On the night of September 25, 1959 (some sources incorrectly claim September 29), Strollo invited Carfano to dinner at Marino's restaurant and Carfano accepted. Earlier that night, Carfano relaxed at the
Copacabana nightclub and later that evening, left to meet with Strollo. At Marino's, Carfano ran into mutual friends, among them
Janice Drake, a former
Miss New Jersey and the wife of comedian
Allan Drake. Drake had been previously called in as a witness to testify on gangland slayings of Manhattan Nathan Nelson and
Gambino crime family boss
Albert Anastasia. Carfano offered to drive Janice home after supper to her apartment in
Rego Park, Queens, where her 13-year-old son, Michael, was sleeping. In the middle of the meal, Carfano allegedly received a phone call. After hanging up, Carfano told his group that he and Drake had to leave; he had been called away "on urgent business". Carfano and Drake left Marino's and drove away in his Cadillac. Police later theorized that this phone call was from Costello warning Carfano about the hit. When Carfano and Drake left the restaurant, they were allegedly heading to
La Guardia Airport in
Queens to board a flight to Miami. However, according to this theory, Strollo had anticipated such a move and had hidden gunmen in the back seat of the Cadillac. Once on the road, the gunmen forced Carfano to drive to a quiet location near the airport. At 10:30 that evening, 45 minutes after Carfano and Drake left Marino's, their bodies were found in Carfano's car near the airport. Both had been shot in the head.
Alternate assassination theory Another theory regarding Carfano's death lies with his vast gambling empire in South Florida and a belief he was making moves to invest in Cuban casinos at the time of his death. With the emergence of Genovese as the new leader of the Luciano crime family in late 1957, former boss Luciano lost a great deal of underworld influence in New York and America. No longer in control of his crime family, longtime Luciano ally and supporter
Meyer Lansky, who had vast gambling interests across America, along with casino interests in
Las Vegas and
Cuba, was in need of a new sponsor and ally within the former Luciano family. Luciano and Costello had given Lansky underworld protection for decades. Now Lansky sought an alliance with new boss
Vito Genovese. Underworld rumor has it that after Costello was deposed as boss of the Luciano crime family in late 1957, Carfano took it upon himself to show disregard and even contempt for the new leadership. He apparently spent most of his time overseeing his criminal and legitimate interests in South Florida and traveled to New York only when necessary, and by 1959 had begun making plans to expand his gambling operations into Cuba. The theory goes that Carfano, who was not a Genovese supporter, began to encroach on the Havana casino operations of Meyer Lansky and the new
Genovese crime family. Carfano's prior, blatant disrespect for his new boss, Genovese, and now his encroachment onto Genovese and Lansky territory without permission sealed Carfano's fate. This, along with the added bonus that Lansky would take over all the Carfano gambling interests in Florida where Lansky was also based gave the two New York Mob bosses all the excuse they needed to have Carfano hit. The fact that Lansky's criminal association with Genovese strengthened after his takeover of the Luciano crime family and that Lansky did in fact take over Carfano's Southern Florida gambling interests after his death is likely the catalyst for this theory surrounding Carfano's murder and Lansky's involvement. == References==