Lord High Executioner: The Legendary Mafia Boss Albert Anastasia

by Frank Dimatteo, Michael Benson

Overview

From acclaimed true-crime author Michael Benson and real-life "Mafia Survivor" Frank Dimatteo, the gripping account of the life and crimes of the most infamous mafia boss of all time: Albert Anastasia, the man whose name is synonymous with Murder, Inc., and whose actions helped create the American Mafia.

The blood-soaked saga of the Murder, Inc. legend who helped create the modern American Mafia—one body at a time—featuring shocking eyewitness accounts...

Umberto "Albert" Anastasia was born in Italy at the turn of the century. Five decades later, he would be gunned down in a barbershop in New York City. What happened in the years in between—and why every crime family had reason to want him dead—is one of the most brutal and fascinating stories in the history of American organized crime. This in-depth account of the man who became one of the most powerful and homicidal crime bosses of the twentieth century from Mafia insider Frank Dimatteo is the first full-length book to chronicle Anastasia's bloody rise from fresh-off-the-boat immigrant to founder of the notorious killer's club Murder, Inc.—featuring never-before-told accounts from those who feared him most...

They called him "The One Man Army." "Mad Hatter." "Lord High Executioner." Albert Anastasia came to America mean and became a prolific killer. His merciless assassination of Mafia godfather Vincent Mangano is recounted here in chilling first-hand detail. He set the record: the first man in the history of American justice to be charged with four separate murders—and walk free after each one. But in the end, he was the last obstacle in rival Mafia hoodlum Vito Genovese's dream of becoming the boss of bosses—and paid the ultimate price...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806540146
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	04/27/2021
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,093,026
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Frank Dimatteo is a lifelong Brooklynite, Mafia "survivor," and publisher of Mob Candy magazine. He is the author of the acclaimed memoir, The President Street Boys: Growing Up Mafia, as well as Mob Candy's Brooklyn Gangsters and Manhattan Gangsters.

Michael Benson is the author of more than sixty books, including the true crime titles Betrayal in Blood, Killer Twins, and Mommy Deadliest. He also wrote Who's Who in the JFK Assassination, and, most recently, The Devil at Genesee Junction. He regularly appears on ID: Investigation Discovery channel, including On the Case with Paula Zahn, and Deadly Sins. He is the recipient of the Academy of American Poets award.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Understanding Anastasia 1

1 The Land That Dances 9

2 S.S. Sardegna 20

3 First Kill 26

4 The Degraw Street Murders 31

5 A Growing Body Count 36

6 Waiter, There's a Body in My Linguini: The Whacking of Joe the Boss 42

7 Blood in the Streets in the City of Churches 49

8 Luciano Takes Charge 52

9 Five Families, One Murder Inc. 57

10 A Thriving Business 70

11 Death of Dutch Schultz 74

12 Murder of Joseph Rosen 82

13 Morris Diamond Is Iced 93

14 How the Twist Turns 103

15 Phil and Buggsy on Trial 111

16 The Perforation of Peter Panto 117

17 The Sette Is Kaput 120

18 The Canary Could Sing, but He Couldn't Fly 124

19 Burning of the Normandie 130

20 The War Effort 134

21 Death of the Mangano Brothers 141

22 The Era of Government Committees 150

23 The Savage Death of William Moretti 168

24 "I Hate Squealers!" 173

25 Bang Bang 178

26 The Dire Wolf 182

27 Albert's Tax Evasion Case and the Murders of the Macri Brothers 189

28 The Ferris Get No Mercy 199

29 One Solid in Milan 204

30 Wacky Gets Whacked 211

31 Costello Gets Creased 216

32 Albert's Last Shave 224

33 Funeral of Albert Anastasia 232

34 The Men Who Killed Anastasia 240

35 Aftermath 246

Bibliography 264

Acknowledgments 266

Index 267

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Frank Dimatteo’s
THE PRESIDENT STREET BOYS: Growing Up Mafia
 
“Frankie D was born and raised in this life—and he’s still alive and still free. They don’t come any sharper then Frankie D. A real gangster story. Read this book!”
—Nicky “Slick” DiPietro, New York City
 
“I know Frankie D from when i was a kid living in South Brooklyn. It was hard reading about my father, Gennaro “Chitoz” Basciano, but I knew it was the truth. Frankie’s book is dead on the money—I couldn’t put it down.”
—Eddie Basciano, somewhere in Florida
 
“It’s been forty years since I’ve been with Frankie D doing our thing on President Street. This book was like a flashback. Frankie D nails it from beginning to the end. Bravo, from one of the President Street Boys.”
—Anthony “Goombadiel” DeLuca, Brooklyn, New York
 
“As a neighborhood kid I grew up around President Street and know firsthand the lure of ‘the life’ as a police officer and as a kid that escaped the lure. I can tell you the blind loyalty that the crews had for their bosses—unbounded, limitless, and dangerous. As the Prince of President Street, Frank Dimatteo is representative of a lost generation of Italian Americans. If any of this crew had been given a fair shot at the beginning they would have been geniuses in their chosen field.”
—Joseph "Giggy" Gagliardo, Retired DEA Agent, New York City
 
“The President Street Boys takes me back as if it was a time machine. Its authenticity is compelling reading for those interested in what things were really like in those mob heydays; not some author’s formulation without an inkling of what was going on behind the scenes. I loved the book because I was there, and know for sure readers will love it too.”
—Sonny Girard, author of Blood of Our Fathers and Sins of Our Sons

From the Publisher

04/24/2020

Dimatteo (The President Street Boys) and Benson (Betrayal in Blood) tell the story of Albert Anastasia (1902–57), one of the founders of the modern American Mafia and Murder, Inc., an organized crime gang of hit men in New York City. The authors promise "never-before-revealed" facts about the man nicknamed the Lord High Executioner and the Mat Hatter, stories that apparently come from Dimatteo's personal family connections. Dimatteo and Benson do deliver, albeit roughly. The writing is unpolished, and the book relies heavily on page after page of invented dialog, and there is no source material cited. While the information may be new to readers, there are more readable accounts of Murder, Inc.'s crimes, such as Burton B. Turkus's classic Murder, Inc.: The Story of the Syndicate. Readers do gain insight into this sociopath's life, death, and many, many crimes, but it's a tough read. VERDICT This title will please Mafia fans looking for gruesome details, but collections that already have robust Mob material should skip.—Amelia Osterud, Milwaukee P.L.

Library Journal