught with narcotics in 1923. By taking authorities to a cache of narcotics at 163 Mulberry Street in Manhattan he avoided prosecution.

By the mid-1920s, Lucania was drawn into the growing Manhattan Mafia organization of Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria but continued his affiliation with the Legs Diamond gang. Near the end of 1926, Lucania was believed involved in two shootings related to the Diamond gang. Authorities could not assemble enough evidence to prosecute him.

Lucania (right) arrested with members of the Legs Diamond gang.

Lucania and other known Rothstein associates were questioned by police following that underworld leader's 1928 murder. About a year later, Lucania was taken for "a ride" and severely beaten. Police and press reported that underworld rivals were responsible, but Lucania later revealed that he was beaten by detectives trying to locate Legs Diamond. (Many have said that Lucania's good fortune in surviving this adventure was the inspiration for his "Lucky" nickname, but he was already widely known by that nickname when the incident occurred.)

By the start of the Castellammarese War, Lucania led a lucrative bootlegging division in the Masseria crime family. Others affiliated with Joe the Boss were Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Willie Moretti, Ciro Terranova and Albert Anastasia. Masseria had risen to the position of boss of bosses of the Mafia in the United States, and was meddling in the affairs of crime families around the country. Groups quietly rose up against him in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and upstate New York, as well as in New York City. As war broke out and Masseria men began to be attacked and killed, it seems that Masseria did not yet know who his enemies were. Over time, he identified them as Mafiosi from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, led by Buffalo, New York, boss Stefano Magaddino. Only later, did he learn that a wide alliance had formed against him and that the opposition leader was New York City-based Salvatore Maranzano. By then, Masseria had already lost a number of his important allies to assassination.

In 1930, Lucania was twice noted far from New York. In February, he was found gambling with Masseria and others at Miami Beach, Florida. In August, he was reported to be on a transatlantic steamship with Legs Diamond, heading to Germany. Some have suggested that the trip was conducted in order to arrange for narcotics imports to the U.S.

Secret defections from Masseria's organization resulted in the end of Joe the Boss. Following the April 15 murder of Masseria by his own men, Lucania emerged as new leader of that organization. Masseria's death brought about the end of the Castellammarese War and allowed Maranzano to assume the boss of bosses position.

Conflict seemed likely to continue, however, as Maranzano began plotting against Lucania and others he felt he could not work with. Like Masseria, Maranzano was assassinated on orders from Luciano. The September 10 murder left vacant the coveted boss of bosses position. Luciano could have attempted to claim it for himself but instead threw his weight behind a proposal for a dispute-resolving Commission comprised of the nation's most powerful crime family bosses.

Lucania (left) and Lansky arrested
in Chicago in 1932.

As Lucania and the Commission-governed Mafia began forging new alliances and entering into new rackets in the final days of Prohibition, police suspected Lucania involvement in 1933 attacks against racketeer Waxey Gordon and in the 1935 killing of gang boss Arthur "Dutch Schultz" Flegenheimer. With Schultz gone, Lucania's organization absorbed Schultz's rich numbers rackets.

In 1936, New York Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey brought Lucania and a dozen codefendants to trial for profiting from the coordination and protection of prostitution. Lucania testified in his own defense, but was torn apart on cross examination. He was convicted on sixty-two counts and sentenced to serve 30 to 50 years in Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora, near the Canada border. His legal appeals were exhausted by spring 1938.

During Lucania's imprisonment, leadership of his crime family first fell to underboss Vito Genovese. Genovese, however fled the country for Italy to escape prosecution for murder. Frank Costello filled the void as the day-to-day manager of the criminal empire.

In March of 1942, Commander Charles Radcliffe Haffenden of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) attempted to gain underworld assistance in securing U.S. wartime ports and shipping. He reached out to Lucania defense attorney Moses Polakoff. Haffenden was somehow assured that Lucania could assist the war effort and managed to have Lucania transferred  in May from Dannemora to the Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, just north of Albany and hours closer to New York City. During the rest of 1942 and through to the end of 1945 (months after the war was concluded), Lucania was permitted regular meetings with underworld associates Meyer Lansky, Joseph "Socks" Lanza and Frank Costello. ONI appeared satisfied that Luciano was helping to safeguard American maritime interests and promoting Italian cooperation with Allied landings in Sicily and Italy. After victory in Europe was achieved, the ONI launched an investigation into the relationship between Haffenden and Luciano.

On Jan. 3, 1946, then-Governor Thomas Dewey commuted the remainder of Lucania's sentence on the condition that he be deported to Italy. Dewey noted the alleged assistance provided by Lucania to the U.S. war effort. Lucania met with Lansky, Costello, Lascari and Polakoff at Ellis Island in early February before setting sail for Italy.

ONI and the FBI quickly concluded that no information of value had ever been obtained through the relationship with Lucania and that Haffenden had made his arrangements with the imprisoned crime boss out of a continuing mutually beneficial friendship with Frank Costello.

Lucania did not remain long in Italy. By the fall of 1946, he was in Cuba, planning investments in Havana-areas gambling enterprises and entertaining Mafia visitors from the U.S. American officials pressured the Cuban government in February 1947 to return Lucania to Italy. That was finally accomplished on March 20.

Settling into a life in Italy, Lucania reportedly married dancer Igea Lissoni. He was visited by Lansky in June 1949, by Lascari and by former Tampa bootlegger Salvatore "Red" Italiano in May 1950.

The following year, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics asserted that Lucania was the key figure in the international drug trade. Under pressure to keep an eye on Lucania's activities, Naples authorities in 1954 imposed "admonition" (curfew, authorization of police raids, travel restrictions) on Lucania. The admonition restrictions are removed by a court order in summer 1956.

Vito Genovese returned as boss of the former Luciano Crime Family in 1957. Genovese had been back in the U.S. since 1946 and had been cleared of the earlier murder charge. His ambition to lead the crime family became evident through a 1957 assassination attempt on Frank Costello. Costello reportedly resigned as boss, turning the crime family reins over to Genovese.

Igea Lissoni died in October 1958 at the age of 37.

Movie producer Martin Gosch, based in Spain, contacted Lucania in 1960, asking for his assistance with the script of a fictional movie based upon his life. In the spring, Lucania is repeatedly visited by New York Mafioso Pat Eboli. Pat's brother Tommy Eboli, a lieutenant to Vito Genovese, visited in December. The visits are widely believed to have been efforts to discourage Lucania from any work on an autobiographical project. Another visit from Pat Eboli occurred Jan. 17, 1962. After that visit, Lucania contacted Gosch to sever their business relationship. (While many suggested that Lucania was ordered by Genovese to pull the plug on the Gosch project, some heard Lucania expressing his personal disapproval of a Gosch effort to tell a more fact-based Lucania life story.) Gosch flew to Naples to meet with Lucania on Jan. 26. Shortly after his arrival, Lucania collapsed in the airport, the victim of a fatal heart attack.

