why was albert anastasia killed and who killed him

ive read a lot about this subject, and every new book I read, has another theory, it's very confusing to me. I will start off listing the reasons I have read

1.... in joe valachi's book, he says albert saw on television that a pants salesman from Brooklyn {arnold shuster] ratted out on willie Sutton, and had him killed, joe valachi said he was killed for this and also was with joe scalise in selling memberships in cosa nostra. scalise was killed for this reason. what I think about that is the hitman fredrick tenuto was willie's cell mate in prison, so he may have did it on his own, he himself was murdered within a week of the killing.

2.... in the book "Havana nocturne" it mentions that albert was leaning heavily] on meyer lansky as albert wanted in cuba. to placate him lansky gave him part of a racetrack, but albert was unhappy because he had partners, also on the day of alberts death santos trafficante was in a hotel room with albert, maybe to tell him he could get into cuba, to calm him down, he had made threats about lansky,

3...... vito Genovese was afraid of albert coming after him because of the attempted hit on frank Costello, vito got word that both were meeting in hotel rooms after the atempted hit.
valachi says in the "valachi papers" that vito went to carlo Gambino, and joseph profaci, and together they killed albert.

so, was it vito that planned it? was it lansky and traficante?

who did it? for years I believed the gallos killed albert, however in the new book, "the mob and the city" alex hortiss says he researched for his book, and it wasn't the gallo's but Gambino family hitmen. joey gallo bragged about he and his boys killing albert, but, he was a bragger any way.

so,myself I lean towards valachi's account, that being vito was afraid of albert coming back at him for his attempt on Costello, so, vito went to Gambino, and profaci, Gambino was afraid of albert but, with vito's backing he went along, I believe that the contract was given to profaci, and he gave it to the gallo's

I would like everyones's imput on this as the trafficante, lansky link could be important.

I find this subject very interesting as well. I think it simply comes down to Genovese/Gambino vs. Anastasia/Costello. The power struggle was eventually going to explode between the 2 sides. I think the selling of the memberships and the Shuster murder weren't the main reasons but added together with Anastasia's general recklessness was enough for him to go.

In my opinion I just don't think Lansky or Trafficante had enough clout to order a hit on a New York boss. He may have been moving in on the gambling rackets and those 2 were happy to see him go and weren't going to stand in the way but like I said I think it was Genovese/Gambino that made it happen.

Also I never really believed it was the Gallo/Persico hit team that did the work. I've always felt it was a job done inside the family with the Armone brothers and Stephen Grammauta.

Who gained the most from it? Albert was probably the only one Genovese feared. Gambino became boss. Did the mad hatter have respect from his guys or were they getting sick of him and gave Gambino a smooth transition to becoming boss. Trafficante was questioned right after the hit.

There wasnt exatly a "smooth transition" after Albert was murdered though. There was a war on the verge of breaking out, at least two guys were murdered as a result of this "almost war", one of them being Armand "Tommy" Rava. Anastasia had his loyalists, among them Neil Dellacroce. Rava was scheming to takeover the family, and didn't like the fact that Carlo basically weaseled his way to the boss seat, by conspiring with members from other families to kill Anastasia. The Anastasia loyalists, which were headed by Rava & Dellacroce actually opposed the Gambino/Biondo group that moved to take power after Anastasias death. Things only came to an end after Gambino loyalists killed Armand Rava, and Gambino compensated the rest of the Anastasia loyalists by making Dellacroce his underboss.

Even during the days of John Gotti, there were still members of the Gambino Family whom could trace their origins back to Albert Anastasia and his initial crew.

I think I remember someone saying something about Trafficante being in a hotel in NYC the day AA was hit. Has to be some connection.

It never made sense to me that Profaci was involved and that Gambino handed the hit out to outsiders instead of his own guys. Capeci's theory makes a lot more sense.

Not to mention that Profaci was close to Bonanno who in turn had a good relationship with Anastasia. I think the theory that Profaci was asked to organize the hit and then selected guys who he wasn't particulary fond of is laughable.

