Philadelphia Crime Family, Merlino, Scarfo, Bruno

Only On Fox: Sentenced Mob Associate Cooperates With Feds Again

Last Edited: Wednesday, 17 Sep 2008, 5:00 PM EDT
Created: Wednesday, 17 Sep 2008, 3:39 PM EDT

Roger Vella

Mob associate and government informant Roger Vella is whisked into court Wednesday under tight security and sentenced for his role in two mob murders.

Now comes word Vella is talking to federal agents again about current mobsters and unsolved murders.

Sources tell Fox 29 News that Roger Vella, some carefully placed FBI wiretaps and other informants are taking the feds right toward a new round of racketeering indictments against the local mob.

Roger Vella's father left court carrying his son's custom made suit. Vella left the courthouse out the back door with the U.S. Marshals on his way back to his secret life as a government informant.

“He for his own protection will be in federal protective custody for the rest of his life,” said Nicholas Nastasi, Vella's lawyer

Vella was sentenced to 11 years and eight months on a racketeering charge that included his admitted involvement in the 1995 gangland style murder of Billy Veasey and the 1999 rub-out of mobster Ronald Turchi, who was found in the trunk of a car. Vella faced 30 years to life.

“Cooperation is necessary to do these kinds of cases and it will be rewarded,” said U.S. Attorney Frank Labor.

Sources tell Fox 29 that Vella's cooperation is ongoing and that he met with the FBI and a federal grand jury here in Philadelphia, as recently as last week.

Sources say Vella is now helping the feds put together a new racketeering indictment. The potential targets are current mob boss Joe Ligambi, his nephew, jailed gangster George Borgese, and at least five others. The Turchi hit may be part of that case.

“No one's been arrested for it. It’s not true to say it's not solved," said Nastasi.

Vella is former mob boss Joey Merlino's driver he admitted killing Ralph Mazzuca back in 1995. He’s also named the others involved. Now he's told FBI agents where to find the gun used to kill Billy Veasey. He’s also helped convict Junior Black Mafia member Trent Picard in two murders.

“Unfortunately, we do need the assistance of people who participate in the criminal affairs of the secret organizations. He has been seen as a witness and he's been very effective. The damage he's done to the mob is as yet incalculable,” said Labor.

The extent of Vella's cooperation is so sensitive that it's contained in sealed documents.

No one has been charged as yet. Federal investigators will not say when this new round of indictments is coming. But this news is bound to shake up an already jittery mob family here in Philadelphia.

Attached Image (Click thumbnail to expand)

this could be the "big bust" that dave schratwizer(sp) from fox 29 news said would be coming in the summer months of this year......so it took a lil bit longer, but this could be a huge blow the philly lcn. they have made a decent comeback under ligambi the past few years. if he does get swpet up, merlino would be in a good position to take back the top spot when he gets out and off probabtion. this could also be the end of the philly faction if merlino does take back over the reigns. he is not leadership material, and he proved this while the "underboss" with natale.

mob violence in this area will go up ten fold if he gets back in the driver seat...mark my words. he is no ligambi. a true throw back guy who knows to keep his head down and out of site.

Reputed mob figure among those indicted in Burlco frauds
By George Anastasia

Inquirer Staff Writer

A reputed Trenton-area organized crime associate is one of 14 people indicted in a series of unrelated alleged fraud cases that the Burlington County prosecutor said involved "scammers and thieves posing as legitimate business people."

Two of the alleged scams were conducted over the Internet.

The indictments, returned over the last two weeks and announced yesterday by County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi, covered a potpourri of consumer fraud involving home-improvement companies, carpet installers, a photographer and an accountant, according to the prosecutor's office.

Those charged included Anthony Iannuzzio, 68, of Trenton, who has been identified by law enforcement agencies as a long-time organized-crime associate.

Iannuzzio, according to a New Jersey State Commission of Investigation report, was part of a mob crew that reported to the late Albert "Reds" Pontani, a mobster who represented the interests of the Philadelphia crime family in the Trenton area in the 1980s.

Iannuzzio has been charged with scamming two homeowners out of more than $8,000 by allegedly accepting payment for work that was never done.

One indictment charges that between November 2006 and May 2007 a Chesterfield resident paid $6,850 to Iannuzzio, but that he failed to perform the construction work for which he was contracted. In April of this year, a second indictment charges, a Bordentown homeowner gave Iannuzzio a $1,200 deposit to construct a retaining wall, but Iannuzzio never returned to complete the work.

Iannuzzio was convicted and sentenced for five years in prison in 1987 on similar charges, according to the SCI report.

Five years ago, Iannuzzio was charged by the New Jersey Attorney General's Division of Criminal Justice with operating an illegal solid waste collection operation in the Trenton area.

The charges centered on the illegal collection and dumping of construction related debris and resulted in a second five-year prison sentence, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Two of the 13 other defendants charged in the indictments announced yesterday were accused of scamming consumers on-line.

Robert J. Kennedy, 51, of Browns Mills, allegedly collected $450 from eight different customers for items such as DVDs, a TV stand, a garden bench and pillows that were never delivered.

Philip Dahling, 26, of Shamong, was charged with selling a Mickey Mantle baseball card for $410 on eBay but never delivering the card.

here is an old article a few days after testa was killed

BRIEF, BLOODY REIGN OF PHILIP C. TESTA


By Marc Schogol and Frederick Cusick

Inquirer Staff Writers March 16, 1981



Last March, about a week after Angelo Bruno was shot to death, an

acquaintance of Philip Charles Testa was asked what he thought of his likely

succession of Bruno as head of the Philadelphia mob.

" If I was Phil," the acquaintance said, " I'd be scared to death."

Authorities say that in the year since Bruno's death, Testa, 56, had in fact

taken over Philadelphia's organized-crime family. That reign, marked by the

slayings of many top Bruno lieutenants, was a brief one - ending violently

yesterday just as his acquaintance had feared.

Short and stocky with a bulbous nose and badly pockmarked face, Testa was

described by authorities as " mean, vindictive and just frightening to look

at."

Although they said Bruno preferred to settle disputes peacefully,

authorities said Testa was impatient, hard-nosed and inclined to be brutally

direct.

During a 1972 federal loan-sharking trial in which Testa and several other

men were defendants, FBI agents testified that while searching Testa's home

they found $9,800, a letter postmarked in Las Vegas that contained a schedule

of loan repayments, and a .38-caliber pistol loaded with " dum-dum" bullets

- the kind that widen on impact and are especially useful for damaging a

maximum amount of flesh. Said Robert C. Ozer, federal prosecutor at that

trial: " These are men who will not hesitate to resort to guns to collect

their loans - not everybody has a gun with dumdum bullets in their house."

In South Philadelphia, however, some of those who knew him disputed the

portrait of Testa painted over the years by authorities. According to some

acquaintances, Testa was a good neighbor, husband and father who could be

extremely generous and kind.

When an associate's son was married last year, Testa's gift to the couple

was a month in Italy.

" I think calling him scary-looking is a bum rap," an acquaintance said.

" No, he wouldn't qualify for a beauty contest, but no one in South

Philadelphia attains his position without being a nice guy. I know that sounds

paradoxical, but it's true."

One trait that Testa definitely demonstrated was selective silence.

In 1963, his refusal to testify about his bosses before a federal grand jury

investigating an alleged interstate extortion racket resulted in his being

cited for contempt. He spent one year and five days in jail. In 1973, he

refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Bruno. Again he

was cited for contempt, this time spending 18 months in prison.

He was first jailed for contempt in 1963, when, after being offered leniency

in return for his testimony, he would say only that he worked for someone

named " Joe or John, I disremember which."

" You are obviously lying," the judge in the case said.

Testa's silences ultimately were well-rewarded. According to authorities,

the former Pittsburgh resident, whose first arrest was at age 16 for malicious

mischief and disorderly conduct, graduated from petty crimes to become one of

the major figures in Philadelphia-area loansharking, racketeering and illegal

gambling. By the late 1960s, law-enforcement officials said, Testa had become

a key Bruno lieutenant; by the mid-1970s, they say, he was Bruno's number-two

man.

Toward the end of Bruno's tenure, there were reports of friction between

Bruno and Testa, reportedly caused by dissatisfaction by Testa and others with

Bruno's reluctance to traffic in heroin, or to fight incursions by other

crime families into Atlantic City - a traditional Bruno family preserve

- after casino gambling was legalized.