Witnesses reported seeing Gosch putting a pill into the mouth of a disabled Lucania. This resulted in stories that Lucania had been poisoned. Gosch insisted, however, that he was aware that Lucania had a heart condition and carried medication for it. When he saw Lucania collapse, he said, he found a bottle of pills in Lucania's clothes and put one of the pills in his mouth.

Lucania's remains were transported to Queens, New York, for burial.

Some attention was directed toward Gosch's movie project at the time. Gosch told the authorities the script was largely fiction. In 1972, apparently abandoning the movie project, Gosch appeared at the New York office of the FBI seeking assistance with a book he hoped to write about Luciano. The FBI turned him down. Gosch reportedly provided notes (at one point, a book publisher insisted incorrectly that there were audio tape recordings) to author Richard Hammer, relating to conversations between Gosch and Lucania. Hammer produced a book, claiming he based it on the Gosch notes. Gosch died in October 1973. When challenged to produce the Gosch notes, Hammer claimed they all had been burned following Gosch's death. The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano by Gosch and Hammer was published by Little, Brown and Company in February 1975. By the time it was released, it had already been labeled fraudulent by the FBI and by Mafia historians Nicholas Gage, Peter Maas and Hank Messick.

See also:

•  Lucania-related articles published in Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement.
• New York Crime Bosses - Mafiahistory.us.
• "When 'Lucky' was locked up" - Mafiahistory.us
•  "Press coverage links 'Lucky' and 'Joe the Boss' early in 1930," - Mafiahistory.us.
•  Non-fiction book - The Case Against Lucky Luciano by Ellen Poulsen.
•  Fiction book - Tom & Lucky (and George & Cokey Flo) by C. Joseph Greaves.
•  "Gangster 'Legs' Diamond shows up in Europe" - Writers of Wrongs - 31 Aug 2018.
•  "'Lucky' transfered at request of spy agencies" - Writers of Wrongs - 12 May 2018.
•  "When 'Lucky' was locked up" - Writers of Wrongs -  30 Jan 2018.
•  "April 19, 1932: Luciano, Lansky nabbed in Chicago" - Writers of Wrongs - 19 Apr 2017
•  "55 years ago today: Lucky Luciano's death" - Writers of Wrongs - 26 Jan 2017
•  "3 things you probably didn't know about Lucky Luciano" - Writers of Wrongs - 02 Jan 2017
•  "Behind the mug: Lucky Luciano's 1931 arrest... There's more to the story!" - Writers of Wrongs - 29 Dec 2016

Sources:

•  Bonanno, Joseph, with Sergio Lalli, A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983.
•  Dewey, Thomas E., Twenty Against the Underworld, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1974.
•  Feder, Sid, and Joachim Joesten, The Luciano Story, New York: Da Capo Press, 1994 (originally published in 1954).
•  Gentile, Nick, with Felice Chilanti, Vita di Capomafia, Rome: Crescenzi Allendorf, 1993.
•  Gosch, Martin A. and Richard Hammer, The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1975.
•  Turkus, Burton B., and Sid Feder, Murder, Inc.: The Story of the Syndicate, New York: Da Capo Press, 1992 (originally published in 1951).
•  Vizzini, Sal, with Oscar Fraley and Marshall Smith, Vizzini: The Story of America's No, 1 Undercover Narcotics Agent, New York: Pinnacle, 1972

---

•  Passenger manifest of S.S. Roma, departed Naples on Nov. 18, 1905, arrived New York City on Dec. 3, 1905.
•  Salvatore Lucania World War I draft registration card, serial no. 4468, order no. A1769, Local Board 114 of City of New York, Sept. 12, 1918, stamped 31-9-114-C.
•  United States Census of 1920, New York State, New York County, Eight Assembly District, Enumeration District 619.
•  "Charles Luciana, with aliases," FBI memorandum, file no. 39-2141-X, Aug. 28, 1935.
•  Receiving blotter, Chas. Luciano, no. 92168, Sing Sing Prison, June 18, 1936.
•  Appeal of the People of the State of New York v. Charles Luciano, et al., May 7, 1937.
•  Appeal of the People of the State of New York v. Charles Luciano, et al., April 12, 1938.
•  "Salvatore Lucania...," FBI report Albany 100-5170, Oct. 16, 1942.
•  "Lucky Luciano," FBI memorandum to Mr. Rosen, file no. 39-2141-2, Feb. 21, 1946.
•  FBI teletype, Luciano FBI file, Feb. 25, 1946.
•  Conroy, FBI teletype, file no. 39-2141-6, Feb. 27, 1946
•  Conroy, E.E., Letter to Mr. Hoover, Charles Luciano FBI file, no. 39-2141-8, March 1, 1946.
•  Rosen, A., "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano's parole and deportation," FBI memorandum to E.A. Tamm, March 6, 1946.
•  "Salvatore Lucania…," FBI report NY 62-8768, file no. 39-2141-10, March 13, 1946.
•  Rosen, A., "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano parole," FBI memorandum to E.A. Tamm, April 3, 1946.
•  "Salvatore Lucania...," FBI report NY 62-8768, May 5, 1946.
•  Cornelius, A. Jr., "Charles Lucky Luciano, Miscellaneous, Information concerning parole and deportation," FBI letter, May 9, 1946.
•  Hoover handwritten note, FBI memorandum from A. Rosen to E.A. Tamm, May 17, 1946.
•  "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano parole miscellaneous; information concerning," FBI memorandum to Rosen, June 6, 1946.
•  "Salvatore Lucania,…" FBI report NY 62-8768, July 2, 1946.
•  Rosen, A., "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, Miscellaneous Information," FBI memo to E.A. Tamm, Feb. 10, 1947.
•  "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano," FBI report, Feb. 12, 1947.
•  "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano," FBI report, March 22, 1947.
•  Director, FBI, "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, Foreign Miscellaneous," FBI memo to Legal Attache, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 25, 1947.
•  Virgil W. Peterson testimony of July 6, 1950, Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (Kefauver Committee), U.S. Senate, 81st Congress 2nd Session, Part 2.
•  Meyer Lansky testimony of Oct. 11, 1950, Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (Kefauver Committee), U.S. Senate, 81st Congress 2nd Session and 82nd Congress 1st Session, Part 7.
•  Willie Moretti testimony of Dec. 13, 1950, Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (Kefauver Committee), U.S. Senate, 81st Congress 2nd Session and 82nd Congress 1st Session, Part 7.
•  Vincent Spoto testimony of Dec. 29, 1950, Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (Kefauver Committee), U.S. Senate, 81st Congress 2nd Session and 82nd Congress 1st Session, Part 1-A.
•  Gerald Catena testimony of Feb. 14, 1951, Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (Kefauver Committee), U.S. Senate, 81st Congress 2nd Session and 82nd Congress 1st Session, Part 7.
•  Meyer Lansky testimony of Feb. 14, 1951, Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (Kefauver Committee), U.S. Senate, 81st Congress 2nd Session and 82nd Congress 1st Session, Part 7
•  Michael Lascari testimony of Feb. 15, 1951, Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (Kefauver Committee), U.S. Senate, 81st Congress 2nd Session and 82nd Congress 1st Session, Part 7.
•  "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, General Investigative Intelligence File," FBI memo, Nov. 20, 1952.
•  "Charles Luciano, Anti-Racketeering," FBI memo, Jan. 22, 1959.
•  "Charles Luciano, Anti-Racketeering," translations of Italian language articles appearing in the Jan. 11, Jan. 18 and Jan. 25, 1959, issues of L'Europeo magazine, FBI memo, Feb. 18, 1959.
•  FBI cablegram to Director, Charles "Lucky" Luciano FBI file, Jan. 26, 1962.
•  "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano," FBI memo, Feb. 12, 1962.
•  "Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, information concerning," FBI memo, Feb. 19, 1962.
•  Flynn, James P., "Crime conditions in the New York Division," FBI memo, NY 92-2247, Dec. 3, 1962.
•  "The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano," FBI memorandum to Mr. Cleveland, Oct. 2, 1974.