It's only common sense that Gambino used his own guys to carry out such a risky operation. How would it look like to others in the family that Gambino was dependent of outsiders? It would have appeared as weakness and having a lack of support. For this very reason Vito felt strong enough to take on Costello.

I'm reading Joe Bonanno's book at the moment. We all know he's lied about certain things, but I don't see any reason why he would lie about this.

He says there was an alliance between Genovese, Luchese and Gambino against Costello and Anastasia. Profaci and Bonanno were kind of in their own conservative faction. He also says it is likely Gambino used his own men to to kill Anastasia.

I think this was Vito Genovese all the way. He knew that Anastasia wanted revenge for Costello and he was also the boss of the only family in NYC that was powerful enough to challenge his. Genovese probably wanted his own guy to take Anastasia's place, so he got Gambino to hit Anastasia with the promise that he would back him as boss. As for who did the hit, it makes more sense that Gambino would use his own people (I believe that it was Stevie Coogan Gramatura, one of the Armones and an associate Whitenburg) to do the hit. Anastasia was not the most popular boss within his own family so I doubt that it was difficult to find people in the family who were willing to do the job, and by farming the work out the Gallos he would be involving another family, making it more likely that word might get out on the street and make its way back to Anastasia. After Anastasia was hit Armand Rava, Dellacroce and John Riboloto were members of the Gambino family who opposed Gambino becoming boss, but after Rava and Riboloto were hit, Dellacroce was left on his own. Somehow he made peace with Gambino and he became a captain, not the underboss, as Joe Biondo was Gambino's first underboss.

Anastasia's brother Tony did not want to work with the regime either. Interestingly, Anastasia was talking with the FBI at that time, the transcripts were on the Smoking Gun website, and maybe on the Marry Ferrell site. According to Anastasia, Gambino hung him out to dry and let the Genovese, through guys like Tommy Eboli and Joe Lanza, try to muscle in on Anastasia's turf on the Brooklyn docks without giving him any backing. Apparently, Anastasia eventually went crawling back to Gambino and gave him what he wanted because the Genovese never got control of the Brooklyn docks.

As for the Trafficante/Lansky scenario, those two did not always see eye to eye as Trafficante resented Lansky because he was the only mob guy who was bigger than him and closer to Battista in Cuba. Trafficante's lawyer said in his book that Trafficante told him that he needed Anastasia to provide financing for a new hotel that he wanted to build in Havana. Apparently he was in NYC the day that Anastasia was hit because he was working out the details with Anastasia on the hotel financing. With regard to Lansky, he may have been a power in his own right with his own muscle in the 20's and 30's, but everything that I have ever seen indicates that by the 50's he was nothing more than a workhorse for the Genovese. I don't think that he would have had the power to order a hit on an NYC boss at that time. The Genovese through guys like Alo and Gerry Catena had a pretty big piece of anything that Lansky had in Cuba and everywhere else, and they were probably the family with the biggest interests in Cuba. So if anything Lansky may have found out about the Anastasia/Trafficante deal and let the Genovese guys know. Lansky and the Genovese would not have wanted that deal to go through because if it had Trafficante may have surpassed Lansky as the biggest guy on the island and the Gambino family would have challenged the Genovese as the biggest family on the island. Anastasia's ambitions in Cuba might have been a contributing reason to him getting hit, but most likely not as big a reason as the immediate problems that he presented to Genovese in NYC.

yes, Dixie, the information about trafficante comes from the book "Havana nocturne" by t.j. English.. Anastasia was leaning heavily on lansky to get into cuba, pp 196-99. and no one was happy about that but Anastasia was greatly feared.

The actual hit involved Joe The Blonde aka Little Rabbit aka Joe Biondo. That's according to Det. Coffey.

Carlo and Joe Biondo had a falling out at some point, over money hidden from Carlo. Therefore Carlo and Biondo were thick as thieves. This might implicate Carlo Gambino further up the chain of command in the conspiracy to whack Anastasia.

