Anthony Loria, Sr.

Anthony Loria, Sr. (October 1, 1921–1989), also known as "Tony Aboudamita", was a New York mobster who played a major role in the French Connection heroin scandal.

French Connection
Loria was implicated along with Vincent Papa in the New York Police Department scandal which over $70 million narcotics seized during the French Connection operation were stolen from the police property room.

In February 1972, French traffickers offered a U.S. Army sergeant $96,000 to smuggle 240 pounds (109 kg) of heroin into the United States. He informed his superior who in turn notified the BNDD. As a result of this investigation, five men in New York and two in Paris were arrested with 264 pounds (120 kg) of heroin, which had a street value of $50 million. In a 14-month period, starting in February 1972, six major illicit heroin laboratories were seized and dismantled in the suburbs of Marseille by French national narcotics police in collaboration with U.S. drug agents. On February 29, 1972, French authorities seized the shrimp boat, Caprice des Temps, as it put to sea near Marseille heading towards Miami. It was carrying 915 pounds (415 kg) of heroin. Drug arrests in France skyrocketed from 57 in 1970 to 3,016 in 1972.

Heroin from the evidence room
The well-organized gang was responsible for distributing close to a million dollars in heroin up and down the East Coast during the early 1970s, which in turn led to a major New York Police Department (NYPD) corruption scheme. The scope and depth of this scheme are still not known, but officials suspect it involved corrupt NYPD officers, who allowed Papa, Alessi, and Loria access to the NYPD property/evidence storage room at 400 Broome Street, where hundreds of kilograms of heroin lay seized from the now-infamous French Connection bust, the missing heroin replaced with flour and cornstarch.

The substitution was discovered only when officers noticed insects eating all the bags of "heroin". By that point an estimated street value of approximately $70 million worth of "smack" had already been taken. The racket was brought to light and arrests were made. Certain plotters received jail sentences, including Papa. (Papa was later murdered in federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia; several conflicting reasons why have been suggested). The French Connection investigation demonstrated that international trafficking networks were best disabled by the combined efforts of drug enforcement agencies from multiple countries. In this case, agents from the United States, Canada, Italy and France had worked together to achieve success.

Later years
For his role in the French Connection scheme, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison for heroin distribution after the DEA and BNDD both closed in on his selling operation. Angelo Paradiso and Stanton Garland turned states' witness against the whole Papa - Loria operation that generated a few million dollars a year according to the SUI internal investigation.

In 1989, after years of failing health, Anthony Loria Sr. died at Stony Brook University Hospital hospital in Stony Brook, New York. He was buried in Pinelawn Cemetery on Long Island, NY.

Loria was survived by his wife Mildred (who died in 1995) and seven children. Loria was the father of Arthur "Artie" Loria who was a very successful musician and member of The Belmonts and Larry Chance and the Earls of doo wop fame. Art Loria died October 23, 2010. Anthony's other son Louis Loria was a successful casting agent. His company "Strickly Talent Production" has produced show's "Oz"-for "HBO" and "Law and Order" for "NBC". Daniel Loria, grandson of Tony Loria is a SAG (screen actors guild) member and has appeared in The Siege which starred Denzel Washington and "DISCO;THE FINAL DANCE". He also is an active musician following in his fathers footsteps and currently performs and produces many styles of music.