---

•  "Routs six gunmen in Broadway fight," New York Times, Dec. 12, 1926.
•  "Broker is wounded in hold-up that fails," New York Times, Dec. 22, 1926.
•  "Refuses to identify gunman suspects," New York Times, Dec. 30, 1926.
•  "Robbery suspect questioned," New York Times, Nov. 18, 1928, p. 24.
•  "M'Cabe gives alibi in Rothstein case; Banton clears him," New York Times, Nov. 18, 1928, p. 1.
•  "Admit search fails for Rothstein clue," New York Times, Nov. 19, 1928, p. 1.
•  "Three freed of robbery suspicion," New York Times, Nov. 24, 1928, p. 2.
•  "Arrest 19 at Miami in gambling clean-up," New York Times, March 2, 1930, p. 33.
•  "Gang guns slay 2, wound 1 in Broadway night club battle," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 13, 1929, p. 1.
•  "Whalen to face bungling charge in Marlow case," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 14, 1929, p. 2.
•  "Gangster 'taken for ride' lives to tell about it," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Oct. 17, 1929, p. 1.
•  "'Ride' victim wakes up on Staten Island," New York Times, Oct. 18, 1929.
•  "Harlem racket gang murders two in raid," New York Times, Aug. 16, 1930, p. 1.
•  "Car clue in Morello case," New York Times, Aug. 17, 1930.
•  "Ireland will refuse landing to Diamond," New York Times, Aug. 30, 1930.
•  "Two men shot dead in Bronx gun-trap," New York Times, Nov. 6, 1930, p. 27.
•  "Bail runner shot in street ambush," New York Times, Feb. 4, 1931.
•  "Catania dies of wounds," New York Times, Feb. 5, 1931.
•  "Seize New York hoodlums, here on mystery trip," Chicago Daily Tribune, April 20, 1932, p. 14.
•  "2 women wounded as gangs open fire in upper Broadway," New York Times, May 25, 1933, p. 1.
•  "Gang shots linked to war over beer," New York Times, May 26, 1933.
•  "Federal men list racket 'big shots' in tax drive here," New York Times, May 20, 1935, p. 1.
•  "Schultz dies of wounds without naming slayers; 3 aides dead, one dying," New York Times, Oct. 25, 1935, p. 1.
•  "Extradition stay is won by Luciano," New York Times, April 8, 1936, p. 24.
•  "Lucania is jailed in $350,000 bail," New York Times, April 19, 1936, p. 1.
•  "Three admit guilt as vice trial opens," New York Times, May 12, 1936.
•  "Lucania is forced to admit crimes," New York Times, June 4, 1936, p. 1.
•  "Lucania convicted with 8 in vice ring on 62 counts each," New York Times, June 8, 1936, p. 1.
•  "Bribery is bared in vice ring trial; 2 face disbarment," New York Times, June 9, 1936, p. 1.
•  "Lucania is called shallow parasite," New York Times, June 19, 1936.
•  "Lucania sentenced to 30 to 50 years; court warns ring," New York Times, June 19, 1936, p. 1.
•  "Fight for freedom begun by Lucania," New York Times, Aug. 12, 1936, p. 5.
•  "Luciano loses freedom appeal," New York Times, Jan. 15, 1937, p. 3.
•  "Big liquor concern faces license loss," New York Times, May 7, 1940.
•  "Dewey commutes Luciano sentence," New York Times, Jan. 4, 1946, p. 25.
•  "Luciano rules U.S. narcotics from Sicily, senators hear," New York Times, June 28, 1951, p. 1.
•  Grutzner, Charles, "Luchese presents study in contrasts," New York Times, Oct. 11, 1952, p. 26.
•  "Luciano dies at 65; was facing arrest," New York Times, Jan. 27, 1962, p. 1.
•  "Luciano's links to underworld investigated by Italian agents," New York Times, Jan. 28, 1962, p. 66.
•  "In the end 'Lucky' Luciano was not really so terribly lucky after all," Bridgeport CT Sunday Post, Feb. 4, 1962, p. 14.
•  Anderson, Jack, "The Last Days of Lucky Luciano," Parade, June 17, 1962.
•  Gage, Nicholas, "Questions are raised on Lucky Luciano book," New York Times, Dec. 17, 1974, p. 1.
•  Gage, Nicholas, "F.B.I. tells agents not to trust book on Luciano," New York Times, March 14, 1975.
•  Scaduto, Tony, "Letters to the Editor: Luciano," New York Times, April 27, 1975.

Strollo, Antonio (1899-1962)

b. New York, NY, June 14, 1899.
disappeared from Fort Lee, NJ, April 8, 1962.

A longtime leader in the Genovese Crime Family, Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo oversaw rackets in Greenwich Village and on the East Side of Manhattan. Strollo was a longtime ally of Vito Genovese, but the two apparently had a serious falling out after Genovese was convicted on narcotics charges. The conflict proved fatal for Strollo.

Antonio Strollo was born in New York City on June 14, 1899, to Leone and Jennie Strollo, immigrants from Italy. He had two older siblings, brothers Samuel and Dominick. In the early 1900s, Leone Strollo was a laborer, and the family lived at 181 Thompson Street in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. The family address changed only slightly, to 177 Thompson Street, by 1920. At that time, Leone Strollo ran his own candy store and his sons Antonio and Dominick worked as teamsters / truck drivers.

Antonio Strollo appears to have been married just after 1920. He and a wife named Rose can be found in the 1930 U.S. Census in a Thompson Street apartment. Strollo still claimed to be working as a truck driver at the time, but he was already engaged in racketeering, likely as a part of the Giuseppe Masseria Mafia organization. The marriage with Rose did not survive long after 1930 (Rose's fate is uncertain as of this writing).

During the 1930-31 Castellammarese War, Strollo sided with Masseria, Charlie Luciano and Vito Genovese. Following the brief reign of Salvatore Maranzano, Strollo became a lieutenant in the Luciano organization and a key ally of Genovese. Joseph Valachi was one of the Mafiosi under the command of Strollo.

Strollo's business interests at the time included numerous night clubs and restaurants. He also oversaw rackets at Manhattan's West Side docks.

