Five Families of New York City

Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Showing posts with label Anthony Anastasio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anthony Anastasio. Show all posts

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Old Gambino Soldier Anthony Anastasio Commits Suicide Before Jail Terms Starts

  May 02, 2010    Dapper_Don


An 81-year-old Gambino soldier on the verge of heading to prison killed himself in his Brooklyn kitchen, officials said Saturday.
Anthony (Todo) Anastasio pumped two bullets into his heart Friday morning, just days before he was due to start a 2-1/2-year term in federal prison on convictions for racketeering, extortion and arson.
Anastasio, whose uncle was the legendary Murder Inc. boss Albert Anastasia, was supposed to surrender to authorities May 10, officials said.
"It was a sudden death and his family is in mourning," said Anastasio's lawyer Paul Bergman, declining further comment.
The mobster's wife found him sprawled in the kitchen of their Dyker Heights home at 7 a.m. Friday, officials said.
A .22-caliber handgun, two shell casings and a suicide note written by Anastasio were found, police said.
Investigators believe Anastasio killed himself rather than face jail, sources said.
Anastasio was convicted in October after prosecutors played a recording of the mobster bragging about the Gambino family's illicit grip on the city's waterfront. He was found guilty of extorting a trucking company, a bakery in Brooklyn and ordering the near-fatal torching of a Dunkin' Donuts.
The aged gangster could have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison but a Brooklyn judge gave him the significantly shorter sentence after reading letters from his family, friends and golf partners.
He was slated to be sent to a prison only a few hours' drive from his 82nd St. home so his family could visit.
Investigators said the mobster was in good health and not battling any serious illnesses that might have prompted a suicide.

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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Gambino Soldier Gets Break In Racketeering Sentence

  March 16, 2010    Dapper_Don

A half-century after uncle Albert Anastasia was famously gunned down in a barber chair, Gambino soldier Anthony (Todo) Anastasio dodged a bullet - getting only 30 months in prison for racketeering.
It was a close shave for the 81-year-old mobster because he was facing up to 10 years in prison for several extortion schemes and conspiring to burn down a Dunkin' Donuts on Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn. A family of four living above the store nearly perished.
Anastasio did not apologize to the arson victims, who attended the sentencing in Brooklyn Federal Court.
But the wily wiseguy managed to convince Judge Brian Cogan that he was not deserving of a long term that could be a death sentence for an octogenarian.
The judge did reject Anastasio's request to do his time at a halfway house in Brooklyn where he could be treated by his own physicians.
"But for the grace of God the family living [above the Dunkin' Donuts] could have died," Cogan said. "The firefighters risked their lives and they shouldn't have to jeopardize their lives because someone wanted to [collect insurance money]."
Anastasio was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to the couple and their two young children, who escaped by jumping out a window but lost all their possessions in the blaze.
Anastasio's legendary uncle, known as the "Mad Hatter" and the "Lord High Executioner," was murdered while getting a shave at the Park Sheraton Hotel in 1957.

 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/03/16/2010-03-16_81yrold_gambino_thug_gets_30_months.html#ixzz0iLB00jNh

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Friday, December 11, 2009

Judge Reverses Jury

  December 11, 2009    Dapper_Don

A federal judge has overturned a verdict against Benny DiCostanzo after the jury convicted him and co-defendants Anthony "Toto" Anastasio, a reputed Gambino soldier, and David Benedict in a racketeering trial last October as reported by Jeff Harrell for the Staten Island Advance:
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan confirmed the 45-year-old Oakwood scrap metal dealer's mob denials by granting a motion reversing the guilty verdict on one count of conspiracy to extortion. "The evidence presented by the government is insufficient to establish … Benedetto DiCostanzo's guilt under any count of the indictment, even when viewed in the light most favorable to the government," Judge Cogan wrote in his decision. "There was no evidence that could establish, or even create an inference, that DiCostanzo played a role in the extortion charged in the indictment," the judge noted.

