On the evening of September 25, 1959, the life of 63-year-old Anthony Pisano, a White male also known in mob circles as Anthony Carfano or "Little Augie Pisano," came to a violent end on a quiet street in Queens, New York. A well-known captain in the Luciano organized crime family, Pisano's death was not a random act of violence but a calculated execution with roots in the turbulent power struggles of the Mafia.
Earlier that night, Pisano was dining at Marino's restaurant with a group
that included Janice Drake, a former Miss New Jersey and the wife of comedian Alan Drake. The evening took a fateful turn when Pisano reportedly received a phone call. After a brief conversation, he announced to his companions that he and Drake had to leave immediately on "urgent business." The two departed in Pisano's Cadillac, leaving the restaurant behind them. It is widely believed that this call was a setup, luring him to his death.
Less than an hour after their departure, at approximately 10:30 p.m., the bodies of both Pisano and Drake were discovered in his car near LaGuardia Airport. Both had been shot in the head. The prevailing theory among law enforcement was that assassins had been waiting in the back seat of the Cadillac. Once on the road, they likely forced Pisano to drive to the secluded location where the executions were carried out.
The murders of Anthony Pisano and Janice Drake were believed to have been ordered by top mob figures Meyer Lansky and Vito Genovese. Pisano had fallen out of favor with the new leadership of the family, particularly Genovese, after a shift in power. Rumors also circulated that Pisano was attempting to encroach on Lansky's gambling interests in Cuba. In the shadowy world of organized crime, such transgressions were often met with deadly force. Despite the strong suspicions regarding who was responsible, no arrests were ever publicly announced in connection with the murders, leaving the case officially unsolved, a common fate for mob-related hits of that era.
