Anthony Riela attended the notorious upstate New York Apalachin meeting of mobsters on November 14, 1957. The conclave took place at the home of beer distributor Joseph Barbara Sr. An alert policeman discovered the meeting while it was happening. During its disbursement 60 gangster attendees were arrested. Most were brought to court when a Tioga County Grand Jury investigated the event in the weeks after. Anthony Riela was a motel operator in Newark and Little Falls, New Jersey. Riela was accused of furnishing a residence for some of the mobsters who met at his establishment before Apalachin.