In a conversation monitored by the FBI in 1976, a man identified only as

Nick is heard apparently urging Testa to seize control of the family

operations.

" The whole thing could be turned over to you, and you could then sit back,

" Nick tells Testa on the FBI tape.

In response, Testa appears to say that he is already in command. " I'm

making the decisions," he says.

The death of Bruno and the succession of Testa meant a change in the style

of leadership. Bruno was considered by authorities to be one of the

underworld's old-style, conservative " men of respect," who convened meetings

to settle problems. In contrast, one investigative source said of Testa: " He

kind of takes what he wants."

At the time he was consolidating power as Bruno's succcessor, one law-

enforcement official said: " Phil is tough and impulsive; it his takeover

could mean war."

In fact, within the last year, all of Testa's alleged potential rivals for

power, including some believed to have been involved in Bruno's slaying, were

killed.

Testa was frequently arrested, mostly on gambling and loan-sharking charges,

but seldom convicted. Except for his two terms for contempt of court, Testa

was sent to prison only three times.

In 1948, he served three months in the Federal Correctional Institution at

Ashland, Ky., after being found guilty of mail theft. Two years later, he was

back at Ashland after being convicted of possessing stolen checks. In 1953,

he once again was convicted of mail theft and sentenced to two years at the

federal prison at Lewisburg, Pa.

Testa was nicknamed " Chicken Man," a reference to a South Philadelphia

poultry business he once ran, which authorities said was a front for gambling

operations.

When police raided that business in 1958, they found 8,000 numbers slips

buried under a pile of sodden chicken feathers.

In recent years, Testa owned the building that houses Virgilio's restaurant

at 5 Bank St. in Old City. Although the licenses and stock in the restaurant

are in the names of Testa's daughter, Maria, and of a young man named Virgil

Mariutti, the restaurant was widely regarded as Testa's headquarters.

It was from a back room there that Testa ran his operations. It was in the

street outside that Testa, afraid of his phone being tapped, could be seen

strolling and talking with associates.

It was there, in the weeks and months after Bruno's slaying, as the number

of Bruno aides killed and missing mounted, that Testa held court.

Testa was a widower. His wife, the former Alfia Arcidiacono, whom he married

in 1952, died last November of cancer. She was 53.

In addition to his daughter, Testa is survived by a son, Salvatore.

Testa's funeral will be arranged by the Pennsylvania Burial Co. at 1327 S.

Broad St., an employee said yesterday. It is the same company that handled the

funeral of Bruno and other organized-crime figures. As of last night, funeral

plans were incomplete.

Dan Gross: A TV look at 'Little Nicky'
By Dan Gross
Philadelphia Daily News

FORMER Philadelphia mob boss Nicky Scarfo will be the subject of an hour-long Biography Channel special next month.
"We tried to paint the picture of not only the mobster, but who he was as a person," says Samantha Nisenboim, associate producer for Chicago's Towers Productions, which is behind the special. "That was difficult because he kept his personal life so private."

"Little Nicky," who's now 79, is a guest of the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta and did not participate in the special, which airs at 9 p.m. on Dec. 19. "We reached out to Nicky Scarfo, but the federal penitentiary intervened and wouldn't let him know," Nisenboim said last night.

Retired Philadelphia police captain Frank Friel, retired FBI agents Michael Leyden and James Darcy, and retired federal prosecutor Lou Pichini are among those who were interviewed for the special. An unidentified mob associate is also interviewed as were South Philadelphia author/historian Celeste Morello, who wrote the "Before Bruno" series about the Philly mob, and Inquirer reporter George Anastasia, who has written several books about Scarfo and the mob.

Another guilty plea in illegal betting ring at A.C. casino
By George Anastasia

Inquirer Staff Writer

Reputed South Philadelphia mob figure Anthony Nicodemo pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge yesterday, admitting his role in a multimillion-dollar illegal sports betting ring run out of the poker room of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.

Nicodemo, 36, faces up to three years in prison under a plea agreement worked out with state authorities. He is to be sentenced April 9.

The stocky South Philadelphian said little during a hearing before Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Michael Donio.

His lawyer, James Leonard of Atlantic City, declined to comment.

Nicodemo, described as a soldier in the crime family headed by reputed mob boss Joseph Ligambi, "exercised leadership authority" over the betting ring, according to the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, which brought the case.

To date, 14 of 22 defendants have pleaded guilty to gambling-related charges, including the two managers of what authorities alleged was a $60 million betting ring.

Jack Buscemi Jr., 51, of Mullica Hill, and Andrew Micali, 32, of Ventnor, pleaded guilty last month. Each faces a maximum five-year prison sentence and a substantial fine. They also are scheduled for sentencing in April.

In exchange for Nicodemo's guilty plea to a conspiracy charge, authorities agreed to drop racketeering, money laundering and promoting gambling charges that were part of the case against him.

The charges grew out of a 20-month New Jersey State Police investigation dubbed "Operation High Roller." Evidence included informant testimony, wiretaps and surveillance video that, authorities alleged, showed Micali conducting the day-to-day operations of the betting ring from a table at the high-stakes poker lounge in the Borgata.

Nicodemo's ties to the South Philadelphia mob were detailed in a state police affidavit that included information provided by the FBI. Among other things, he was described as a suspect in the unsolved gangland murder of South Philadelphia mobster John "Johnny Gongs" Casasanto in November 2003.

No one has been charged in that homicide, which is part of a federal investigation into the Ligambi organization.

I wounder who is running this hotel ...

lol....it was the philly mob, but now that they are out...who knows lol......

there are original italian mafiosi (ndrangheta,sicilians,camorra) that opreat in this area and investing money all over the area.

Has anyone seen the Nicky Scarfo doc on YouTube?

Its about Scarfo, Caramandi and the Riccebene war.

post up the link =)

post up the link =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al9ecAumYlc

another one on gravano to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sLRFl2gb50&feature=channel

post up the link =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al9ecAumYlc

another one on gravano to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sLRFl2gb50&feature=channel

your the man!

post up the link =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al9ecAumYlc

another one on gravano to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sLRFl2gb50&feature=channel

your the man!

thanks man, i got 2 more from mobstars before they were shutdown again
wiretaping the mafia and Palermo message me if u want.

Phila. lawyer sentenced in Delco Nostra probe
By George Anastasia

Inquirer Staff Writer

Philadelphia lawyer Gregory Quigley was sentenced to five years' probation and fined $5,000 yesterday after pleading guilty to a perjury charge linked to an organized-crime gambling investigation in Delaware County.
Quigley, 37, entered the plea during a brief hearing before Common Pleas Court Judge Frank T. Hazel in Media. Four other defendants in the case, dubbed Operation Delco Nostra, were also sentenced.

For his felony conviction, Quigley, whose law office is at 1822 S. Broad St., also faces the prospect of having his law license suspended or revoked by the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

That process is expected to begin shortly.

"He is remorseful, extremely so," his attorney Gregory Pagano told Hazel after Quigley pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit perjury. "He knows there are other consequences, and he is prepared to face them."

Quigley and reputed mob associate Louis "Bent-Finger Lou" Monacello were charged with coaching a witness in the Delco Nostra investigation on how to lie to a grand jury.

Neither was aware that the witness, Frank "Frankie the Fixer" DiGiacomo, was cooperating with the Pennsylvania State Police at the time.

DiGiacomo, 44, wore a body wire and secretly recorded two conversations at Quigley's law office in January 2008.

"Once they give you immunity, then you can commit perjury," Quigley told DiGiacomo, according to a transcript of a Jan. 7 conversation.

In a conversation recorded one week later, Quigley told DiGiacomo, "You have six options. . . . Yes. No. I don't know. I don't recall. Fifth [invoke the Fifth Amendment]. Lie."

Monacello attended both meetings and also allegedly encouraged DiGiacomo to lie to the grand jury.

Monacello, 41, is facing gambling and obstruction-of-justice charges in Delaware County. His case was continued yesterday until April 13.

He is also facing an assault charge in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia for allegedly plotting an attack on a reputed mob rival. That charge also grew out of the Delco Nostra investigation and DiGiacomo's cooperation.

DiGiacomo, a South Philadelphia-based plumber and a reputed member of Monacello's "crew," recorded dozens of conversations for the state police between December 2007 and July.

