Journalist finds little honor in mob

In 1993, George Anastasia says, Philadelphia mob boss John Stanfa ordered his death.

The plan was supposedly to throw grenades through the windows of Anastasia's New Jersey home.

However, his life was saved when his would-be killers landed behind bars before they had a chance to whack him.

Anastasia, who is a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer and a longtime observer of mob life in Philadelphia, came to share his experiences covering some of the city's most notorious criminals yesterday at the Kelly Writers House.

The event was attended by over a dozen people, mostly students.

Anastasia's comments touched on the merits of journalism, the ordinary lives American mafia members lead and the planned bombing that could have ended his life.

"A journalist humanizes a story," he said. "They write a microscopic story about a big issue."

Anastasia began his journalism career in 1969 covering sports stories for $90 a week. He was the first member of his family to earn a college degree, and when he started reporting, his grandmother told him to get a "real job."

But Anastasia stuck with it and eventually wound up covering the Philadelphia crime beat, with a focus on organized crime.

He said he was fascinated with the American mafia since childhood, particularly the romantic notions of loyalty and honor portrayed in movies like The Godfather.

After years of experience covering the Philadelphia underworld, however, Anastasia said he came to realize that the American mob is about neither loyalty nor honor, family nor romance.

"It is so petty. These guys are like high schoolers with guns," Anastasia said. "They bastardize values like honor and loyalty to justify what they do."

Writing professor Dick Polman, who organized the event in cooperation with the Annenberg School for Communication, was full of praise for Anastasia.

"The value of bringing George here is that his experiences really help illustrate the difficult issues of how reporters need to build relationships with sources," Polman said. "His is an extreme version," he added.

Elena Grill, a College sophomore, attended the event for her English 158 class, which Polman teaches.

"I thought [Anastasia's] writing would only be about mob stories," she said. "I was surprised to see that it was more about the human aspect of the mafia."

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