Albert Anastasia: The Man Even The Mob Feared

0:00
October 25th, 1957 room No. 4 the Park Sheraton Hotel
0:08
he never saw them come in
0:09
the towel was still warm on his face
0:12
steam curling toward the ceiling
0:15
his eyes were closed for a man who had spent 30 years
0:19
making sure he always faced the door
0:21
this was the one time he didn't
0:24
maybe he was tired
0:25
maybe he thought the barber's chair at the park
0:28
Sheraton was the one place nobody would come for him
0:31
he was wrong two men walked in
0:35
scarves pulled up over their faces
0:37
they didn't speak they didn't need to
0:40
the first bullet hit him in the back of the head
0:43
before the barber could drop his comb
0:46
Anastasia lurched forward
0:48
tearing the towel from his face
0:50
what happened next has become one of the most famous
0:53
images in organized crime history
0:56
a dying man half blinded
0:59
swinging at his own reflection in the mirror
1:02
he thought the shapes in the glass were his killers
1:05
he was fighting shadows four more bullets
1:08
then it was over Albert Anastasia
1:12
the man they called the Lord High Executioner
1:15
the mad Hatter the one man in the American underworld
1:19
that other killers were afraid of
1:21
died on the floor of a barbershop in Midtown Manhattan
1:25
he was 55 years old
1:27
the towel was still warm what you're about to hear
1:31
is based on documented history
1:33
court records FBI files
1:36
congressional testimony
1:38
and the accounts of men who were there
1:41
some conversations have been recreated
1:43
for narrative purposes
1:45
where the historical record goes silent
1:48
we've used informed interpretation
1:51
but the events the events are real
1:54
all of them to understand
1:56
how Albert Anastasia
1:58
became the most dangerous man in the American Mafia
2:02
you have to go back not to the barbershop
2:05
not to murder incorporated
2:08
not to the waterfront
2:09
you have to go back further than that
2:12
you have to go to a village in Calabria
2:14
Italy where a boy named Umberto Anastasio
2:18
was born in the year eighteen hundred and two
2:22
the exact day isn't certain
2:24
records from that part of southern Italy at that time
2:27
were incomplete
2:29
what is known is that he was one of nine brothers
2:32
that his father worked as a labourer
2:34
and that by the time Umberto was a teenager
2:38
there was nothing left for him in Italy
2:40
no work no future
2:43
no reason to stay
2:44
so he did what thousands of young Italian men did
2:48
he got on a ship
2:50
he arrived in New York sometime around 1917
2:54
he was maybe 15 maybe sixteen
2:57
he came with one of his brothers
2:59
they jumped ship entering the country illegally
3:02
no papers no sponsor
3:05
no English just two boys from Calabria
3:08
standing on the Brooklyn waterfront with nothing
3:11
but the understanding that in America
3:13
a man could become whatever he was willing to become
3:17
Umberto Anastasio became Albert Anastasia
3:21
he changed the spelling Americanized it
3:25
dropped the O for an a a small thing
3:28
but it tells you something about him
3:30
right from the start
3:32
he wasn't interested in where he came from
3:35
he was interested in where he was going
3:37
and where he was going at first was the docks
3:41
the Brooklyn waterfront in the 1920s
3:44
was a world unto itself if you didn't work the docks
3:48
you have no frame of reference for what it was like
3:52
the longshoremen's union
3:54
controlled who worked and who didn't
3:57
four men decided each morning
3:59
who got a shift and who went home hungry
4:02
the system was built on fear
4:04
favoritism and kickbacks
4:07
a man's ability to feed his family
4:09
depended on whether the right people liked him
4:12
it was in every meaningful sense
4:14
already a criminal enterprise
4:16
before the criminals even showed up
4:19
Anastasia showed up he was young
4:22
he was strong
4:23
he was terrifyingly comfortable with violence
4:27
within a few years
4:28
he'd established himself on the waterfront
4:31
not as a worker but as a force
4:33
he controlled hiring he extorted union officials
4:37
he ran loan sharking operations among the dock workers
4:41
themselves lending money at impossible rates
4:45
and collecting with his fists when payments were late
4:49
