Albert "the Mad Hatter" Anastasia (26 September 1902 – 25 October 1957) was the boss of the Gambino crime family from 1951 to 1957, succeeding Vincent Mangano and preceding Carlo Gambino.
Biography[]
Umberto Anastasio was born on 26 September 1902 in Parghelia, Calabria, Italy, and Anastasia and his brothers came to New York City on a freighter in 1919. They worked as longshoremen on the Brooklyn waterfront, and Anastasia rose to control six chapters of the International Longshoremen's Association in Brooklyn. Anastasia allied himself with Joe Masseria and his Masseria crime family during the Castellammarese War, and he joined Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Siegel during their crusade to wipe out the old Mafia; Anastasia was one of the gunmen who murdered Masseria at a Coney Island restaurant. Anastasia and Louis Buchalter both created Murder, Inc. during the 1930s, and he was responsible for between 400 and 1,000 murders, earning him the nickname "the Mad Hatter". He was the most feared American Mafia hitman of the 1930s and 1940s, and he joined the US Army during World War II; he never saw combat. In 1951, he became boss of the Gambino crime family after his murder of Vincent Mangano, and Anastasia allied with Frank Costello to prevent Vito Genovese from taking over Costello's family (the future Genovese crime family).
Downfall[]
On 25 October 1957, two Genovese hitmen entered the Park Sheraton Hotel barbershop, where Anastasia was having a haircut. The gunmen shot at Anastasia on his chair, and Anastasia got up and attempted to lunge at his killers. However, he crashed into the mirror instead, and he was shot several times on the floor. Anastasia's death led to Carlo Gambino taking over the family, and Genovese would fail in his attempts to kill Costello.
| Don of the Gambino crime family | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Vincent Mangano |
1951 - 1957 | Succeeded by: Carlo Gambino |