Antonio Turano 1983 murder

[Dwalin2014]

I am currently reading the book "The dragon syndicates" by Martin Booth, about the Chinese triads, and there is a quote that made me curious: when describing the international contacts of the Ma brothers from Hong Kong (Ma Sik-yu and Ma Sik-chun), there is a mention of a mafia member killed in New York, allegedly by the Triads, named Anthony Turano. Here is the quote:

Other connections were also likely, if unproved: they may have met with Anthony Turano, a New York Mafia boss who was assassinated by the Triads when they believed he had double-crossed them, or Auguste Joseph Ricord, a French gangster from Marseilles who had been a Nazi collaborator in the Second World War and was responsible, between 1968 and 1973, for smuggling Golden Triangle heroin worth over US$2 billion into the USA.

Although of course there was no such boss in the New York families, but could this Turano be a Sicilian mafia member maybe? I found mentions of an Antonio Turano in a couple of articles, he and several others were arrested for drug trafficking in 1982 and Turano was killed the next year:

https://apnews.com/article/c2d7d38f518f ... 7fc2300e12
https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5 ... 493453fed9

Does anyone have information on this murder, was he really killed by the Triads? If true, that would be an interesting case of conflict between Asian and Italian organizations which usually don't enter in direct conflict, if ever.

[PolackTony]

No idea who actually murdered him but he was described in the press as Sicilian and a member of the “mafia in Italy” who was also an “associate” of NYC “crime families”. He was murdered 03/1983 in College Point and was described as running a shoe importing business allegedly used as a front for heroin trafficking and living in Manhattan. At the time, Turano was facing charges for a conspiracy to import heroin from Thailand to the US.

The Turano surname is definitely found in CDG/Àlcamo, so it’s possible that he was from there, but I don’t know for sure.

His murder was thought to have been connected to several other murders of Sicilians involved in drug trafficking during this period in the press, and he was also linked to Colombian drug money launderer Eduardo Orozco as well as Chinese OC, so the Chinese angle at least seems to have been possible.

[Dwalin2014]

Thanks for the information!