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Heroes of the UnderworldAlbert Anastasia (1902-1957)

Part One: Overlord of theRed Hook Docks 1917-1931

By Professor James Moriarty IV

There are two methods of fighting, one with laws, the other with force: the first one is proper to man, the second to beasts; but because the first one often does not suffice, one has to have recourse to the second.Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Despite the media’s focus on Anastasia’s murders over the course of nearly three

decades as Lord High Executioner of the Mafia, he was also an able administrator andorganizer of the International Longshoreman’s Association and the entire Brooklyn waterfront.Along with Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Ben Siegel, Anastasia did much to change theface of organized crime in America. He was so skillful at managing all aspects of waterfrontlabor racketeering that the Army recruited him to instruct military longshoremen during WorldWar II as a technical sergeant. Ironically enough, military service finally made Anastasia theassassin a legitimate American citizen.

He was hotheaded, impulsive, volatile, and widely feared by his Mob associates as theMad Hatter, the Mafia Commission’s assassin of choice. Despite his character flaws, he provedto be a resourceful leader of Murder Incorporated until the Commission disbanded theorganization after the publicity generated by the so-called “escape attempt” of Able Reles, thefamous “canary who sang but could not fly.”

Anastasia’s murderous career continued until his assassina-tion in a New York City barber shop in 1957.

Joseph Valachi, the first of several Mafia turncoats summed up Anastasia’s personality very well. “With him it is always kill, kill, kill. If someone came up and told Abert bad aboutsomebody else, he would say hit him, hit him!”

Tyrant of the Waterfront

There is nothing more difficult to manage or more doubtful of success, or more dangerous,to handle than to take the lead in introducing a new order of things.Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Albert Anastasia was born as Umberto Anastasia in the southern Italian fishing villageof Tropia on February 26, 1902. The family patriarch was a railroad worker who sired nineboys and three girls. Umberto and two brothers, Guiespie and Antonio, made their way to NewYork by working as deck hands on tramp steamers crossing the Atlantic. He settled inBrooklyn on September 12, 1917 and was befriended by Al Capone.

A few years later, Umberto changed his identity to Albert Anastasia, using theAnglicized first name of Albert, and also changing the final vowel of his surname from an O toan A . He arrived at this decision to confuse law enforcement officials for within two years of his

arrival he was convicted of murdering an Italian longshoreman named Joe Turino. Turino wasa veteran longshoreman who refused to pay his foreman the twenty percent wage kickback



which Anastasia demanded. He paid for that mistake with his life.

Albert was sent to Sing Sing’s death row at Ossing, New York. Within eighteen monthshe was awarded a new trial after all four key witnesses had been murdered. The state droppedall charges and Albert was back in business at the Red Hook Dock. Indeed, many of Anastasia’s early victims were longshoremen who rebelled against Mafia control of the

waterfront. The tragic case of Peter Panto is a good example.

In the summer of 1937 Panto urged his coworkers to rebel against Anastasia’s tyranny and began a revolt which was surprisingly effective. At one meeting close to twelve hundredlongshoremen chose to attend and applaud his speech. Panto declared that during the nextelection for union officials they must insist on a fair and honest ballot.

When reports reached Anastasia he decided the rabble rouser needed to be eliminatedquickly. The fact that twelve hundred out of four thousand longshoremen supported him madePanto’s liquidation top priority. The problem confronting him was transforming Panto into amartyr. The solution was simple: the body must never be found.

So it transpired that on the night of Friday, July 14, 1937 Panto was picked up at his

fiancee’s home by three men selected to drive him safely to a union committee meeting.Unfortunately, Panto never arrived at that meeting. After he had been strangled, a differentvehicle transferred his body to an unknown destination. Dissent against Anastasia evaporatedas rapidly as it began when he didn’t make an appearance.

Anastasia’s takeover of the Red Hook docks was aided by a number of factors whichmade the waterfront vulnerable to Mafia exploitation. A longshoreman’s job was potentially very dangerous and block and tackle rigs were notoriously prone to snap. During his early days working on the docks Anastasia must have wondered which ton of cargo swingingoverhead had his name on it, as accidents were common. In 1920s America, OSHA andworkmen’s compensation was nonexistent, so there was much incentive to advance.

