Which “gangland style” shooting of these New York-based Cosa Nostra bosses was the most notorious, ballsy, and bloody?


A) Albert (The Lord High Executioner) Anastasia - in a barber's chair at the Park Sheraton Hotel, Midtown Manhattan

B) Giuseppe (Joe the Boss) Masseria - at a table inside Scarpato's Italian Restaurant, Coney Island, Brooklyn

C) Joseph Colombo Sr. - among 100,000 people, at a nationally televised IACRL Unity Day Rally at Columbus Circle, Midtown Manhattan

D) Carmine (Lilo) Galante - on the backyard patio at Joe & Mary's Italian Restaurant, Bushwick, Brooklyn

E) Paul (Big Paul) Castellano - on the street outside Spark's Steakhouse, Midtown Manhattan

as epic, important and direction changing as the Castellano hit was (location, importance of the man, etc) the Galante hit and picture has to be #1. While if Paul had lived he would had been pissed, if Carmine had lived he would had waged war on all of the 5 families with an army of zips

Joe Colombo athough it's more a political killing.

I agree.....Lilo's hit was epic. Castellano's too for that matter. But IMO, Galante's assassination was next level. And I agree. Had he survived, there would have be a bloody gangland war in NYC the likes of which were not seen since the Castellammarese War of 1929-31.

When you say "ballsy," I think "daring" and "risky":

All of the hits were daring (as would be any attempt on a Don's life). But, careful planning and execution (no pun intended) mitigated some of the risks in Masseria and Galante (lured to relaxed lunches with trusted associates); Anastasia (few witnesses, victim's face covered with towels so he couldn't see shooters coming), and Castellano (four shooters wearing identical hats and coats and using identical weapons to keep onlookers from making positive IDs).

We've had many threads and discussions about the Colombo shooting. Only certainty is that Jerome Johnson didn't do it on his own initiative. Whoever put him up to it faced four huge risks: he gets through a crowd on 100k and a phalanx of cops and bodyguards; gets off one or at most two shots that kill or disable Colombo; is killed almost instantly so he can't rat out anyone; and no one is even arrested, much less tried and convicted, for the crime. Everything worked--that's really ballsy.

The Colombo hit hands down. No matter who did it.

I mean...the Cermak hit was done by some "lunatic" who allegedly "missed his prime target" and allegedly acted alone, the JFK hit was again done by some strange guy who was declared as “the lone gunman”, and the RFK hit was also done by some "nut" who allegedly did it for his country....AND the Colombo hit was also executed by one black street hustler who suddenly decided to kill a Mob boss and gave his own life during the process lol....obviously there was some type of OC or Government conspiracy in all cases. "They" obviously used the same old Cermak-JFK-RFK tactic in the Colombo hit too, which was modified to an extent.

Buscetta said that the Mafia was responsible for the Colombo hit, same as one convo between Ricca and Accardo regarding that same situation in which it was stated something like "better them than us". So if Colombo was eliminated by the Mafia (probably followed by huge police and political corruption), what about the previous cases? Lol

By notorious, I imagine you mean "sensational" which would have to be the Colombo hit. Ballsy, as in if the hit misses, who's coming after you. Which would have to be Anastasia, because he's scarier than Lilo.

I agree TB. Totally. The Colombo hit was next level...it was unprecedented for a mob boss to get clipped that way.

Classic stuff....This was very good Hollander

Don't forget Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

+ 1. Similar tactics.

...as for the most "bloody" NY hit of a mob boss...even though its not on the list...the Sal Maranzano job, by being punched, stabbed and shot to death, in broad daylight, in front of more than few witnesses in his own office.

The Anastasia and Castellano hits were more of a...as we say on the Balkans "sacekusha", meaning the traget was killed while doing something which disabled him from taking any action...like parking or getting out of the car, or taking a shave while being completely relaxed. Or in Giancans case, while cooking and also while being watched by every possible government agency at the time. Thats "ballsy".