Lord High Executioner

The Legendary Mafia Boss Albert Anastasia

By: Frank Dimatteo, Michael Benson

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Umberto "Albert" Anastasia was born in Italy at the turn of the century. Five decades later, he would be gunned down in a barber shop in New York City. What happened in the years in between - and why every crime family had reason to want him dead - is one of the most brutal and fascinating stories in the history of American organized crime.

This in-depth account of the man who became one of the most powerful and homicidal crime bosses of the 20th century from Mafia insider Frank Dimatteo is the first full-length book to chronicle Anastasia's bloody rise from immigrant to founder of the notorious killer's club Murder, Inc.

They called him "The One Man Army." "Mad Hatter." "Lord High Executioner." But Albert Anastasia was a man who defied description. He was Albert the gentleman thief: a polished stick-up artist who would apologize to his victims - and kiss their ladies' hands - as he robbed them at gunpoint. He was Albert the killer: whose merciless assassination of Mafia godfather Vincent Mangano is recounted here in chilling firsthand detail. He was Albert the record breaker: the first man in the history of American justice to be charged with four separate murders - and walk free after each one.

But in the end, he was last obstacle in rival Mafia hoodlum Vito Genovese's dream of becoming the boss of bosses - and paid the ultimate price.

©2020 Frank Dimatteo and Michael Benson (P)2020 Tantor

If you love the mafia genre, it is a must listen

I have read or listened to more mafia genre books then I can even remember. This one was right up there. A lot of information even I had not heard of before. Of course if you listen to enough of this type of book, the bulk of it is the same as most of the others out there. So it was nice to hear about someone I knew little about for a change. While you don't have to be a master narrator for this style book, Eric Martin did a great job and is one of the better ones in this genre.

For real mob historians

I’ve hear all 4 books from this authors and read the other 4 book that aren’t on audible .I not only enjoy them but they have become the standard to how I judge my Mob books by . From the voice of the reader to the funny punchlines at times , over all just great . I truly recommend this and the other 3 book here ( 1- president street boys : growing up mafia , 2 -carmine the snake perisco , 3- mafia hit men).

Great book

it was a great book, if you love anything about the American mafia it's a must read

Great Mob read

The narration was good and so was the writing. One of the best I’ve listened to

Better than most cliche mob books

The writer is clearly a regular guy from the neighborhood who grew up around certain elements which I love because it’s like having your cool uncle tell you the story instead of a boring pretentious college professor writing it. That being said, what I love in any crime/historical non fiction, is the detail and side stories. Tell me about a murder but also mention the address of the building it took place in so I can look up photos of how it looks now. “Joe Smith survived the shooting on 123 ABC street, but would later run out of luck 10 years later, when he was killed in a (tells quick summary of Joe smith murder that is unrelated to the story but I can google it and go down that rabbit hole) The research in this book was amazing, recounting the murder of Anastasia’s neighbor who was a plumber and did work on their mansion but would later have to testify in court. A brutal home invasion in the 50s, bodies never found and a that story was never covered in all the 100s of books about this topic. I googled it and found old New York Times articles and daily news articles from the 50s which confirmed what the author was saying. This is not the same rehashing of the usual stories and it’s also important because it makes sure to point out that these guys are low life losers who were awful people and this notion that “families were off limits” no they killed women and children and flooded cities with heroin and idiots will have pictures of these guys on social media and write things like “men of respect. These guys had rules and values, they kept the neighborhood safe”


Being younger and from the Bronx, hearing these stories

not a biography

Just a terrible listen unless you just want to endure and endless litany of mob hits. I learned zero about the man Albert Anastasio or any other character for that matter. I stopped listening about chapter 20. Again this is NOT a biography of one of the most notorious gangsters in American history.

Long and Dry

The book seemed to drag on and on and the reader reminded me of the guy from the old Geico commercials.

Narrator is awful

I couldn’t deal with the narrator, overly breathy and exaggerated in a very cringey way.

decent

good story, factually off on at least a quarter of it. Don't care what his pedigree is. way off on alot.