Mobster, Albert Anastacia Hit

Albert Anastasia, head of Murder Inc. and boss of what would become the Gambino crime family, was found on the barbershop floor of the Park-Sheraton Hotel on W. 55th St. The reputed chief executioner of Muder Inc. was slain by unknown assailants at 10:18 am on October 25, 1957. Following his death, Carlo Gambino took over as family boss. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/galleries/ny_mobs_greatest_hits/ny_mobs_greatest_hits.html#ph5#ixzz0JsubWzNW&C

Eugene Castelle aka Boopsie"

Eugene Castelle (born 1960), also known as "Boopsie" and "Bubsie", is a New York mobster who served as a caporegime and then an acting boss with the Lucchese crime family
A resident of Staten Island Castelle operated loansharking and number racket activities out of a small storefront in the Bath Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn. Castelle also managed a group of narcotics distributors in Brooklyn. Castelle was a close associate of Lucchese mobster Joseph Tangorra
In 1997, Castelle was charged with bribing jail guards to smuggle food and steroids to Lucchese family members who were incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. However, the charges were eventually dismissed.
In 2001, Castelle pleaded guilt to racketeering charges and was sent to federal prison. On August 28, 2008, Castelle was released from prison.

James "Jimmy Brown" Failla

James "Jimmy Brown" Failla (1919-1999) was a senior caporegime of the Gambino crime family who was a major power in the garbage hauling industry in New York City.
Failla was one of the most respected and feared racketeers in New York from from the early 1960s until 1995. Through his control of the Trade Waste Association of Greater New York and Teamsters Union Local 813, Failla was able to squeeze New York businesses out of hundreds of millions of dollars over several decades.

He earned the nickname "Jimmy Brown" for his fondness of wearing chocolate brown business suits when out in public. He has a close physical resemblance to American publisher and pornographer Larry Flynt. Failla had a close partnership with the Genovese crime family and it was rumored that the Genovese leadership wanted to install Failla as boss along with fellow captain Daniel "Danny" Marino after a failed assassination attempt on then Gambino boss John Gotti.


Avoiding prosecution for many years, Failla lived modestly and direct a large crew in loansharking, illegal gambling, and extortion. He had a reputation as being one of the most closed-mouthed of all mobsters, as well as one of the all-time top earners in La Cosa Nostra

. Although present for hundreds of hours at bugged meetings at Gambino boss Paul Castellano's residence, Failla barely spoke ten words on all the tapes combined. A resident of Ocean Breeze, Staten Island, Failla's nickname "Jimmy Brown" derived from his fondness for brown clothes
.In 1987, Failla was acquitted on federal racketeering charges. In 1989, Failla participated in the murder of Gambino mobster Thomas Spinelli. A member of Failla's crew, Spinelli had recently appeared before a grand jury. Sammy Gravano ordered Spinelli's murder to prevent any further testimony. In December 1990, when Gotti went to jail awaiting trial, he allegedly appointed Failla as acting boss of the family. After Gotti's conviction, Failla served on a three-man panel that ran the family.
In 1994, Failla pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in the Spinnelli death and was sentenced to seven years in prison. In 1999, James Failla died in federal prison.

Joseph,"Skinny Joey" Merlino

Joseph S. Merlino, nicknamed "Skinny Joey" (born March 16, 1962 South Philadelphia), is an American mafioso, member of the U.S. Cosa Nostra, and former head of the Philadelphia crime family which controls organized crime as far as Southern New Jersey. He is the son of former Nicky Scarfo underboss/soldier Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino. He is also the nephew of deceased former Capo Lawrence Merlino.While Merlino was the boss of the Philadelphia crime family, it engaged primarily in extortion, bookmaking, drug trafficking, and loan sharking.
Merlino has been described as a particularly vicious mobster, obsessed with his own public image, and another version of New York's John Gotti, after whom he patterned himself. He is flashy, stylish, flamboyant, and "in your face." “Joey was a party guy,” said "Big Ron" Previte, cop-turned gangster-turned government witness. “He liked to go out. He liked to gamble. He liked the high life.” He invited TV crews to his annual Christmas party for the homeless, and was a fixture at the city's nightclubs, restaurants, and sporting events. With longtime buddies Salvatore Scafidi, Michael Ciancaglini, and George Borgesi he was known to beat up girls, rob people, and start fights in clubs.In the late 1990s Merlino allied himself with Steve "Gorilla" Montevergine, boss of the Pagans MC motorcycle gang. In June 1999, Merlino was indicted on charges he conspired with the Boston mob to purchase and distribute cocaine. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison on December 3, 2001, on racketeering charges, including extortion and illegal gambling. He was acquitted of murder charges, attempted murder, and drug dealing. [9] "Ain't bad," Merlino said. "Better than the death penalty

Joseph "Joe" Colombo SR. Mafia Boss

Joseph "Joe" Colombo Sr. (December 14, 1914 - October 1, 1978) was leader of the Colombo crime family, one of the "Five Families" in the American Mafia.