At the end of March 1932, Strollo married again. This time, his bride was Edna Goldenberg, a New York native. The couple traveled to Bermuda in the spring for a honeymoon, returning to New York on May 25. Their home for a time was 45 Christopher Street in the Village. The 1940 U.S. Census shows two daughters in the home.

Soon after, the Strollos relocated across the Hudson River in the area of Fort Lee, New Jersey. Strollo's racket territory increased, and he became a power on the Jersey City docks by the early 1950s. A political scandal was triggered when news got out of a March 14, 1952, meeting between Strollo and Jersey City Mayor John V. Kenny. Kenny tried for a time to deny the meeting, arranged by actor Phil Regan and held in Regan's suite at Manhattan's Warwick Hotel, but eventually acknowledged that it took place. Kenny said he met with Strollo in order to resolve some conflicts with labor along the docks.

Strollo is believed to have pushed Anthony Provenzano into leadership positions of Local 560 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Provenzano started his career in organized labor (and likely also in labor racketeering) as the Local 560 shop steward for the H.P. Welch Company. He eventually won election to the local presidency. Provenzano would become a strong ally and later a determined enemy of Teamsters President James R. Hoffa.

By the late 1950s, the New York Police Department reported that Strollo oversaw loan sharking, bookmaking and gambling activities in the Greenwich Village area and managed his underworld enterprises from a growing collection of nightclubs, bars and coffee houses.

As one of the last people to see Anthony "Little Augie Pisano" Carfano alive, Strollo was a leading suspect in the Carfano murder in September 1959. Strollo, Carfano, Mrs. Alan Drake and several others spent time together at the Copacabana and at Marino's Restaurant, 716 Lexington Avenue, before Carfano and Drake hurriedly left together, following a telephone call to Carfano at Marino's. Carfano and Drake were found shot to death in a car parked in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Federal narcotics charges resulted in hefty prison sentences for Vito Genovese, Joe Valachi and others around 1959. Strollo escaped punishment but was a likely participant in the narcotics offenses. When Valachi attempted to jump bail and leave the country, Strollo convinced him to return to New York City. Valachi may have provided information to federal authorities before this time, but his experiences in prison - particularly his sense that then-crime family boss Vito Genovese had branded him a traitor - led him to cooperate fully and enthusiastically with the Justice Department.

At almost the same moment that Genovese turned on Valachi, Genovese ordered that Strollo be eliminated. At about 10 p.m. on April 8, 1962, Strollo told his wife he needed to go out. She later reported to police that he drove off with an unknown associate in a 1961 Cadillac. Strollo was never seen or heard from again.

Strollo's rackets in the Genovese Crime Family were handed over to Pasquale "Patsy Ryan" Eboli, brother of Thomas Eboli.

Later in the year, the FBI monitored a conversation between Mafiosi Anthony Russo and Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo. In that conversation, Russo told of an earlier talk he had with Ruggiero "Richie the Boot" Boiardo and Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana. Boiardo apparently was taking complete credit for the murder of Antonio Strollo and made no mention of an order from Vito Genovese.

Sources:

•  New York City Birth Records, Certificate no. 22743, June 14, 1899
•  United States Census of 1900, New York State, New York County, Enumeration District 1062.
•  United States Census of 1920, New York State, New York County, Ward 8, Assembly District 2, Enumeration District 204.
•  New York State Census of 1925, Kings County, Assembly District 7, Election District 22.
•  United States Census of 1930, New York State, New York County, Assembly District 2, Enumeration District 31-68.
•  New York City Marriage Index, Certificate no. 7134, March 30, 1932.
•  Passenger manifest of S.S. Monarch of Bermuda, departed from Hamilton, Bermuda, on May 23, 1932, arrived New York on May 25, 1932.
•  United States Census of 1940, New York State, New York County, Assembly District 10, Enumeration District 31-884.
•  Grutzner, Charles, "Kenny admitted lie to jury on talk with pier gangster; police got $108,000 bribe bid," New York Times, Dec. 18, 1952.
•  Perlmutter, Emanuel, "New lead on Pisano slaying provided by racketeer friend," New York Times, Oct. 1, 1959, p. 30.
•  "Pisano hurried to his death after mysterious phone call," New York Times, Oct. 2, 1959, p. 16.
•  Hindes, Eugene J., "Salvatore Granello...," FBI report 92-3960-30, NARA no. 124-90066-10093, June 27, 1962, p. 44.
•  Flynn, James P., "Crime conditions in the New York division," FBI report CR 62-9-34-692, NARA no. 124-10348-10068, Dec. 3, 1962, p. 21-22.
•  Andrews, Leon F. Jr., "La Causa Nostra Buffalo Division," FBI report 92-6054-296, NARA no. 124-10200-10453, June 14, 1963, p. 24-27.
•  "Sketches of gangland figures named by Valachi in Senate testimony," New York Times, Sept. 28, 1963, p. 6.
•  Donnelly, Frank H., "Anthony Provenzano aka Tony Pro," FBI report 92-7195-2, NARA no. 124-10221-10186, Dec. 20, 1963, p. 6-7.
•  Valachi, Joseph, "The Real Thing: Second Government: The Expose and Inside Doings of Cosa Nostra," Joseph Valachi Personal Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, 1964, p. 370.
•  Durkin, Paul G., "Harold Konigsberg," FBI report CR 9205177-161, NARA no. 124-10348-10067, Aug. 16, 1965, p. 135.
•  "F.B.I.-taped conversation sheds light on 1962 gangland slaying of Strollo," New York Times, Jan. 8, 1970, p. 33.

Gigante, Vincent "the Chin" (1928-2005)

Born New York, NY, March 29, 1928.

Died Springfield, MO, Dec. 19, 2005.

Genovese Crime Family boss "Vinny the Chin" Gigante evaded law enforcement for many years by playing the role of mentally ill street person. He gave up the act in an April 2003 court hearing, six years after being locked up.

Gigante died Monday, Dec. 19, 2005, at the federal prison in Springfield, Mo. He was 77 years old. Born in 1928 to Vincent and Yolanda Gigante, Neapolitan residents of the Lower West Side of Manhattan, Gigante's "Chin" nickname was adapted from his given name of "Vincenzo." His father was employed as a jewelry engraver.

The family resided for many years along Thompson Street, within the traditional confines of Greenwich Village. Gigante likely met fellow Thompson Street resident and Genovese Crime Family member Venero "Benny Eggs" Mangano when the two were young men.

Gigante had a brief career as a prizefighter, beginning in 1946. His criminal career was considerably longer, spanning half a century. He became an underworld protege of New York Mafia bigshot Vito Genovese, who controlled Greenwich Village. Gigante first became known to the American public as the prime suspect in the May 1957 assassination attempt against Mafia leader Frank Costello. It is believed that Gigante, working under orders from Costello rival Genovese (orders reportedly transmitted through group leader Tommy Eboli) cornered Costello in the lobby of his apartment house and shot him in the head at close range.

