I've been reading Anastasia Mio Fratello (Edizioni di Novissima, 1967), written by Albert Anastasia's little brother, Rev. Salvatore Anastasio, a Roman Catholic priest who served for a time in New York City parishes before returning to his native Calabria.
It's a plodding effort for me, as I'm virtually illiterate in Italian and need to work on translating as I go. I've gotten through Father Salvatore's discussion of the murder of Joseph Terella (pages 58 through 66). This was the murder for which Albert Anastasia was convicted and sentenced to die in the electric chair (reversed on appeal).
Father Salvatore insisted that he researched this matter more carefully than any other in the book. (He wrote: "...io abbia dedicato ad esso le ricerche più accurate.") So, we should be free to gauge his commitment to accuracy by seeing how well he did here:
- Well, he misspelled the victim's name (but, OK, nearly everyone has done that - I recall spelling Terella's name a number of different ways over the years).
- Father Salvatore placed the killing on May 19, 1921, when it was actually one year and a few days earlier, Terella died in Long Island College Hospital on May 17, 1920, of injuries suffered the previous day.
- He indicated the murder was committed through repeated stabbings with a steel hook. The real cause of death was a gunshot wound to the belly that sliced through the liver, pancreas, several vertebrae and other stuff, causing internal hemorrhage.
- Anastasia, he claimed, was working each day at the Brooklyn docks during the period of the murder and its aftermath. But, really, Anastasia took off and hid in Providence, Rhode Island, after the murder.
- Father Salvatore said that Anastasia's enemies brought four longshoremen into court to lie about witnessing Anastasia murder Terella. The state's case actually had one key witness, a woman.
- Father Salvatore's account neglected to mention Anastasia's pal Giuseppe Florino, who was also convicted of this murder, also faced execution and also was later freed.
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| Terella death certificate. |
In almost every detail, aside from the mention that Anastasia was convicted of this murder and later freed, Father Salvatore's account was lacking.
Interestingly, the author stated that an unnamed Calabrian, who felt protective toward Anastasia, acted on his own and without Anastasia's knowledge to kill Terella after it became clear that Terella and his friends (motivated by envy) intended to harm Anastasia. The supposed killer reportedly admitted his crime to Father Salvatore, with Albert Anastasia present, when the Father confronted Anastasia in 1950 about his criminal reputation. The Calabrian said he had been willing to admit his guilt at the time of Anastasia's trial, but Anastasia would not put the man in harm's way and made him swear to keep quiet about it.
It is a nice story. But it seems no more than that. The author, in this case and others. apparently was willing to go to any lengths to deny what everyone else knows to be true: Albert Anastasia was a ruthless and accomplished killer.
By the way, Father Salvatore's book was turned into a movie, released in 1973, just as Father Salvatore passed away. He did not live long enough to see it, and before his death expressed concern that it would not help to repair the reputation of his long-deceased brother. The movie, starring Alberto Sordi as the priest and Richard Conte as Albert Anastasia, is generally billed as a comedy. If anything about the film can be said to be humorous, it is Father Salvatore's blissful ignorance of his brother's long-term role as a gangland boss.
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| Still from movie Anastasia Mio Fratello |
