5 OF THE BIGGEST GANGSTER HITS

1.  Albert Anastasia has Arnold Schuster hit 1952.

Willie Sutton, was a notorious bank robber, who in his 40 year career had robbed and pillaged banks of some $2,000,000.  Not only was he a prolific bank robber, but also an escape artist.  While he spent half his life in prison, he also escaped three times from prisons.  He made John Dillinger and Jesse James look like amateurs.  Those in his circle, which included Al Capone and Lucky Luciano loved Sutton for his sense of humor and matter of fact story telling, which is why when amateur sleth detective and Brooklyn clothing store owner Arnold Schuster saw Willie Sutton on a train, and called the police.  As a result Sutton was arrested.  Schuster then went on national television to brag about his deed.  What he didn't know what Albert Anastasia was watching and was enraged that anyone could be so brazen to rat out someone else minding their own business.  Albert Anastasia being enraged ordered the "rat" killed on site and offered a large sum in return.  On March 8, 1952 Schuster would be gunned down once leaving his home.  Justice would be served.


2. Abe Reles, Learned How Not To Fly 1941

Abraham Reles was a Jewish bootlegger, gangster, Murder Inc Member, and Psychopath.  Reles got his start with Martin "Bugsy" Goldstein, and George DeFeo.  It was through DeFeo that Reles and Goldstein met Meyer Lansky who at the time was looking to move his turf inside the low incomed areas of Brooklyn.  As a result Lansky gained territory into Brownsville, East New York, and Ocean Hill specifically.  Reles and Goldstein would move into major rackets which included extortion, loansharking, crap games, and labor unions. Reles would go to war with the Shapiro brothers who inturn would kidnap his girlfriend and raping her and beating her.  Furious Reles hired Harry Malone and Frank Abbandando, also Murder Inc members to enact his revenge.  All three Shapiro brothers would be killed as a result.  In 1940 Reles gets indicted for mutliple murders.  He realized he was facing the death penalty for those crimes and he decided to become a government informant.  He would implicate Louis Lepke Buchalter in a murder, and as a result Buchalter would be given the death penalty.  He also implicated Louis Capone, Mend Weiss, Harry Malone, Frank Abbandano, Irving Nitzberg, and Goldstein.  All were convicted and executed.  He would then implicate Albert Anastasia, and union longshoreman Pete Panto.   Anastasia would go on trial in 1941.   Reles woud be under police protection the entire time, but on November 12, 1941 with police guarding him, Reles falls out of his hotel room window at the Half Moon Hotel.   Anastasia had offered large sums of money to any cop who would teach Reles the meaning of ratting, and the five police officers in the room got busines done, making it look like an accident, and it's worth noting that all five officers were demoted.  The payoff was made by Frank Costello on behalf of Anastasia who paid the officers $100,000.


3. Paul Castellano Hit, 1985

Paul Castellano, former boss of the Gambino's never really had a long stretch at being boss.  In 1976 with his cousin Carlo passing away "Big Paul" Castellano would take over the reigns as boss.  The decision to bump Paul up to boss split the Gambino crime family into two factions.  At the time of Carlo's passing he had used both Neil Dellacroce and Paul Castellano as underbosses.  They split duties.  Paul was more on the end of blue collar business, and Paul handled the busines side of the family, whereas Neil handled the more grimey areas of organized crime which included loansharking, extortion and murder.

 Neil also had a firm grip on the captains and met with them regularly, whereas Paul was more apt to stay away and just work on business.  By most accounts it was Neil who should have gotten the knod as boss, but Carlo never trusted Neil Dellacroce fully.  Blood was always thicker than water, and Carlo felt that Paul was more organized in the sense of business, and it was a fatal decision for the Gambino's.  Carlo also never trust Neil fully, and for good reason.  Neil was close to Albert Anastasia and when Carlo had him murdered it never sat right with Dellacroce.  As Paul took over he changed a lot of rules.  He didn't meet his captains anywhere, instead they had to come to him.