The bullet only grazed Costello, however. Costello's refusal to testify against Gigante, a man Costello insisted was "a friend," led to Gigante's acquittal. Costello retired as boss of the Luciano family, leaving the operation to Genovese.

Gigante was convicted of drug trafficking in 1959 and was sentenced to five years in prison. His Mafia credentials were greatly enhanced by his prison term. After his release, Gigante served in leadership roles in the Genovese family. He established a base at the private Triangle Social Club (Triangle Civic Improvement Association). Genovese, himself, was in prison and controlled the family through acting bosses such as Gerardo Catena and Tommy Eboli.

Following the death of Genovese, Philip Lombardo gradually took over as boss, screening his activities behind a series of front men, including Frank "Funzi" Tieri and Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno. Lombardo eased into a Florida retirement by the early 1980s, and the Greenwich Village-based Gigante became boss. Under his leadership, the Genovese Family was a labor-racketeering power, particularly on the Hudson River docks, and established a regional underworld waste-hauling cartel, while retaining traditional interests in gambling and loan sharking. Venero Mangano served as underboss and filled in for Gigante during the summer of 1988 when Gigante was recovering from heart surgery.

Gigante preferred that Mafiosi avoid media attention. In the late 1980s, he was so offended by the publicity hungry Gambino Crime Family boss John Gotti that he reportedly called for Gotti's assassination.

Following the example of Lombardo, Gigante screened his leadership of the Mafia clan by having Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno (who died in 1992) pass himself off as the family boss. Gigante also did his best to portray himself as a helpless paranoid schizophrenic. He wandered the streets of Greenwich Village in his pajamas, robe and slippers, often conducted public conversations with himself and was once found hiding under an umbrella in his shower.

Prosecutors had great success against Salerno but could not score a conviction against Gigante until 1997 (his feigned mental illness delayed proceedings on that matter by seven years). By then, the boss's mental illness act had earned him a new nickname in the press: "the Oddfather."
Gigante was sentenced to a dozen years for racketeering in 1997. Additional charges were brought against him after that. With Gigante in prison, control of the crime family fell to Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo of the Bronx.

The Triangle Social Club was abandoned, as Greenwich Village was no longer the heart of the Genovese Family. The storefront formerly occupied by the club became a tea and spice shop in 2011.

Related Links:

•  Crime boss listing - Mafiahistory.us
•  "Death of 'Benny Eggs' severs link to Genovese Family's foundation."

Sources:

•  Behar, Richard, "Special report. Organized crime," TIME, June 24, 2001.
•  Fried, Joseph P., "A jailed mobster refuses to testify in Mafia case," New York Times, July 19, 1997.
•  Fried, Joseph P., "Former mobster directly links Gigante to murder," New York Times, July 18, 1997.
•  Lubasch, Arnold H., "Selection of jury gets under way in big-rigging case tied to mob," New York Times, April 9, 1991.
•  Raab, Selwyn, Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires, New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2006.
•  Raab, Selwyn, "Investigators say they're ready to topple new Mafia chiefs," New York Times, Dec. 12, 1988.
•  Raab, Selwyn, "Suspected New York mob leaders are indicted in contract rigging," New York Times, May 31, 1990.
•  Raab, Selwyn, "Vincent Gigante, Mafia leader who feigned insanity, dies at 77," New York Times, Dec. 19, 2005.
•  "4 Mafia figures on trial for window racketeering," Lincoln NE Journal Star, April 24, 1991, p. 9.
•  "Jury frees Gigante in Costello shooting," New York Times, May 28, 1958, p. 1.
•  "Last great Mafia social club gets clipped," The Smoking Gun, thesmokinggun.com, April 18, 2011, accessed Aug. 18, 2017.

•  Salvatore Gigante Naturalization Petition, U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York, no. 90039, filed Nov. 3, 1926.
•  Salvatore Gigante World War II draft registration card, serial no. U1194, 1942.
•  United States Census of 1930, New York State, New York County, Assembly District 2, Enumeration District 31-68.

Genovese, Michael James (1918-2006)

Born East Liberty, PA, April 9, 1919.

Died West Deer, PA, Oct. 31, 2006.

Michael Genovese was a key member of the Pittsburgh crime family under John Sebastian LaRocca in the 1950s. He attended the 1957 underworld convention at Apalachin NY along with LaRocca and Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino.

The FBI noted a family relationship between Michael Geneovese and New York Mafia boss Vito Genovese. However the Bureau did not specify the nature of the relationship. While Michael Genovese spent much of his career in western Pennsylvania, he also was linked to New York State. Social Security information indicates that Michael Genovese's Social Security Number was issued in New York before 1951. Vito Genovese is known to have had a strong, protective relationship with the Italian underworld of Pennsylvania.

Michael Genovese reportedly was born in East Liberty, Pennsylvania. As a young man, he found work in a concrete company run by LaRocca. He also began working as a runner in the LaRocca numbers racket. Genovese and LaRocca later formed a business partnership in a vending machine business.

Michael Genovese was identified as one of the attendees at the 1957 Apalachin NY Mafia convention. He refused to testify about the convention when questioned by the Senate Rackets Committee.

In the 1970s, he was jailed for refusing to to testify before a federal grand jury investigating organized crime in western Pennsylvania.

When an ailing LaRocca retired from management of the Pittsburgh criminal organization, he left a panel including Michael Genovese, Mannarino and Joseph "Jo Jo" Pecora in charge. Pecora had to drop out of the leadership group when he was sent to prison on a gambling conviction. In 1980, Mannarino died of cancer, and Genovese quietly took over as acting underworld boss in the Pittsburgh region.

Genovese's position became permanent upon LaRocca's death of natural cases in 1984.
Though law enforcement agencies were certain of Genovese's control of the local Mafia, the wily underworld veteran managed to remain in power and to avoid racketeering convictions until his death in 2006 at the age of 87. Genovese had been ill with heart and bladder conditions for some time before dying in his sleep at the home he had owned for 50 years.

Related Links:

•  Crime boss listing - Mafiahistory.us
•  Informer (Feb 2011): A Test of Resolve - The 1932 Murder of Pittsburgh Mafia Boss John Bazzano

Genovese, Vito (1897-1969)

Born Risigliano, Italy, Nov. 21, 1897.

Died Springfield, MO, Feb. 14, 1969.

"Don Vitone" Genovese was born near Naples, Italy. Official documents show his birthdate as Nov. 21, 1897. However, some other sources - the New York Times obituary, for example - place his birth on Nov. 27. He entered the U.S. through New York City at the age of 15 on May 23, 1913.

As a teenager, he became involved in the Neapolitan gangs in lower Manhattan and nearby New Jersey, as well as Lower East Side multi-ethnic gangs that also produced Charlie "Lucky" Luciano and Meyer Lansky. In 1917, during the height of Mafia-Camorra friction in the city, Genovese was arrested for possession of a handgun. He was convicted and sentenced April 15, 1917, to serve 60 days at the workhouse.

