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On October 25, 1957, Mafia boss Albert Anastasia was gunned down in a Manhattan barbershop—but the two men who pulled the triggers were just puppets in a larger conspiracy. This documentary uncovers the hidden truth behind the most perfectly orchestrated mob hit in history, where every suspect had motive and every alibi concealed deeper secrets.
From Carlo Gambino's calculated betrayal to the mysterious Sicilian hit squad that vanished without a trace, we reveal how the Lord High Executioner of Murder Inc. met his end in the most ordinary of places. Based on declassified FBI files and witness testimonies, this investigation exposes the web of conspiracies that led to that fatal morning at the Park Sheraton Hotel.
Who really ordered the hit—was it Gambino's ambition or Genovese's greed? Why did Anastasia dismiss his bodyguards that morning, and could he have known death was coming?
Share your theory: Were the infamous Gallo brothers the real triggermen, or did the killers truly vanish back to Sicily?
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0:00
October 25th, 1957,
0:02
10:20 a.m. The Park Sheran Hotel
0:06
Barberhop in Manhattan. Five shots
0:09
shatter the morning calm, and the most
0:12
feared killer in mafia history lies
0:15
dying on the checkered floor. His blood
0:17
mixing with shaving cream and hair
0:20
tonic. Albert Anastasia, the Lord High
0:23
executioner who had ordered hundreds of
0:26
deaths, never saw his own coming. But
0:29
here's what the FBI files never told
0:31
you. The two men in fedoras who pulled
0:33
the triggers that morning were just
0:35
puppets. The real killers were the ones
0:37
who never stepped foot in that barber
0:40
shop. So get ready to dive into the most
0:42
perfectly orchestrated mob hit in
0:44
history where every suspect had a motive
0:47
and every alibi hit a deeper conspiracy.
0:50
The truth is we don't know much about
0:52
what Albert Anastasia was thinking in
0:54
his final days. He was different those
0:57
last weeks, recalled Anthony Coppa,
1:00
Anastasia's driver and bodyguard.
1:04
Usually, Mr. A would vary his routines,
1:06
never take the same route twice. But
1:09
suddenly, he's going to the same barberh
1:11
shop, same time, same chair, like he was
1:14
daring someone to make a move. Albert
1:18
Anastasia wasn't supposed to die in a
1:20
barber shop. Born Ombberto Anastasio in
1:24
Calabria, Italy in 1902. He had survived
1:28
the violent streets of Brooklyn, the
1:30
Castellamarie War, and decades at the
1:34
top of organized crimes most dangerous
1:37
profession. By 1957, he commanded the
1:41
crime family that would later bear Carlo
1:43
Gambino's name, controlled the Brooklyn
1:46
Waterfront, and had personally
1:48
orchestrated Murder Incorporated, the
1:51
mafia's killing machine that claimed
1:53
between 400 and 1,000 lives. But power
1:57
in the underworld is like standing on
2:00
quicksand. The higher you rise, the
2:02
faster you sink. Anastasia had made too
2:06
many enemies, broken too many rules. His
2:09
violent temper, once an asset, had
2:12
become a liability. When he ordered the
2:14
killing of Arnold Schuster, a civilian
2:17
who had identified bank robber Willie
2:19
Sutton, even hardened mobsters were
2:21
appalled. "You don't kill civilians,"
2:24
was the unwritten rule. Yet, Anastasia
2:27
had broken it simply because he couldn't
2:30
stand squealers. The conspiracy to kill
2:33
Albert Anastasia began not with bullets,
2:36
but with whispers. In the exclusive
2:39
restaurants of Little Italy, in the back
2:42
rooms of social clubs from Malbury
2:44
Street to Bensonhurst, powerful men were
2:47
having careful conversations.
2:50
Carlo Gambino, Anastasia's own
2:52
underboss, was tired of playing second
2:55
fiddle to a man he considered unstable.