Cui Bono? Who benefits? We know Carlo became boss. But what did Biondo get? Biondo probably became very wealthy [or wealthier] through narcotics trafficking within the Gambino family using the docks, ports which Albert once controlled.

That of course wasn't why Albert was hit. But whoever cultivated and sought out Albert's enemies within the Anastasia family knew to approach those who stood to gain financially from Albert's demise, and those who had been disrespected by him, in particular, Carlo.

First off, this is a good thread.....

@ Sonny

+1 Spot on, I agree with all that....

@ MightyDR

+1 to that as well, that book is in my opinion kinda underrated, people kinda get into their feelings about it. But there is a consistent pattern to the Narcotics denials that often goes overlooked, I'll come back to that though....

@ Binnie

You know the membership thing always struck me as weird. What happened to all these guys? I was always struck by the Goodfellas scene, " He bought his fuckin button!!" Like, what did they DO with all these guys who bought their way in? Especially since, it would be kinda clear cut the guys that actually did this...

Carlo contracted Biondo, and Biondo contracted the Armones, and Grammauta? For what I understand, Biondo was the guy Carlo sent to talk to Luciano in Italy, until he fucked up in the late sixties and from the looks of it Paolo Gambino took over. The hit on Anastasia seems to have been his audition for Underboss.


What about Scalice? You guys heard the theory that he was moving junk through Chicago with Anastasia, without permission? I've never seen anything really to substantiate it, but thought I would mention it.... Especially cause he was an Anastasia rival, and there is this from one of my favorite books...

“Genovese’s narcotics connections reportedly enabled Mussolini 's son-in-law to fly opium out of Turkey to refiners in Milan. The heroin was then flown to Mediterranean ports on Italian Air Force planes and routed by Genovese to Nicolo Impostato, an assassin from Kansas City who had replaced Nick Gentile, then in Italy assisting Genovese and Poletti, as general manager of the American Mafia’s national drug syndicate....

Genovese runs an operation through Kansas City? A Chicago Ally? With Luciano's permission? Or no? In concert with Costello, or no? THE FACTIONS MAN... There were definitely factions in LCN...... ( I can't wait to read Toodopeds report on this stuff..)



I mention all this because of this.......also from the same book

“Three other timely developments helped Gaffney and the New York office wage the FBN’s most successful campaign ever. The first was Albert Anastasia’s suicidal attempt to muscle in on the Cuban rackets. As boss of the old Mangano family, Anastasia controlled various labor union, gambling, and narcotics rackets in Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Las Vegas. He was powerful, yes, but he was a vicious megalomaniac too, and he not only took on Meyer Lansky and Santo Trafficante in Cuba, he mistakenly challenged the Commission itself, which was dominated by Vito Genovese and the closely allied “Bonanno, Profaci, and Magaddino families"



( I've always believed those three guys were really in control of the street while Lucky and Vito were out of pocket...)


Anastasia’s downfall began in April 1957, when Italian drug smuggler and part-time FBN informant Giovanni Mauceri told Charlie Siragusa that a heroin shipment was being delivered to Frank Scalici in New York aboard a merchant ship from Marseilles. Something of a mystery – his fingerprints and criminal records have been removed from the files of all US government agencies –

( EYEOPENER!!!! This is CIA stuff here. See this is why I don't really hold the narcotics denials against these guys like Bonnano, Buscetta, Luciano. It's like Giancana said once, at one time, the CIA and Mafia operated more like a business partnership than anything. The blanket denials are too consistent, I think those guys were afraid of being hit by the CIA if they said ANYTHING about their drug operations...my opinion only..)


Scalici managed a Mafia narcotics syndicate based in the Bronx that dealt directly with French and Corsican wholesalers in Europe and Montreal.2 Unfortunately for Scalici, Siragusa was able to seize his heroin, as well as the Mafia money he’d fronted to Mauceri, which “left Scalici holding a big empty bag. Anastasia, having kicked in some of the money for the purchase, concluded that Scalici had betrayed him, and on 17 June 1957, at Anastasia’s behest, Vincent Squillante shot and killed Scalici in front of a grocery store in the Bronx, as portrayed in the movie The Godfather..


Anastasia, however, was not the only person who had invested in Scalici. Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, and Meyer Lansky had fronted money too, and murdering Scalici without their consent was a serious mistake – as was Anastasia’s unauthorized sale of Mafia memberships, which he was doing to increase the size of his private army. But his fatal mistake was trying to muscle in on Lansky and Trafficante’s lucrative Cuban connection. Lansky and Trafficante brought their problem to Vito Genovese, their closest associate in New York, and Genovese in turn persuaded Anastasia’s caporegime, Carlo Gambino, to betray his boss....


“In the months following Apalachin, several agents would address the Senate about the relationship between drug smugglers and organized crime

“International Group Leader Marty Pera told how opium was moved from Turkey to Syria, where it was processed into morphine base, then shipped to France and converted into heroin, and then smuggled through Mexico, Cuba and Canada to America. Veteran Agent Joe Amato explained how Vincent Squillante and Joe Mancuso were the kingpins of a secret society “specifically” organized for smuggling narcotics. And Jack Cusack, then serving as Gaffney’s replacement as district supervisor in Atlanta, described the link, through John Ormento, between the Civello family in Dallas “Dallas and the Magaddino family in Buffalo. Cusack linked the Civellos with Carlos Marcello in New Orleans, Santo Trafficante in Tampa, and, remarkably, with Jimmy Hoffa and gunrunning to Cuba. There was evidence backing the charges, and in January 1958 the FBN conducted raids on Mafia drug rings in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The Virginia raid alone netted ten kilograms of heroin and led to the arrest of Frank Coppola in Italy.

( Also interesting that this led to Coppola, and not Luciano. Coppola I believe, in partnership with the Luchesses and other families had THE biggest dope operation of the time... he was pretty autonomous, interesting stuff..)


I mention all this because there seems to have been competition in the Bronx. With the Genovese muscling into Anastasias Brooklyn territory. Anastasia muscling into the Luchesses Bronx territory through guys like Scalise and Squillante. Genovese wanted the Bronx too through Cantellops. Anastasia trying to muscle into Cuba. Everyone seemed to be stepping on each other's toes. ( Remenber Bonnano was everywhere at this point too)


( Last excerpt..) Qui Bono ?
Could the Mafia’s patrons in the espionage Establishment have played a role in setting the stage for these events?

Perhaps. Only “the CIA had the power to remove Scalici’s records from every government file, and providing the Commission with a reason to eliminate Anastasia served to strengthen the position of the drug smugglers the CIA relied upon most – Lansky and Trafficante in Cuba. The FBN raids in January 1958 were a temporary setback, and Lansky and Trafficante knew that better days lay ahead in Cuba. That scenario, of course, is speculation, although the CIA, through Hank Manfredi, certainly knew about the Apalachin summit before it happened; and sabotaging the summit would “would have served the CIA, perhaps most importantly, by providing it with a means of severing its contract with Vito Genovese, its major Luciano Project liability”.....

Some stuff to chew on....

@ JC

I mostly agree with everything, just a couple questions...


Did Gambino really have equal or better clout on the docks? I thought he got rich first off bootleg liquor, ( I'm talking AFTER repeal) then with the ration stamp racket, giving him capital to invest in more business both legal and illegal. Especially drugs.

That's why I posted the thing showing these guys were all stepping on each other's toes, grabbing with both hands.

(I also read somewhere, that Gambino was the one giving Anastasia the advice to move into Cuba, to create a reason for the other Commision members to want him dead.. Don't know how true it is, it would be some serious cunning if it was...)


