Anthony Anastasio

Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio (February 241906-March 1, 1963) was a New York mobster and labor racketeer for the Genovese crime family who controlled the Brooklyn dockyards for over thirty years.

Early career

Born in Catanzaro, Italy, Anastasio eventually emigrated to the United States. A younger brother of mob boss Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia, Anastasio worked as a longshoreman in Brooklyn. 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. After gaining control of Brooklyn Local 1814 of the International Longshoremen's Association, where he served as business manager and as vice president, 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 Charles Luciano was incarcerated in Dannemora, it made the Anastasio brothers nervous.

Height of power

With his brother Albert's position in Murder, Inc., Anthony Anastasio held free reign throughout the Brooklyn waterfront. 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).

After mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano was imprisoned for pandering, Anastasio allegedly organized the bombing of the French luxury liner "SS Normandie". Early in 1942, a few months after the U.S. entered WWII, 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. They made a deal with the Navy to release Luciano. In return for his release, the mob would garuntee the safety of the docks as far as the Navy's interests were concerned. To get the Navy concerned they created a maritime disaster. He 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. A French luxury liner 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. The fire that broke out the afternoon of February 9th, 1942 became one of the most spectacular in New York City's history. For hours the mighty Normandie burned, until, listing heavily to port from all the water she had taken on, she finally capsized along the pier. The destruction of the Normandie convulsed the Navy high command in Washington and prompted it to approach the mob, which it knew had absolute control over the New York waterfront. The Navy received a firm garuntee that there would be no sabotaging of shipping in New York Harbor. As a reward for his "patriotic" support Charles Luciano was transferred from maximum-security Dannemora prison to Great Meadow prison, a minimum-security facility. Anastasio's alleged motive was to convince federal authorities that Luciano's mafia connections could safeguard the New York waterfront and help the Allies invade Sicily. Although the government did obtain some very limited help from Luciano, the Normandie story was a myth. A federal investigation of the sinking concluded sabotage was not a factor.

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." [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/toughtony1.html|1]

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, would later become an informant for the LAPD between 1993 and 1996. [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column144.htm]

In popular culture

In the 1954 film "On the Waterfront", it is believed that the Lee J. Cobb character "Johnny Friendly" was influenced by Anastasio.

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

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

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8826 Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio] at Find-A-Grave
* [http://www.gambino.com/bio/tonyanastasio.htm Gambino.com - Anthony Anastasio]
* [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/toughtony1.html The Smoking Gun: Archive]