He was taken into protective custody shortly before Monacello and 16 codefendants were arrested July 22.

In addition to Quigley, four other defendants pleaded guilty yesterday to gambling-related charges and were sentenced to terms ranging from 30 days' house arrest to two years' probation.

Gregory Traintafillou and Joseph Pizza were each sentenced to three months' house arrest and two years' probation after pleading guilty to racketeering-gambling charges. Pizza was fined $2,000, and Traintafillou forfeited more than $43,000 in alleged gambling receipts confiscated when state police raided his restaurant in July.

Victor Novelli was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $1,000 after pleading guilty to a bookmaking charge.

And Ralph Abbruzzi was sentenced to 30 days' house arrest and two years' probation after admitting his role in a scheme to sell winning lottery tickets to gamblers seeking to launder their illegal business proceeds.

Abbruzzi, a local entertainer, was given a one-day furlough from his house-arrest sentence so that he could appear at a previously scheduled performance at a South Philadelphia restaurant March 27.

When Hazel asked what type of music he performed, Abbruzzi said he did a lot of "Louie Prima" in his act. After Hazel said he was a Louie Prima fan, Abbruzzi told the judge, "Come down and have dinner and watch me do a couple of numbers."

Hazel did not respond to the invite.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20090...stra_probe.html

George Anastasia is doing a great job with his videos:

Mob Scene: Bruno's Murder

Who whacked Angelo Bruno? The untold story behind the most infamous mob hit in the history of the Philly underworld.

http://www.philly.com/philly/video/41380037.html

yea there preety good I enjoyed them, I dont know if you guys have seen these ones or not.

http://www.philly.com/philly/video/40245257.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/video/39790692.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/video/40245257.html

Posted on Sun, Apr. 5, 2009


Mob tape may play role at sentencing

By George Anastasia

Inquirer Staff Writer

It was a wiseguy lesson in street-corner economics, a how-to-succeed-in-business speech that you won't hear at the Wharton School.

Reputed mob soldier Anthony Nicodemo was explaining about the "sharks" and the "lions" and the "lambs" to bookmaker Andrew Micali, who was running an illegal multimillion-dollar sports-betting operation out of the poker room of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.

Nicodemo, 36, "exercised leadership authority" over the $60 million betting enterprise, according to New Jersey authorities who used the secretly recorded 13-minute conversation to support that allegation in a gambling indictment. He faces sentencing this week for his role in the operation.

"I'm always in your corner, so you don't have to worry about no sharks at all," said Nicodemo, apparently referring to unnamed individuals who were trying to get a piece of Micali's action.

"You don't have to worry about no one. Anyone comes up, it could be . . . John Gotti's son could come up to ya, anybody. I don't give a -."

His voice rising, Nicodemo then told Micali to contact him at his real estate office on Federal Street in South Philadelphia if anyone caused a problem.

"Anyone in . . . the world's atmosphere comes up to you, come to 1246 Federal St."

The conversation was recorded March 5, 2007, as part of a New Jersey State Police investigation dubbed Operation High Roller. Investigators used court-authorized wiretaps to record hundreds of conversations during the 20-month probe.

Last April, 24 defendants, including Nicodemo and Micali, were indicted on gambling, money-laundering, and loan-sharking charges. Most have pleaded guilty.

In February, Micali, 33, and Jack Buscemi Jr., 51, the leaders of the operation, were sentenced to five years in prison.

Nicodemo, who has pleaded guilty to a gambling conspiracy charge, is to appear Thursday before Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Michael Donio. He could get up to three years in prison.

Authorities are expected to point to the conversation with Micali to argue that the bookmaking ring was tied to the mob and that Nicodemo was the organization's point man.

The investigation also has shed light on an ongoing FBI investigation that is believed to target Nicodemo and reputed South Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi.

A State Police affidavit in the Borgata case states that the FBI considers Nicodemo a "prime suspect" in the gangland murder of John "Johnny Gongs" Casasanto in 2003.

It is one of three unsolved mob hits included in an ongoing FBI racketeering probe.

The phone call also provided an underworld perspective on the never-ending game of cat-and-mouse that pits law enforcement against wiseguys and their associates.

At one point, Nicodemo referred to an investigation in Delaware County that had targeted bookmaker Nicholas "Nicky the Hat" Cimino.

Law enforcement, Nicodemo told Micali, was building cases around the fringes of the organization because it was unable to get at "the whales," an apparent reference to Ligambi and the other reputed leaders of the crime family.

"Everything's been so quiet, that . . . the real whales that they want, they can't get," he said. "If you notice, they're bothering a lot of fringe people. Nicky from Delaware County's in trouble."

Last summer, Cimino and a dozen others were arrested in Operation Delco Nostra, a Pennsylvania State Police investigation into a mob-linked gambling ring in Delaware County. Another prime target of that probe was Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello.

Monacello is a close associate of jailed mobster George Borgesi, Ligambi's nephew.

"They're bothering the fringe people," Nicodemo said in the conversation that took place more than a year before those arrests. "That's who they're starting to torture."

Because of technical problems, the taped phone call only captured Nicodemo. Micali's voice was not picked up.

Investigators, however, had little trouble reading between the lines as Nicodemo counseled Micali to "tone down" his flashy appearance and free-wheeling style because it might attract law enforcement's attention and it sparked jealousy among other mobsters who wanted to get their hooks into his business.

"Tone it down a little bit," Nicodemo told Micali. "The people that we always talk about, they're going back and they're throwing bait into the ocean and telling the sharks things like, 'Ooooh, this guy did this.' . . . They're throwing jealousy and innuendo. . . . 'Oooh, you should see the piles of money they got in front of them when they play cards.' . . . So, you go play with lesser chips."

Then Nicodemo offered a lesson about the underworld's haves and have-nots.

"Like I always say, the lions are on top of the hill and the lambs are down in the valley," he said. "When the lions got meat and the lambs got meat, everything's fine and dandy. When the lambs got meat and the lion's up there on the hill and he don't have nothin', what's gonna happen?"

Things had changed in the underworld, Nicodemo told Micali.

"Back 30 years ago, all the lions were fully fed," he said. "They didn't care about the lambs, you know what I mean? Today, the lions are starving."

Micali should stop wearing "diamonds on your neck" in the poker room, Nicodemo counseled. And it would be smarter if he drove his Honda to the casino, he said.

Authorities said Micali spent several hours each day in the poker lounge taking bets and collecting from or paying off customers. He usually drove from his condo in Ventnor to the Borgata in his $130,000 Mercedes.

Nicodemo again emphasized that he would back up Micali in any dispute.

"Ya ever have a problem . . . come and see me. . . . I don't care if it's . . . Carlo Gambino's son. . . . Don't worry about none of that stuff."

He told Micali that everyone knew he was "doing the right thing." That was a reference, law enforcement believed, to the fact that Micali was working with organized-crime figures in his business.

Then, in what investigators interpreted as an offer to expand that relationship, Nicodemo told Micali that if he would "tone it down . . . they're going to want you to do more of the right thing. You understand what I mean?"

Posted on Thu, Apr. 9, 2009


Reputed mobster sentenced in Borgata betting ring
By George Anastasia

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Reputed mob soldier Anthony Nicodemo was sentenced to a four-year suspended sentence and fined $10,000 Friday for his role in a mob-linked sports betting ring illegally run out of the poker lounge at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.

Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Michael Donio imposed the sentence following a brief hearing in which he rejected the state's argument that the book-making connection was connected to organized crime.

Nicodemo, 36, was one of 24 defendants charged in the case after a 20-month investigation by the New Jersey State Police dubbed Operation High Roller. He pleaded guilty to a gambling conspiracy charge earlier this year and faced a maximum three-year sentence.

A state police affidavit filed during the investigation alleged that Nicodemo, of South Philadelphia, was a prime suspect in the 2003 gangland murder of John "Johnny Gongs" Casasanto. The Casasanto murder is one of three unsolved mob hits that are part of an ongoing federal racketeering investigation.

Posted on Mon, Jun. 1, 2009


Wiseguys' summer getaways
A Shore tradition.

By George Anastasia

Inquirer Staff Writer

It's going to be a real mob scene at the Shore again this summer.

And police up and down the coast are getting ready.

That's mob as in M-O-B.

Wiseguys.

Goodfellas.

