Philadelphia crime family

Bruno-Scarfo Crime Family

In	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Founded by	Salvatore Sabella
Years active	1911-present
Territory	Various neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Territory in Atlantic City, South Jersey, and Delaware (as well as Baltimore and Trenton).
Ethnicity	Italian, Italian-American
Membership	60 made members approx, 400-600 associates approx
Criminal activities	Extortion, bookmaking, drug trafficking, loan-sharking, gambling, racketeering, conspiracy, and murder.
Allies	Five Families, Chicago Outfit, Patriarca, Pittsburgh, Bufalino, Cleveland, and DeCavalcante crime families, as well as the Warlocks, Junior Black Mafia, and various South Philly Italian-American street gangs
Rivals	The Pagans and various other gangs over Philadelphia, including their allies

The Philadelphia crime family also know as the Scarfo crime family or Bruno crime family is an Italian American criminal organization based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is one of the most powerful Cosa Nostra families after the Five Families of New York and the Chicago Outfit. The family has been known to hold turf or influence in other nearby areas outside of Philadelphia, including Atlantic City, areas of South Jersey, Trenton, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Baltimore, and Newark. The Philadelphia family is notorious for their violence and for being a particularly dysfunctional family, mostly due to having a succession of very violent bosses. The reign of former boss Nicky Scarfo is considered one of the bloodiest reigns of any mobster and the Stanfa-Merlino conflict during the 90's is considered one of the bloodiest mob wars of recent years. Despite being repeatedly hit with informants, indictments and a large number of murders since 1980 the Philadelphia crime family has remained roughly the same size over the last thirty years.

History

The beginning

After several Italian-American street gangs of Philadelphia eventually formed its own criminal organization together in the early 1910s, Salvatore Sabella was the first to step up for the family which would be known as the Philadelphia crime family. With basic criminal activities like bootlegging, extortion, loansharking and illegal gambling operations around Philadelphia, the crime family that now bears that name was starting to take its form in the early 1920s during the Prohibition era. It was around this time that Sabella and his crew were recognized members of the same Sicilian crime syndicate of New York and Chicago, especially after the formation of the Cosa Nostra and the Commission in 1931, after the Castellammarese War and the murders of the two most powerful Dons of New York, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, whom Sabella was allied with during the war. Powerful crime figure Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was the new face of the organization that was now known as the Mafia. Later in 1931, Sabella retired from the Philadelphia family.

John Avena and Joe Dovi

After Sabella's retirement two of his top lieutenants, John Avena and Joseph Dovi, began a five year war for control of the family. Avena was murdered by members of his own faction on August 17, 1936, and Joseph "Joe Bruno" Dovi became boss of the Philadelphia family.

Dovi had good connections with the Chicago Outfit and the Five Families of New York, and expanded operations to Atlantic City, South Philadelphia and parts of South Jersey. Narcotics, illegal gambling, loansharking and extortion activities provided the family's income, and connections to the Genovese and Gambino crime families grew throughout the 1930s and early 1940s.

On October 22, 1946 Dovi died of natural causes at a New York City hospital, and Joseph "Joe" Ida was appointed by the Commission to run the Philadelphia family and its rackets.

Influenced by Vito Genovese

Joseph "Joe" Ida ran the family throughout the 1940s and early 1950s. Ida and the Philadelphia organization were heavily influenced by the bosses of the Five Families, especially the Genovese crime family, which sought to control both families as Vito Genovese,Underboss of the Genovese crime family assumed control in 1956 after the shooting of former boss Frank Costello, who subsequently retired due to illness. As the Philadelphia family gained more power in Atlantic City and South Jersey, they were viewed as a large faction of the Genovese crime family. Ida and his Underboss Dominick Olivetto were present during the 1957 Apalachin Convention with roughly 100 other top mobsters. It was around this time that Philadelphia separated from the Genovese crime family, and were given a seat in the national Mafia body, The Commission. The meeting was raided by US law enforcement and over 60 mafioso were arrested and indicted for association with known organized crime members. Ida was named in the indictment and fled to Sicily not long after the meeting, leaving Antonio "Mr. Migs" Pollina as Acting boss in Ida's absence.