by the time he was 20 the waterfront feared him
4:53
by the time he was 25 they belonged to him
4:56
but it wasn't the waterfront that made Anastasia
4:59
what he became it was a murder
5:02
in 1921 Anastasia killed a man
5:06
the details vary depending on the source
5:09
some accounts say it was a fellow longshoreman
5:12
others say it was a dispute over territory
5:15
what matters is that he was arrested
5:18
tried and convicted he was sentenced to death
5:22
death row sing sing prison
5:25
the electric chair waiting
5:27
and then something happened
5:29
that set the pattern for the rest of his life
5:31
the conviction was overturned
5:34
key witnesses either recanted or disappeared
5:38
a new trial was ordered
5:40
and by the time the second trial rolled around
5:43
there was nobody left willing to testify
5:47
the charges were dropped
5:49
Anastasia walked out of Sing Sing a Free Man
5:52
he was 19 years old
5:55
think about what that does to a person
5:57
not just the killing not just the prison
6:00
the lesson the takeaway
6:02
Albert and Anastasia Learned at 19
6:05
that if you eliminate the witnesses
6:07
you eliminate the problem
6:09
that idea would define the rest of his career
6:12
it would define Murder Incorporated
6:15
it would define an era
6:17
but we're getting ahead of ourselves
6:19
The 1920s in New York were a free for all
6:23
prohibition had turned the city into a war zone
6:26
Italian gangs Jewish gangs
6:29
Irish gangs
6:30
all fighting for control of the liquor trade
6:34
the old Sicilian bosses men like Joe Masseria
6:38
Joe the boss ran things the way they'd always been
6:41
run through tradition through respect
6:45
through the old ways
6:47
but a younger generation was coming up
6:49
men who didn't care about tradition
6:52
men who saw the business for what it was business
6:55
Anastasia fell in with the Young Turks
6:58
his closest ally was a man named Charlie Luciano
7:02
Lucky Luciano the two of them
7:05
along with Frank Costello
7:07
Vito Genovese and a handful of others
7:10
formed the nucleus of what would eventually overthrow
7:14
the entire old order of the New York Mafia
7:17
but that revolution required blood
7:20
and blood was Anastasia's specialty
7:23
in 1931 the Castellammare War
7:27
was tearing the New York underworld apart
7:30
Joe Masseria on one side
7:33
Salvatore Maranzano on the other
7:36
two old world bosses fighting for supremacy
7:39
while the younger generation watched and waited
7:42
Luciano who nominally worked for Masseria
7:46
had already decided that both bosses needed to go
7:50
the question was timing the question was always timing
7:54
on April 15th, 1931 Luciano invited Masseria to dinner
8:00
at a restaurant in Canai Island
8:02
called new over Villa Tamaro
8:05
they ate they drank
8:07
they played cards and at some point
8:09
Luciano excused himself to use the restroom
8:13
while he was gone several gunmen entered the restaurant
8:16
Joe Masseria was shot six times
8:20
according to most historical accounts
8:22
Albert Anastasia was one of the shooters
8:25
court documents from later investigations
8:28
placed him at the scene witnesses
8:31
what few there were described a man matching his build
8:35
the exact details remain debated among historians
8:40
but law enforcement at the time
8:42
considered his involvement highly likely
8:45
five months later Maranzano was killed in his office
8:49
stabbed and shot by a team of
8:51
Jewish gangsters recruited
8:53
specifically
8:55
because Maranzano's men wouldn't recognize them
8:58
with both old bosses dead
9:01
Luciano restructured the entire New York underworld
9:05
he created the commission
9:07
5 families five bosses
9:10
rules order
9:12
a corporate structure for crime
9:14
and Anastasia
9:15
the man who had helped make it all possible
9:18
became the underboss of the Mangano family
9:21
under Vincent Mangano he should have been satisfied
9:24
he wasn't but that came later
9:27
first there was the matter of killing
9:30
not the occasional
9:31
necessary murder that every mob figure committed
9:35
something else entirely something industrial
9:39
in the early 1930s
9:41
the leadership of organized crime in New York
9:44
faced a practical problem
9:46
the commission had brought order
9:48
disputes were settled through negotiation
9:51
territory was divided
9:53