2:58
Veto Genovves, boss of another family,
3:01
wanted Anastasia's rackets and his seat
3:04
on the commission. But they needed more
3:06
than ambition. They needed opportunity
3:09
and most importantly, permission. The
3:12
first piece of the puzzle fell into
3:15
place. In early 1957,
3:18
Maya Lansky, the Jewish mob's financial
3:21
genius and Anastasia's former partner in
3:24
Murder, Inc., had grown concerned about
3:27
his old friend's erratic behavior.
3:30
Anastasia had been musling in on
3:32
Lansky's Cuban casino operations,
3:35
demanding a bigger cut of profits he
3:38
hadn't earned. Albert forgot the basic
3:41
rule. Lansky reportedly told associates,
3:44
"Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered."
3:48
Therefore, when Gambino approached
3:50
Lansky about removing Anastasia, he
3:53
found a receptive audience. Yet,
3:55
removing a boss wasn't like eliminating
3:57
a soldier. It required consensus among
4:00
the commission, the mafia's governing
4:03
body. Frank Costello, Anastasia's
4:06
closest ally and fellow boss, had to be
4:10
neutralized first. On May 2nd, 1957,
4:14
Vincent the Chin Gigante shot Costello
4:17
in the lobby of his Central Park West
4:19
apartment building. The bullet only
4:22
grazed Costello's scalp, but the message
4:25
was clear. Retire or die. Costello chose
4:29
retirement, leaving Anastasia without
4:32
his most powerful protector. Still, the
4:34
conspirators needed to be careful.
4:36
Anastasia commanded fierce loyalty among
4:39
his soldiers, particularly the Gallow
4:41
brothers, Crazy Joe, Larry, and Albert,
4:45
who ran his enforcement crew in
4:47
Brooklyn. Any move against Anastasia
4:51
risked triggering a war that could
4:53
destroy all their families. Therefore,
4:56
Gambino played a delicate game, assuring
4:59
Anastasia of his loyalty while secretly
5:02
recruiting supporters. The planning
5:04
intensified through the summer of 1957.
5:08
According to FBI informant Joseph
5:10
Falachi, meetings were held in a
5:12
Brooklyn restaurant owned by Joe
5:15
Rickabono, a Gambino loyalist. The
5:18
conspirators studied Anastasia's
5:20
routines looking for vulnerabilities.
5:24
They discovered his one consistent
5:26
habit. Every few weeks, he would visit
5:28
the barber shop at the Park Sheran
5:31
Hotel. always requesting chair number
5:34
four. Always dismissing his bodyguards.
5:37
But knowing where to strike was only
5:38
half the battle. They needed the right
5:40
killers. This is where the story takes
5:43
an unexpected turn. The traditional
5:45
narrative says the Gallow brothers
5:47
carried out the hit to curry favor with
5:49
Gambino. But declassified FBI documents
5:52
and recent mob turncoat testimonies
5:54
paint a different picture. The shooters
5:56
were likely imported from out of town,
5:59
possibly Italian nationals brought in
6:01
specifically for this job. The gallows
6:04
were too hot, too recognizable,
6:07
explained former NYPD detective Ralph
6:09
Seno. For a hit this important, you want
6:13
ghosts. Men who can disappear the moment
6:16
it's done. The morning of October 25th,
6:19
1957
6:21
began like any other for Albert
6:23
Anastasia. He left his Fort Lee, New
6:26
Jersey mansion in his Oldsmobile, driven
6:29
by Anthony Coppa. They crossed the
6:32
George Washington Bridge into Manhattan.
6:35
The New York skyline gleaming in the
6:38
autumn sun. Anastasia seemed relaxed,
6:42
even jovial. He had no idea that his
6:45
every move was being watched, that phone
6:48
calls were being made, that men were
6:50
taking positions. At 10:15 a.m.,
6:54
Anastasia entered the Park Sheritan
6:56
Hotel on 7th Avenue and 55th Street. The
7:00
hotel was bustling with guests and
7:03
staff, providing perfect cover for what
7:05
was about to happen. He walked through
7:08
the lobby to Arthur Grasso's barber
7:10
shop, greeting the owner with his usual
7:13
gruff charm. "The regular Arthur," he
7:16
said, settling into chair number four.