The Gentle Don and the Commission

After Ida retired in 1959, and Pollina was demoted, Angelo "Gino" Bruno, nicknamed "The Gentle Don", was appointed by the Commission to run the Philadelphia family. Bruno, the first boss of Philadelphia with a seat at the Commission, gained much respect in the underworld and was soon to be seen as the most powerful Mafia boss outside the New York and Chicago area, as he expanded the family's profit and operations in lucrative Atlantic City, which had now became known as the Philadelphia turf. Bruno himself avoided the intense media and law enforcement scrutiny and outbursts of violence that plagued other crime families, as well as avoiding lengthy prison terms despite several arrests; his longest term was two years for refusing to testify to a Grand Jury. In addition, Bruno did not allow his family to deal in narcotics, or to be in any part of the drug trafficking that led to Vito Genovese's 15 year prison-sentence in 1959. Apparently, Bruno preferred more traditional operations like labor racketeering, illegal gambling, extortion, bookmaking and loansharking. During the early 1960s, the Philadelphia family was officially recognized as the Bruno family.

Bruno's murder and the Philly War

Bruno held complete power over his family for two decades, but the offroad navigation of the narcotics operations, that many factions below him thought they should have a piece of, led to his downfall. On March 21, 1980, the sixty-nine-year-old Angelo Bruno was killed by a shotgun blast to the back of the head as he sat in his car. It is believed that Bruno's Consigliere, Anthony Caponigro, ordered his murder. Caponigro was apparently ready to step up, but he was found stuffed in a body bag in the trunk of a car in New York. About $300 in bills were jammed in his mouth and anus. It was alleged that the Commission ordered his murder because Caponigro had assassinated a family boss, and a powerful member of the Commission, without their sanction. After Caponigro's murder, various short-lived leaders were to run the family. Philip 'Chicken Man' Testa led the family for about one year, but was killed by a nail bomb at his home on March 15, 1981. Testa's death resulted from an attempt by Peter Casella, Testa's reputed Underboss, to become the Boss of the Philadelphia family. Through shrewd insight, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, a violent rising Mafia figure of the Atlantic City faction, took over Bruno's crime organization for a longtime leadership. However, in the aftermath of Angelo Bruno's murder, many crime families across the country, including the Five Families, the Chicago Outfit, and the New Jersey-based DeCavalcante crime family, mediated between the rival factions and took advantage of the situation. This included, among other things, the rackets in Atlantic City, of which the Genovese crime family eventually took large parts. The relations between the Philadelphia and the New York families eventually declined, and their seat at the powerful Commission was eventually taken from them in the 1980s.

The fierce regime of Nicky Scarfo

Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, a powerful leader of the Atlantic City faction, had risen to become the full Boss of the Bruno family, which became known as the Scarfo family, and promoted his cousin Anthony Piccolo to Consigliere and later his nephew Phil Leonetti to family Underboss. Scarfo, a mobster quite different from Angelo Bruno, cut a deal with the Five Families of New York that allowed them a piece of the action in Atlantic City while keeping a significant slice for himself aiming to keep the partnership between Philadelphia and New York working. However, Scarfo was also known for being ruthless and organized the murders of at least 30 members in his own family, either because they were suspected rivals or even potential informants. During his bloody regime of the 1980s, reputed captain John Gotti of the Gambino crime family organized the shooting of his Boss Paul Castellano and his driver in 1985, leaving Gotti as the new Boss of the powerful Gambino crime family of New York. Scarfo was a close ally of Gotti during the time, and hoped Gotti would bring them back into the Commission in New York. However, Gotti had murdered his Boss without the approval of the other families and rival Genovese crime family Boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante conspired with Lucchese crime family leaders Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso to murder Gotti. A 1986 attempt on Gotti's life instead killed his Underboss Frank DeCicco. As Gotti's enemies conspired in the late 1980s, Scarfo's relations with New York lapsed. Scarfo and Gotti would soon become enemies.

Informants and Scarfo's fall

US authorities had been investigating the Philadelphia crime family since the late 1970s, and many members of the family - soldiers, capos, the Underboss, and Scarfo himself - were charged with racketeering, illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, drug trafficking, and murder.

At the end of 1989, twenty members of Scarfo's organization were serving lengthy prison sentences, and another ten were on trial. To make matters worse, five members of the family had turned state's evidence against Scarfo: soldiers Nicholas Caramandi and Eugene Milano, reputed capos Thomas DelGiorno and Lawrence Merlino, and worst of all, Underboss and nephew Phil Leonetti.

On April 5, 1989, Scarfo was convicted in Common Pleas Court of first degree murder in the 1985 death of rival mobster Frank D'Alfonso, along with six of his lieutenants. Scarfo, who had already been sentenced to 15 years in prison on extortion and conspiracy charges, was sentenced to life imprisonment the following day.