From Seaside Heights to Sea Isle City, law enforcement agencies are gearing up for a special group of sun-seekers who trade the sidewalks of South Philadelphia, Newark, and New York for the beaches, bars, and boardwalks of the Jersey coast.

It's part of a summer tradition.

"They go there to unwind," said Ron Rozwadowski, an investigator with the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice and former member of the State Police organized-crime squad that helped dismantle Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo's crime family back in the 1980s.

Rozwadowski, in fact, did a study on wiseguys summering at the Jersey Shore. Twenty years later, he says, little has changed.

"It's easy to blend in," the veteran investigator said. "You have towns where the population quadruples. If there's 20 cars parked in front of a house, it's no big deal."

Crowded bars and restaurants offer easily accessible meeting places.

A noisy boardwalk is the perfect barrier to audio surveillance.

And the hyperkinetic action at the casinos provides another layer of cover.

That's not to say that all mobsters end their stints at the Shore tanned and rested.

Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino was taken into custody by the FBI at his rented condo in Margate in the summer of 1999, the start of what became a 14-year prison sentence built around a racketeering case.

The Scarfo crime family came undone in 1986 when the State Police bugged a condo on the Boardwalk in Ocean City where mobster Thomas "Tommy Del" DelGiorno was spending the summer with his family.

And one of the most damaging pieces of video surveillance played at Scarfo's racketeering trial in 1988 was a shot of him meeting with mob informant Nicholas "Nicky Crow" Caramandi on the Boardwalk outside the Resorts International Casino-Hotel. The tape was used to independently support Caramandi's account of that meeting.

Ralph Natale, another former mob boss, enjoyed spending time in Sea Isle City, where one of his daughters had a home.

His successor, reputed Philadelphia mob leader Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi, has spent several recent summers in Margate, just south of Atlantic City, where a proliferation of upscale restaurants and bars has turned the once-frat-party-like bar scene into a more sophisticated night out.

The presence of Ligambi and other reputed mobsters has not gone unnoticed.

"We just keep our eyes and ears open for the state and federal agencies," said Margate Police Chief David Wolfson, who heads a 33-member department.

"We beef up patrols, we do different things," Wolfson said of the department's approach to the influx of tourists and summer visitors. "Our investigative unit goes 24 hours a day. They're always on call."

But reputed mobsters, he said, are treated no differently than anyone else.

"If they break the law, they're arrested," he said. "But dealing with them specifically, no, we don't do anything differently."

Low-key and taciturn, Ligambi has spent big chunks of June, July, and August in Margate each summer since his release from prison in 1997 after his mob-murder conviction was overturned.

A creature of habit, Philadelphia police sources say, Ligambi last summer routinely headed for his rented Shore home on Thursday or Friday and returned to South Philadelphia on Monday or Tuesday.

This year, they say, he has been spotted at his brother's home in nearby Longport, a posh Shore community nestled between Margate and Ocean City.

Barring any unexpected developments - Ligambi is the target of an ongoing FBI racketeering investigation, and the feds have a habit of making their arrests in the summer - the reputed crime kingpin could be celebrating his 70th birthday in August at the beach.

Younger members of the organization are usually part of the weekend crowd at Shore towns up and down the coast.

Law enforcement sources say many will end up at Memories in Margate on Saturday nights. The popular bar, owned by Philadelphia's iconic disc jockey Jerry Blavat, draws a young, hip crowd, a mix of movers-and-shakers, wiseguys, and wannabes.

Rozwadowski said the Shore has always been "neutral" territory.

He recalled that, during his State Police days, a surveillance in Seaside Heights turned up members of the Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese, and DeCavalcante crime families getting together.

Even before legalized casinos, Atlantic City was a magnet for mobsters. One of the most famous organized-crime confabs in history occurred in 1929 at the old President Hotel on the Boardwalk.

Among those attending was Al Capone, whose trip home to Chicago was short-circuited when he was arrested on a gun charge during a train stop in Philadelphia. He ended up spending about a year in the old Eastern State Penitentiary.

His former cell is now a set piece of the prison museum on that site.

And while Ligambi might cringe at the ostentation, not every mobster has taken a low-key approach at the Shore.

Scarfo, in the early days of casino gambling, was often spotted ringside at prize fights in the casino-hotels. Other mobsters, before being placed on the casino-exclusion list, would belly up to the craps and blackjack tables.

For younger mobsters and their associates, the game of choice now appears to be poker, and law enforcement authorities keeping tabs on the mob at the Shore regularly check the posh poker lounges in the casino-hotels.

Merlino, even before his arrest on racketeering charges, was a lightning rod for law enforcement. He was cited for gambling in a casino despite the fact that he was on the state's exclusion list, and on Labor Day 1998, he was given a series of citations for public drinking, resisting arrest, and littering.

The littering charge came after he took the citation for public drinking, balled it up, and threw it on the ground in front of the police officer who issued it.

He paid a fine to settle his criminal problems, but not before he and others suggested they had been "targeted" because of their alleged underworld affiliations.

Not so, said the police.

Wolfson, Margate's chief, said he has taken a very basic approach to the presence of reputed mob figures in his town.

"They get treated the same way as everybody else," he said. "If they're not going to drive me crazy, I'm not going to drive them crazy."



Contact staff writer George Anastasia at 856-779-3846 or ganastasia@phillynews.com.

hey david, its funny that you found this after we had a talk about playing poker at the borgata.......now you really know that if i end up missing, and i told u i was going there to play...chances are i knocked some wiseguy out and well he sent me on a perm vacation with the fishes

Yeah, or if you were at a club with the wife, and a wiseguy made a move on her. You would have to do your manly duty and punch his lights out. Followed by a sprint out of the place LOL

S. Phila. mob leader asks for release
By George Anastasia
Inquirer Staff Writer


Jailed mob underboss Joseph "Mousie" Massimino, who has completed half of a 10-year New Jersey state prison sentence for racketeering, wants to go home.

Denied parole in February, and told he would have to spend at least 14 more months in jail, the 59-year-old South Philadelphia mob leader now hopes the judge in his case will reduce his sentence to time served and place him on probation.

That's the thrust of a motion for sentence reconsideration filed by Massimino's lawyer, Jeffrey C. Zucker. He and state prosecutors are scheduled to appear before Judge William J. Cook on Friday in Camden County Superior Court to argue the issue.

In effect, Zucker is asking Cook to overrule a state parole board decision that would keep Massimino in jail until at least April.

In the motion, filed on May 19, Zucker contended that under the terms of Massimino's plea agreement, the state agreed to join in his motion for release. Zucker petitioned the court to "change the custodial status of the defendant to one of probation and implement the intent" of that agreement.

Officials with the New Jersey Attorney General's Office have not responded to a request for comment. Other law-enforcement sources said there was a question over whether the state's agreement to join in the motion for sentence reconsideration meant that the Attorney General's Office would not oppose the request for immediate release.

Massimino was sent to state prison in June 2004 after pleading guilty to a racketeering charge built around a gambling and loan-sharking case. At his sentencing hearing, a state prosecutor described him as "a career criminal."

"That's all he does," the prosecutor said. "That's all he knows."

In imposing the 10-year prison term, Cook said Massimino's "way of life is committing crime."

Law-enforcement sources say little has changed. They describe Massimino as a close associate of reputed mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and say he has maintained his ties to the crime family while serving at Northern State Prison in Newark.

Massimino and Ligambi remain targets of a federal racketeering investigation that stretches back to 1999 and includes three unsolved gangland murders.

The 2004 case against Massimino was based on an investigation by New Jersey state police. Authorities alleged that Massimino headed a mob-linked sports-betting ring that generated about $30 million a year in South Philadelphia and South Jersey.

Pointing to a 35-year criminal career that included convictions for offenses ranging from drug dealing and assault to gambling and receiving stolen property, prosecutors asked for and received the maximum sentence in the case.

In his motion, filed last month, Zucker cited a stipulation in Massimino's plea agreement that permitted him to ask for a reconsideration of that sentence if Massimino had not been paroled after five years.

In denying his request for release earlier this year, a state parole board cited Massimino's "extensive" criminal record and failure to abide by past parole restrictions.

"The panel has determined there is a reasonable expectation that you will violate conditions of parole if released," according to a copy of the parole board decision.

The board also ruled that Massimino would not be eligible for parole consideration again for 14 months.

