from staff reports
Anthony J. Leisure, the St. 亚洲无码 man who flipped a switch and ignited three years of gangland war in the early 1980s, died of natural causes Sunday, Oct. 20, at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre. He was 78.
The main crime for which he was sentenced to a life in prison 鈥 a 1980 car-bombing in broad daylight on Interstate 55 in south St. 亚洲无码 County 鈥 arguably is the most infamous mob hit in St. 亚洲无码 history.
Officially, Leisure was a part-owner of a towing company and a midlevel functionary in a union local. But he also was a suspected fence and the No. 2 man of the Leisure criminal organization 鈥 a breakaway mob group that announced its arrival in 1980 with a dramatic bomb blast in south St. 亚洲无码 County.
Leisure spent the last decades of his life behind bars, serving sentences for murder, conspiracy and racketeering. He once was described by his lawyer as 鈥渢he brains鈥 of the Leisure crime family, which was run by his brother, the late Paul Leisure.
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While the Leisures weren鈥檛 the stuff of Hollywood movies, what they lacked in panache and power was made up in over-the-top 鈥 and quite public 鈥 violence.
It all started after the Leisures and their followers broke away from the so-called Syrian faction, a rackets syndicate run by James A. Michaels Sr.
On Sept. 17, 1980, Anthony Leisure detonated a bomb planted under Michaels鈥 Chrysler Cordoba while the old boss was driving on Interstate 55. The blast killed Michaels, scattered debris across the highway and shattered windows of nearby homes.
The Michaels and Leisure families were battling over control of the mob-dominated Laborers locals. The Leisures believed that, with Michaels out of the picture, Anthony Leisure could move up from assistant business manager and take over Local 110.
According to courtroom testimony, Anthony Leisure spent a great deal of time planning Michaels鈥 death. At one point, Leisure wanted to dangle dynamite down a chimney hoping that the bomb would kill Michaels while he relaxed near the fire. The plan was rejected, presumably because it would require someone being on the roof of a house that, during an explosion, was likely to collapse.
Despite the planning, the Leisures bungled some of the details. When Leisure detonated the bomb, he was in a van that was too close to Michaels鈥 vehicle. As a result, debris from the blast hit the van, and David Leisure, his cousin, later signed for new windshield wipers to be installed on the vehicle.
But in his planning of the assassination, Leisure made a much bigger mistake: The murder might not have been needed at all. Michaels was in ill health, and one of his doctors later reported that he would have had only a few months to live.
The initial bombing led to a reprisal from Michaels鈥 grandson, James A. Michaels III, who planted a bomb in a car driven by Paul Leisure. He was maimed in the blast. The Leisures responded, and the cycle of vendetta attacks played out in the pages of the Post-Dispatch and St. 亚洲无码 Globe-Democrat.
A jury convicted Leisure of manslaughter for the death of George M. 鈥淪onny鈥 Faheen, a nephew of the elder Michaels. Faheen died when his Volkswagen exploded in the Mansion House garage downtown. That conviction was overturned by an appeals court, which ruled that jurors should have been allowed to choose only between a murder conviction or acquittal.
Authorities long have maintained that Anthony and Paul Leisure also ordered the killing of Michael Kornhardt, whom the brothers regarded as a possible informant in the Leisure organization.
Leisure made few public comments about the attacks, but he did offer a rambling courtroom speech during one of several sentencing hearings. He tried to explain why, even before a judge and jury, he seemed to show little remorse for the death of his enemies.
鈥淚 find it very hard to show compassion for anybody who would blow up my brother and harm my mother, whom I consider a saint,鈥 Leisure told the court.
In March 2007, Leisure completed his federal sentence and was released from the medium-security prison in Pekin, Illinois. He was transferred to the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Before his incarceration, Leisure was a member of the St. 亚洲无码 Ambassadors, a booster group.
Leisure鈥檚 death was confirmed Monday by the Missouri Department of Corrections. He is survived by few relatives.
Paul Leisure, his brother, died from heart disease in 2000 at a federal prison hospital in Springfield, Missouri. David Leisure, the brothers鈥 cousin, was executed in 1999 for his role in the bombing that killed Michaels.
Reporting by Matt Hathaway, formerly of the Post-Dispatch, and Joe Holleman of the Post-Dispatch.