Albert Anselmi
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Albert Anselmi (1884-May 7, 1929) was a Prohibition gangster during the 1920s. Anselmi started getting involved with the Mafia quite early in his life and in 1912 had to flee his home in Sicily, where he was born, to America. He entered the country illegally through the Gulf Coast, eventually finding home in St. Louis. Around the time of Prohibition, Anselmi has began work for the six Genna brothers. While working for them he met future friend and partner in crime John Scalise, who would together become one of the most successful hitmen during the decade.
During one particular ambush with Scalise on June 13, 1925, the police quickly got involved, and by the end of the conflict two officers had been killed and one wounded. Anselmi and Scalise were tried for the murder of one officer, Charles Walsh. The trial ended with them being found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years in jail. Four months later in a trial relating to the second officer killed, Harold Olsen, the two were acquitted. Nine months after the acquittal, Anselmi and Scalise were granted a retrial which ended with them being released from prison. One more time in 1927 the duo were tried for the murder of Officer Walsh, and once again were acquitted.
After the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14, 1929, Anselmi's long time friend and partner Scalise was indicted on charges relating to the massacre, as they had now been working for Al Capone. However, a short time later on May 8, 1929, Anselmi, Scalise, and a fellow gangster named Joseph Giunta were found dead on a road near Hammond, Indiana. It is now suspected that they were murdered by Al Capone when he heard that they were planning to betray him.