but there was still the question of enforcement
9:56
when someone broke the rules
9:58
who handled it when a witness needed to disappear
10:02
who made the call
10:04
when a message needed to be sent in the most permanent
10:06
possible way who delivered it
10:09
the answer was Murder Incorporated
10:12
the name itself was a creation of the press
10:15
coined by a reporter at the New York World Telegram
10:19
the men who ran it never called it that
10:22
to them
10:23
it was simply the enforcement arm of the commission
10:27
a group of professional killers
10:29
mostly based in the Brownsville
10:31
neighborhood of Brooklyn
10:33
who carried out contract murders
10:35
on behalf of the organized crime leadership
10:38
of the entire East Coast and Albert Anastasia ran it
10:43
he didn't pull the trigger on most of the jobs
10:47
that wasn't his role
10:48
his role was operational he received the contracts
10:53
he assigned the killers he planned the logistics
10:56
he was in the language of the organization
10:59
the Lord High executioner
11:02
the man who decided how when and where people died
11:06
his chief lieutenant was a man named Louis Butschalter
11:09
Louis Lepke they called him
11:12
Lepke ran the labor racketeering side
11:14
while Anastasia handled the muscle
11:17
below them were the trigger men
11:19
Avery Les Pittsburgh
11:21
Phil Strass his real name was Harry
11:23
but nobody called him that
11:25
happy Mayone Dasher
11:27
Abandando men who killed the way other men went to work
11:32
routinely professionally
11:34
without particular emotion
11:37
the numbers are staggering
11:39
estimates of Murder
11:40
Incorporated's body count range from 400 to over 1,000
11:44
kills during its decade of operation
11:48
400 to 1,000 the exact number will never be known
11:52
because the entire point of the operation was that
11:55
bodies were never found witnesses never talked
11:59
and connections could never be traced back to the men
12:03
who gave the orders they had methods
12:05
Pittsburgh Phil Strass
12:07
was said to have personally killed over 100 men
12:11
he used ice picks rope
12:13
guns fire
12:15
he once killed a man
12:16
and buried him in the foundation of a building
12:18
under construction the body wasn't found for decades
12:23
Abri Les who they called Kid Twist
12:26
was considered one of the most efficient killers
12:29
in the organization
12:31
he could walk up to a man on a crowded street
12:34
put a knife between his ribs and keep walking the
12:37
victim would be dead before he hit the ground
12:41
witnesses would later say they saw a man collapse
12:45
they never saw anyone near him
12:47
Anastasia oversaw all of it
12:49
he didn't lose sleep according to people who knew him
12:53
and there weren't many who knew him well
12:55
he approached murder
12:56
the way an executive approaches quarterly reports
13:00
it was output it was productivity
13:03
the question was never whether someone should die
13:06
the question was efficiency
13:08
cost risk
13:10
Anastasia wanted clean operations
13:13
he wanted no witnesses he wanted no evidence
13:16
he wanted the person to simply cease to exist
13:20
there's a story
13:21
and it should be noted that the sourcing on this varies
13:24
but it has been repeated by multiple investigators
13:27
and historians
13:29
Anastasia was watching television one evening
13:33
a news program a man appeared on screen
13:36
a civilian testifying before a committee
13:40
about something entirely unrelated to organized crime
13:44
the man was talking freely
13:46
openly cooperating with authorities
13:50
Anastasia reportedly turned to an associate
13:53
and said something to the effect of
13:55
I hate informers that man is talking too much
13:59
he needs to go according to this account
14:02
a contract was issued on a man Anastasia had never met
14:07
a man who had nothing to do with the mob
14:09
a civilian
14:11
simply because Anastasia saw him on television
14:14
and didn't like the way he talked
14:17
whether this specific story is completely accurate
14:21
historians continue to debate
14:23
what is not debated is that it was
14:26
entirely consistent with Anastasia's character he
14:30
killed on principle he killed on impulse
14:34
he killed because to him killing was the natural
14:37
response to virtually any problem
