Louis "Louie HaHa" Attanasio Jr. (born June 22, 1944) is an American mobster and reputed

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

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. The family was known as the Maranzano crime family until its founder Sal ...

. He is the brother of Bonanno mobster

Robert Attanasio The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

. 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 (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

. 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 Cesare "The Tall Guy" Bonventre (January 1, 1951 – April 16, 1984) was a Sicilian gangster who served as a caporegime in the Bonanno crime family, operating out of Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick. Bonventre alongside Salvatore “Toto” Cata ...

. Bonanno leaders

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

and

Joseph Massino Joseph Charles Massino (January 10, 1943 – September 14, 2023) was an American mobster. He was a member of the American Mafia, Mafia and Crime boss, boss of the Bonanno crime family from 1991 until 2004, when he became the first boss of one of ...

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 testi ...

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 Garfield is a city in Bergen County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 32,655, an increase of 2,168 (+7.1%) from the 2010 census count of 30,487, which in turn reflected an increas ...

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 or tax fraud 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 red ...

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 A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...

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 in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicities, races, religions, denominations, countries, social classes, and sexual orientations. Most wed ...

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 Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean region of North America. With a population of 58,477 as of June 2023 on an area of , it encompasses ...

, 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 (FCI) Elkton, a low security unit in

Elkton, Ohio Elkton is an unincorporated community in Elkrun Township, Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. It lies along Ohio State Route 154 at the confluence of Elk Run and the Little Beaver Creek. The low-security Federal Correctional Institution, ...

. 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