The other question is about Trafficante. Another kinda misunderstood guy I think. In the book Silent Don, also in that Luciano book, ( it said something like, Trafficante was the only guy Meyer never really tried to fuck with..) it says Santo was the most powerful guy in the Caribbean. Like Lansky was close to BATTISTA, but once he was outta the picture, all his influence in Cuba went with him. Trafficante on the other hand, inherited a network from his father going back a couple decades. He was fluent in Spanish. He had a relationship with the new power Castro, right? And In the book, Silent Don, it said Trafficante could also call on, like Cuban guerilla groups for muscle. He controlled the Caribbean smuggling routes, which to this day, can still make or break a cartel arrangement.


That was my only question there, was Lansky actually more powerful on the Cuban island? Also, with the Cuba thing, you can't forget, Trafficante woulda most likely had backing from Chicago AND New Orleans. And Chicago and the Genovese, (backed up by the MaryFerrel documents) voted together, MOST of the time.



Irregardless of ethnicity or whatever, Ive found if you control a dock, especially a dock near busy shipping routes, you have a LOT OF POWER. Anastasia, Marcello, Trafficante, shit Montreal and Toronto today, the Piromallis with the Calabrian docks......

I do think Lansky ( with Genovese backing) ruled Miami, well, gambling anyway. In his book John Roberts was kinda awed by Lansky, even in the 80s...

Theres like second or third hand accounts according to rats carmine persico would bragg about the hit or say joe gallo wasnt there. It makes no sense for gambino to farm it out to another family. Theres even a theory ray patriarca sent a hit team. He was tight with vito but didnt trust gambino. It was surposely joe armones brother and a crew of guys from the lower eastside guess they were herion guys to. Reading a book now even in the colombo wars in 1990 sammy the bull offerd vic oreana a hit team to kill greg scarpa he said no will handle it our selves. When big paul let the genovese connectiticut guys kill gambino capo piccolo thats was a bad look ended up costing him his life.

JC, great analysis and I think that pretty much sums it all up.

Trafficante working out a deal with Anastasia in Cuba makes more sense than him having a hand in his demise. Not to mention that it would be utterly stupid to be at the crime scene if he was involved. It makes sense that he wanted to partner up with the Gambinos in order to compete with Lansky and the Genoveses.

Thats true JC, about the part about Dellacroce becoming a captain instead of underboss. Robiletto was the second guy I was referring to whom died among that whole situation, so you're on point with that as well.

Yeah , dellacroce became capo of the rava crew before becoming underboss after biondo was shelved

Pmac, it would support JC's post above where he thought Genovese was behind it as Patriarca and the whole New England family seemed to be a spinoff of the Genovese.

I have no idea either way, I just enjoy these post and theories.

How exactly did Gambino hang Anastasia out to dry?
In regards to the disputes with the docks....


Edit; Never Mind fellas, I misunderstood. JC was talking about Anastasias brother on the docks AFTER Albert got hit, and Gambino hung him out to dry, got it. GOOD STUFF....

This is ALL good stuff fella's..but I have 1 question..what are these Mary ferrell documents I keep reading about?..Am I missing out on a certain site w/ authenticity??

maryferrell.org



There's a bunch of organized crime documents, up there. Mostly fed transcripts and informant reports, depending on whom you're looking for.

I always thought Dellacroce had a crew during Anastasia's reign? You're saying he became a captain under Gambino?

Could be mistaken, but I think Dellacroce was under Rava during Anastasia's reign, as was Carmine Fatico. Once Rava died, his crew was split up and the remainder of guys went with Dellacroce or Fatico. That's how they became captains.

100% correct sinatraclub

It's possible Gambino used Gallo because he knew he was at odds with Profaci and then could be used to justify killing Gallo later.

It was always said once Anastasia became boss; He promoted Dellacroce to captain of his own crew around the same time. It makes sense because they were very close. I may have been misinformed, however.

Joey Gallo wasn't in on the Anastasia hit, nor were any of his brothers. And Dellacroce was under Rava during Anastasias reign. Some articles claim he was a capo by the 50's, but it's pretty much misinformation.

