Mobster Serving 455-Year Sentence Dies From COVID In Tucson Prison

Former mafia leader Anthony Casso died in the United States Penitentiary Tucson on Tuesday, December 15, after contracting COVID-19. He was 78 years old.

Casso had a number of health problems before his death, including prostate cancer, kidney disease, bladder disease, and lung issues. His lawyers asked a judge for compassionate release after learning that Casso contracted COVID in late November.

“In light of the nature and extent of defendant’s criminal history, that he remains a danger to the community," federal Judge Frederic Block wrote in his rejection to Casso's release.

Casso was doomed to die in federal custody since he was serving out a 455-year sentence for the brutal crimes he committed as an underboss with the Lucchese crime family, mostly in Brooklyn, New York. The hefty sentence was for racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder, murder, conspiracy to bribe union leaders, conspiracy to bribe labor unions, conspiracy to commit extortion, and conspiracy to commit income tax evasion.

The mobster is believed to have killed at least 36 people, the New York Post reported. An investigator working on Casso's case reportedly called him a "a ruthless homicidal maniac who enjoyed killing.”

Casso famously went on the run in 1990 when 67 federal charges were brought against him. He was caught in 1993 at his mistress's home in Mount Olive, New Jersey.

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