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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Mobster Anthony Anastasio convicted of extortion and ordering the torching of Dunkin Donuts

  October 27, 2009    Dapper_Don

An 80-year-old Gambino gangster's long crime career came to an end Tuesday with his conviction on racketeering and extortion charges in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Anthony "Todo" Anastasia was found guilty of shaking down a trucking company on the Staten Island waterfront, the owners of an Italian bakery in Brooklyn and ordering a Dunkin Donuts torched for the insurance money.
Anastasio, a longtime mob soldier, is the nephew of legendary Mafioso Albert Anastasia, who was gunned down while getting a shave in a barber shop at the Park Sheraton Hotel in 1957.
In a twist of fate for the wiseguy, the FBI secretly recorded incriminating conversations between Anastasio and the captain of his mob crew in the Guys & Dolls beauty salon - where he got his hair cut.
Anastasio faces up to 20 years in prison when he's sentenced in January.
The jury also convicted reputed mob associate David Benedict of extortion, and Benedetto DiCostanzo of loansharking.

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Friday, October 16, 2009

The Toto Anastasio Trial

  October 16, 2009    Dapper_Don

Former Royal Crown Bakery co-owner John Galano yesterday "corroborated prosecutors' contention that he, Joseph Generoso and brother Frank Galano were strongarmed into shelling out $2,000 to $3,000 in payouts to the Gambinos once a year at Christmas" as reported by Jeff Harrell for the Staten Island Advance:
John Galano, 40, recalled driving Royal Crown Bakery owner Joseph Generoso to meetings with Anthony Anastasio at his travel agency in Brooklyn, and hosting the longtime Gambino soldier "frequently" at the Hylan Boulevard bakery, including three separate sitdowns between Generoso, Anastasio and the mobster’s friends. Galano said he never saw money exchange hands, but he was working at the bakery when a third and final meeting erupted in front of patrons with a loud argument between Generoso, Anastasio and a third man identified by prosecutors as reputed Gambino muscle man William (Billy) Scotto.

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Thursday, October 8, 2009

I stole fine with back injury, says former Gambino soldier Primo Cassarino

  October 08, 2009    Dapper_Don

Primo Cassarino, a former Gambino soldier turned government witness, testified yesterday "in the racketeering trial of longtime Gambino soldier Anthony (Toto) Anastasio" that "the owners of Royal Crown Bakery gave $100,000 to the Gambino crime family for helping them collect money from a delinquent delivery route, as well as annual Christmas tribute payments," and he "also fingered Gambino captain and one-time New Springville resident Anthony (Sonny) Ciccone as the point man for the Gambinos' stranglehold on longshoremen's jobs along the Howland Hook waterfront in Mariners Harbor" as reported by Jeff Harrell for the Staten Island Advance:

Cassarino told jurors that Royal Crown Bakery owner Joseph Generoso, referred to during the trial as "Joe the Baker," was "on the record" with the Gambinos since the early 1990s, when his sole operation was in Bay Ridge; later, he branched out to Hylan Boulevard in Grasmere. Last week, former Eltingville mob turncoat Michael (Mikey Scars) DiLeonardo said Generoso first dropped Anastasio's name as a "friend" when the baker sought help from the Gambinos to ward off an extortion attempt by notorious Tottenville gangster William (Wild Bill) Cutolo.

On Tuesday Cassarino testified that Anastasio allegedly recuited him for a 1992 arson of a Dunkin' Donuts in Brooklyn for the insurance money as reported by Kati Cornell for the New York Post: "Cassarino said it wasn't until 2001 that a crooked insurance adjuster finally sent them $15,000, not the promised $25,000."

Meanwhile, Cassarino continues pressing his suit against New York City for a "special accident disability pension that could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars" in connection with an injury he suffered in 1991 "when he fell off a garbage truck while working for the Sanitation Department" as reported by John Marzulli for the Daily News:

Cassarino filed for the lucrative benefit in March 2003, a week before he was convicted of racketeering with then-Gambino boss Peter Gotti and a gaggle of gangsters in Brooklyn Federal Court. While the mob thug was awaiting sentencing, he was examined by a panel of doctors from the New York City Employee Retirement System, who rejected his bid. Cassarino sued the city in Brooklyn Supreme Court last year, lost again, and is appealing the judge's ruling to the state Appellate Division. * * * Cassarino worked in the same depot as Peter Gotti, who is collecting an accident disability pension while serving a life sentence.