As Thomas Repetto of New York City’s Citizens Crime Commission reported, “The ratio

of applicants to jobs was 2 to 1 which meant wages could be kept low and workers rendereddocile.” There was one way of maintaining employment and that was by holding back a portion of daily paychecks to the job foreman. Anastasia could then be assured of receiving his cut. It was theoldest principle of corruption applied on a massive scale: one hand washes the other.

Thomas Repetto also stated that “Ships didn’t make money sitting in port. Just beyondthe docks, trucks waited in crowded streets to pick up or drop off their cargo. Crews of loaderstransferred cargo from the trucks to the docks. The leaders were under Mob control, and atrucker who wanted his vehicle unloaded in a timely fashion paid off.” These trickle up payoffswent up the food chain and into Anastasia’s pockets.

Finally, Repetto emphasized that “the surrounding neighborhoods were crowded with

dingy saloons filled with workers drinking, gambling, and whoring while they waited for theshape-up. Loan sharks were always available to advance money to men whose employmentwas irregular.” Needless to say, the interest on the loans was exorbitant but Anastasia alwaysreceived his cut.

As Abe Reles stated, “Albert is the head guy on the docks. He is the law.”

Albert Anastasia was also a homicidal psychopath who relished killing. The pressdubbed him the “Mad Hatter” and the “Lord High Executioner” for his role in approximately fifty homicides. Merely mentioning his name could make the most ferocious mobster shudder



which is why Charlie Luciano recruited him for the Castellammarese War.

Men have less hesitation about offending one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared. For love is held together by a chain of obligation which, because men are sadly wicked, is broken at every opportunity to serve their self interest but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never abandons you.

Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Anastasia and the Castellammarese War

From 1928 to 1931, Meyer Lansky, Charlie Luciano, Bugsy Siegel and a multiethniccoalition of bootleggers acted as agents provocateurs in the bloody underworld conflict knownas the Castellammarese War, named after the town of Castellammare del Golfo whereMaranzannno and many other Mafiosi had been born. The war had its origins in a powerstruggle between the reigning Mob boss Joseph Masseria and the newly arrived SalvatoreMaranzanno who wanted to become capo ditutti capi or “boss of bosses” over all Italiancriminals in New York City and tsar of all organized crime in general. As events transpired,

however, it became clear he was not a Napoleon of crime.

Maranzanno was unusually tall for a Sicilian and better educated than most Mobfigures. He spoke five languages fluently, was able to quote Classical poets in flawless Latin,and could dazzle audiences with his oratory. Shortly after his arrival he began creating falsedocuments so more of his countrymen could illegally enter the United States to add to hisgrowing army of retainers and supporters. He believed he could not only overwhelm JosephMasseria with superior numbers but systematically deprive him of territory. Luciano was notimpressed by Maranzanno and considered him pretentious.

Charlie Luciano had been Joseph Masseria’s top lieutenant in charge of lowerManhattan operations since 1927 and had a great working relationship with Jewish gangsterssuch as Meyer Lansky, Ben Siegel, and Arnold Rothstein. The years of bootlegging during

Prohibition had compelled Italian mobsters to forge alliances outside their own communities.As far as Luciano was concerned both Maranzanno and Masseria were Moustache Petes whoviewed the Mafia as an exclusively Italian club. When Maranzanno and Masseria beganfighting, Charlie saw their conflict as a heaven sent opportunity and did all he could tomanipulate the situation in his favor.

The war started in earnest by February 1931. Masseria believed Guy Reina, one of hisown sub bosses had been compromised and was about to defect to the enemy. After Reina wasassassinated, his loyalists killed the replacement boss, and Maranzanno took advantage of thechaos by launching a full scale assault on Masseria’s soldiers. During the war Maranzannoinspired his men as he rode around the city in a limousine with a machine gun tucked betweenhis knees, along with two pistols and a knife tucked inside his coat. Masseria, on the otherhand, bunkered down and was rarely seen in public. Luciano began negotiations with the

enemy and Masseria’s response was to eliminate him by using Joe Adonis as the hitter.Unfortunately for Masseria, Luciano had already taken the precaution of establishing a business relationship with Adonis who gave him warning. The stage was set forregicide--Mafia style.

