The Viennese underworld is once again a size smaller. Anton Österreicher, nicknamed ‘Österreicher-Toni’, around whom there are numerous legends about gunfights and spat out bullets, died at the age of 82 in a hospital in Vienna of kidney failure.
He was getting old. And this despite a lifestyle that had long brought many of his colleagues, such as his partner, the “Red Heinzi”, but also competitors from the Viennese underworld and the red light scene to their graves. The “Austrian Toni” became known to the general public through a wild gunfight with rival gangs on New Year’s Eve 1967 in front of the Meidlinger “Cafe Domingo”, during which he was shot in the head, but reportedly shot in front of the police officers.
“Laufhaus King” Laskaris offers condolences
The wild shooting on New Year’s Eve earned him ten years in prison. Even after that, it was not quiet for the busy red light boss. Only in 2020 did Austrian appear in the documentary ‘Records from the Underworld’, which was also shown in cinemas. Now the now 82-year-old succumbed to kidney disease in a Viennese hospital. “He was the muscle and power of the Viennese underworld, simply a bon vivant,” said “Laufhaus King” Peter Laskaris.
Source: Krone
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