Whereas Carlo took 10% of his men's earnings, Paul changed it to 20-25% in some cases.  It upset the apple cart, and guys began seeing Paul as a businessman and not a mob boss.  It infuriated nobody more than John Gotti.  Gotti, who was a long time supporter of Anastasia and Dellacroce, he felt Dellacroce had been snubbed.  As well Gotti's crew had been caught selling narcotics, and Gotti's best friend Angelo Ruggiero was caught on tapes badmouthing the boss and a lot of others.  He refused to give up the tapes to Paul, who'd be clamoring to have them.   He directed Dellacroce to hand them over.  Dellacroce stalled for time, trying to save Gotti from a likely death sentence.   The problem was, Castellano already had the tapes and knew what was on them, and it was likely more of a test of loyalty.   Paul would end up getting indicted in three different trials, and Dellacroce would die.  Paul's refusal to pay respects to Dellacroce was enough to set in motion the biggest mob hit in a century.  Paul knew he had problems and wanted to disband the Gotti crew.  He called a meeting in December of 1985.  Gotti saw his chance and the rest is history.  As Paul and his driver Tommy Bilotti pulled up outside of Sparks Steak House, both would be ambushed and killed in a hail of gunfire.   Both would be killed on the spot, and Gotti would ascend the throne as the new boss of the Gambino crime family.

4.  Carmine Galante Hit in 1979

Carmine Galante was a workhorse, and maniac.  Hell bent on revenge and money, this guy wasn't one to take no for an answer.  Carmine his entire tenure had been a large narcotics trafficker for the Bonanno crime family.  In fact, it was Joe Bonanno who sent Galante to Montreal to supervise the drug business, which he worked hand in hand with Victor Cotroni, who was in the French Connection.  At the time the Bonanno's were importing huge amount of Heroin by ships to Montreal and sending it directly into the United States.  In 1957, the Canadian Government kicked him the hell out of Canada.  In October of that year, Galante, and Bonanno held a meeting in Sicily with the plans being to move heroin into the United States, using different shipping routes.  At the meeting was Bonanno, Galante, Luciano, along with Sicilian mafia member Giuseppe Genco Russo.    The deal was Sicilian mobsters would come to the United States to distribute narcotics.  Galante would import zips from Castellamare del Golfo, Trapani and they would be employed as bodyguards, contract killers and traffickers.  

Galante would eventually be arrested for narcotics, and convicted in 1962.  In 1964 Bonanno and Magliocco would form a plot to kill Carlo Gambino, Tommy Lucchese, and others in a power move to take over the entire mafia.  The larger issue was narcotics.  Gambino and Lucchese felt it was too risky, and didn't want all the attention, and Bonanno wasn't going to accept no as an answer.   The commission would find out the plan, and throw Bonanno out of the mafia, meanwhile Galante was rotting away in a cell.  Galante always blamed Frank Costello, Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese for his pinch in the narcotics trade.  HIs assertion would be accurate.  So enraged over Costello he had the doors to his mausoleum blown off days after his release from prison.    In 1974 Rusty Rastelli was named the new boss of the Bonanno crime family.  The move didn't sit well with Galante, but when Rastelli got sent back to prison Galante assumed the title of boss was his.    Galante followed that notion with the murder of 8 Gambino family members.   The hits were designed to remove any force that could move against him in the drug trade.   It was enough for the commission to say enough was enough.

The commission voted to kill Galante.  It was Massino who argued on behalf of Rastelli, who wanted Galante gone for taking over a family that he was not his.  Frank Tieri began to make calls, and everyone agreed.  Legend has it Joe Bonanno was consulted, but I don't believe this to be the case. Bonanno was shelved, and they didn't need his approval for anytihng.  On July 12, 1979 while Galante was eating lunch at Mary Italian American Resturant at 205 Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn when masked gun men entered the back patio and lit Galante up with shotguns, and handguns.   It's worth noting two of his bodyguards were left unharmed, while two others got killed.  It speaks volumes as to who was involved and who wasn't.  Ultimately Anthony Indelicato, Dominick Trinchera, Dominick Napolitano, and Louis Giongetti would be responsible, being hired by Alphone Indelicato.   Not much later Caesar Bonventre who was there at the hit, eating with Galante was killed, in an effort to keep him silent.