Colombo was originally part of what was called the Profaci family in New York. In 1961, a gang war broke out in the family between the family leadership and the renegade Gallo brothers. During this conflict, boss Joe Profaci died and his supporter, Joseph Magliocco, succeeded him. Later in the conflict, Magliocco decided to murder Tommy Lucchese from the Lucchese crime family and Carlo Gambino of the Gambino crime family for their support of the Gallos. Magliocco gave obthe job to Colombo, who promptly notified the intended With their support, Colombo became family boss after Magliocco died of a heart attack

On June 28, 1971, the morning of the second Italian Unity Day rally, Joe Colombo was approaching the podium to address the crowd. An African American street hustler had somehow managed to obtain press credentials from the league. Disguised as a photojournalist, the gunman approached Colombo and fired three shots from an automatic pistol into his head.

Colombo's son and several others wrestled the gunman to the ground. At that point, a second man stepped out of the crowd and shot the gunman dead. The second assailant managed to escape and was never identified. The dead gunman was positively identified as Jerome Johnson.

The crowd in attendance quickly dispersed, although some made a feeble attempt to continue the festival. Colombo was seriously wounded, but survived the shooting. He lingered in a coma without regaining consciousness for nearly seven years (he was "vegetabled", in the words of Joe Gallo). On May 22, 1978, Joe Colombo died at his New York estate.

Gerado "Jerry" Catena

Gerardo "Jerry" Catena Gerardo "Jerry" Catena. Consiglieri: Michele "Mike Miranda" Miranda .... "Ernest Muscarella" Friends of Ours; was a New York mobster and a top member of the Genovese crime family during the 1950s and 1960s, ... Gerardo_Catena- along with Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli, Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo and Michael "Big Mike" Miranda. Little is known of Catena in his early days of the Luciano crime family, but reportedly he was a soldier in the crew that became the powerful Genovese crew during the late 1920s, headed by later Underboss, Vito "Don Vito" Genovese. As the time went, and Charles Luciano went to prison and later deportation in the 1940s, Genovese would organize the shooting of the Boss of Luciano crime family, Frank Costello in 1957, which forced Costello to retire. Apparently, Catena is to have rose through the ranks, as he was listed as the Underboss in the late 1950s, heading the New Jersey faction of the Genovese crime family, under the leadership of Vito Genovese.Catena was allegedly attending the so called Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and was one of the hundred mafiosi who were indicted after the convention, following the arrest of Vito Genovese in 1959. As Genovese and many others of the Genovese crime family were under indictment, Catena began cooperating with longtime captains Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo, Michele "Big Mike" Miranda and Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli, and were unofficially running the Genovese crime family. After the imprisonment of Genovese in 1959, a "Committee/Ruling Panel" was to run the Genovese crime family, which consisted of Catena, Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo, Thomas Eboli and Michele Miranda. This administration continued to run the family throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, as Catena was indicted in 1970, and jailed from 1971 to 1972.



After his incarceration, Catena was allegedly semi-retired due to illness, and became officially retired after his releasement in 1972, as he moved to Florida that same year. Gerardo Catena died in 2000 of natural causes, as he wasn't named in any indictments for almost 30 years, and died in retirement at the age of 98

Charles "Cherry Nose Gioe

Charles "Cherry Nose" Gioe (died August 18, 1954) was a lieutenant in the Chicago Outfit criminal organization and a partner in the Hollywood extortion scandals of the 1930s

.Gioe became a high ranking lieutenant for the Outfit, specializing in extortion and blackmail, under Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti after Al Capone's 1931 tax evasion conviction. In 1936, Gioe went to Des Moines, Iowa to expand syndicate operations. He eventually returned to Chicago, leaving underboss Louis "Cock-Eyed Louie" Fratto in control of the Des Moines operations. During the mid-1930s, Gioe, Paul "The Waiter" Ricca and Louis "Little New York" Campagna, began financially supporting extortion operations by Willie Morris Bioff and George Browne against Hollywood movie studios. In exchange for annual payoffs to the Outfit, the mob-controlled projectionist unions would refrain from labor strikes and disruptions
.In the late 1930s, the extortion racket was busted by law enforcement. On March 18, 1943 Gioe, Ricca, and Campagna were indicted for extortion; Bioff and Browne agreed to testify against them. On December 31, 1941, Gioe was convicted of extortion and sentenced to ten years in prison. Gioe was later paroled in 1947, despite protests from Senator Estes Kefauver, along with the other syndicate members whereupon his release becoming, second to Ricca and Campagna, as the top Chicago syndicate leader. During the 1950s however, with the death of Campagna in 1952 and Ricca's retirement, Gioe became involved in a power struggle with rivals Anthony Accardo and Sam "Momo" Giancana.
On August 18, 1954, Charles Goie was murdered by his former protegé Fratto, supposedly under orders from Giancana.