14:40
the exact sequence of what happened next
14:43
in Murder Incorporated's history
14:45
accounts differ slightly depending on the source
14:49
but the broad strokes are clear
14:51
in 1940 Abrilez was arrested on a murder charge
14:56
facing the electric chair
14:58
he did the unthinkable he talked
15:01
Kid Twist
15:02
one of the most prolific killers in Murder Incorporated
15:05
became a government witness
15:07
he gave up names dates
15:10
methods burial sites
15:12
his testimony LED directly to the convictions
15:15
and executions of several Murder incorporated members
15:20
including his former partner
15:21
Happy Mayone and Pittsburgh Phil Straws
15:25
Lepke himself would eventually go to the electric chair
15:29
the only major organized crime boss in American history
15:34
to be executed by the state
15:36
but Reles had more to say
15:38
he was prepared to testify against Albert Anastasia
15:42
himself
15:43
he had direct knowledge of murders
15:45
Anastasia had ordered he could tie the Lord
15:49
High Executioner to specific contracts
15:52
specific bodies specific decisions
15:56
the case was being built the prosecutors were ready
16:00
on November 12th, 1941
16:03
Abriles fell from a window of the Half Moon Hotel
16:07
in Canai Island
16:08
where he was being held under police Protection
16:11
he was on the sixth floor
16:14
he was supposed to be guarded by six police officers
16:17
at all times he went out the window anyway
16:21
the official ruling was that Relais
16:24
was attempting to escape
16:25
possibly climbing down bed sheets tied together
16:29
to reach a lower floor
16:31
this explanation was met with widespread skepticism
16:35
Relais was a cooperating witness
16:38
who stood to benefit from testimony
16:40
not a prisoner looking to flee
16:43
the sheets were found tied
16:45
in a manner that
16:46
investigators later described as inconsistent
16:49
with someone actually trying to climb down them
16:52
the press called him the canary who could sing
16:56
but couldn't fly
16:57
several investigations over the following decades
17:01
suggested that Relais was thrown
17:04
that the police officers
17:05
guarding him were paid to look the other way
17:08
that the order came from someone with enough power
17:11
and enough money to buy cooperation
17:13
inside a police Protection detail
17:16
no one was ever charged
17:18
the case against Anastasia collapsed
17:21
without Relais there was no testimony
17:24
without testimony there was no case
17:28
Albert and Anastasia once again
17:31
walked free because the witnesses were gone
17:33
the pattern held during the Second World War
17:37
Anastasia did something unexpected
17:40
he enlisted or rather he was drafted and he served
17:44
he became a United States citizen
17:46
through his military service
17:48
which was ironic
17:50
given that he had entered the country illegally
17:52
decades earlier his service record was unremarkable
17:57
he wasn't a hero he wasn't a disgrace
18:01
he was a soldier some historians have suggested
18:04
that his military service
18:06
gave him a veneer of legitimacy
18:08
he'd never had before
18:10
others argue it made no difference at all
18:14
the man who came back from the war
18:16
was the same man who had left
18:19
possibly worse after the war
18:21
Anastasia returned to his position as
18:24
underboss of the Mangano family
18:27
and almost immediately
18:29
the tension that had been building for years
18:31
between him and Vincent Mangano
18:34
reached a boiling point
18:36
Mangano and Anastasia had never gotten along
18:39
they were fundamentally different men
18:42
Mangano was old school conservative careful
18:47
he resented Anastasia's independence
18:50
his volatility
18:51
his habit of making decisions without consultation
18:55
Anastasia for his part
18:57
viewed Mangano as weak outdated
19:01
an obstacle the situation was complicated
19:05
by Anastasia's relationship with Frank Costello
19:09
who by now
19:10
was running the Luciano family in Luciano's exile
19:14
Anastasia and Costello were close
19:18
genuinely close
19:20
in a world where alliances were transactional
19:23
their friendship appeared to be something
19:25
approaching real Mangano saw this as a threat
19:29
an underboss maintaining an
19:31
independent relationship with the boss of
