by B. » Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:05 am
Chris Christie wrote:In the early 90s Chang Merlino were calling themselves the Boss and Under. Seems Chang lead the group until he died.
In the early 1900s living to 50 amounted to being old. People who made it to 65 were the 95 year olds of today. And in the 1930s when most of the "longest tenured" bosses ran things for 2 decades they were relatively young. JB was 27 or 28. Mangano was the oldest in his early 40's.
One thing I've noticed in doing genealogical research on these guys, and maybe you've noticed this as well, is that a good amount of Italian fathers were older than you'd expect when they had their kids. Pretty common to see fathers well into their 30s when they started having kids. This is an extreme case, but Phil Giaccone's father Antonino didn't start having kids until he was in his 40s and was 56 when Phil was born. That's sort of an extreme case, but still I am surprised I don't see more fathers in their late teens and early 20s. Do you think this is because they were looking to establish a dependable living before starting a family or what?
As for Chang, he definitely led the group. After Tommy Scafidi flipped, he described meetings with Chang and Merlino where it was clear Chang was calling the shots. Also, Joey Merlino was in prison and the Merlinos were basically shelved when the so-called "young turks" started to dig their claws into South Philly before Stanfa took over. The Ciancaglinis were still a respected family on the streets and it was Mike Chang who was giving Tony Piccolo and the old timers so much grief.
[quote="Chris Christie"]In the early 90s Chang Merlino were calling themselves the Boss and Under. Seems Chang lead the group until he died.
In the early 1900s living to 50 amounted to being old. People who made it to 65 were the 95 year olds of today. And in the 1930s when most of the "longest tenured" bosses ran things for 2 decades they were relatively young. JB was 27 or 28. Mangano was the oldest in his early 40's.[/quote]
One thing I've noticed in doing genealogical research on these guys, and maybe you've noticed this as well, is that a good amount of Italian fathers were older than you'd expect when they had their kids. Pretty common to see fathers well into their 30s when they started having kids. This is an extreme case, but Phil Giaccone's father Antonino didn't start having kids until he was in his 40s and was 56 when Phil was born. That's sort of an extreme case, but still I am surprised I don't see more fathers in their late teens and early 20s. Do you think this is because they were looking to establish a dependable living before starting a family or what?
As for Chang, he definitely led the group. After Tommy Scafidi flipped, he described meetings with Chang and Merlino where it was clear Chang was calling the shots. Also, Joey Merlino was in prison and the Merlinos were basically shelved when the so-called "young turks" started to dig their claws into South Philly before Stanfa took over. The Ciancaglinis were still a respected family on the streets and it was Mike Chang who was giving Tony Piccolo and the old timers so much grief.