Anthony Anastasio
| Anthony Anastasio | |
|---|---|
 Anthony Anastasio |
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| Born | February 24, 1906 Catanzaro, Italy |
| Died | March 1, 1963 (aged 57) New York City |
| Cause | Unknown natural causes |
| Alias(es) | Tough Tony |
Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio (February 24, 1906 – March 1, 1963) was a New York City mobster and labor racketeer for the Gambino crime family [1] who controlled the Brooklyn dockyards for over thirty years. He was the younger brother of mob boss Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia, but kept the original spelling of his name.
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[edit] Early career
Born in Catanzaro, Italy, Anastasio eventually emigrated to the United States. He married Rose Iacqua and had one daughter, Marian. Anastasio eventually followed his brother Albert into New York's underworld. Anastasio's arrest record would include homicide, assault, and felonious assault. In 1932, he gained control of Brooklyn Local 1814 of the International Longshoremen's Association, and eventually rose to become a vice president of the national ILA. Over the years, Anastasio earned millions for the New York Five Families through kickbacks from dues, stolen merchandise, and payoffs from rival shipping companies. He always wore trademark, custom made wide-lapelled double breasted suit with white tie and white carnation which made up his expensive wardrobe, flashy cars, and Broadway showgirl companions which were all paid for by the ILA. When Luciano was incarcerated in Dannemora, it made the Anastasio brothers nervous. His daughter Louise married Colombo crime family mob associate Joseph Cataldo, brother of Dominick Cataldo.
[edit] Height of power
With his brother Albert's position in Murder, Inc., Anastasio ruled the Brooklyn waterfront with an iron hand. During this time, while helping establish Anastasia as a major force on the New York waterfront, Anastasio's power was at its height. It is said he would severely damage foreign shipping and sabotage ships as a means of intimidation (presumably on orders from Anastasia). He made no effort to hide that he was a connected mobster; he only had to say "my brother Albert" to get his point across.
After mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano was imprisoned for pandering, Anastasio allegedly organized the arson sabotage of the French luxury liner SS Normandie.[2] Early in 1942, a few months after the U.S. entered World War II, the brothers hit upon a clever scheme. The U.S. Navy at the time was concerned about the dangers of possible acts of sabotage against warships berthed at Brooklyn and Manhattan docks.[3] The brothers made a deal with the Navy to release Luciano, and in return the mob would guarantee the safety of the docks as far as the Navy's interests were concerned.[3] To get the Navy concerned they created a maritime disaster: Anastasio had been aware that over the last few months agents of naval intelligence had been scouting the Brooklyn and Manhattan waterfront looking for Italians and Germans who might be involved in a plot to sabotage Navy shipping.[3] A French luxury liner, the SS Normandie, was being hastily converted into a troop transport and was docked at a Hudson River pier. Anthony and his brother Albert decided to sabotage the Normandie.[3] The fire that broke out the afternoon of February 9, 1942, became one of the most spectacular in New York City's history. For hours the Normandie burned, until, listing heavily to port from all the water she had taken on, the ship finally capsized along the pier. The destruction of the Normandie prompted the Navy to approach the mob.[3] The Navy won a guarantee that there would be no sabotaging of shipping in New York Harbor.[3] As a reward for his "patriotic" support Charles Luciano was transferred from the maximum-security prison at Dannemora to Great Meadow prison, a minimum-security facility.[3]
A federal investigation in the wake of the sinking, in conflict with the later claims of the mobsters, concluded that sabotage was not a factor.[3][4]
[edit] Later years
After Albert Anastasia's murder in 1957, Anthony Anastasio's influence began to fade. However, Vito Genovese (the main suspect in his brother's murder) did allow Anastasio to retain control of the Brooklyn docks until his death. In 1962, Anastasio started suspecting that Genovese meant to kill him and decided to meet with FBI agents. While discussing Carlo Gambino, Peter DeFeo, and Thomas Eboli with the agents, Anastasio reflected on his deceased brother: "I ate from the same table as Albert and came from the same womb but I know he killed many men and he deserved to die."
Anthony Anastasio died from natural causes on March 1, 1963. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, New York City. Anastasio's grandson John Scotto, the son of successor New York waterfront racketeer Anthony Scotto, later became an informant for the Los Angeles Police Department between 1993 and 1996.
[edit] Further reading
- Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.ISBN 0-061-09184-7
[edit] Notes
- ^ Raab, Selwyn. The Five Families: The Rise, Decline & Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empire. New York: St. Martins Press, 2005. (pg. 68)
- ^ The evidence for this successful arson attack comes from Meyer Lansky and Luciano themselves. See: Bondanella, Peter E. Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004, p. 200. ISBN 082641544X and Gosch, Martin A. and Hammer, Richard, The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1974, pp. 260-262.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Campbell, Rodney. The Luciano Project: The Secret Wartime Collaboration of the Mafia and the U.S. Navy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1977. ISBN 0070096740
- ^ Ardman, Harvey. Normandie: Her Life and Times. New York: Franklin Watts, 1985. ISBN 0531097846; Maxtone-Graham, John. The Only Way to Cross. Reprint ed. New York: Collier Books, 1972. ISBN 0760706379
[edit] References
- Devito, Carlo. Encyclopedia of International Organized Crime. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. ISBN 978-0-8160-4848-9
- Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-313-30653-2
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8160-5694-1
- Bureau of Narcotics, U.S. Treasury Department, "Mafia: the Government's Secret File on Organized Crime, HarperCollins Publishers 2007 ISBN 0-06-136385-5
[edit] External links
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