19:33
another family was a violation of protocol
19:37
it suggested divided loyalty
19:40
it suggested ambition
19:42
Mangano confronted Anastasia about it more than once
19:47
according to accounts from men who were present
19:50
during some of these confrontations
19:53
the conversations were heated
19:55
Mangano accused Anastasia of plotting against him
20:00
Anastasia denied it
20:02
but the denials grew less convincing over time
20:05
in April of 1951 Vincent Mangano disappeared
20:11
his brother Philip was found dead
20:13
shot multiple times Vincent's body was never recovered
20:17
Anastasia went before the commission
20:20
he told them that Mangano had been planning to kill him
20:24
and that he had acted in self defense
20:26
preemptive self defense
20:29
he killed the boss before the boss could kill him
20:32
the commission LED at this point by men who
20:35
owed their positions to the revolution
20:37
Anastasia had helped engineer 20 years earlier
20:41
accepted this explanation
20:44
Frank Costello vouched for him and Albert
20:47
Anastasia became the boss
20:49
of what would eventually be known as the Gambino
20:52
crime family
20:53
the Lord High Executioner now had his own throne
20:57
he ran the family the way you might expect
21:00
through fear through violence
21:03
through the absolute certainty
21:05
that disobedience would be met with death
21:08
his waterfront operations expanded
21:11
his union control tightened
21:14
money flowed the family grew
21:17
but something had changed in Anastasia
21:19
or maybe something had finally been revealed
21:22
that was always there power didn't satisfy him
21:26
it made him hungrier and more dangerous
21:29
he began making decisions that alarmed the other bosses
21:33
he started selling memberships in the family
21:36
made men the most sacred designation
21:39
in the Sicilian Mafia tradition
21:42
the honor that was supposed to be earned
21:44
through years of loyalty and service
21:47
Anastasia was selling for 40,000
21:51
$50,000
21:53
any associate with enough cash could buy his way in
21:57
it was an unprecedented violation of tradition
22:01
and it infuriated the other commission members
22:04
he entered the Cuban casino business
22:07
without consultation
22:09
stepping on territory that belonged to other families
22:12
he made moves in the Garment District
22:15
encroaching on operations run by Vito Genovese
22:19
he publicly humiliated associates
22:22
he threatened men who under commission rules
22:26
were supposed to be untouched
22:28
he was acting like a man
22:30
who believed he was untouchable himself
22:33
this is the part of the story where Albert
22:36
Anastasia's fate was sealed
22:38
though he didn't know it yet
22:40
the men who would destroy him were already in motion
22:44
Vito Genovese was the primary architect
22:47
Genovese
22:49
who had returned from a self imposed exile in Italy
22:52
after the war wanted control of the Luciano family
22:57
Frank Costello was in his way
22:59
and as long as Anastasia was Costello's ally
23:03
moving against Costello meant fighting a two front war
23:07
the solution was obvious
23:09
if you thought the way Vito Genovese thought
23:13
remove Anastasia first then Costello would be alone
23:18
but Genovese needed help
23:19
from inside Anastasia's own family
23:22
he found it in Carlo Gambino
23:25
Carlo Gambino
23:27
the name that would eventually define the family
23:30
in 1957 he was Anastasia's underboss
23:34
quiet patient unassuming
23:37
the kind of man you could sit across from at dinner
23:40
and forget was in the room
23:42
he smiled easily he spoke softly
23:45
he waited he had been waiting for a long time
23:49
Gambino's exact motivations are debated
23:53
some historians argue
23:54
he was genuinely concerned about Anastasia's erratic
23:58
behavior threatening the family
24:01
others suggest
24:02
he had always intended to take the top position
24:05
and was simply waiting for the right opportunity
24:09
the truth is probably
24:10
both ambition and legitimate concern
24:14
are not mutually exclusive
24:16
Genovese and Gambino reached an understanding
24:20
the details of their agreement were never recorded
24:23
for obvious reasons but the outcome was clear
24:27
Anastasia would be removed
24:30
Gambino would take over the family
