Albert Ackalitis Boss of the New York Waterfront

Albert Ackalitis was a member of the Arsenal gang that staged the most lucrative robbery in the history of Brooklyn in 1934. This was the heist of a Rubel Ice Cream armored car. Ackalitis also thieved from truck drivers who operated near the Battery in New York City. Years later he was tutored as a longshoremen boss by Ed Florio, another prominent figure in labor and politics. This was an era when the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) had been tossed out of the American Federation of Labor for racketeering. By 1959 the longshoremen's association had reapplied for membership in the AFL.