FOR ALL YOU PHILLY LCN FANS, FOX NEWS HAS A NEW LINK

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By George Anastasia
Feds Target Son Of Jailed Philly Mob Boss

Award-winning reporter George Anastasia, author of five books on the Philadelphia mob, filed this special Gang Land report. For more info, check out his website.

Nicodemo S. Scarfo, the son of imprisoned Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo, is waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It’s been over a year since the FBI raided his home outside of Atlantic City in what has been described as a multi-million dollar financial fraud investigation that stretches from Dallas to Philadelphia. The younger Scarfo, 44, has been identified as a primary target of that probe along with Salvatore Pelullo, a Philadelphia-area business consultant with a checkered past.

Pelullo has two financial fraud convictions.

Scarfo (right) has been away twice for racketeering and gambling offenses.

Back in May 2008, the feds hit over a dozen locations, including the offices of FirstPlus Financial, a firm then-based in Irving, just outside of Dallas.

Boxes of documents outlining the company’s financial transactions were seized. The FBI also took possession of a plane owned by the company as well as a yacht in which Pelullo and Scarfo are believed to have an interest. They also seized jewelry and automobiles allegedly purchased with cash siphoned out of the company.

Among other things, the FBI took a bracelet and diamond wedding ring that Scarfo had recently given to his new wife.

All of it is tied to what a search warrant describes as an investigation into mail fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property, money-laundering and racketeering conspiracy.

Authorities in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden have been tight lipped about the investigation, but sources familiar with the case say prosecutors hope to obtain indictments by the end of the summer.

Two FirstPlus officials, including the former CEO, have confirmed that they recently received letters stating they were targets of the probe. FirstPlus, once a high flyer in the subprime mortgage business, fell on hard times with the economic downturn of the late 1990s. Its over-the-counter stock, which once traded for as much as $50-a-share, now sells for pennies.

But in 2006, authorities say, the company began to see an influx in cash – residuals from some mortgages that still had life. Within a year, authorities say, Pelullo became a behind-the-scenes advisor and FirstPlus began to buy up companies in Philadelphia and New Jersey that Pelullo and Scarfo had set up. The companies, according to the government’s theory of the case, were little more than shells.

Both Pelullo and Scarfo, through their lawyers, have denied any wrongdoing.

Pelullo, 43, is fascinated by the underworld, according to associates who say the business consultant loves to quote lines from mob movies, especially “The Godfather.”

“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli,” is one favored line. Another is the classic that Marlon Brando’s Don Corleone utters to explain how he’s going to get a producer to give a broken down singer a part in an upcoming movie: “We’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

Pelullo has also claimed to be Scarfo’s cousin, but authorities say there is no blood connection.

They do believe, however, that the two men shared strong financial ties.

Between June 2007 and the raids in May 2008, according to one court document, FirstPlus “transferred several million dollars….to corporate entities controlled by Pelullo and Scarfo Jr.”

Like John A. Gotti, the younger Scarfo is frequently referred to as (Junior) by law enforcement officials even though he and his father have different middle names.

And just like Junior Gotti, federal authorities see Junior Scarfo as a chip off the old block who deserves to spend the rest of his days behind bars.

The Sins Of The Father Nearly Killed The Son
Young Nicky Scarfo (left) has had more than his share of legal problems, but they pale in comparison to the tight rope he has walked in the underworld.

Twenty years ago he was the target of one of the most famous shootings in the history of the Philadelphia underworld. The assassination attempt occurred on Halloween night, 1989, as Scarfo sat in Dante&Luigi’s, a popular South Philadelphia restaurant, enjoying a plate of clams and spaghetti with two friends.

Midway through the meal, a man wearing a Halloween mask and carrying a trick-or-trick bag, walked up to the table, pulled out a Mac-10 semi-automatic machine pistol and opened fire.

Scarfo was hit a half dozen times in the neck, chest and left arm, but remarkably, none of the shots proved fatal. In fact, nine days later he walked out of a Philadelphia hospital and into his jailed father’s version of protective custody.

The shooting marked the end of the elder Scarfo’s control of the Philadelphia crime family. Little Nicky had been imprisoned on racketeering and murder charges in 1987 and was trying to run the organization using his son as a proxy.

After the shooting, Scarfo (right) advised his son to head for North Jersey where he was put under the protection of the Newark branch of the crime family, the one faction that was still loyal to the jailed mob boss.

It turned out to be another in a long line of miscalculations by the imprisoned Philadelphia don.

One of the mob associates assigned to guard the younger Scarfo was the late George Fresolone. At that point, Fresolone had already begun secretly cooperating with the New Jersey State Police. He wore a body-wire and recorded hundreds of conversations. He even taped his own mob making ceremony.

Wtihin a year, 41 wiseguys from six different crimes families, including Junior Scarfo, were indicted on gambling and racketeering charges.

The younger Scarfo did about five years, came out of prison and headed back to North Jersey.

This time his father, from a federal prison in Atlanta, arranged for members of the Luchese family to look out for his son. The elder Scarfo, who turned 80 this year, was sharing prison space with Vittorio (Vic) Amuso, the boss of that family and through Amuso he took out the equivalent of an underworld life insurance policy on his son.

The younger Scarfo eventually became a “made” member of the Luchese organization which guaranteed that there would not been any more unauthorized attempts on his life.

A law enforcement affidavit filed in a racketeering case now pending in federal court in Newark provides the inside story.

“Scarfo Sr. was…incarcerated in federal prison with then-Luchese LCN Family boss Vic Amuso,” (left) according to the sworn affidavit of Michael Gregory, a New Jersey State trooper assigned to the Organized Crime Bureau. “As a result of their close association, Scarfo Jr. was put on record as an associate of the Luchese Family. This offered him some protection from the (Philadelphia) family.

“In 2000, he was elevated to the role of soldier…Because Scarfo Jr. was… a ‘made’ member of his new Family, he was considered ‘untouchable’ for any additional attempts on his life without permission of the head of his new Family who was incarcerated with Scarfo Sr. This effectively ensured Scarfo Jr.’s protection.”

The younger Scarfo remained in North Jersey, operating primarily in the Newark and Kenilworth areas, until his conviction in 2002 in a bookmaking case. Authorities used records Scarfo stored on his computer to bring the charges.

In what was then a cutting edge investigative technique, police received court authorization to secretly place a key stroke recorder on Scarfo’s computer so that they could learn the code used to gain access to his records.

The code turned out to be his father’s federal prison inmate number.

After serving a little less than three years for that conviction, the younger Scarfo headed this time to South Jersey upon his release. There, according to law enforcement reports, he was angling to re-assert control over the Philadelphia family in his father’s name even though he had been elevated to capo by the Luchese family.

The FirstPlus investigation brought unwanted attention to Junior Scarfo, however, and according to another pending racketeering case, this one out of the State Attorney General’s Office, Scarfo was bounced back to the rank of soldier last year.

Skinny Joey The Masked Man?
While no one has ever been charged with the Halloween shooting of Scarfo Jr., the conventional wisdom in both law enforcement and underworld circles is that Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino was the man who opened fire that night.

In fact, wiretaps after the shooting picked up several conversations in which the two Scarfos pointed a finger at Merlino. Scarfo Sr., from prison, told his son to be careful, but urged him to get revenge, describing Merlino as “a snake.”

“Take him to dinner,” was the code phrase the Scarfos used in discussing their plans to do to Merlino what Skinny Joey allegedly had done in Dante&Luigi’s.

A decade after the shooting, Merlino had assumed control of the Philadelphia crime family. His reign ended with his conviction on racketeering charges in 2001. He is currently completing a 14-year sentence and could be in a halfway house by next summer.

Among other things, underworld informants have told investigators that Skinny Joey – knowing that Scarfo and his cohorts were big fans of “The Godfather” movie – deliberately dropped the Mac-10 as he left the restaurant that night. The gun was a homage of sorts to the scene where Michael Corleone kills two rivals in a restaurant and coolly drops his gun on the floor as he walks away.

What Ever Happened to the South Philly Mob?
It’s been at least six years since anyone has been killed by the Philadelphia Mafia. Is it the passing of a way of life, or an eerie calm before an ­approaching storm? Our writer takes to the streets of South Philly — and sips wine with the current Godfather — to find out
By Steve Volk

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/what_eve...hilly_mob/page1

GREAT ARTICLE!!!