24:33
Genovese would move against Costello
24:35
without fear of retaliation
24:37
there may have been other conspirators
24:40
some accounts suggest that Joe prophesied
24:43
boss of another family was involved
24:46
the exact coalition is hard to pin down
24:49
what's certain is that by the fall of 1957
24:53
Albert and Anastasia was a dead man walking
24:57
he just didn't know it he went to the barbershop
25:00
October 25th, 1957 The Park Sheraton Hotel
25:06
Seventh Avenue and fifty Fifth Street in Manhattan
25:09
Anastasia arrived in the morning
25:12
for a haircut and a shave
25:14
it was a routine he'd maintained for years
25:17
the hotel barbershop same chair
25:20
same time he settled in
25:22
the barber draped him with a white cape
25:25
applied a hot towel Anastasia closed his eyes
25:29
the two gunmen entered
25:31
they wore scarves over their faces
25:34
the barber saw them first and stepped away
25:37
some accounts say he was pushed
25:39
others say he simply moved
25:41
either way
25:42
he was out of the line of fire before the first shot
25:45
the first bullet
25:46
struck Anastasia in the back of the head
25:49
he lurched upward forward
25:51
the towel fell he was hit again and again
25:55
he stumbled from the chair
25:56
and lunged toward what he saw in front of him
25:59
the mirror his own reflection
26:02
the shapes of his killers behind him
26:04
distorted in the glass he swung at the mirror
26:08
at himself at them
26:10
five bullets total
26:12
according to the medical examiner's report
26:15
he collapsed the gunman walked out
26:18
they were never identified
26:20
no one was ever charged with the murder of Albert
26:23
Anastasia the barber called the police
26:27
Anastasia was pronounced dead at the scene
26:30
the identities of the actual shooters
26:33
have been the subject of decades of speculation
26:36
the most frequently cited names
26:38
in law enforcement files and historical accounts
26:43
include members of the Gallo crew
26:45
from the prophesy family
26:47
possibly acting on contract from Genovese
26:51
Steven Armoine and Steven Grammalter
26:54
have been named in various investigations
26:58
Joe Gallo allegedly boasted about his involvement
27:02
years later though
27:03
Gallo was known for claiming credit
27:05
for things he may not have done
27:07
what is known with reasonable certainty is this
27:11
Carlo Gambino did not pull any triggers
27:15
Vito Genovese did not pull any triggers
27:18
they didn't need to
27:20
that was the lesson Anastasia himself
27:23
had taught the world you don't do the killing
27:26
you order the killing and when it's done
27:29
you step into the space that's left behind
27:32
Gambino stepped in he became the boss
27:36
the family took his name
27:38
and the Gambino crime family would go on to become
27:41
arguably the most powerful
27:43
organized crime family in American history
27:47
Genovese moved against Costello
27:50
on May 2nd of that same year
27:52
actually months before the Anastasia hit
27:55
a gunman had already shot at Costello
27:58
in the lobby of his apartment building
28:01
the bullet grazed his scalp
28:03
Costello survived but he got the message
28:07
he retired stepped aside
28:09
Genovese took control
28:12
the two architects got everything they wanted
28:15
and Anastasia got the barbershop floor
28:18
the aftermath played out quickly
28:20
Just 20 days after Anastasia's murder
28:23
the infamous Apalachin meeting took
28:25
place dozens of mob bosses
28:28
gathered at the estate of Joseph Barbara
28:31
in rural New York to discuss the new power structure
28:35
the meeting was raided by state police
28:38
the resulting exposure
28:40
blew the lid off organized crime in America
28:44
in a way that had never happened before
28:47
the existence of the Mafia
28:49
which FBI Director J
28:52
Edgar Hoover had denied for decades
28:55
was suddenly undeniable
28:57
some historians have drawn a direct line
29:00
from Anastasia's murder to Apalachin
29:03
the disruption his death caused
29:06
the power vacuum
29:07
the need for the other bosses to meet and restructure
29:11
LED directly to the gathering that exposed them all
29:15
in death Anastasia
29:17
may have done more damage to the American Mafia
29:20
than he ever did in life
29:22
but that gives him too much credit
