Early life

Veranis was born in the Savin Hill neighborhood of Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts. He is of Lithuanian and Irish descent, as his mother's maidan name is Dillon. Tony attended church services at the neighborhood St. William's Church, on Dorchester Avenue, at the corner of Belfort Street. (See the obituary of Tony's brother Ralph Veranis, waked at Murphy's Funeral Home, Dorchester, Avenue, and the funeral mass was at St. Margaret's Church.

"RALPH VERANIS Obituary:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/ralph-veranis-obituary?id=2019790 "VERANIS, Ralph A. In Dorchester, died October 2, 2019. Ralph was a Korean war Veteran serving in the U.S. Army. He was a retired maintenance man for the Boston Globe and the Boston Housing Authority for many years. He also was a member of the Quincy Elks, Lodge #943. He was a true gentleman who was loved by all who knew him. Beloved son of the late Anthony S. and Theresa (Dillon) Veranis. Loving brother of the late Anthony S. "Tony" Veranis, Jr. . . .His (Ralph's) Funeral Mass will be (was) celebrated in St. Margaret Church of St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish, on Thursday morning, October 10, at 10 A.M. Burial with military honors will follow in New Calvary Cemetery, Boston." (See, the Boston Globe which published this obituary,) His father Anthony Sr. died when he was still a child leaving his mother (Theresa Dillon Veranis) to raise and support him on her own. By the age of twenty-seven, he had a fleeting resemblance to actor Eric Close. His mother Theresa had cried often for her troubled son Anthony during his hardships and was very close to him. He had an older brother Ralph who died on October 2, 2019. Tony had been in trouble with the law before, but had successfully made comebacks each time which pleased her.

When he was young his parents would take him to the Mechanics Hall, Worcester to watch the fights, but when Veranis started his boxing career she could not bare to see her son fight, but enjoyed hearing the crowds cheering for him. Veranis told a Boston Herald reporter several months before his gangland murder, "Boxing got me out of trouble - it does that for a lot of kids." From BoxRec, cited below: "Veranis turned professional on December 8, 1956 in Portland, ME, under the name "Mickey White," with a fifth round technical knockout over Al Pepin.

"He continued his impressive run as a professional by going 26-0-2 (15 KOs) before dropping back-to-back fights to Barry Allison and Joe Devlin within a 16-day span in March 1958. He passed out after his knockout defeat to Devlin and was taken to Boston City Hospital where he remained in a coma before recovering in June 1958.

"He died tragically shortly before his 28th birthday on April 25, 1966, when he was beaten, then shot to death. His body was dumped in the Blue Hills off Route 28."https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Tony_Veranis

He had "Tony" tattooed on the fingers of one of his hands and "Luck" on the other. He stood at 5'7" (175 cm, BoxRec)and fought as a professional for 18 months as a welterweight and middleweight. He had a broken nose as seen in boxing photographs c. 1957 from years of amateur boxing, fighting in prison and on the street. He was raised a Catholic. He trained with Joe DeNucci, George W. Holden, Joseph Barboza, Rocco DiSiglio, Rico Sacramone and Edward G. Connors' younger brother James.

He attended public high school in Boston and was considered by officials in the Massachusetts correctional system to be a "persistent delinquent" when he was prepubescent to the time of a teenager. As Veranis was incarcerated in 1950 at Lyman Correctional School, he was anonymously involved in the Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency (UJD) study conducted by Harvard University professors Sheldon Glueck and Eleanor (Touroff) Glueck, discovering the causes of juvenile delinquency and adult crime and assessing the overall effectiveness of correctional treatment in controlling criminal careers.

Boxing career

As a teenager he was sent to the Lyman Correction School (now the Lyman School for Boys), the United States' first reform school located in Westborough, Massachusetts. While serving time there, infamous boxer and fight manager Clement Stein Jr. saw him in bouts and got him enlisted in an amateur boxing league when he was released. He boxed with an orthodox stance. In 1957, at the age of eighteen he became a professional welterweight boxer. During his professional boxing career he was sponsored by the boxing equipment and sportswear company Ben Lee. Friends later said that he was quiet, polite and anxious to do well.

On December 8, 1956, he fought against Al Pepin in Portland, Maine, which was his professional boxing debut. On January 28, 1957, he impressed the audience by defeating the boxer 150-pound Gunboat Steeves in Boston, Massachusetts. On February 21, 1957, he knocked out Guy LaConte in Revere, Massachusetts. On February 27, 1957, he knocked out Don Vincent in the second round. Veranis fought against Boston native boxer Mickey Dwyer in a six-round bout in Boston, Massachusetts, and outscored him. On April 22, 1957, he knocked down Mark Murray in Holyoke, Massachusetts, three times and defeated him. On May 16, 1957, Veranis completed in his first main event against Joe Klein and won. On June 11, 1957, he knocked down competitor Norm Gautreau in Boston in 1:55. On July 25, 1957, he fought Eddie Prince and was hard pressed to win an eight-round split decision. On August 27, 1957, he fought against Gene Lopes, as a last minute substitute replacement in Fall River, Massachusetts, and won. He later fought Gene Lopes again on September 12, 1957, and knocked him out again in the seventh round. On November 19, 1957, he fought against Roy Tiger Steele in Boston and won. During this match, Veranis was said by boxing officials to have "avenged the only blemish on his record with an easy decision."

When boxing against Bobby Murphy on December 3, 1957, he dropped Murphy in the seventh round. Murphy rose up off the ring floor but was badly battered when referee Eddie Curley called a stop to the match. On December 17, 1957, he fought against Barry Allison, who at the time was the New England Middleweight champion. His middleweight title was not at stake though, and Veranis was disqualified. On February 13, 1958, Veranis knocked out Silby Ford for a mandatory eight count in the fifth round. He broke Ford's jaw and dislodged several teeth that sent him down. Ford was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital following Anthony's victory. On March 1, 1958, he fought for the New England Middleweight Champion title against Barry Allison whose title was up for grabs and lost. On March 17, 1958, he fought his last professional match against Joe Devlin. He was knocked down by Joe Devlin in every round. After the fight he passed out and was taken to Boston City Hospital where he remained in a coma until June 1958.

Criminal career

He was arrested for an unidentified crime on December 23, 1963, and sent to Massachusetts Correctional Institution - Norfolk. While incarcerated at the prison was an altar boy at prison masses. Father John Fitzgerald of St. Joseph's Church in Massachusetts Correctional Institution - Norfolk later said, "He wanted to get straightened out, and I think he did. He was a wonderful boy who'd run with a bad crowd. He frequently stopped in to see me and Father Peter Hart after he got out, and everything seemed to be all right. He took me to the fights, and he was with respectable fellows." Tony was working on construction crews.

Death and afterward

On April 25, 1966, a month after his release from prison John Martorano beat Anthony savagely and shot him in the head in Quincy, Massachusetts. Martorano had his corpse dumped in the Blue Hills Reservation off Route 128 in Dedham, Massachusetts.