Anastasia shooters

In your view who do you think Anastasia's shooters were ? There have been many people touted as his killers from the gallos and persicos or Steven arm one Arnold Wittenberg and Steven graummata . Has anyone got any other theories

An alternative theory was presented by Vincent Teresa, the Boston informant, back in 1972. He said that the shooters were Boston based hitman Jackie "Mad Dog" Nazarian and a Brooklyn guy identified only as "The Syrian". Teresa also said that Nicky Bianco identified Anastasia to the shooters by pointing a rolled up newspaper at Anastasia´s direction when the shooters entered the barbershop.

Yeah I've read that theory aswel pal

There has and always will be speculation on who the shooters were. One thing is clear from later defectors in the Gambino crime family, that the shooters were in house, and that the consigliere to the Gambino crime family at the time Joe Biondo gave out the contract. Most say that he had the Armone brothers do it, but Joe Armone was in lockup at the time, with the possibility of Stefano as being one of the shooters, as he was still out on the streets.

That is what I heard , joe piney was supposed to be on board but he was in prison so they recruited Steven armone in his place

Didn't they later find Biondo's fingerprint on the getaway car?

The Armone Crew theory is far more solid than any of the previous ones.Most mob historians will agree that somewhere around 75% of everything Vinnie Teresa ever "revealed" is total BS.There are many problems with the Gallo/Persico/Rent-A-Profaci story as well.For starters,the main guys behind the hit were Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino----there is no evidence that Joe Profaci was part of the plot or was even in favor of it.Neither man was particularly tight with Joe Profaci and each had access to numerous "work" crews of their own.Also,the eyewitness' descriptions of the shooters is more in line with Grammauta and Wittenberg than any Gallo crew member---the estimated age of the shooters,in particular.Even though the shooters tried to disguise themselves,the shop manicurist got a pretty good look at them.In addition to all of that,while there have been a few notable exceptions,most major hits within a Cosa Nostra Family are carried out by other members of the same organization----another nod to the Armone Crew and the nominal supervisor of that crew Joe Biondo.

Agreed. Capeci´s "scoop" is most likely the theory closest to the truth. It´s interesting to see that after the Anastasia murder, the underboss and the consigliere spots were occupied by members of that Lower East Side crew, involved with the murder. Biondo, a former leader of the crew, was made underboss and Joe Riccobono, the leader of the same crew at that time, was made consigliere. Steve Armone, who according to Capeci´s "scoop" supervised the shooters, was made the new leader of the crew. So they were all promoted to key positions within the Gambino family. Steve Grammauta, the main shooter, was a cousin of the Armones, btw.

"Manicurist Jean Wineberger said that the primary shooter was about 40 years old, 5 10 to 5 11, on the slim side, 175 to 180 lbs. He had blondish hair with a pompadour, fair complexion, and was right-handed. The second shooter, she said, was about 45 years old, 5 7, stocky build, medium complexion, and may have been Italian or Jewish."

I agree with Knuckz. Capeci does seem to have great info that's trustworthy.

I must admit u can pretty much take it to the bank if it comes out of capeci's mouth . Cheers guys

What about Santo Trafficante?

I doubt that a man of Trafficante's smarts would been staying in that hotel if he knew there was a major hit going down the next day in the hotel lobby. Coincidence.

I've read somewhere that "Trigger Mike" Coppola was Anastasia's driver that day, he suddenly disappeared just before the two shooters came through the door.

It was *Anthony* Coppola. Mike Coppola was a Genovese family capo at that time.

I doubt Traficante had any say about what happened in Nyc

Yes,it sounds like a coincidence but there was a rumour that Albert wanted to muscle in Santo's gambling operations in Cuba.Dont know if that's true...

Well said, I agree 100%.

In "Havana Nocturne", the author T.J. English very strongly implies that it was Lansky, not Trafficante, who was most threatened by Anastasia's moves into Cuba and Lansky who had the most to gain by Anastasia's departure from our planet.

It wasnt only Far vinny teresa that mentioned it Mad Dog Nazzarene. It was also mentioned by Joe Barboza. You have to remember Ray Sr was really close with Ny I think he even was a member as well. During the Colombo wars he sent Joe Russo, Nicky Bianco, Mad Dog Nazzarene, Pop Werner Sonny Boy Rizzo BoBo Marrapese, Manacchio and many more to Old man Profaci's aid and even mentioned he will send as much as the need. Thats where Russo and Bianco became close like brothers and continued that relationship until the family takeover in the late 80's and the became Boss and Consgliere

I haven't read it, but I wouldn't think Lansky had enough pull at that point to kill a boss - if he ever did.

Especialy a cosa nostra boss...