7:19
Grasso draped him with a white cloth and
7:22
began applying hot towels to his face.
7:25
But Anastasia wasn't the only one
7:27
keeping appointments that morning. In a
7:30
room upstairs, two men were making final
7:33
preparations.
7:35
They checked their weapons, 38 caliber
7:38
revolvers with taped grips to prevent
7:40
fingerprints. They synchronized their
7:43
watches. At exactly 10:20 a.m. they
7:47
would move. Meanwhile, Carlo Gambino was
7:51
establishing an alibi at a doctor's
7:54
appointment across town. Veto Genevvesi
7:57
was conspicuously visible at a social
7:59
club in Greenwich Village. The
8:02
architects of murder were nowhere near
8:04
the scene. At 10:20 a.m., the barberhop
8:08
door opened. Two men in dark suits and
8:12
fedoras entered, moving with purpose.
8:15
Grassos saw them in the mirror and
8:17
instinctively dropped to the floor. The
8:20
first shot rang out before Anastasia
8:22
could even remove the hot towels from
8:24
his face. He lurched forward, trying to
8:27
rise from the chair, his hands clawing
8:30
at the cloth covering him. Four more
8:33
shots followed in rapid succession. Yet
8:36
even in death, Anastasia showed why he
8:39
had survived so long in such a dangerous
8:42
business. Despite being shot multiple
8:45
times, he managed to lunge at his
8:47
killer's reflection in the mirror. His
8:50
final act one of misdirected violence.
8:54
He crashed into the glass, shattering it
8:57
before collapsing on the black and white
8:59
checkered floor. The Lord High
9:01
executioner was dead at 55. killed in
9:06
the most mundane of settings. The
9:08
aftermath was as carefully orchestrated
9:11
as the hit itself. The shooters walked,
9:14
not ran, out of the barberh shop,
9:17
through the hotel lobby, and into the
9:19
Manhattan morning. They had vanished
9:22
before the first police sirens arrived.
9:25
No one could provide consistent
9:27
descriptions.
9:28
Some witnesses said the killers were
9:31
young, others middle-aged. Some said
9:34
they were tall, others average height.
9:37
It was as if ghosts had pulled the
9:39
triggers. But the real mystery wasn't
9:43
who pulled the triggers. It was who gave
9:45
the order within hours of Anastasia's
9:48
death. Carlo Gambino was consolidating
9:52
power. He called a meeting of the
9:54
family's capos, presenting himself as
9:57
the natural successor. With Anastasia's
10:00
loyalists in shock and his enemies in
10:03
hiding, Gambino's takeover was swift and
10:07
bloodless. The underboss had become the
10:10
boss, just as he had planned. However,
10:13
the conspiracy went deeper than a simple
10:16
power grab. FBI wiretaps from the period
10:20
reveal a complex web of alliances and
10:22
betrayals. Santo Traficante Jr., the
10:26
Tampa boss who controlled much of the
10:28
Cuban casino action, had reportedly
10:30
given his blessing to the hit. Joe
10:33
Proface, head of another New York
10:35
family, had provided logistical support.
10:38
Even Joseph Banano, who publicly
10:41
condemned the killing, was suspected of
10:43
prior knowledge. The question that
10:46
haunted investigators for decades was
10:48
who actually pulled the triggers. The
10:50
Gallow brothers, despite taking credit
10:53
in later years, were almost certainly
10:56
not the shooters. Crazy Joe loved the
10:59
notoriety, said former prosecutor Edward
11:01
Macdonald. But the FBI had surveillance
11:04
on him that morning. He was in Brooklyn
11:06
when Anastasia died. Nevertheless, the
11:09
gallows benefited from the perception,
11:12
gaining reputation and respect in
11:14
underworld circles. Recent revelations
11:17
from mob turncoats suggest the killers
11:19
were members of a secret Sicilian hit
11:21
squad known as the Zips, recent
11:24
immigrants with no criminal records in
11:27
America, brought in for specific jobs.
