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Anthony Loria Sr.
Anthony "Tony" Loria Sr., also known as "Tony Aboudamita", was a mobster who played a major role in the French Connection heroin scandal. Loria, along with his longtime partner Vincent Papa and his crew, are known as "The Men who Stole The French Connection".

Born in the East Harlem section of Upper Manhattan in New York City, the neighborhood was infamous for being home to the Genovese crime family's 116th Street Crew and the Lucchese crime family East Harlem crews. Loria closely associated with members of the Lucchese family and soon acquired a reputation within the family as a loyal and reliable man. In the early 1940s, Loria moved to Arthur Avenue or Belmont section of the Bronx with his wife Mildred and children Ralph Loria, Daniel Loria, Anthony Loria Jr., Anna Loria and Arthur Loria. They lived in the Cypress Gardens apartment building on Beaumont Avenue. Loria's brother-in-law Alfred Perillo, was a major Mafia member who was partner of Joseph Valachi. In 1961, Loria was the defendant in New York v. Loria, a landmark case involving Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution rights regarding illegal "search and seizures". (NY v. Loria 1961)

In the early 1970s, Loria moved to North Babylon. During this period, Loria went to prison for his role as head of Long Island's heroin traffic operation. Loria was also implicated 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. These drugs eventually ended back on the streets, with Loria allegedly one of the sellers. Loria's partner, Vincent Papa was also arrested in the same Drug Enforcement Administration case and was sent to prison. Carmine Tramunti, Virgil Alessi and Johnny Dio were also part of the crew who "Stole the French Connection", all under the direct control of the Lucchese Crime Family, with the case never actually being totally solved, discovering who was the inside mole in the NYPD and the Special Investigations Unit. That information was taken to the grave with Loria, Papa, Alessi and Diguardio. However a recent update has come up with mobster Anthony Casso with an attempt to tell "all" regarding the whole structure of the famous scandal that was world wide news. Authorities have declined his information for a reduced sentence.Following five subsequent years of concessions, combined with international cooperation, the Turkish government finally agreed in 1971 to a complete ban on the growing of Turkish opium, effective June 29, 1972. During these protracted negotiations, law enforcement personnel went into action. One of the major roundups began on January 4, 1972, when agents from the US Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) and French authorities seized 110 pounds (50 kg) of heroin at the Paris airport. Subsequently, traffickers Jean-Baptiste Croce and Joseph Mari were arrested in Marseille. One such French seizure from the French Connection in 1973, netted 210 pounds (95 kg) of heroin worth $38 million.

In February 1972, French traffickers offered a U.S. Army sergeant $96,000 tho 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. Also broken up as part of this investigation was the crew of Vincent Papa, whose members included Anthony Loria and Virgil Alessi. 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 involvedcorhrupt 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.

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.

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. He was on the run for over a year when he turned himself in after authorities made over 27 arrests of many family members and friends. With his surrender the Eastern District Courts dropped all 27 arrest charges, and Loria went in to do his time.

In later years, Loria moved to the Stuyvesant Drive section of Port Jefferson, New York and lived out his last years living with his wife Mildred in Port Jefferson, NY house along with his son Arthur Loria, Arthur's wife Catherine and their two sons, Daniel Loria and Christopher Loria. In 1989, after years of failing health, Anthony Loria Sr. died at Stony Brook University Hospital hospital in Stony Brook, New York.

Loria was survived by his wife Mildred (who died in 1995) and seven children. Loria was the father of 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 Loria Sr. is laid to rest in Pinelawn Cemetery in Farmingdale Long Island, NY.