Cannot believe that one of the suspected killers of Anastasia is still with us at 100 years old.

Stephen Grammauta

CRAZY!.....This guy must be a wealth of knowledge. Especially if he was trusted enough to whack Albert.

The whole Anastasia thing is crazy. But reports that came out after his death, paint the picture that he wasn't as disliked as we're led to commonly believe, atleast not by the entirety of his family, which is commmonly reported. He gets whacked by Gambino loyalists, guys within his own family. He has a large, "blue collar" faction that remains loyal to him consisting of Rava, Dellacroce & Jimmy Squillante. Squillante goes to the Commission and badmouths Anastasia after his death, it's presumed he's leaning toward the Gambino side, Rava decides to have him killed. Rava is killed as a result, either in Florida, by a hail of bullets in which he remains standing and tells Toddo Aurello "You ain't man enough to kill me", then they proceed to beat him to death, or elsewhere. The other account isn't as detailed and claims Rava was tortured and killed in front of his family. Those two counts aside, after Rava is killed, an attempt is made on Dellacroce by Gambino, in which a shooter busts into the Ravenite and starts shooting, Dellacroce escapes by running out of the backdoor. After this, sitdowns are had and compromises are made, Dellacroce is allowed to live, and is named "Underboss" in title. In reality he was given a certain degree of autonomy, and basically was a boss in his own right, of his own faction (The Blue Collared).

I still believe Gambino used his own guys, but that's a good point Extortion. Gambino backed the Gallos during the Profaci-Gallo war.

Thanx s.c.,,alot is blotted out but i can always soak up what i can about ANGIE..good stuff!

Just read an older NYPost article:
http://nypost.com/2007/10/25/day-the-don-got-clipped/

They suggested a theory I never heard before. Someone may have mentioned it above but too lazy to read all the responses

They said him being an FBI informant was a theory.

There is no way Albert ever talked, even if his younger brother did (and then, only after the assassination)

And Albert was from Parghelia, to the northeast of Tropea

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/1a/1b/f7/view-from-the-terrace.jpg

http://www.kalabrien.biz/images/mappe/mappa-vibo.gif

Nope. Albert Anastasia wouldn't talk to the feds. His brother Tony did, only after his brother Gerardo passed away and Gambino was snubbing him.

Yeah, I've also never heard anything about him being a rat. Don't buy it.

I wonder if Tony Anastasio got snubbed right away when Gambino became boss or if something else happened a few years later. I was under the impression that Tony Anastasio was on good terms with Gambino at least until about 1960.

Don't know if anyone is still reading this thread but I saw something interesting on pinterest. Someone posted a photo of a Genovese soldier named Lorenzo "Chappie" Brescia and said he was a suspect in Anastasia's murder. I know who Brescia was but never heard of him being involved in any connection to Anastasia'a murder. Brescia was an old time Genovese member who goes back to the days of Luciano.

No he was not involved. The shooters were Stephen Grammauta and Joe Cahill. On Rava the killers were Gambino family Florida acting capo Thomas Altamura and crew soldier Joe Indelicato at a funeral parlor and his body was dumped in the Atlantic Ocean. NY 3864-C-TE.

Stephen Grammauta and Joe Cahill being the killers came from a. small time blogger who found an old memo, most of which contradict one another. Since Grammauta had become popular on sites like this due to how old he was and speculation on weather or not he was still alive it was picked up by Gerry Capeci for a Gangland story. When Gambino was popular in the early 1970 time period he was blamed, same for Crazy Joe Gallo. We will never know for certain. I'd like to see what Massino and Gravano heard, also Cafaro since he was in that family. None were made at the time Anastasia was killed, but they may have heard from the most reliable of sources the true killers. I think that it had to come from inside the Gambino's or a war would have broken out.

Five guys hit Anastasia. The "barbershop quintet" as Crazy Joe Gallo called it.

The Frank Costello murder attempt (by Gigante) and the Anastasia murder were both in '57, somehow that's related I believe. The Calabrians were friends.