29:24
he wasn't a strategic thinker
29:26
he wasn't a builder he was a destroyer
29:29
that was his function and his limitation
29:32
his family barely mourned him
29:35
his wife and son retreated from public life
29:38
his brothers several of whom had their own connections
29:42
to organized crime went quiet
29:45
the waterfront continued to operate
29:48
the unions continued to be controlled
29:51
the money continued to flow just into different pockets
29:54
Albert Anastasia was 55 when he died
29:58
he had been involved in organized crime
30:01
for nearly four decades
30:03
he had ordered or participated in
30:05
by conservative estimates
30:07
dozens of murders by broader estimates
30:11
he was responsible for hundreds
30:13
he had survived death row
30:15
he had survived the Cassilamese war
30:18
he had survived the collapse
30:20
of Murder Incorporated
30:22
he had not survived his own nature
30:24
that's what it comes down to in the end
30:27
not the conspiracy against him
30:29
not Genovese's ambition or Gambino's patience
30:34
those were just the hands on the gun
30:36
the bullet was Anastasia himself
30:39
his volatility
30:41
his contempt for the rules he was supposed to enforce
30:44
his belief that fear was enough
30:47
that being the most dangerous man in the room
30:50
was the same as being the most powerful
30:53
it isn't it never was
30:55
power in the Mafia real power
30:58
the kind that lasted
30:59
belonged to men who understood restraint
31:02
Luciano understood it Gambino perfected it
31:06
even Costello for all his flaws
31:09
understood that survival required subtlety
31:12
Anastasia never Learned that lesson
31:15
he couldn't it wasn't in him
31:17
he was a weapon
31:18
and weapons don't choose when they are used
31:21
they don't choose when they're discarded either
31:24
The Park Sheraton Hotel is gone
31:26
now the building still stands
31:28
but it's been renamed renovated
31:31
turned into something else
31:33
room No. 4 of the barbershop is a memory
31:36
if you walk past Seventh Avenue and fifty Fifth Street
31:39
today there's nothing to Mark what happened there
31:43
no plaque no sign
31:45
just sidewalk and traffic
31:47
and people who have never heard the name Anastasia
31:50
the men who killed him are dead
31:52
the men who ordered his killing are dead
31:55
the men he killed are dead
31:57
the witnesses who refused to testify are dead
32:01
the witnesses who disappeared are dead
32:04
Abriles the canary who couldn't fly
32:07
has been dead for over 80 years
32:10
what remains is the question
32:12
and it's not the question you might expect
32:14
it's not whether Anastasia was evil
32:17
he was by any reasonable standard of human behaviour
32:21
he was a man who caused immense suffering
32:24
and felt nothing about it
32:26
that part is simple the harder question is this
32:30
what does it mean that the system he operated within
32:33
the commission the families
32:35
the structure that Lucky Luciano built
32:38
what does it mean that this system created him
32:41
used him
32:42
and then destroyed him when he became inconvenient
32:46
Anastasia didn't corrupt the Mafia
32:49
the Mafia made Anastasia possible
32:53
he was the logical end point of a system
32:55
that resolved every problem
32:57
with violence
32:59
he simply took it further than anyone was comfortable
33:02
with the monster they created
33:05
the monster they had to destroy
33:07
some legacies are written in concrete and steel
33:11
others are written in blood
33:13
his was written in both and
33:15
if you look closely at the history of organized crime
33:18
in America at the structures of power and fear
33:21
that defined it for a century
33:23
you can still see his fingerprints
33:25
not on the institutions on the fear
33:29
the fear was always his real legacy
33:32
not the bodies not the waterfront
33:34
not Murder Incorporated
33:36
the fear the knowledge that somewhere in the hierarchy
33:40
there was a man who would kill you
33:42
for no reason at all who would watch you on television
33:45
and decide you talked too much
33:48
who would smile at you
33:50
across a dinner table while planning the bullet
33:53
that fear outlived him it outlived the commission
33:57
it might outlive the Mafia itself
33:59
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