Louis "Louie HaHa" Attanasio Jr. (born 1944) is an American mobster and reputed captain in the

Bonanno crime family The Bonanno crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as ...

. He is the brother of Bonanno mobster Robert Attanasio. Attanasio earned the nickname "HaHa" because he laughed whenever he killed a man. Attanasio was married twice, marrying young and divorcing his first wife in 1992. In 2003, he divorced his second wife Erica, who allegedly suffered from a

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

. In the divorce settlement, Erica allegedly received $200,000 over a span of five years. In April 1984, Attanasio participated in the murder of Bonanno soldier Cesare Bonventre. Bonanno leaders

Philip Rastelli Philip "Rusty" Rastelli (January 31, 1918 – June 24, 1991) was an American mobster and former crime boss, boss of the Bonanno crime family, he spent all but three years of his reign in prison. Biography Rastelli was born and raised in Maspeth, Q ...

and

Joseph Massino Joseph Charles Massino (born January 10, 1943) is an American former mobster. He was a member of the Mafia and boss of the Bonanno crime family from 1991 until 2004, when he became the first boss of one of the Five Families in New York City to tu ...

had ordered Bonventre's murder because they felt he was a threat to their power. On the day of the murder, Attanasio and Bonanno mobster

Salvatore Vitale Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale (born September 22, 1947) is an American former underboss of the Bonanno crime family before he became a government informant. After his arrest in 2003, Vitale agreed to cooperate with the government and testif ...

picked up Bonventre to bring him to a meeting with Rastelli. As Vitale drove into a garage, Attanasio shot Bonventre twice in the head. Surprisingly, Bonventre still struggled, forcing the two hitmen to stop the car. Bonventre crawled out of the car onto the concrete before Attanasio finished him off with two more shots. Bonventre's body was hacked to pieces and dumped into three 55-gallon glue drums in a Garfield, New Jersey warehouse. After the body was recovered, it took forensic technicians three months to identify it. During the 1980s, Attanasio was convicted of

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

and of trying to bribe a state trooper. He received five years in prison. In June 1996, Attanasio was indicted on racketeering and loansharking charges. He reportedly ran his loansharking operation in the 1980s while in federal prison on his tax evasion conviction. In 1997, after a 23-year romance, Attanasio married his second wife, Erica, in a prison

wedding ceremony A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

In January 2004, Attanasio was indicted in New York on charges of murder, conspiracy to murder and loansharking. To avoid prosecution, he and Erica fled to

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the nort ...

, where he maintained a residence. In December 2004, Attansio was arrested by members of the Sint Maarten Police Force after they received a tip that he was residing on the island. He was later extradited to the United States to face charges, including the 1984 Bonventre murder. On September 20, 2006, Attanasio was sentenced to 15 years in prison as part of his plea agreement for the 1984 Bonventre murder. As of April 2014, he was serving his sentence at the

Federal Correctional Institution The Federal Bureau of Prisons classifies prisons into seven categories: * United States penitentiaries * Federal correctional institutions * Private correctional institutions * Federal prison camps * Administrative facilities * Federal correctio ...

(FCI) Elkton, a low security unit in

Elkton, Ohio Elkton is an unincorporated community located in central Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. It lies along State Route 154 at the confluence of Elk Run and the Little Beaver Creek and has the ZIP code 44415. It is home to t ...

. His projected release date was January 23, 2018, but he was released on May 2, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attanasio, Louis 1944 births Living people Bonanno crime family American gangsters of Italian descent American prisoners and detainees American people convicted of tax crimes People extradited from the Netherlands Antilles People extradited to the United States