by Frank DiMatteo and Michael Benson
Anastasia liked killing. He was convicted of murder and sent to Death Row before his 21st birthday.
As with the fictional Luca Brasi, older and more powerful hoodlums intervened to rescue Anastasia from his fate. For Anastasia it was apparently Lucky Luciano who "convinced" the District Attorney to set a new trial and eventually drop charges when witnesses changed their story or disappeared. So the volatile Anastasia demonstrated tremendous loyalty and respect for Luciano, even though the two men were technically in different organizations.
Anastasia rose through the Mob ranks, making a reputation for himself as a violent mob representative on the Brooklyn waterfront. He would later be the partial inspiration for the hoodlum portrayed in the Academy Award winning film On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando, Lee Cobb, Rod Steiger and Karl Malden.
When Luciano decided to eliminate his own boss, Joe Masseria, Anastasia was one of the men Luciano picked for that job. Everyone in the 1930s and 1940s underworld milieu knew of Anastasia's aptitude at such work, which is why together with similar homicidal maniac Lepke Buchalter, Anastasia oversaw the Mob enforcement group later known as Murder Inc.
Anastasia was also a hands on supervisor. He personally eliminated dozens of people.
When Murder Inc. was destroyed by informers, the Mob intervened to ensure that the primary would be witness against Anastasia, Kid Twist Reles, had a sudden and most fatal accident. Anastasia was free but was now "only" an underboss in the Brooklyn based Mangano Family. Anastasia didn't like his "bosses", the Mangano Brothers. The feeling was mutual.
The Mangano Brothers resented Anastasia's income, his power, and his friendship with other bosses, who often worked directly with Anastasia without notifying them. After years of arguments and a few fistfights, one Mangano Brother disappeared. The other was found dead in a field.
Anastasia didn't admit to anything but did claim a right to self-defense. He took over as boss. Murdering your boss is theoretically itself a death sentence. Luciano had been deported; no one else dared say boo to the Mad Hatter.
This book is a combination of research and stories that DiMatteo heard from older friends and relatives, most of whom are now deceased. Some stories can't be verified or conflict with other sources. That's the way it goes. I don't know when this journalistic practice ended, but I did learn that apparently newspapers and radio used to print or broadcast the names and addresses of witnesses to crimes.
"John Sitting Duck, age 42, who lives at 15438 St. Johns Avenue, NYC and works the late shift at Bookerman's Distillery on Sixth Street, told police officers that he saw Albert Anastasia and Pittsburgh Phil stab the victim at least fifteen times before shooting him twice. John Sitting Duck got a good look at them and is willing to testify in open court."
Eventually, after enough witnesses either died or recanted their statements, newspaper editors figured out that gangsters read too. This was a quick read but didn't have a whole lot of new information for me.