It will be interesting to see what they NY bosses have to say (or do) once Merlino comes out. I think he'll try play his cards and challenge Ligambi, but he won't have the support of the NY families who are said to be impressed with how the Philly Family has been going lately.

Posted on Tue, Aug. 25, 2009


The other Joey Merlino wants a service-industry license

By George Anastasia

Inquirer Staff Writer

ATLANTIC CITY - He's the "other" Joey Merlino, and his lawyer said emphatically yesterday that he is not a mobster and has no ties to organized crime.

He is, however, the son of Lawrence "Yogi" Merlino, a once-notorious mob capo, and the cousin of Joseph S. "Skinny Joey" Merlino, arguably Philadelphia's best-known wiseguy.

For those reasons, lawyer John Donnelly told a Casino Control Commission hearing examiner, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement "is determined" to bar his client, Joseph N. Merlino, and his construction company from working in the casino industry.

"If their name were Johnson, we wouldn't be here," Donnelly said in opening statements at a casino service-industry licensing hearing for Merlino, his mother, Phyllis, and the company they own, Bayshore Rebar.

Twice denied a service-industry license, the Merlinos decided seven years ago to apply again. Their application - bogged down by what Donnelly alleges have been deliberate attempts by authorities to undermine the process - has finally reached the hearing stage.

"It's not about the work," Merlino said during a break in yesterday's proceedings. "My company doesn't need the work. It's the principle."

Merlino, 42, was dressed in a conservative business suit, white shirt and tie. The solidly built company executive no longer fits the nickname "Fat Joey," once used to distinguish him from his thinner cousin.

He said that he and his mother, both of Ventnor, expect to testify during the hearing before Casino Control Commissioner William Sommeling, which could last at least a week.

Sommeling's findings and recommendation then must be approved by the full commission.

The process ended in 1989 and 1996 with the commission denying Bayshore and the Merlinos a license to work on casino-related construction projects. Bayshore is based in Pleasantville.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) is again opposing the request, citing alleged organized crime ties and what Deputy Attorney General Wendy A. Way said yesterday were deliberate attempts by the Merlinos to mislead authorities while being questioned last year.

Way and Assistant Attorney General Anthony Parrillo are expected to call several current and former law enforcement officials to testify both in general terms about the Philadelphia mob and in particular about the Merlino family and its long history of mob connections.

Way, in her opening statememt, cited phone records and surveillance reports from 1997 to 2002 that, she argued, showed a continuing association.

Phone calls to and from Joseph S. Merlino and mobster Martin Angelina, and surveillance reports placing Joseph N. Merlino and his mother at events attended by "Skinny Joe," Angelina, mobster Anthony Accardo, and reputed mob boss Joseph Ligambi were cited by Way to support the DGE's arguments.

Donnelly said in his opening that he too will call former law enforcement investigators, including ex-FBI agents who in the 1980s spearheaded the investigation that dismantled the Philadelphia mob.

They will testify about their investigation and about interviews with cooperating mob witnesses who said Joseph N. Merlino, his mother, and their company have no connection to organized crime.

One of those cooperating witnesses was Lawrence Merlino, who, after his conviction on racketeering charges in 1987, cut a deal with the government.

Phyllis and Lawrence Merlino divorced in 1979, and he was estranged from his family when he began cooperating.

Lawrence Merlino, who died several years ago, told authorities that Bayshore had no mob ties, according to law enforcement reports. Philip Leonetti, a former mob underboss, also said he knew of no organized crime links to the company.

Donnelly argued that the DGE had misidentified a friend of Joseph N. Merlino. Donnelly said Anthony Giraldi, a South Philadelphia plumber, had been erroneously labeled a "mob associate" in order to support the DGE argument that Joseph N. Merlino continues to have contact with mobsters.

"Anthony Giraldi is not a hood, never was a hood," Donnelly said. "The Division of Gaming Enforcement is slandering him . . . in order to get at Phyllis Merlino and Joseph N. Merlino."

Donnelly said that while barred from casino construction work, Bayshore Rebar has set reinforcing rods needed to pour concrete on dozens of high-profile government-related jobs.

These include, he said, work at a nuclear power plant, a garage in the statehouse complex in Trenton, and a county jail facility.

A Bayshore Rebar Web site includes a 26-page list of jobs the company has completed, usually as a subcontractor. These include projects for the Ocean County Utility Authority, Toms River Community Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, the Eagles, and the National Constitution Center.

Bayshore, Donnelly said, is a highly regarded company and Joseph N. Merlino is considered an industry leader. "This is an American success story," he said.

But, he added, the DGE "has made the decision that no person named Merlino will ever get licensed."

Posted on Thu, Sep. 17, 2009


Poker machines seized in S. Phila.
By KITTY CAPARELLA
Philadelphia Daily News

caparek@phillynews.com 215-854-5880

Let me give it to you straight: Video poker was flushed yesterday in South Philly.
A combo of state police, agents from the state Attorney General's Office and the FBI busted the action - seizing more than 50 video-poker machines at 13 locations that include two reputed mob hangouts, 10 bars and a vending-machine supplier.

The video-poker machines can easily be turned into illegal moneymakers that pay off customers. Only slight adjustments need to be made in the mechanism, according to gambling experts.

Heather Costellino, senior deputy attorney general, directed the raids, part of an ongoing investigation. Erik Olsen, chief deputy attorney general of the organized-crime section, said the FBI was not part of the state probe.

"We do everything we can to coordinate our respective investigations," he added.

The raids signal that a state indictment charging bar owners with illegally operating video-poker machines is in the works, and that the feds could be completing a years-long mob probe.

The mother lode of machines - at least 30 - was confiscated at Ace Vending Co., on Mountain Street near 8th, where they were stored in a garage, according to a source close to the investigation.

Asked how many machines were seized, Ace's owner, Curtis Arbitman, shaking his head in the garage, replied: "No idea."

State agents in blue shirts emblazoned with the attorney general's emblem loaded truck after truck with the machines until almost 5 p.m. The raid began about nine hours earlier.

This was the second raid in two years at Ace's garage, and the third time since now-jailed mob boss John Stanfa controlled the company in the early 1990s, said Michael DiTullio, the "mayor" of Mountain Street.

"Curt's been doing business here for eight years," he added. "He's a great neighbor and a very nice person. I had no idea he was involved in illegal machines. He's a standup guy."

About 8 a.m., a longtime neighbor heard state police and agents serving a search warrant and the rattle of Ace's garage door across Mountain Street.

At first, Pam Nocella, a recent arrival to South Philly, said that when she saw men in suits at the garage, she thought they were selling pinball machines.

"I thought maybe it's a legitimate business," she said.

"I came back and realized what happened when the guys in blue shirts were hauling away the machines in truckloads," she added.

As neighbors gathered, agents loaded the last machines. One neighbor quipped: "Think we could take one of those machines home?"

"What an exciting block we live on," said another Mountain Street neighbor, Juliette Iette Forgione, returning from work.

At a reputed mob hangout, Quattro Bar & Grille, formerly Charlie Bears, on 13th Street near Moyamensing Avenue, a bartender confirmed state agents raided the place, taking out boxes of records and video-poker machines.

Though the bar has changed hands and names, it is still linked to Gaeton Lucibello, once a high-ranking mobster, according to law-enforcement sources. Another known mob hangout, Broadway Pub Bar, on East Passyunk Avenue, was also raided.

Adjacent to Quattro is Colanzi's Bar, at 13th and Moyamensing. "State agents came but there were no machines, nothing," said the general manager, a woman in her 70s, who invited a reporter to see the nearly empty bar.

"These slots have been around for years," a patron said.

A bartender at Cheech's Bar at 12th Street and Oregon Avenue confirmed that the bar had been raided and directed questions to the owner, who declined to comment or identify himself.

Near the entrance of Cheech's was a monitor for video games, with a logo for Ace Vending.

In Whitman Park, a bartender walked into the middle of an FBI raid at Nickel's Bar at 2nd and Oregon.

"There were all these guys with bulletproof vests and guns and trucks outside they were loading," she said.

"About 10:30-11, they raided all the bars, so we didn't have a chance to call each other," she said. "It was like a drug raid, all at once. "At a bar on Cross Street, she added, "there was no money in the poker machine, but they took it anyway."

