Mobster Biography: Albert Anastasia

Albert “Lord High Executioner” Anastasia was saved from death row by the mafia when he was just a teenager. He rose through the ranks of organized crime by ruthlessly eliminating anyone who stood in his way. Although suspected of involvement in many murders, the “disappearance” of witnesses always meant that he walked free.

Albert Anastasia ran the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicate, eventually dubbed by the press as Murder Incorporated or Murder Inc. Despite the fact that the majority of the mobsters involved in Murder Inc went to the electric chair Anastasia once again walked away a free man.

Anastasia’s volatile temper earned him the nickname “terremoto” or earthquake as a young man and ultimately it was his bloodthirsty ambition that gave other ambitious monsters reason to move against him. One of the most extraordinary mob stories, the rise and fall of Albert Anastasia is essential reading for anyone interested in organized crime and the mafia.