Albert Anastasia’s assassination

Albert Anastasia’s assassination in October 1957 set off a chain of events that made Russell Bufalino more visible within the underworld. The killing, carried out while Anastasia sat in a barber’s chair with a hot towel over his face, was described as a threat to the balance among mob leaders; the meeting convened in response would bring unwanted public attention to the organization it was meant to steady.

The Killing and Its Immediate Stakes

Anastasia, a New York waterfront boss and godfather, was shot in October 1957 at the Park-Sheraton Hotel in New York. The account gives no description of the gunmen or their identities. Its emphasis is instead on the danger the killing represented: the prospect that the death of a powerful figure could unsettle relations among mob leaders and lead to a gang war.

The Apalachin Meeting

The following month, a meeting of godfathers from around the nation was held in Apalachin, New York, to settle problems that might erupt after Anastasia’s killing. Bufalino helped organize the gathering. In Sheeran’s recollection, people downtown went further, saying that Bufalino appeared to be the boss who had called it to head off a war over the killing of the New York waterfront boss. The distinction matters: Bufalino’s role as an organizer is stated directly, while the claim that he had called the meeting is attributed to what others were saying.

Consequences and Significance

The meeting was intended to contain the danger created by the assassination, but it also made Bufalino’s standing newly apparent to Sheeran. The man Sheeran had first encountered as a mechanic starting his horse at a truck stop in Endicott, New York, now seemed to him to be rising in stature. In that reversal, the assassination functions not only as the cause of a crisis among mob leaders but also as the event that brings Bufalino’s influence into sharper view. The account’s focus is on that change in perception, not on identifying who killed Anastasia.