Albert Anastasia may have a lesson to teach Donald Trump.
Born in Calabria, Italy, in 1902, he illegally entered the United States in 1919. By the late 1920s, Anastasia had become a top leader of the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA), controlling six local chapters of the labor union in Brooklyn.
Soon he entered the ranks of the Mafia.
His close associates included future crime bosses Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Vito Genovese, Meyer Lansky and Frank Costello.
Anastasia was not a financial wizard like Lansky or a consummate fixer like Costello. His “gift” was on a far more coarse level: He was a killer who turned murder into a highly profitable business.
As the head of “Murder, Inc.,” the Mafia’s extermination squad, Anastasia arranged for the murders of hundreds of men.
Albert Anastasia
One of those targets was Abe “Kid Twist” Reles, a Mafia assassin who turned state’s witness in 1941. His revelations sent mobster Louis “Lepke” Buchalter to the electric chair on March 4, 1944—to date, the only mob boss to do so.
Reles’ next target was to be Anastasia himself.
But he never got the chance. Guarded constantly by NYPD detectives at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island, Reles was found sprawled on the sidewalk six floors below his room. Police claimed he had made a makeshift rope and climbed out of the window to play a trick on his guards. No one was ever charged with his death.
“I never met anyone yet who thought Reles went out that window on purpose,” said later Mafia turncoat Joseph Valachi.
In 1951, Anastasia rose to the head of what is now called the Gambino family after making his boss, Vincent Mangno, “do the Houdini,” as mobsters liked to put it.
But his lethal wrath could descend on anyone—including honest citizens who had no connections to organized crime.
Such a citizen was Arnold Schuster, an American clothing salesman and amateur detective. On February 18, 1952, while riding the Brooklyn subway, Schuster spotted notorious bank robber Willie “The Actor” Sutton.
Arnold Schuster
Following Sutton to a garage, Schuster quickly notified police of his whereabouts. They arrested Sutton as he changed a dead battery from his car, which had stalled in the street.
Schuster became—briefly—a celebrity.
Then, on March 8, a gunman shot Schuster outside his home. Police were baffled: Schuster was not a mobster, and Sutton had no ties to organized crime.
Only years later did the truth emerge: According to Mafia informant Joseph Valachi, Anastasia was watching TV when Schuster was being interviewed. Anastasia yelled at a nearby enforcer: “I can’t stand squealers! Hit that guy!”
Anastasia’s murder of Schuster violated a cardinal Mafia rule: Police, prosecutors and and citizens who aren’t involved in organized crime are off-limits.
This isn’t because mobsters want to be “good guys.” It’s because attacks on these people draw unacceptable heat from the press and police.
In 1935, the Commission, the governing body established by Luciano, learned that mobster Arthur Flegenheimer—better known as Dutch Schultz—planned to “hit” New York Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey.
Knowing that this would provoke an all-out attack on the Mafia, the Commission ordered Schutz’ own murder—which occurred on October 23, 1935.
Anastasia already had plenty of enemies within the mob. They feared his insatiable greed and willingness to destroy anyone who stood in his way. One of these was Meyer Lansky, who, by the mid-1950s, had set up a highly profitable casino empire in Havana, Cuba.
Anastasia made it clear he wanted a hefty portion of those revenues.
Anastasia’s murder of Arnold Schuster gave his enemies another reason to scorn him: His sheer unpredictability. If he could order the execution of a “civilian” who had become a minor celebrity, he could order the execution of anyone.
Vito Genovese, eager to replace Frank Costello as “boss of all bosses” of the Mafia, knew that Anastasia was a longtime friend of Costello. And any move made against Costello would be swiftly avenged by Anastasia.
Vito Genovese
Genovese found it easy to persuade other high-ranking Mafiosi that the killing of Schuster proved that Anastasia was too unstable to be allowed to live.
On October 27, 1957, Anastasia became a victim of his own specialty. While resting under hot towels in the Sheraton Palace barber shop, he didn’t see two men with scarves covering their faces rush in.
As the gunmen fired at Anastasia, he lunged at their reflections in the wall mirror of the barber shop. The gunmen continued firing until a lucky shot struck him in the back of the head.
