Albert Anastasia a/k/a "The Mad Hatter" a/k/a "The Lord High Executioner" (1903-1957) accomplished the very ambitious achievement of becoming the most ruthless hoodlum who ever headed what became known as the Gambino Family crime syndicate in New York. Among his many homicides, he ordered the murder of a young clothing salesman who had spotted bank robber Willie Sutton on the subway and informed the police. Anastasia had nothing to do with the bank robbery or Willie Sutton; he just felt morally obligated on general principles to kill someone whom he thought was a squealer--even if the target was a civilian and not mobbed up.
Being notorious and engendering adverse publicity is not necessarily a good thing for a crime boss, and Anastasia was gunned down in the Park Avenue Hotel barbershop upon the orders of his understudy and successor Carlo Gambino. He tried to fight back, but in the heat of the moment, he attempted to attack his assailants' reflections in the mirror instead of the real thing.
For a more detailed chronicle of the Mad Hatter's illegal activities, including his role in Murder, Inc., please click here.
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