Yesterday Cassarino testified that his back injury "didn't hamper his ability to commit robberies" as reported by John Marzulli for the Daily News: "'You don't have to use your back to do armed robberies - you use your hands,' said former Gambino soldier Primo Cassarino."

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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Gambino rat Primo Cassarino sues NYC to get a fatter pension

  October 07, 2009    Dapper_Don

Primo Cassarino heads to court in 2003.

He's in witness protection and collects Social Security disability benefits - and now a Mafia rat with two left feet is suing to get a tax-free pension from the city.

Primo Cassarino, a former soldier in the Gambino crime family, hurt himself when he fell off a garbage truck while working for the Sanitation Department.

He gets an ordinary pension, but wants a special accident disability pension that could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

And if he gets it, his fraud victims - who are owed $1.6 million in restitution - can't touch a dime.

Cassarino filed for the lucrative benefit in March 2003, a week before he was convicted of racketeering with then-Gambino boss Peter Gotti and a gaggle of gangsters in Brooklyn Federal Court.

While the mob thug was awaiting sentencing, he was examined by a panel of doctors from the New York City Employee Retirement System, who rejected his bid.

Cassarino sued the city in Brooklyn Supreme Court last year, lost again, and is appealing the judge's ruling to the state Appellate Division.

Cassarino was on the stand in federal court Tuesday as the chief witness against reputed Gambino soldier Anthony (Todo) Anastasio.

In testimony, he acknowledged he and his family had been relocated because of his cooperation with prosecutors.

"It ain't no bargain," Cassarino said of the witness protection program.

The mob canary is among 450 ex-city and state employees - including corrupt judges, murderous cops and disgraced public officials - who collect government pensions in jail, as the Daily News reported last year.

Cassarino's injury happened Aug. 7, 1991, when he took a freak fall from a garbage truck.

He was stepping down from the cab when he caught his foot in a canvas strap, according to court papers.

The doctors determined he was disabled, but refused to grant him a tax-free pension because, they said, the mishap was his fault.

"Mr. Cassarino has worked with this equipment before, and there is no evidence that this equipment was broken or faulty in any way," the medical board found.

"This strap was part of the construction of the truck and therefore part of Mr. Cassarino's normal working environment."

Cassarino worked in the same depot as Peter Gotti, who is collecting an accident disability pension while serving a life sentence.



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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Barber chair could mean doom for reputed Gambino soldier - as it was for slain 'Mad Hatter' uncle

  October 01, 2009    Dapper_Don

His uncle was murdered in a barber chair - and now the nephew of Murder Inc. boss Albert Anastasia could be doomed by haircuts he got on Staten Island.

Reputed Gambino soldier Anthony (Todo) Anastasio went on trial for racketeering in Brooklyn Federal court Wednesday, and his chitchat at the salon is the key evidence.

In opening arguments, Anastasio's lawyer joked that his client got haircuts - not manicures like some mob toughs - at Guys and Dolls salon.

The feds had a bug in the salon that picked up a conversation in which Anastasio discussed the Gambino family's illicit grip on the waterfront.

The tapes could send him to prison for 20 years - effectively a death sentence for the 80-year-old wiseguy.

Anastasio is charged with extorting a trucking company and the owners of Royal Crown Bakery in Brooklyn and ordering the near-fatal torching of a Dunkin' Donuts.

Defense lawyer Paul Bergman described Anastasio as a hard-of-hearing ex-longshoreman who worked at a travel agency.

His uncle, known as the "Mad Hatter" and Murder Inc.'s "Lord High Executioner," was rubbed out while getting a shave in the Park Sheraton Hotel in 1957.

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