In the 1920s, Genovese became a Luciano partner as Charlie Lucky gradually took over the Manhattan operations of Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria. It is widely believed that Genovese was among the gunmen who assassinated Masseria in 1931, ending the Castellammarese War. Luciano named Genovese his underboss in 1931. This likely was a recognition of Genovese's strength among the non-Sicilians in the criminal organization rather than a sign of affection for Genovese.

Genovese grew in strength while Luciano battled compulsory prostitution charges, and could have taken over the Family after Luciano's 1936 conviction. However, Genovese had legal problems of his own. Law enforcement officials were attempting to connect Genovese with the 1934 murder of Ferdinand "the Shadow" Boccia. In November 1936, Genovese obtained his U.S. citizenship. The following month, he obtained a passport and subsequently sailed for Italy, where the Fascist government was in need of his financial support.

In Italy, Genovese appears to have had a good relationship with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, generally the enemy of Sicilian Mafiosi.

At the conclusion of World War II in 1945, U.S. occupying forces in Italy discovered Genovese. He assisted the Army, but was found to be engaged in the black market. Officials learned that Genovese was at that time wanted in New York as a suspect in the Boccia murder. While he was in Italy, prosecutors had tracked down a number of witnesses tying Genovese to the killing.

The Army brought Genovese back to the U.S. aboard the S.S. James Lyke, which reached New York harbor on June 1, 1946. However, due to the death in prison of corroborating witness Peter LaTempa, Genovese beat the old murder rap. Released from custody, he moved into a comfortable home at 68 West Highland Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, NJ, and began taking control of Luciano's old family from then-boss Frank Costello.

Family problems brought Genovese to the attention of the authorities in 1953. His estranged second wife Anna was seeking a divorce. She apparently communicated to members of the press that Genovese had begun a relationship with the wife of a Mafia underling, Thomas Calandriello. The same Calandriello had apparently taken care of paperwork associated with the purchase of the Atlantic Highlands home.

The relationship between Costello and Genovese degenerated into a long feud. An assassination attempt on Costello in 1957 was traced to Genovese gunman Vincent Gigante. Costello anounced his retirement after that, allowing Genovese to control the organization. Genovese and Carlo Gambino likely worked together to eliminate strong Costello-ally Albert Anastasia later that year.

A new boss eager to establish himself as a big shot on the national scene, Genovese seems to have encouraged the calling of the ill-fated Mafia convention in Apalachin, N.Y., on Nov. 14, 1957. Police discovered that convention, detaining everyone in sight, and establishing for certain the existence of the nationwide criminal network.

Genovese was convicted on narcotics trafficking charges in 1959 and earned a 15-year sentence. He continued to run Family matters from behind bars (through acting bosses like Tommy Eboli) until his 1969 heart attack death while in custody.

On January 30, 1969, he was moved from Leavenworth, KS, prison to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, MO. He died there two weeks later.

Genovese's funeral began at the family hometown, Red Bank, New Jersey. Genovese's bronze coffin was transported from the William S. Anderson Funeral Home in Red Bank to his church. A sparsely attended funeral Mass was celebrated Feb. 17 at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Atlantic Highlands, NJ, location of Genovese's more recent home. Genovese was buried at St. John's Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens, NY. The burial was attended only by family and close friends.

Related Links:

•  Crime boss listing - Mafiahistory.us

Evola, Natale (1907-1973)

Born New York, NY, Feb. 22, 1907.

Died New York, NY, Aug. 28, 1973.

Natale "Joe Diamond" Evola stepped up to the leadership of the Bonanno Crime Family in the late 1960s, after Joseph Bonanno's second term as boss ended with retirement.

Some sources indicate that the Bonanno family was so demoralized after years of civil war and disgrace before the national Commission that Evola took over by default. Low-key Evola, who had significant investments in trucking and garment companies, has largely escaped the notice of history. Even Joe Bonanno's "A Man of Honor" barely mentioned him (Evola was an usher at Bonanno's wedding). Evola had close relationships with other crime families, including the Gambino and Genovese clans.

Sources generally agree that he cooperated with - rather than resisted - powerful underworld bosses, Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino.

In 1957, Evola was among the crowd of Mafiosi identified as attending the Genovese-called Apalachin convention. He and other attendees were convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice in connection with their post-Apalachin statements to investigators. The convictions were later overturned.

Shortly after Apalachin, Evola was convicted along with Genovese of a conspiracy to violate narcotics laws.

The Commission meddled considerably in Bonanno family matters during the 1960s. After endorsing Gaspar DiGregorio as boss during Joseph Bonanno's many months in hiding, the Commission soured on DiGregorio following Bonanno's reappearance. Paul Sciacca took over the DiGregorio faction. Bonanno's sudden departure from New York in the late 1960s left the clan leaderless and in chaos. Leadership panels were attempted. It seems Evola was unable to completely restore order to the family.

In 1971-72, investigators gained significant information on Evola's operation, as well as that of then-Lucchese-boss Carmine Tramunti, by bugging a trailer used by the bosses and their lieutenants as a meeting place. Evidence suggested that Evola was engaged in garment district labor racketeering, drug trafficking and hijacking.

Evola's health was failing by then. He died of cancer in 1973. He was reportedly unmarried and lived at the time of his death with his elderly mother at 972 Bayridge Parkway in Brooklyn.

Evola was replaced for a time by his underboss Philip "Rusty" Rastelli. Rastelli, not yet popular with the Bonanno capos, was thought to be merely keeping the seat warm. Former Bonanno underboss Carmine Galante, a genuine power in the family, was finishing a jail term for drug trafficking.

Related Links:

•  Crime boss listing - Mafiahistory.us

Eboli, Tommy (1911-1972)

Born Italy, June 13, 1911.

Killed Brooklyn, NY, July 16, 1972.

"Tommy Ryan" Eboli held the reins of the Genovese crime Family in New York from around 1962 until his assassination in 1972.

Despite an arrest record that dated back to 1933 and included charges of gambling and disorderly conduct, Eboli served only one prison term. That was the result of assaulting a Madison Square Garden boxing referee in 1952. (Eboli was unhappy that a decision went against the fighter he was managing.)

He became an upper echelon Mafiosi in the late 1950s, as Genovese Crime Family boss Vito Genovese was charged with narcotics trafficking. When Genovese went into prison, Eboli served on a supervisory panel in the crime family. Other members of the panel reportedly included Gerardo Catena and Michele Miranda.

Eboli was reportedly disliked by the ambitious and meddlesome Carlo Gambino, boss of the Gambino Crime Family. Gambino appears to have had a role in Eboli's assassination near his girlfriend's Brooklyn home early on July 16, 1972. At one o'clock that morning, Eboli's body was found face down on the sidewalk in front of 388 Lefferts Avenue. Five bullet wounds were evident in his face and neck.

The location was far from the apartment Eboli shared with his common-law wife in the Horizon House high-rise complex in Fort Lee, New Jersey. But it was surprisingly close - within about one block - to the Empire Boulevard police station.

