The three hitmen knew they couldn't enter the fortress where Anastasia lived, they knew they had to take him somewhere he felt comfortable easy. When he ventured into town, he always stopped at his favorite barbershop, the Park Sheraton Hotel, located at Seventh Avenue and Fifty-fifth Street, to get a shave and a makeover. On October 25, 1957, at 10:15 a.m., the Gallo brothers entered the store and, as the barber covered Anastasia's face with a towel and lowered his chair, fired five shots into Anastasia's head and back. . Miraculously, Anastasia, with her last ounce of life, threw herself at the killers, but only hit the mirror in front of him. When news of Albert Anastasia's death reached the four other New York bosses, they knew that Vito Genovese would now take over as head of the mafia's governing body, the Commission. Carlo Gambino knew this too and was determined to achieve his own power play. To decide who would be leader, Genovese decided to call a gathering that notably became the largest Cosa Nostra meeting in history. Nearly a hundred bosses, sub-bosses, caporegimes and work managers were present, all solicited by the Genoese who hope to be elected “boss of bosses”. The meeting was to take place on November 14, 1957 at the giant estate of Joseph Barbara, near the village of Apalachin. Top La Cosa Nostra officials were expected to discuss Anastasia's succession, how to put an end to the violent leadership changes that had occurred, a discussion about Mafia membership and finally, the revision of the Cosa Nostra's drug policy, thanks to the federal government's passage of "the Narcotic Control Act of 1956 which created the most punitive and repressive anti-narcotics law." legislation never passed...... middle of paper ...... in the field of drugs, Vito, however, felt exempt from this law. He began creating a large international heroin smuggling operation. Gambino, along with Lansky, Frank Costello and Lucky Luciano, formulated a plan for Genovese to get caught by the feds. They hired a Puerto Rican thug, Nelson Cantellops, to testify against Genovese, whom he had "seen" purchase large quantities of heroin, paying him a $100,000 bribe. From there, an anonymous tip was sent to the Bureau of Narcotics and arrested Genovese and twenty-four of his men in violation of the Narcotics Control Act. Cantellops' testimony was the nail in Genovese's coffin during the trial, held in 1959, which sentenced Genovese to 15 years in prison, where he died after 10 years. With Anastasia dead, Genovese in prison, and all of these men's followers dead, Don Carlo's reign was set in stone...