5.  Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel Hit 1947

Bugsy Siegel really got his claim to fame while working with Meyer Lansky, and was one of the founders of Murder Inc.   One of the misconceptions about Siegel was that he was the innovator to Las Vegas, which is not accurate.  It was Lansky who was the brains behind Vegas.  The Flamingo Hotel, which Siegel ran and ultimately led to his demise was also not the first Casino Siegel ran. The first one was the Cortez, which he funded with his own money, and it was a big earner for him.  He would take kickbacks monthly from the Casino until his death in 1947.

Bugsy was known as a hitman,  and that's really where he got his start.  He would move into bootlegging.  He and Meyer Lansky would establish the Bugs and Meyer mob, preying on Jewish business owners and even some Italian business owners.  When Luciano met Siegel and Lansky he realized that if the Jews could organize like the Italians, he could have an army of other men along side him to help.  Lansky would use Siegel as a farm out for mob hits for other crime families, and use Siegel to run bootlegging business in other cities and states.    One of Siegel's problems was he was a drug addict and opium smoker.  It was something that Lanksy ignored as long as business ran as usual.

Luciano would continue to use Lansky and Seigel for hits and eventually with others formed Murder Inc.  It would be run effectively by both Jewish gangsters and Italians gangsters.  It would be essentially an army, who could be used by all criminal groups to remove problems.   Albert Anastasia would be in charge for the Italian side of things, and Louis Lepke Buchalter for the Jewish side.   Siegel would get into a personal war with the Fabrizzo brothers, who were associates of Waxy Gordon.  The beef was because Lansky and Siegel had ratted out Gordon to the IRS, which got him arrested.   Gordon wanted Lansky and Siegel dead, so Seigel reacted, killing both of them.  The 3rd Fabrizzo brother began writing a book, and in a chapter he openly disucssed Murder Inc, it's members and fucntion.  Lansky and Siegel found out, and Siegel killed him.   Siegel had used an alibi that he had checked into a hospital, problem was it didn't add up.  Fearing he would be arrested Lansky sent Seigel out to California.   While in California he would take over the numbers racket, and begin establishing drug trade routes from Mexico to California by using his girlfriend Virginia Hill as an emissary.

Siegel would organize the Trans America wire service, which allowed those outside of California to wager on horse races.  It was a large success and was bringing in $500,000 a day.  The problem was it was a partnership with Chicago, and they suspected that Seigel was skimming and out of respect for Lansky didn't kill him.  They just removed him from power and gave the wire to Dragna, and refused to give Seigel a dime.  The move pissed off the New York City underworld, but they blamed Seigel for his behavior.     He would then venture towards Hollywood becoming a socialite and friend to actors and actresses which drew the ire of the mob.   To make matters worse he was taking arrest after arrest.

He would be sent to Vegas by Lansky with the idea that he build a casino.  The Cortez had been profitable and Lansky and the mob wanted the same model.  The problems began when Seigel put his girlfriend in charge of materials, Virginia Hill.  The workers realized she was inept, and would steal the materials at night, then sell them back to Seigel for double the next day.  What was meant to be a short build for a certain amount skyrocketed.  It went from $3 million, to $6 million.  Delay after delay after delay.  When the Casino opened, it was a failure on all accounts.     Also while working on The Flamingo he annoucned he was the mob boss of California, which infuriated Dragna and the entire New York mob.  They let it go, because Seigel had always been a trustworthy guy.  The Flamingo opened and got hammered.  They lost $275,000.

 Lansky was furious and would shut the Casino down, until January, so that the Casino could be completely finished, and rooms that were not ready could be ready.  In March the casino reopened with some changes.  It began to turn a profit, but Lansky began to suspect that Seigel was skimming.  Word was that Virginia Hill was taking large sums of money to Switzerland, and dumping money into many offshore acccounts.  The mob had a meeting, and Lansky was able to find out that Seigel was in fact skimming money.    It was enough for the mob, they ordered his death.  On June 20, 1947 while sitting on his couch in Virginia HIll's home in Beverly Hills, gun shots ripped though the window hitting Seigel multiple times in the head and chest.  Seigel was killed instantly.