After Eboli's demise, the apparent leadership of the Family passed to Gambino's preferred contender Franceso "Funzi" Tieri. However, behind the scenes, the Genovese Family orders were reportedly being issued by Phil Lombardo. So began a tradition of leadership secrecy in the Genovese clan.

Related Links:

•  Crime boss listing - Mafiahistory.us

Costello, Frank (1891-1973)

Born Lauropoli, Cassana allo Ionio, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy, Feb. 18 1891.
Died New York, NY, Feb. 18, 1973.

Costello was born Francesco Castiglia in the Province of Cosenza, Italy, in 1891 (he reported an apparently incorrect birth date of January 26, 1891, on his naturalization petition) and was taken to New York by his family at age four, arriving on April 2, 1895. His family settled first in Italian East Harlem (108th Street), within the territory of the Terranova Mafia clan, and later relocated to Manhattan's Greenwich Village.

As a youth, Costello involved himself in the street gangs of the Five Points. (Calabrian immigrants were clustered in the lower Manhattan neighborhood.) He was discharged after teenage arrests for assault and robbery, but he was jailed for a year after a concealed weapon conviction in 1915. He eventually was initiated into the Mafia but often worked independent criminal enterprises with non-Italian partners.

Costello moved wholeheartedly into illegal alcohol distribution during Prohibition Days. His bootlegging enterprises are believed to have extended beyond New York City. He became known as the "Prime Minister of the underworld," because he cultivated extensive contacts among elected government officials and bureaucrats and could provide insurance that law enforcement would provide protection for the enterprises he sponsored.

An application for citizenship was approved in September of 1925. Within three months, Costello was indicted in New York federal court for participating in a liquor conspiracy.

During the Castellammarese War, Costello nominally served Joe Masseria's New York organization. Following the 1931 assassination of Masseria, Costello became a top aide to Masseria's successor, Salvatore "Charlie Luciano" Lucania.

Costello reportedly had a hand in busy New York night spots. He was said to have financial interests in Casino de Paree, Cotton Club, Ubangi Club and Stork Club. He also busied himself with gambling ventures in the post-Prohibition 1930s, obtaining official government approval to place slot machines everywhere in New York. That brought him into direct conflict with reform Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who, despite court protection of the slots, collected all the machines in 1934 and personally destroyed them with a sledge hammer. Costello later held a financial interest in the Piping Rock casino in Saratoga, New York.

In this period, Costello became friendly with syndicated columnist Walter Winchell. When Winchell received threats, Costello reportedly provided bodyguards for the columnist.The racketeer was also friendly with Collier's Weekly journalist Quentin Reynolds.

Costello's political influence was considerable. He attended the 1932 Democratic National Convention.

Lucania was taken out of action by compulsory prostitution charges in 1936.  In mid-June of that year, Lucania began a sentence of thirty to fifty years in prison. He was first held at Sing Sing Prison, not far from the city, and could continue to manage the affairs of his crime family from there. Weeks later, he was moved upstate to Clinton Prison in Dannemora. Lucania underboss Vito Genovese would have taken over the crime family, but Genovese left the United States for Italy in December 1936. He remained out of the country through the Second World War.

Costello became acting boss of Lucania's Manhattan-based crime family and an important member of the Mafia Commission, arbiter of disputes in the Sicilian-Italian underworld of the U.S.

Genovese was arrested in August 1944 by the American military in postwar Italy. He was returned to the U.S. the following year to stand trial on an old murder charge. In 1946, Lucania was deported permanently to Italy, leaving Costello momentarily alone atop Lucania's old Mafia organization. Due to the mysterious death of a key witness, the government was unable to prosecute the murder case against Genovese, and Genovese was freed. He once again became a power in the crime family and a rival to the authority of Costello.

Costello found hosts for his slot machines in Louisiana, where they were looked after by "Dandy Phil" Kastel. In the 1950s, Kastel and Costello opened the Beverly Club casino in Jefferson Parish, just outside of New Orleans.

Costello's position in the crime family was weakened through appearances before the Kefauver Committee in February and March 1951, the October 1951 murder of his New Jersey-based lieutenant Willie Moretti and a 1956 conviction for tax evasion. During this period, the U.S. government also revoked his citizenship and moved to have him deported.

On May 2, 1957, while Costello was free pending a legal appeal, he was shot in the head by a would-be assassin. The bullet only grazed his scalp. Costello bled but survived. Greenwich Village mobster Vincent Gigante, a loyal Genovese follower, was arrested for the shooting. Gigante was released after Costello refused to identify him as the shooter.

In October of that year, Costello's closest underworld ally, fellow Calabrian Albert Anastasia, was murdered. Costello is believed to have resigned as crime family boss at this time, turning the organization over to Genovese. In October 1958, Costello's final appeal was rejected, and he was sent to Atlanta Federal Prison.

Genovese joined him in Atlanta the following spring, when he was convicted of federal narcotics conspiracy charges. Costello was released from the prison in June 1961.

Costello returned to a private life in New York with his wife Loretta. On February 7, 1973, he suffered a mild heart attack in their Central Park West apartment. He was taken to Doctors Hospital on East End Avenue and Eighty-seventh Street. On the morning of February 18, with Loretta by his side, he died following another heart attack. He was buried in St. Michael's Cemetery in Elmhurst, Queens.

Related Link:

•  Crime boss listing - Mafiahistory.us
• When 'Lucky' was locked up - mafiahistory.us 

Sources:

• "Add Memo to desk," New York Sun, March 5, 1935, attachment to Whitley, R., Letter to J. E. Hoover, FBI file no. 62-35793-1, April 25, 1935.
• "Excerpts from final day's proceedings hear in the Senate group's crime inquiry," New York Times, March 22, 1951, p. 26.
• "Frank Costello dies of coronary at 82; underworld leader," New York Times, Feb. 19, 1973, p. 1.
• "Lucania sentenced to 30 to 50 years; court warns ring," New York Times, June 19, 1936, p. 1. 
• "Salvatore Lucania...," FBI report NY 62-8768, file no. 39-2141-9, May 5, 1946, p. 1-3, 10.
• "Vito Genovese," FBI report, file no. 92-2938-5, Jan. 31, 1958, p. 3.
• Bonanno, Joseph, with Sergio Lalli, A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.
• Dewey, Thomas E., Twenty Against the Underworld, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1974.
• Francesco Castiglia birth certificate, Cassana allo Ionio, Feb. 18, 1891.
• Katz, Leonard, Uncle Frank: The Biography of Frank Costello, New York: Drake Publishers, 1973.
• Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Part 7, New York - New Jersey, Hearings before the Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, U.S. Senate, 81st Congress 2nd Session, 82nd Congress 1st Session, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1951
• Petition for Naturalization, no. 61756, May 1, 1925, District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
• SAC Atlanta, "Vito Anthony Genovese," FBI memorandum to director, file no. 92-4594-1, April 13, 1960.
• U.S. v. Frank Costello, Civil 133-28, March 9, 1959.
• Wolf, George, with Joseph DiMona, Frank Costello: Prime Minister of the Underworld, New York: William Morrow & Company, 1974.

Barbara, Joseph "Barber" (1905-1959)

Born Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Aug. 9, 1905.

