Happy Birthday Albert 'the mad hatter' Anastasia 1902

[Valin]

FBI

214 pages of FBI files on Albert Anastasia..

Umberto Anastasio was born on February 26, 1902 in Tropea, Calabria, Italy. He later changed his name to Albert Anastasia. He was often referred to as "Mad Hatter" and "Lord High Executioner." Around the age of 15, Anastasia jumped ship and illegally entered the United States. Anastasia became a naturalized citizen in 1943 while serving in the United States Army.  He was stationed in Pennsylvania during the war. Some believe this was the result of a bribe.

In 1920, Albert Anastasia was working as a longshoreman in New York. He got into an argument over ship assignments with a fellow longshoreman named Joe Torino. Anastasia stabbed and strangled Torino to death. Anastasia was convicted and sentenced to death. After spending 18 months in the death house at Sing Sing prison, his conviction was overturned and he was going to receive a new trial. The four most important witnesses against him for his re-trial all ended up missing. Other witness changed their testimony.  Albert Anastasia allegedly controlled racket businesses and ran strong arm activities on the New York City waterfront and was a strike buster. He rose to a position of power in the International Longshoremen's Association, the longshoremen's union.

In 1928, conflicts between mob leaders led to the Castellammarese War. In 1930, Lucky Luciano went to Anastasia with a plan that would put Luciano on top of the east coast crime world. Luciano would kill mob bosses Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. On April 15, 1931, Luciano invited Masseria  to a sit-down at Nuova Villa Tammaro, a Coney Island restaurant. After Luciano excused himself to the bathroom. Albert Anastasia, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Siegel entered the restaurant and killed Masseria. A few months later, men disguised as Treasury Department agents entered Salvatore Maranzano's office, disarmed his body guards and killed Maranzano.

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