I read this book, too, and they made a convincing argument. It wasn't Lansky's idea as Genovese and Gambino already had already hatched their plot. But I'm sure they heard of Anastasia's trip to Havana and his intentions on muscling in on Lansky. And when they got his approval, then Albert was history.

I understand that the majority opinion is that Lansky wasn't involved, but I can't overlook the battle in Havana and the timing of Anastasia's death.

I don't think that Genovese or Gambino would care if Anastasia muscled in on Lansky - neither one was allied with him and they would not favor a Jew over an Italian. If Anastasia was trying to muscle in on Lansky casinos which held a Genovese interest, that would be another matter altogether.

What I should have said is that I don't think Lansky had any stock in casinos which weren't also partly shared by the Genovese crime family. Now this would be a problem if Anastasia was trying to muscle in on them but in my opinion, the more plausible scenario is that Anastasia wanted to have his own casinos in Havana and Genovese was not willing to share the wealth. Gambino readily assented to the plot because he then take over the family.

Edit: Just double-checked some sources and this is indeed close to what actually happened. Whether or not he was assassinated specifically for this, I do not know.

That was it, thanks for the correction

It´s possible that one of the shooters was Joe N. Gallo, a member of that Lower East Side crew that planned the murder, and who in the late 1960s became the consigliere. According to a story I just heard (and I have no reason to suspect the story´s credibility), Gallo was very much involved with the Anastasia murder. The entire Gambino Family was in line against Anastasia with one or two guys (Rava and Robilotto) who might be a problem. But in the end, they weren't. All the planning came from Lower East Side, near 11th to 14th street. The Genovese and Gambino people were using clubs there to meet, so they would not be spotted all around the city. Carmine Persico and Joe Yacovelli were around too. All the Families were along. Joe Bonnano says in his book he was not involved, maybe he was deceived by his own captains or did not want to say he knew. He could have been indicted for murder if he said in his books that he knew Anastasia was going to be killed.

In days leading up to Anastasia´s hit, hit squads were in cars going around to spots where they would try to kill him. One such squad was in that barbershop day before the shooting. If Anastasia was there that day, that team would have killed him. Next day, the same were sent to another spot. All squads were rotated, so they would not be identified by people seeing them in same place over and over. So that day, when Anastasia was hit, Joe N. Gallo and his guys were at the barbershop. If Anastasia did not go to his regular places, whoever caught him next day would have gotten him.

Very interesting theory hairy , if he wasn't a shooter , he could well have been a back up

Richard Kuklinski may well have been involved...:-)

great assesment HAIRY

Who was behind that hit? I always thought Carlo Gambino, but I was watching a doc on the Genovese family which stated it was Vito Genovese. According to the doc he took out both Scalise and Anastasia. I always thought Anastasia took out Scalise and in turn Carlo engineered Anastasia's demise for the transgression (and probably because he was trigger happy and unpredictable). Is it possible Genovese was that crafty to set Albert up for the murder of Scalise or is that doc's info wrong?

I'm sure Steven grammauta is still alive he would be like 98 , can anyone confirm this ??

I believe it was a joint effort by multiple bosses who wanted to keep the peace. Anastasia wanted to revenge the Costello shooting but the bosses sided with Genovese who had more pull with the Commission. He was extremely close with Lucchese, a boss who does not nearly enough recieve the credit he should for much of the conniving that was going on around that time.
The planning and execiution fell on the Riccobono/Biondo/Armone crew although some Genovese people also were involved.

Gotcha. Thank you for the clarification.

Hairy that therory is the most likely , that's the one I believe , wots your take in the whole gallo / persico therory ??

It was Sidney Slater (a Gallo associate who gave testimony against Gallo) who said that the Gallo gang was involved with the hit. While sitting in a bar, drinking and talking about the hit, the story goes, Joey Gallo had said "you can call the five of us the barbershop quintet". Either Slater was a liar, or it was Gallo who had lied to him. Take your pick.

I personally don't believe the gallo theory at all , I'm more swayed to believe the capeci therory , why would the gambinos who had more hitters back then than most would farm out the most important hit of that time to a unhinged group like the gallos , it makes no sense to me at all

yeah but why was SCALISE murdered ? c'mon dont believe the membership excuse . scalise was well respected in the mob . many family member's and close personal friends on the commission . and bonnano was conveinintly gone to sicily . and another weird scenario , BONNANO say's he appointed GAMBINO around 1960 , Then gambino snakes him two year's later with LUCCHESE. ?????