"I was surprised the FBI was here. Seems like there's more to it. This is usually a state kind of case," she added.

Even though she had heard that mob hangouts were raided, she indicated that Nickels was in no way related to them. "This is Jimmy Nickels' [bar], he's Irish."

Added a Nickels patron: "Why don't they go up in North Philly and arrest them for drugs?"

At 2nd and Reed streets, the Shamrock Pub was locked.

A Shamrock customer, who identified himself as Kevin, walked past and said: "They had trouble. [Authorities] took the poker machines out."

Video about the recent bust with amazing surveillance footage of Ligambi and mob underlings: http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_...Machines_Seized

Merlino takes stand in Casino Control Commission hearing on mob ties
By Lynda Cohen, 609-272-7257 | Posted: Monday, September 21, 2009 | 1 comment

ATLANTIC CITY - Joseph N. Merlino liked to call Anthony Giraldi. A lot. On that, the state and Merlino can agree.

But the reason for those calls is at issue.

Merlino and his mother, Phyllis, are trying to clear the family's name through a Casino Control Commission hearing to have a ban against their construction company lifted. Their Pleasantville-based Bayshore Rebar has been refused a license to do casino projects since 1989.

The family's well-known organized-crime relatives have been the focus. Merlino's father, Lawrence, was a crime boss who turned state's witness before his death in 2001. Joseph N.'s similarly named cousin, known as Skinny Joey, is in jail.

But Phyllis and Joseph N. Merlino say they have never been involved in that family business, and merely are working hard on their legitimate one. Both have testfied they broke off all communication years ago with anyone connected to crime. The state has said that is not the case.

Assistant Attorney General Anthony Zarrillo Jr. on Monday questioned Merlino about thousands of calls he made to Giraldi from 2001 to 2008. The state claims Giraldi is a mob associate.

Merlino, however, said Giraldi was a friend who works as a plumber - like his father and grandfather before him. The calls, Merlino said, were nothing more than him picking on his friend - whose father got mad when he answered the phone during work.

"We break each others ... chops," Merlino said, pausing to come up with an edited version of the phrase.

"That's what two 40-year-old men do for fun?" Zarrillo asked. "Call each other and break stones?"

"Yeah," Merlino replied.

Zarillo continued to go through the phone records, with Merlino ticking off the various dates on his copy.

"You keep calling him and you keep calling him and you keep calling him," Zarillo said.

"Were you making bets?" he asked at one point.

"No," Merlino replied.

Merlino said the calls continued until he broke off communication in 2008, after allegations of Giraldi being a mob associate were made. He said does not believe the claims but felt he needed to break ties if he had hopes for a casino work.

But it's not really the work the company is fighting for, these Merlinos say. They just want their name cleared, a name tarnished by people they say have no connections to them. Including Lawrence Merlino, who left Phyllis and his five children struggling financially while he lived the good life his illegal money created, his children said.

The Division of Gaming Enforcement has ignored that and is only pursuing the ban "because their last name is Merlino," attorney John Donnelly said Monday, as Phyllis Merlino and four of her five children stood nearby, arms crossed, nodding their heads in agreement.

Testimony will continue Friday before Commissioner William T. Sommeling. A ruling is not expected for several months.

E-mail Lynda Cohen:

LCohen@pressofac.com



More Coverage
•Merlino denies mob ties; seeks casino contractor's license
•Married to the mob
•Merlino: Casino work ban similar to a life sentence

Reputed Phila. mobster wins early release from jail
By George Anastasia
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Joseph "Mousie" Massimino, the reputed underboss of the Philadelphia mob, is coming home after serving more than five years of a 10-year sentence on a New Jersey racketeering charge.

Judge Anthony Pugliese reduced Massimino's sentence to time served during a sentence reconsideration hearing today in Camden County Superior Court.

In issuing what amounted to a get out of jail card to the 57-year-old mob leader, Pugliese accepted the arguments of Massimino's lawyer who said "he's done more than enough time considering the nature of the crime."

In fact, attorney M.W. "Mike" Pinsky pointed out that Massimino has served more time than any other defendant in the case, including a co-defendant who pleaded guilty to the same charges and was given the same 10-year sentence.

Massimino was denied release in February by a state parole board that cited his extensive criminal history and his failure to abide by prior parole requirements.

"If you're alleged to be a member of organized crime sometimes you're treated more harshly than if you're not," Pinsky said in pointing out the disparity between Massimino's treatment and that of his co-defendants.

All eight defendants in the case pleaded guilty.

Massimino, who began serving his sentence in June 2004, was charged with being one of the leaders of a multi-million dollar, mob-linked bookmaking operation and also with engaging in loan-sharking.

The charges were part of a racketeering indictment brought by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office based on an investigation by the State Police.

Pinsky argued that while the charge was racketeering, the offenses were gambling and loan-sharking and that taken separately they would have amounted to no more than five-year sentence.

The sentence reconsideration hearing grew out of a motion filed earlier this year by Jeffrey Zucker, Massimino's original lawyer.

Zucker filed the motion after the parole board had turned down Massimino's request for release. Zucker cited a stipulation in Massimino 2004 guilty plea agreement that permitted him to ask for a sentence reconsideration if he were denied parole after serving five years.

The State Attorney General's Office neither opposed nor supported the application for release, but agreed that a sentence reconsideration hearing was warranted under the terms of the original plea deal.

Massimino would have been eligible for release in 11 months in any event. At that point, Pinsky said, he would have maxed out his sentence under state guidelines.

In addition to reducing the sentence to time served, Pugliese also ordered Massimino to serve one year probation, to enroll in gambler's anonymous and to take part in drug and behavior modification counsel.

Pugliese added those requirement after noting that the parole board, in denying Massimino's request in February, cited his failure to recognize and acknowledge his criminal behavior.

Massimino, a close associate of reputed mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi, has a criminal case file dating back to the 1970s. The parole board cited his lengthy record which includes convictions for, among other things, drug dealing, assault, gambling and receiving stolen property.

He is also believed to be one of several targets in an ongoing federal racketeering investigation aimed at the Ligambi organization.

Three members of the FBI's Philadelphia-based organized crime squad were in the courtroom during today's hearing. They declined to comment about the case.

Pinsky said his client, who formerly owned a bar-restaurant in South Philadelphia, probably would be released early next week.

He first had to be returned to Northern State Prison in Newark where he has been housed for most of his sentence.

Pinsky said the prison, regard as one of the toughest in the state, was an unusual place for someone convicted of bookmaking to be housed. It was, he said, just one example of how Massimino's sentence exceeded the nature of his crimes.

"It's overkill for the type of offense we're dealing with," he said in arguments before Pugliese.

Posted on Mon, Nov. 30, 2009

One setback after another for Delco mob figure

By George Anastasia

Inquirer Staff Writer
A courtroom reunion of South Philadelphia mob associate Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello and his old friend Frank "Frankie the Fixer" DiGiacomo was put on hold last week after Monacello pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in Delaware County.

DiGiacomo's debut as a trial witness and the chance for Monacello, through his lawyer, to confront his onetime partner in crime now will take place next year when Monacello faces assault charges in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

Both of the cases stem from a Pennsylvania State Police organized-crime investigation dubbed "Operation Delco Nostra" that focused on a lucrative Delaware County gambling and loan-sharking operation linked to the mob.

Monacello, 43, was a prime target of the probe and remains on the radar screen of several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.

The dapper wannabe wiseguy, who recently filed for bankruptcy in New Jersey, has been identified as a key operative for jailed mob leader George Borgesi. It was Monacello's role as point man for Borgesi's bookmaking interests in Delaware County that led to the charges in the Delco Nostra case, authorities alleged.

His guilty plea Wednesday in Delaware County Court and a prison sentence of 111/2 to 23 months he is to begin serving on Jan. 5 are the latest in a series of setbacks for Monacello this year.

In January, he learned that DiGiacomo - who served as a collector and sometime enforcer for the gambling operation - was cooperating with state police and had recorded dozens of conversations that tied Monacello to the gambling operation and to an obstruction-of-justice scam.

Monacello was taped allegedly coaching DiGiacomo on how to lie to the grand jury investigating the bookmaking operation.

A few months later, Gavone's, a South Philadelphia bar-restaurant at 10th and Wolf Streets that Monacello opened with a partner, went bust.