Later that same year, Scarfo's son Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr. was shot and wounded in a South Philadelphia Italian restaurant. Some reports suspect Joey Merlino of being Scarfo Jr.'s assailant. Fearing his rivals had sanctioned his son's murder, Scarfo had him inducted into the Lucchese crime family in 1990 to provide protection.

Scarfo's cousin Anthony "Tony Buck" Piccolo became the acting boss of the family from the time Scarfo was arrested until the early 1990s. In the early 1990s mobster Giovanni "John" Stanfa was then promoted to official boss, but his reign ended in 1995 after a two year war with Joseph Merlino in an attempt to gain the family's control. Several murder charges resulted in Stanfa being sentenced to five consecutive life sentences in 1995. Ralph Natale, a former Bruno associate and ally of Merlino, took over as boss upon Stanfa's conviction. In a move that remains controversial today, Natale was inducted into Cosa Nostra by Joey Merlino, who was at the time just a soldier in the Philadelphia crime family. Natale immediately took over the title of boss on the same day as his induction.

The rise of Ligambi

Ralph Natale, who was little more than a glorified methamphetamine dealer, became a government informant after he was arrested for running the Philadelphia and South Jersey rackets. For years the family has been plagued with internal power struggles, as well as major federal indictments. In the late 1990s, Joey Merlino took over as boss of the family with Steven Mazzone holding the title of underboss and George Borgesi as consigliere, but the entire administration was imprisoned soon after, passing leadership to acting boss Pauly Myonaise, who is Borgesi's uncle. Ligambi, who took over as the official boss in 2001, has stabilized the family and increased membership, but more importantly he has restored relations with the New York families. The family currently consists of 55 made men, many of them still imprisoned. Around a dozen made men will be released from prison over the next three years which will fill ranks. Many of these men were players during the Scarfo and Merlino eras, a lot of young men who are now middle-aged. Ligambi is now considered, by the FBI and the New York families, the indefinite godfather of the Philadelphia mafia.

Ligambi has created a tight-knit group around the family's new leadership. His inner circle includes longtime Philadelphia mobsters such as Joseph "Mousie" Massimino, Gateon Lucibello, Anthony Staino, and Michael "Mikey Lance" Lancelotti. Recently released Merlino faction leaders Martin Angelina, John Ciancaglini, and Steven Mazzone have also appeared to have fallen in line behind Ligambi.

Its leaders and other powerful members have included mobsters such as Angelo Bruno, Philip "Chicken Man" Testa, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino, Joseph "Chickie" Ciancaglini, Nicholas "The Crow" Caramandi, Salvatore "Salvie" Testa, Joseph Ligambi, "Tony Bananas" Caponigro, Phil Leonetti, Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino and Harry Riccobene.

Bosses of the Philadelphia crime family

• 1911–1931 — Salvatore Sabella (retired) (died of natural causes in 1962)
• 1931–1936 — John "Nazzone/Big Nose" Avena (killed August 17, 1936)
• 1936–1946 — Joseph "Joe Bruno" Dovi (died October 22, 1946 of natural causes in New York hospital)
• 1946–1959 — Joseph "Joe" Ida (deported 1958)
• 1958–1959 — Antonio "Mr. Migs" Pollina (acting boss) (deposed by commission)
• 1959–1980 — Angelo "Gentle Don" Bruno (killed) (1911–1980) (killed March 21, 1980 by shotgun blast)
• 1980–1981 — Philip "Chickenman" Testa (killed) (1924–1981) (killed March 15, 1981 by bomb blast)
• 1981–1991 — Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo (Jailed for Life)
• 1991–1994 — Giovanni "John" Stanfa (Jailed for Life)
• 1994–1999 — Ralph Natale (figurehead Boss, jailed 1998, defected 1999)
• 1998–2001 — Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino (Deposed by Commission in 2001)
• 2001–present — Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi

References

• Anastasia, George. Blood and Honor: Inside the Scarfo Mob, the Mafia's Most Violent Family.
• Wagman, Robert J. Blood Oath.
• Anastasia, George. Goodfella Tapes.
• Anastasia, George. The Last Gangster.

External links

• IPSN: The Philadelphia/Atlantic City Mob
• The Mafia in New Jersey: State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation (1989 Report) - The Bruno/Scarfo Family
• Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia Underworld Trial 2001
• Blood and Honor: Inside the Scarfo Mob - The Mafia's Most Violent Family by George Anastasia, 2004, ISBN 0-9410159-86-4
• Alleged Mob-Run Bet Ring Smashed
• Mafia brawl