Editing Albert Anastasia (section)

==Early Life and Immigration==
Albert Anastasia was born into a large family, one of nine sons and three daughters of Raffaelo Anastasio, a railway worker, and Louisa Nomina de Filippi. His father’s death after World War I left the family in financial hardship, prompting Albert and three of his brothers—Anthony (“Tough Tony”), Joseph, and Gerardo—to seek opportunities abroad. In 1919, at age 17, they deserted an Italian freighter docked in New York City, illegally entering the United States and settling in Brooklyn. Another brother, Salvatore, became a Roman Catholic priest in New York.

The Anastasio brothers found work as longshoremen on the Brooklyn waterfront, a gritty environment controlled by the mafia. Albert, strong and quick-tempered, immersed himself in this world, engaging in a brutal Brooklyn gang that preyed on women and committed robberies. Around 1921, he changed his surname from “Anastasio” to “Anastasia.”