So much for Anastasia.
Now for Donald Trump, a President who not only acts like a mobster but has had close business relationships with mobsters.
Specifically: Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno, head of the Genovese crime Family, and Paul “Big Paul” Castellano, boss of the Gambino one. Trump reportedly employed construction companies linked to both Families to build Trump Plaza and Trump Tower.
Trump’s mania for using social media to attack everyone he hates is deservedly legendary. But his latest rabid attacks on megastars Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen may have sealed his own fate.
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ALBERT ANASTASIA HAS A MESSAGE FOR DONALD TRUMP: PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on August 21, 2025 at 12:10 amFrom June 15, 2015, when he launched his first Presidential campaign, until October 24, 2016, Donald Trump fired almost 4,000 angry, insulting tweets at 281 people and institutions that had somehow offended him— in politics, journalism, TV and films.
The New York Times needed two full pages of its print edition to showcase them.
Among his targets:
Donald Trump
Recently, Trump resurrected his longstanding feuds with megastars Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.
On May 19, he spent several hours on his website, Truth Social, attacking Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce and Bono for having supported Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 Presidential campaign.
In a 2 a.m. post on May 16, he charged that Harris could have paid Springsteen for an “illegal campaign contribution”––without providing any evidence to support it:
“HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT?,” Trump wrote. “WHY DID HE ACCEPT THAT MONEY IF HE IS SUCH A FAN OF HERS? ISN’T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION? WHAT ABOUT BEYONCÉ? …AND HOW MUCH WENT TO OPRAH, AND BONO???
“I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter. Candidates aren’t allowed to pay for ENDORSEMENTS, which is what Kamala did, under the guise of paying for entertainment. In addition, this was a very expensive and desperate effort to artificially build up her sparse crowds. IT’S NOT LEGAL! For these unpatriotic “entertainers,” this was just a CORRUPT & UNLAWFUL way to capitalize on a broken system. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!”
And he added: “This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just “standard fare.” Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”
Bruce Springsteen
Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
When a 34-times convicted criminal controls the Justice Department and threatens to investigate a singer for endorsing a political candidate, there is nothing to prevent him from persecuting anyone.
Trump’s rant was triggered by Springsteen’s comment to a crowd a week earlier in Manchester, England: “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.
“They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and plural society. They’re abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom.”
Nor was Springsteen the only celebrity Trump declared war on. On May 16, he posted: “Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’”
At least in the past, Trump clearly had a soft spot in his pants for Swift. In November, 2023, he told Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh: “I think she’s beautiful—very beautiful! I find her very beautiful. I think she’s liberal. She probably doesn’t like Trump. I hear she’s very talented. I think she’s very beautiful, actually—unusually beautiful!”
Taylor Swift
iHeartRadioCA, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
That apparent one-sided infatuation ended on August 18, 2024, when Trump posted AI-generated images that falsely suggested that Swift endorsed his presidential campaign. The images showed women wearing “Swifties for Trump” t-shirts.
In turn, Swift posted on Instagram: “Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation.
“It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”
Five days after Swift endorsed Harris, Trump, like a spurned lover, posted on Truth Social in all caps, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
Republicans have shown they’re willing to tolerate—if not enthusiastically support—Trump’s
But they might—at last—be unnerved by the spectacle of Trump’s unhinged attacks on musical superstars Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.
Both are more than entertainers; they are role models who command huge influence among even conservative voters Republicans fear alienating.
When Albert Anastasia threatened to become a liability to the ruling chieftains of the Mafia, they decided it was time for him to go—in a hail of bullets.
House and Senate Republicans won’t put a contract out on Trump. But they may decide that it’s time to stop reflexively supporting his every act of aggression, cruelty and egomania.
It’s also possible that members of his Cabinet—including his ambitions Vice President J.D. Vance—may decide it’s time to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment. They could issue a written declaration that Trump is emotionally unable to discharge his duties.
And cite his increasingly erratic behavior—such as his feud with Springsteen and Swift—as evidence.
Only time—and Right-wing ambition—will tell.
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