Anthony Brancato

Anthony “Tony” Brancato, a 37-year-old White man with deep roots in the criminal underworld, was a freelance gunman who moved from his native Kansas City, Missouri, to the burgeoning, sun-drenched landscape of Los Angeles in 1946. He arrived during a tumultuous power struggle between Los Angeles crime family boss Jack Dragna and the notorious Mickey Cohen, quickly finding work in the city’s dark corners. Brancato built a formidable criminal record, with activities ranging from illegal gambling and narcotics to armed robbery. Police considered him a person of interest in several high-profile gangland incidents, including the murder of Bugsy Siegel and a dramatic assassination attempt on Cohen.

Brancato frequently partnered with a fellow Kansas City transplant, Anthony “Tony” Trombino, and their partnership earned them the moniker "The Two Tonys." Together, they were described as "muscle-men and shakedown artists" and accumulated a combined 46 arrests for charges that included robbery and assault. Their reputation for reckless ambition grew, and they began to operate outside the established rules of the local syndicate, muscling in on protected games and rackets without sanction from their bosses. Their most audacious move came on May 28, 1951, when they brazenly robbed the sportsbook at the mob-controlled Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, escaping with $3,500. Brancato, who failed to wear a mask, was identified by an employee he had held up two years prior.

The Flamingo heist proved to be a fatal miscalculation. The brazen act not only drew the attention of law enforcement but also incurred the wrath of the mob. On June 27, 1951, Anthony Brancato was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. He surrendered to federal agents in San Francisco just two days later. After a series of legal maneuvers that saw him released on a writ of habeas corpus, Brancato returned to Los Angeles, where he and Trombino compounded their problems by cheating another gambler out of $3,000. This final act sealed their fate, as L.A. boss Jack Dragna ordered their deaths.

The execution was set up by mobster Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno, who was tasked with carrying out the hit. Fratianno lured the Two Tonys into a trap with a tantalizing offer: a supposed plan to rob a high-stakes poker game with a potential take of $40,000. Desperate for cash to cover their mounting legal fees, Brancato and Trombino agreed to meet. On the evening of August 6, 1951, they were waiting in the front seat of their Oldsmobile parked on North Ogden Drive, near Hollywood Boulevard, for the planned heist. The car radio was still playing when police later arrived on the scene.

At around 7:30 p.m., the trap was sprung. Fratianno and another hitman, Charles "Charley Bats" Battaglia, slipped into the back seat of the Oldsmobile. Fratianno shot Brancato in the back of the head before turning his gun on Trombino. Both men died instantly in a hail of .38-caliber bullets that pierced the car's windshield. The killers then fled to a waiting getaway car.

The Los Angeles Police Department immediately suspected a mob hit and arrested Fratianno, Battaglia, and several other mob associates the following day, including Nick Licata, Angelo Polizzi, and Leo "Lips" Moceri. However, the suspects had a well-planned alibi. They claimed they were all attending a "Fish Fry" at Licata's Five O'Clock Club in Burbank. The case against them crumbled after a waitress testified that Fratianno had been at the club all night, later telling a grand jury that detectives had tried to coerce her into changing her story.

For more than two decades, the brazen double murder of "The Two Tonys" remained officially unsolved, a testament to the mob's power and code of silence. The truth finally emerged over 25 years later when Jimmy Fratianno, having become the highest-ranking mobster to turn informant, entered the federal Witness Protection Program. As part of his debriefing, Fratianno confessed in detail to the murders of Anthony Brancato and Anthony Trombino, admitting he and Charley Battaglia had carried out the executions on the orders of Jack Dragna. Despite his confession, no one was ever formally punished for the slayings, leaving the case a cold, closed chapter in the violent history of Los Angeles organized crime.