11:31
According to former Gambino soldier
11:33
Dominic Montilio, these men were housed
11:35
in a safe house in Queens. carried out
11:38
the hit and were on a boat back to Italy
11:40
before Anastasia's body was cold.
11:43
Therefore, the perfect murder remained
11:44
perfect because the killers literally
11:47
disappeared. But perhaps the most
11:48
intriguing theory involves Anastasia
11:51
himself. Some investigators believe he
11:54
knew the hit was coming and accepted it.
11:56
His uncharacteristic carelessness in
11:58
those final weeks, his dismissal of
12:00
bodyguards, his predictable routines,
12:03
all point to a man who had given up.
12:06
Albert was tired, reflected former
12:09
mobster Michael Franesi. He'd been
12:11
looking over his shoulder for 30 years.
12:14
Maybe he just decided it was time. The
12:17
park sheritan barber shop became a Macab
12:20
tourist attraction. For years, people
12:24
would come to see where the Lord High
12:26
Executioner met his end. Chair number
12:30
four was eventually removed, but not
12:32
before thousands had sat in it trying to
12:36
imagine those final moments. The hotel
12:38
itself, renamed the Omni Park Central,
12:42
still stands, though the barberhop is
12:45
long gone. Yet, the questions remain.
12:48
What makes the Anastasia hit so
12:50
fascinating is how it represented a
12:53
turning point in mafia history. This
12:56
wasn't a hotheaded street shooting or a
12:58
sloppy ambush. This was corporate murder
13:02
planned in boardrooms executed with
13:04
precision. The killers vanishing like
13:07
smoke. It showed that the American mafia
13:11
had evolved from its violent, chaotic
13:13
roots into something more sophisticated
13:16
and arguably more dangerous. The
13:19
beneficiaries of Anastasia's death
13:22
revealed themselves over time. Carlo
13:25
Gambino built the family into the most
13:27
powerful crime organization in America,
13:31
ruling until his natural death in 1976.
13:35
Veto Genevves's triumph was shorter
13:37
lived. Within 2 years, he was in federal
13:40
prison on drug charges set up by his
13:43
rivals. The park sheritan hit had
13:46
reshuffled the deck, but the game
13:49
continued.
13:50
Still, one mystery persists above all
13:53
others. Where did the guns go? Despite
13:56
extensive searches, the murder weapons
13:59
were never found. The FBI dragged
14:01
sewers, searched trash cans, and offered
14:04
rewards. At the point, three 8 caliber
14:07
revolvers used to kill Albert Anastasia
14:10
vanished as completely as the men who
14:12
fired them. Some say they're at the
14:15
bottom of the East River. Others believe
14:18
they were cut into pieces and scattered.
14:21
But there's a third theory that they
14:23
were kept as trophies by the real
14:25
architects of the murder. The murder of
14:28
Albert Anastasia remains officially
14:31
unsolved. The NYPD file is still open,
14:35
though the chance of prosecution is nil.
14:39
All the principles are long dead. But in
14:42
the underworld, everyone knows who
14:44
ordered the hit, who benefited, and why
14:47
it had to happen. It was a masterpiece
14:50
of organized crime. A surgical strike
14:53
that removed a dangerous man while
14:55
maintaining the facade of mystery. So,
14:59
what do you think? Were the Gallow
15:01
brothers really the trigger despite the
15:03
evidence against it? Was Anastasia's
15:06
death a carefully planned execution? Or
15:09
did he orchestrate his own demise? And
15:12
most intriguingly, are those murder
15:15
weapons still out there somewhere?
15:17
Hidden trophies of the perfect mob hit?
15:20
Drop your theory in the comments. I read
15:23
every single one. Subscribe for the next
15:26
investigation into the unsolved
15:28
mysteries of organized crime.