Anastasia's violent ways were contained as long as Luciano and Costello were in control. In 1951, Costello was regarded as being the prime mover in Anastasia's rise to boss of the Mangano (later Gambino) crime family.

Through the years, boss Vincent Mangano had fumed at Anastasia's closeness to Luciano, Costello, and others and that they obtained Anastasia's services without first seeking Mangano's permission. This and other business disputes almost led to blows between Mangano and Anastasia, and it was only a matter of time before one or the other was ordered killed. In early 1951, Vincent Mangano went missing, and his brother Phil was murdered. After the deaths of the Mangano brothers, Anastasia claimed control of the family with Costello's active support.

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Executing the executioner

Vito Genovese cunningly used Anastasia's brutal behavior against him in an effort to woo Anastasia's supporters away. Secretly over the next few years, Genovese won the cooperation of Anastasia's underboss, Carlo Gambino. However, Genovese dared not move against Anastasia and his real target, Costello, because of Meyer Lansky, an influential and rich mob associate. Lansky and Genovese were long-standing enemies, with disputes dating from the 1920s. Genovese could not make a power play without Lansky's support.

Anastasia's ambition soon drove Lansky to help Genovese. During the 1950s, Lansky was extremely successful in controlling casino gambling in Cuba, offering other mafia bosses lesser shares of his profits and interests. When Anastasia forcefully demanded a larger piece of the action, Lansky refused. Anastasia then started establishing his own gambling racket in Cuba. Lansky became increasingly angry with Anastasia; while Lansky preferred watching Anastasia and Genovese battle each other from the sidelines, he now gave active support to Genovese's plan to kill Anastasia.

On the morning of October 25, 1957, Anastasia entered the barbershop of the Park Sheraton Hotel (now the Park Central Hotel, on 56th Street and 7th Avenue) in New York City. Anastasia's bodyguard parked the car in an underground garage and then, most conveniently, decided to take a little stroll. As Anastasia relaxed in the barber chair, two men – scarves covering their faces – rushed in, shoved the barber out of the way, and fired at Anastasia. After the first volley of bullets, Anastasia allegedly lunged at his killers. However, the stunned Anastasia had actually attacked the gunmen's reflections in the wall mirror of the barbershop. The gunmen continued firing and Albert Anastasia finally fell to the floor dead.^[2]

Like virtually all gangland killings, the Anastasia murder remains officially unsolved. It was originally alleged that the contract was given to Joe Profaci, who passed it on to the three Gallo brothers (including Crazy Joe Gallo) from Brooklyn. However, recent evidence has pointed the finger at a three-man hit team selected by "Joe the Blonde" Biondo, who became Carlo Gambino's underboss after the murder. Biondo is alleged to have selected Stephen Armone, Arnold "Witty" Wittenberg, and Stephen "Stevie Coogin" Grammauta. Grammauta, a convicted drug dealer and heroin smuggler, is currently regarded as a capo (captain) in the Gambino crime family.

The double-dealing did not cease with Anastasia's death in 1957. Carlo Gambino secretly deserted Vito Genovese, passing along knowledge of Genovese's desires to "rub out" his rivals, Luciano and Costello. Thus, Meyer Lansky, Luciano, Costello and Gambino conspired to entrap Genovese with a narcotics conviction that would result in a sentence of life imprisonment. In that sense Anastasia was avenged, but it was not with the abrupt finality that the brutal executioner would likely have preferred.

Anastasia was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, in Section 39, Lot 38325. After his assassination, the barber chairs at the Park Sheraton Hotel were turned around to face away from the mirror. During the summer of 2006, the barber chair that Anastasia occupied at the time of his assassination was placed on display in Little Italy, NYC during a public exhibition on the history of Organized Crime. For many years, evidently, the chair had resided in the private collection of the late comedian Henny Youngman.

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Popular culture

• Anastasia's murder, as well as the entire Appalachian Meeting was documented in Analyze This, a comedy starring Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal.^{[citation needed]}

• Some elements of Anastasia's character and life story were included in the fictional character Johnny Friendly (played by actor Lee J. Cobb) in the classic 1954 American film On the Waterfront.^{[citation needed]}

• Mayra Montero's novel Son de Almendra (English Title: Dancing to "Almendra") is the product of an extensive investigation of Anastasia's murder at the Park Sheraton Hotel.^[3]

• In The Day of The Jackal, a 1973 novel by Frederick Forsyth, a detective considers the bodyguard who was absent during Anastasia's assassination as one of several suspects who could be an assassin contracted to kill French President Charles de Gaulle. The bodyguard is ruled out because he doesn't fit the description of the assassin.

• The barbershop murder of Albert Anastasia may have inspired the scene in the 1972 film The Godfather where the character "Moe Green", a Las Vegas casino proprietor, is gunned down on a massage table by two masked hit men. In fact, Green himself had worked for Murder, Inc. in The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo.^{[citation needed]}

• Def Jam Records recording artist Nas refers to himself as "The Rap Albert Anastasia" during the guest verse on the Remix for The Pledge, a 2003 song by former Def Jam artist Ja Rule.

• The name "Murder, Inc." was later appropriated by a hip hop label run by producer Irv Gotti. In 2003, the label, whose best known artists include Ja Rule and Ashanti, changed its name to The Inc.

• During the TV series The West Wing episode 4-11, "Holy Night", "Jules Ziegler", the estranged father of White House Communications Director "Toby Ziegler", visits Toby at the White House. Jules is a former member of Murder, Inc., leading Toby to ask him when Albert Anastasia was killed following a query from the Justice Department. Jules replies October 1957.

Preceded by Vincent Mangano

Gambino Crime Family Boss 1951-1957

Succeeded by Carlo Gambino

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External links

• Gang Land: The Men who Hit Albert Anastasia
• a brief history of the Gambino crime family
• Bio of Albert Anastasia

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References

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