Born in New Haven, Connecticut, to Italian immigrants,^[1] Cretella attended the public schools of New Haven. He graduated from Yale University in 1917. He entered Yale Law School but interrupted studies and enlisted in the United States Navy June 18, 1918, and was in officers training school when the armistice was signed. He reentered Yale Law School and graduated in 1921. He was admitted to the Connecticut bar the same year and began practice in New Haven.

Cretella moved to North Haven in 1926 and served as prosecuting attorney 1931–1945 and town counsel 1931–1970, excluding the years 1946 and 1947. He served as member of the Connecticut House of Representatives 1947–1952.

Cretella was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-third and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1959). Cretella voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.^[2] He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1958 to the Eighty-sixth Congress and for election in 1960 to the Eighty-seventh Congress, after which he returned to the practice of law. He died in New Haven, Connecticut, May 24, 1979, and was interred in St. Lawrence Cemetery, West Haven, Connecticut.

• United States Congress. "Albert W. Cretella (id: C000905)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2009-02-28

  This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress