On this day in 1979 Anthony Russo died at the age of 62.

Little Pussy as he was also called because of being such a skillful cat burglar, was a Genovese mobster who was also said to have reigned over Monmouth County in New Jersey. His death came at the hands of a Genovese capo called Thomas DePhillips, Anthony DeVingo (an enforcer) and Joe Zarro (an associate), who together shot and killed Russo in Long Branch, New Jersey.

On this day in 1979, Anthony Russo — better known throughout the underworld as "Little Pussy" — was shot and killed in Long Branch, New Jersey, at the age of 62. His death marked the violent end of a career that had spanned decades and cemented his reputation as one of the more colourful and capable figures operating beneath the banner of the Genovese crime family.

Russo earned his distinctive nickname not as an insult, but as a badge of honour. He was considered a supremely gifted cat burglar in his younger years, moving through the shadows with a feline stealth that impressed even the most hardened criminals around him. The nickname distinguished him from another notorious New Jersey mobster, Harold "Kayo" Konigsberg associate Anthony "Tony Bananas" Caponigro, and from his fellow New Jersey hood Simone "Big Pussy" DeCavalcante, ensuring there was never any confusion about which Russo was being discussed in mob circles. The nickname stuck, and so did his reputation.

Operating out of Monmouth County, New Jersey, Russo wielded considerable influence over the area's rackets and criminal enterprises for many years. His position as a Genovese-connected figure placed him within one of the most powerful criminal organisations in American history — a family that had been shaped by the vision of Charles "Lucky" Luciano and later guided by the iron hand of Vito Genovese himself. By the late 1970s, however, the political winds within organised crime had shifted considerably, and loyalty alone was no guarantee of survival.

The circumstances surrounding Russo's murder pointed to an internal settling of accounts. On 26th April 1979, Genovese capo Thomas DePhillips, along with enforcer Anthony DeVingo and associate Joe Zarro, carried out the killing in Long Branch. The precise motivations behind the hit have never been fully disclosed publicly, though such eliminations within the Genovese family rarely lacked calculated reasoning from those at the top of the organisation. Russo was shot and left dead, another casualty of the brutal internal politics that governed life — and death — in the American mob.

Russo's legacy is that of a capable street-level operator whose life perfectly illustrated both the rewards and the inherent dangers of a career in organised crime. His story remains a reminder that in the world of the mob, even the most nimble and experienced operators were never truly beyond the reach of their own.