Valachi was the one who said that Scalise was killed due to him (and Anastasia) selling memberships. That´s a theory I don´t hold much stock into. Sounds wierd that bosses would do something despicable like that. It goes against all the rules of what a man of honor should abide to. However, it may have been used as a false excuse to kill him. Another theory is that Scalise grew too powerful and that Anastasia therefore feared him. But this holds no water either because Anastasia could easily have gotten rid of the problem simply by demoting him. In fact, killing him would have increased the problem if Scalise had a large faction behind him. A third theory is Scalises´s alleged involvment with drugs. It is said that Scalise was behind a big heroin deal that went sour and that investors lost a lot of money. It could also be that Anastasia was unaware of Scalise´s involvment and decided to whack him when he found out. And of course, there is also the Costello connection. Who knows...perhaps Scalise had knowledge of the assassination attempt on Costello (who was very tight with Anastasia) but never informed Anastasia about it?

I have always thought that Genovese was behind setting Scalise up by having Anastasia have him murdered. HairyKnuckles, the story is that Scalise was involved with drugs and on one of these deals was a big deal that went south with Scalise losing money that was given to him by both Strollo and Galante. When Bender found out what had happened, he informed both Genovese and Galante as Carmine fronted part of the money. When Strollo demanded that Scalise repay the lost money, Frank pulled rank. Vito told Tony to sit tight for now, and checked around. Some time later Vito found out that Scalise did not inform Anastasia of his dealings in drugs and was keeping the profits for himself. Genovese used Galante who was made in the Bonanno crime family for a sitdown with Anastasia as Albert at the time did not trust members of the Genovese and Lucchese crime families that were close to their family bosses. Carmine informed Anastasia of Scalise, and a setup was made. Tony was instructed to make another deal with Scalise, and if Frank did not report to Albert or kick up, then he was to be killed.

That is the story. Weather this is true or not we may never know. Valachi was the one that said Scalise was killed for selling membership, but Valachi was only a soldier and only knew what his capo Tony Bender or members of his and other families told him.

^^^ Good detailed post. And I agree that we will probably never know the truth, which is frustrating...

So Galante loaned Scalise money for a drug deal ? so Vito and Galante were obviously close . explains why Gambino had to include him in the frame up .

So basically LUCCHESE and GAMBINO double crossed everybody . wonder if that BONNANO plot was real ? But if you think about it ,DON PEPPINO must have seen the writing on the wall .after Genovese got locked up and galante ,profaci being challenged .

Ehh. Lanksy was a boss though. He was the single most dominant player in Cuba. If he didn't want someone there that person wasn't going to be there. Like most of the other big moves, Anastasia's murder must have been silently assented to by most of the power players at the time. And that included Lansky. I doubt he solely set up or ordered Anastasia's murder but I believe he would have given his ok. Having Lansky on board also would have been politically useful to anyone worried about reaction from old timers like Luciano/Costello.

In Havana Nocturne the author writes of Lansky's cold unfriendliness towards Anastasia while Anastasia was in Cuba but more to the point he writes of Lansky's change towards calm and peacefulness shortly before Anastasia's murder. The author also argues that Lansky friend Joe Stassi might have been in on the organization of the hit or communication surrounding it, as he had flown to NY and checked into the Park Sheraton under an assumed name 2 days before the hit.

If you´re talking about the Genovese drug conviction, I don´t think there was a frame up. Of course, I can´t say for sure but Mafia bosses turning on other Mafia bosses (giving them up to police) in order to get rid of them sounds unbelievable to me. However, Nelson Cantellops´ testimony against Genovese may have been all lies, spurred by the prosecution side.

http://books.google.se/books?id=aK1fo5Lh...ops&f=false

yeah but why was galante included .the rumor mill said that if BONNANO had lilo by his side .he has a better chance at keeping his family together DURING THE WAR

I doubt very much that Galante was framed. He was caught fair and square. If you take a look at all the major narcotic cases from late 1950s til mid 1960s, the offenders belonged to all but one NY Family (the Profacis). So there were offenders belonging to Families allied with Gambino (Genovese and Lucchese) and more importantly, offenders who were close to both Gambino and Lucchese (Armone, Ormento and others). I have made a summary of these cases and will present them in a thread on here.

Galante was not framed. Genovese was framed. LE did not know much how LCN worked and tooked Cantellops at face value.

Reading the eyewitness statements on the shooters, the descriptions match perfectly with those of Stephen Grammauta, and Joe N. Gallo as being two of the three shooters. These blackout lines really get to me and have no way of knowing what they have in them. If Joe N. Gallo was indeed one of the shooters, then it stands to reason why so many miscredited Joe Gallo and his brothers from the Profaci family as the shooters as Joe N. Gallo was said to be low key, while Joe Gallo loved the spot light.

talking about the prelude to SCALISE being being blasted .GALANTE seem's to be so much of a enormous part of the 1950's NYC mob scene . he had top link's to all five families.
He probably was seething in LEWISBURG , pre 1957 was he more powerful than gambino ?

Stevie Coogan