The property, an attractively renovated three-story brick corner building, houses a restaurant on the first floor and modern apartments above. It is now subject to foreclosure actions and a breach-of-contract claim.

And in September, Monacello, who owns a house in Ventnor, Atlantic County, filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy reorganization petition, listing personal debts of more than $1.1 million. They include more than $600,000 from his failed restaurant and nearly $350,000 on his home in the 600 block of Kinsley Drive in Ventnor.

The bankruptcy papers offer a look at some of his assets, financial dealings, and personal relationships.

Monacello owns a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup truck and leases a 2007 Cadillac STS, according to the filing. He has $12,654 in an IRA and $7,628 in credit-card debt.

He transferred the liquor license and 100 shares of stock in Gavone's to his girlfriend, Lisa Aglira, this year to satisfy a $68,000 debt he owed her, according to the bankruptcy papers.

The always well-dressed and neatly coiffed mob associate claims he lives on a monthly income of $1,417, most of it from his 50 percent interest in a construction company, AAA General Contractors.

AAA lists its address as 3152 S. 18th St., an upscale rowhouse in South Philly's Packer Park, where Monacello reportedly lives with Aglira.

Reputed mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi lives around the corner.

Last month, a Fox29 TV news report included videotape of Monacello and Ligambi in a heated discussion outside Ligambi's home.

Law enforcement investigators said they were aware of the meeting but did not know what it was about. On the tape, Ligambi flails his arms and points his finger at Monacello.

In two conversations that DiGiacomo secretly recorded in January 2008, Monacello said he believed he was a target in an open FBI racketeering investigation aimed at Ligambi and Borgesi.

Monacello told DiGiacomo he expected "a federal roundup down the road to get me" and said he figured the feds would pressure him to talk about Borgesi and Ligambi.

In one of several expressions of bravado DiGiacomo recorded, Monacello said that he would never talk and that if they threatened him with 10 years, "I'll say I was hoping for 20."

Borgesi, who is Ligambi's nephew, is serving a 14-year prison sentence. He is expected to be released in about two years.

But the FBI may have other ideas. Putting Borgesi in another racketeering case - one built in part around information gathered by state investigators in the Delco Nostra probe - could disrupt homecoming plans for the high-strung mobster, who is a suspect in at least one mob-related murder.

"They want to keep Georgie in jail," Monacello said on one tape.

DiGiacomo, an enforcer for Monacello, began cooperating in late 2007 and, according to his testimony at a preliminary hearing, first contacted the FBI.

Whether he secretly recorded conversations for federal investigators has not been determined, but a charge pending in the Delco Nostra case would easily fit into a federal indictment.

Monacello is accused of plotting an assault on mobster Martin Angelina, identified on some law enforcement charts as Ligambi's underboss.

Monacello and Angelina clashed, law enforcement sources say, in a dispute over collection of thousands of dollars in gambling and loan-sharking debts.

DiGiacomo made secret recordings that authorities say tie Monacello to a conspiracy to assault Angelina. During the conversations, Monacello agreed to pay $2,000 to have Angelina "severely beaten," prosecutors say.

A trial on that charge is likely next year. But it could be scratched if federal authorities decide to roll the assault conspiracy and the financial dispute that led to it into a broader gambling-and-loansharking investigation that targets the Ligambi organization.

"It's there if they want it," one law enforcement source familiar with the Delco Nostra investigation said of how it could fit into the federal probe.

Contact staff writer George Anastasia at 856-779-3846 or ganastasia@phillynews.com.

Hello all. Happy Holidays.

I haven't been hear in awhile but I'm back on the board so here it goes...

the south philly boys are running scared. they are all hiding in doors and not really venturing out in public. they are borrowing peoples cars left and right just to avoid the fbi and make a quick run and try to do bizz undetected. they are falling apart at the seams and hanging on by a thread. most of the money making operations they had are shut down and they will have to put themselves in harms way(the fbi) in order to get back to making money.

when you see someone on the street in philly now, the question isn't "how You Doing" it's "have you seen such and such"

hope this is helpful to all

Almost forgot to mention the heated finger pointing that was caught on tape was in regard to a few of the neighbors on that block strung xmas lights everywhere like they do on some south philly blocks and Joey couldn't believe it. he was pointing at the lights when he was pointing his finger. Its not what news reports. The guys are getting a big laugh out of it.

It just shows you how calm and Old School Joey can be.

In parts of South Philly they are taking money and poker machines and here he is complaining about the xmas lights his neighbors are hanging.

2010 should be very interesting for these guys

Crime reporter George Anastasia believes 2010 will finally see Ligambi and other Philly mobsters be indicted by the Feds.

IF YOU KNOW THE HISTORY OF THE PHILLY MOB THEN YOU WILL RECALL
"THE ST PATTY'S DAY ROUNDUP" OF THE STANFA CREW.
AND THATS ALMOST HERE. LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS

Mob Talk: Witness Intimidation Cases

PHILADELPHIA - Government witnesses scheduled to testify against some big-time criminals turn up dead. Fox 29's Dave Schratwieser and the Inquirer's George Anastasia go behind the scenes of two notorious murder cases.

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_...imidation_Cases

Posted on Sun, May. 16, 2010


Scarfo faces jail weekend before his bail hearing

Charged in a sports-betting case, he is expected to seek his release Monday because of the delayed and nonviolent nature of the charges.

By George Anastasia
Inquirer Staff Writer

A bail hearing is expected to be held Monday for Nicodemo S. Scarfo, charged with being part of a mob-controlled international sports-betting operation that used websites, the Internet, passwords, and a wire room in Costa Rica to handle more than $2 billion in bets over 15 months.

Scarfo, 44, the son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, was arrested Friday at his home outside Atlantic City and carted off to the Morris County Jail.

He was one of 34 reputed members or associates of New York's Lucchese crime family charged in the investigation, Operation Heat, conducted by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice.

Many defendants in the case were arrested in December 2007. Scarfo was not.

His lawyer is expected to argue that because Scarfo was not charged when the case broke more than two years ago, and is not charged with any of the violent acts of extortion in the 33-count indictment, he should be freed on bail pending trial.

Scarfo faces racketeering, conspiracy, and gambling charges.

James Leonard Jr., his Atlantic City lawyer, said Friday that Scarfo had been "stunned" to learn he was indicted. Leonard said he and Scarfo had been on the phone discussing how to arrange his surrender when members of the New Jersey State Police knocked on the door of Scarfo's Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic County, home and placed him under arrest.

Donald Manno, another Scarfo lawyer, said the timing of the Friday afternoon indictment announcement and arrest guaranteed that Scarfo would spend the weekend in jail. He implied the move had been calculated and called it "just outrageous."

The New Jersey indictment could prove to be the least of Scarfo's problems. He remains the target of a federal investigation into fraud and money-laundering charges tied to FirstPlus Financial, a Texas firm with a checkered past.

Scarfo and Salvatore Pelullo, an Elkins Park businessman, have been described as the behind-the-scenes operatives in what federal investigative sources allege was a scheme to loot the company of several million dollars.

In May 2008, the FBI conducted raids in Texas, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, seizing documents and records tied to FirstPlus. There have been no arrests.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Camden, which is coordinating that investigation, have declined to comment.

As in the just-announced gambling case, the FirstPlus investigation is said to be built, in part, around wiretapped conversations that authorities believe help outline schemes run from FirstPlus and subsidiaries.

At one point, the company had purchased several companies in the Philadelphia area that were involved in construction and rehab work. Most are now defunct.

New Jersey authorities alleged last week that the gambling operation detailed in the Operation Heat indictment had covered 15 months beginning in August 2006.

The FirstPlus investigation, according to a federal search warrant, alleges fraud and financial wheeling and dealing that began that same month.

A source familiar with his situation said last week that Scarfo, who in the summer of 2006 returned to South Jersey after serving the second of two jail terms on gambling charges, had tried to work legitimately for a concrete company.

But, the source said, Scarfo wasn't satisfied with the money he earned.

The Lucchese gambling operation and FirstPlus offered him opportunities to get rich quick, the source said.

"He was desperate, and he knew exactly what he was doing," said the law enforcement source, who predicted that a FirstPlus indictment would be returned this year.

For those who might be interested, David is now hosting my 'Mob Corner' stories and I will be posting one soon on Phily and Harry Riccobene.

Thom