Died Johnson City, NY, June 17, 1959.

A wealthy gangster operating in New York, Barbara owned the Apalachin, NY, estate that was the site of 1957's Mafia convention. Police crashed the gathering, taking most of those present in for questioning (a number of Mafiosi are believed to have eluded arrest either by escaping through the woods around the Barbara estate or by remaining out of sight in Barbara's home).

Barbara came to the United States from his native Sicily on May 26, 1921. He participated in Mafia bootlegging operations and had underworld contacts in New York City, Buffalo and Endicott, New York. In the post-Prohibition years, he gained control of the beer/soft drink distribution in the Binghamton, NY, region.

Barbara was suspected of involvement in a number of gangland killings. During World War II, authorities noted that rationed gasoline was being stolen from Barbara's bottling plant. Just after the war, he was convicted of the illegal acquisition of sugar, a federal crime.

Many believe that Barbara led a Mafia organization with a territory that included northeastern Pennsylvania and adjacent New York. However, it appears far more likely that he was a Buffalo Mob capodecina with regional authority in the Endicott area. The northeast Pennsylvania Mafia appears to have been an independent crime family ruled by the "Men of Montedoro."

The 1957 Mafia convention was organized by Buffalo crime boss Stefano Magaddino after New York City crime boss Tommy Lucchese requested it on behalf of new bosses Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino. Barbara's Apalachin estate had been used for a Mafia convention one year earlier.

After they were apprehended, many of the 60-plus Mafiosi told authorities that they were at Barbara's home to look in on him after his recent heart attack. Barbara was in ill health at the time and was able to avoid much post-convention interrogation due to his heart condition (his son, however, was repeatedly interrogated). After having chest pains for several days, Barbara collapsed at his home in Endicott on May 29, 1959. He was rushed to Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City. He died there on June 17.

Related Links:

•  Informer (Jan 2009): The Mob's Worst Year - 1957.
•  "Party-crashers" (Writers of Wrongs - 14 Nov 2016)
•  Read about Joe Barbara in:
  Dicarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime - Vol. II

Anastasia, Albert (1902-1957)

Born Tropea, Italy, Feb. 26, 1902.

Killed New York, NY, Oct. 25, 1957.

The Mafia's "Lord High Executioner" was born Umberto Anastasio in a Calabrian village called Tropea. The date of his birth is variously recorded as Feb. 26, 1902; Sept. 26, 1902; and 1903. As teenagers, he and his brothers worked on Atlantic steamships. They jumped ship in New York and entered the U.S. illegally.

As Umberto Anastasio became known as a Brooklyn gangster, he adjusted his name to Albert Anastasia. The adjustment to his surname was reportedly to save his Anastasio relatives from embarrassment. (One of his brothers entered the U.S. legally and became a parish priest in New York.)

Anastasia became an accomplished underworld enforcer, earning him the nickname of "Lord High Executioner." Some also referred to him as "the Mad Hatter." Anastasia became a powerful leader on the Brooklyn waterfront, where brother Anthony "Tough Tony" was a leader in the longshoremen's union.

A devoted friend of underworld giants like Charlie Luciano, Frank Costello, Joe Adonis and Nicola Gentile, Anastasia had a long rivalry with Neapolitan underworld leader Vito Genovese and with some of the traditional Sicilian Mafiosi in Brooklyn.

Anastasia supported boss of bosses Giuseppe Masseria in the Castellammarese War of 1930-31. After the war, Anastasia emerged as the underboss in the Mangano Family. He also reportedly supervised a largely Jewish gang of Brooklyn killers used as Mafia enforcers. That gang became known as Murder, Inc.

Anastasia is believed to have approached the Mafia Commission asking to support Dutch Schultz by eliminating New York State Prosecutor Tom Dewey. Mob boss Joe Bonanno suggested that Luciano had Anastasia float that idea before the Commission, so Luciano himself would not be linked with it. The proposal was rejected and ultimately led to the murder of Schultz.

Dewey later hoped to use hitman-turned-state-witness Abe Reles' testimony to prosecute Anastasia as the official go-between for the Mafia hierarchy and Murder Inc. But Reles suddenly decided to step out of a high-rise hotel window, ending the state's case against Anastasia.

In 1951, with the Manganos suddenly gone (Philip was found murdered, and Vincent disappeared), Anastasia rose to the leadership of that crime family. As Anastasia reached the pinnacle of the Mafia underworld, an old rivalry with Vito Genovese turned deadly. Anastasia was shot to death Oct. 25, 1957, as he sat in a barber's chair in the Park Sheraton hotel lobby. The killing appeared to be part of a effort by Genovese to eliminate the Costello-Anastasia influence in the underworld (Costello was shot in the head - but survived - just a few months earlier and turned control of his organization over to Genovese).

However, the assassination might have been the result of Anastasia's recent moves to establish a gambling/narcotics empire in Cuba outside of the influence of usual Mafia-Cuba go-betweens Meyer Lansky and Santo Trafficante. Anastasia had made a recent trip to Havana and later scheduled a meeting with representatives of Cuban gaming interests in New York. Carlo Gambino, who succeeded Anastasia as boss, Genovese, Lansky and Trafficante all had motives to do away with Anastasia and could have cooperated on the assassination.

Addresses used by Anastasia:

•  387 Columbia Street, Brooklyn, NY
•  151 Sackett Street, Brooklyn, NY
•  636 Arthur Street, Utica, NY
•  1146 73rd Street, New York, NY
•  75 Bluff Road, Palisades (Fort Lee), NJ

Criminal record of Anastasia (according to FBI files):

•  1921 Mar 17 - charged in Brooklyn with homicide, convicted, sentenced to electrocution on July 3, 1921, retrial later ordered, acquitted Aug. 21, 1922.
•  1922 - charged with homicide, indictment later dismissed.
•  1923 Apr 06 - charged in Brooklyn with felonious assault, discharged on April 24, 1923.
•  1923 Jun 06 - charged in Brooklyn with possession of a firearm, convicted, sentenced to two years at Blackwell's Island Penitentiary.
•  1928 - arrested for homicide, not prosecuted.
•  1932 - arrested for homicide, not prosecuted. 
•  1933 - charged with homicide, not convicted.
•  1941 - Kings County district attorney assembles murder case related to the May 1939 killing of Morris Diamond, but abandons it after the November 1941 death of turncoat witness Abe Reles.
•  1942 Jan 21 - arrested for harboring, not prosecuted.
•  1954 Apr 14 - stripped of citizenship acquired through military service, reversed on appeal.
•  1954 Mar - indicted by federal grand jury for income tax evasion, mistrial in Florida declared Nov. 21, 1954, retrial in Camden, NJ, results in guilty plea and a June 3, 1955 sentence of a year in federal penitentiary.
•  1956 Mar 28 - released from Milan, Michigan, federal penitentiary.

Related Links:

•  Anastasia article
•  Crime boss listing
•  FBI Files
•  Informer (Jan 2009): The Mob's Worst Year - 1957.