In April, Lucky accompanied Masseria for lunch at the Nuova Villa Tammarro, one of the Boss’s favorite Italian restaurants. Masseria wolfed down a gargantuan meal while Lucianolooked away in disgust. The two of them played cards until 3:30 p.m. They were the only customers when a car screeched into the parking lot. At that point Luciano excused himself and went to the men’s room. Moments later, Albert Anastasia, Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis, and



Ben Siegel burst into the dining room as Masseria nervously gulped a goblet of wine. Bam!Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Five well aimed shots took out Joey the Boss Masseria and Bada Bing!He was dead before he hit the floor. When the police arrived Luciano claimed he wasindisposed at the time of the shooting and moaned “Why would anyone want to kill poor Joey?”

Maranzanno’s turn would come on September 10, 1931 but that was still in the future.

Within days after Masseria’s death he declared himself capo di tutti capi “boss of bosses” at athree day luncheon at the Nuova Villa Tamemarro and assigned fiefdoms to his dukes andbarons. Parson me, his dons, capos, and underbosses. He graciously accepted cash tributesfrom crime bosses based as far away as Chicago who came to witness his coronation--err, hisinstallation as capo di tutti capi.

Even though Maranzanno gave Luciano control over Masseria’s downtown operations hequickly perceived that a clique under Charlie Luciano’s leadership was determined to make hisreign a short one. Salvatore Maranzanno recruited Vince Coll as his assassin against Luciano,Anastasia, Adonis, and Costello. Despite the numbers arrayed against him Maranzannobelieve Coll could get the job done because the Irish hoodlum had earned the nickname “MadDog Coll” in his vendetta with Dutch Schultz. Vince Coll was not a calculating assassin withthe attributes of a ninja, but he did have more in common with a Viking berserker in his

approach to killing. Maranzanno invited Luciano to a meeting at his midtown office onSeptember 10, 1931 and arranged for Coll to ambush him. Luciano, however, was already planning a trap of his own.

So it was that on September 10, Maranzanno was forging documents for half a dozenItalians in his office when four “federal agents” burst into his inner sanctum. Raids fromfederal agencies were far from uncommon and Maranzanno resorted to his standard tactic:bribery. The federal agents turned out to be Jewish assassins hired by Meyer Lansky andMaranzanno realized his mistake too late, but recovered from his surprise long enough to putup a struggle. They had intended to stab him to death to avoid attracting attention in a busy midtown office, but wound up shooting him instead. In their rush to flee they knocked overMad Dog Coll on the way our. The Castellamerese war was over, and the Mob boss whowanted to rule the underworld like a Caesar at least died like one.

All wars lend themselves to myth and legend, particularly gangland wars. After all,gangsters do not wear uniforms and banners do not accompany them into battle. The myththat Maranzanno created was the Night of the Sicilian Vespers which has since become a Mafialegend. According to Maranzanno it was Luciano’s intent to purge the country of all Sicilianmobsters once he became boss of bosses and he used this lie to rally the immigrant capos of Sicily to his cause. Joseph Valachi transformed the legend into gospel truth at the Kefauverhearings in the 1950s and claimed at least 98 Sicilians had been liquidated in a 48 hour periodafter Maranzanno had been killed. Nothing could be further from the truth. Police reportsindicate that at most four or five homicides occurred after the Castallamerese war that wereeven remotely related to the conflict, so Charlie Luciano had his victory and saw no need toimplement a Night of the Long Knives among the Mafia. To the victor go the spoils.

The young Turks who supported Luciano in his war against Masseria and Maranzannowere rewarded handsomely for their loyalty. Albert Anastasia, Ben Siegel, Joe Adonis, FrankCostello, and Meyer Lansky all had an important place on the newly formed Mafia Commissionand it was decided immediately that there would never again be another capo di tutti capi orboss of bosses. Murder Incorporated was organized as a disciplinary tool to eliminate problemchildren and Anastasia handled all the contracts. Although Luciano and Lansky could nothave predicted this in 1931, they had just created a Frankenstein monster.





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