THE BLACK HAND FORUM

Anything known about tommy murphy - philly guy in florida?

Just a quick note -- it was Joe Valachi who first identified Alfred's brother Peter Red Shirt Felice as a made member of the Mangano/Gambino family. Came across a list of members in different families ID'd by Valachi and sure enough Felice is one of them.

Peter Felice was Alfred's older brother, nice find on the photo. He shows up as a deceased Gambino member on one list I came across. The Felices originally lived in the Bronx, so they are bound to have Genovese connections. The older brother's murder could have factored into Alfred ending up with the Philly family, not sure.

At one point in the late 1950s Angelo Bruno was planning to move to Florida full-time and possibly become a capodecina there, as he refused to take a promotion to capodecina in Philly. I have come across no other connections between Philly and Florida from that time period except Angelo Bruno's strong presence there, then later with the Simone crew (which didn't exist yet and most of its future members were not made until later). Given that Angelo Bruno himself was well-connected to high ranking members of other families back when he was an associate and soldier, we could probably learn a lot about Felice if we knew more about the extent of Angelo Bruno's involvement in Florida. I know he was involved there from at least the early 1950s, though it's possible he had ties there earlier.

[quote=B. post_id=94634 time=1542309832 user_id=127]
When I made the original post I had never heard of him -- it was three years ago, so I'd have to do some digging, but the reference in my original post probably came from a crime commission or senate report given the year was 1983. I can remember the visual, as it was a simple chart.

Very interesting guy, so if you find anything else please let me know.
[/quote]

Man these are great, thanks for getting back to me.

The general lack of a Philly/Florida connection makes his story interesting, as well as the possibility of being a Trafficante member. He clearly had high ties, mostly administration members or captains mentioned, no matter the city. Frattiano may also have embellished, but Zappi being a fixture in Florida lends credence to his statements. I clearly could have dug deeper but didn’t.

A few other notes on him, which gave me more reason to reason to believe he was at least Tri-State LCN:

- at age 23 he was arrested with 4 others on an armed robbery charge in Long Island, one of the men arrested with him was a young Joseph Gagliano, who would become a soldier in the Coppola crew. Yet another mention of him and a 116th member.

- was aquitted of homicide in Manhattan sometime in the 1930's, no mention of associates here but taking place in Manhattan and his place of residence at the time was the Bronx


PS here’s a photo of Peter "Red Shirt" Felice, the Legs Diamond associate killed in 1937. 240 lbs, he had survived a previous shooting years earlier, 3 bullets to his head.

[attachment=0]107B8C5D-4D45-4A74-BB9C-68070A020E1C.jpeg[/attachment]

From Jimmy Fratianno's testimony in 1981:

[quote] You personally sir, have you had
any direct involvement with any of the
Philadelphia members, the members
of the Bruno Family?

[b]A: Yes, I have, with one. But he, I think
he's died in the past year.[/b]

Who was that, sir?

[b]A: "Freddie Red Shirt." His name is
Freddie Felice. He's with the Bruno
Family. He's been with the Bruno
Family for years. And in 1976 and '77
he was selling artichokes to New York.[/b]

And you worked with Mr. Felice,
"Freddie Red Shirt" Felice?

[b]A: Yes, sir. We were partners, sir, also
with Terry Zappi.[/b][/quote]

When I made the original post I had never heard of him -- it was three years ago, so I'd have to do some digging, but the reference in my original post probably came from a crime commission or senate report given the year was 1983. I can remember the visual, as it was a simple chart.

Here is a doc from the 1960s about Florida-based members where he is explicitly labeled a member of the Philly family, but strangely it also lists him directly above as a member of the Trafficante family as well:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=113058&relPageId=16&search=%22alfred_felice%22

Another document on MF mentions that Stefano Randazzo and Alfred Felice are members of separate families though they had previously incorrectly been listed as members of the same family, so that may be a correction to the above listing where Felice is listed twice with both the Trafficantes (along with Randazzo) and Philly.

Here is another doc where an informant ID's Felice as a made member and suspects it may be with Philadelphia given his association with Philly members:
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=113101&relPageId=4&search=%22alfred_felice%22

I've read other reports that discuss Charles Costello traveling to Florida specifically to meet with Alfred Felice during the period when Costello was acting captain of the Simone crew. The Simone crew at that time handled most of the Bruno family's interests in Florida, with Simone himself living there most of the year.

He is also mentioned in this book as a "Bruno aide", which you may have seen, but I'm not sure the original source: https://books.google.com/books?id=H1BpCAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT58&ots=OqcKpHBqsC&dq=%22alfred%20felice%22%20miami%20mafia&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=%22alfred%20felice%22&f=false

Between the 1983 report, the 1960s MF docs, Frattianno's reference to Felice being w/ the Philly family, plus other odds and ends, everything strongly points to Felice being with Philly. His close association with members of other groups and some of the murkiness surrounding him probably comes from him being one of the only Florida-based members of the Philly family (at least during that period), his brother having been a possible member of an NYC family before his murder, and Felice being from NYC originally himself.

In the 1950s Angelo Bruno himself seems to have been one of the family's only soldiers with an active presence in the Miami area, so I wonder if it was Bruno himself who recruited Felice. Felice's association with Bruno's cousin Costello and others from the Simone crew could back this up, but hard to say.

Very interesting guy, so if you find anything else please let me know.

[attachment=0]0DD45948-0057-46F0-870A-7204AB72BC93.jpeg[/attachment]

[quote=B. post_id=22817 time=1450133920 user_id=127]
I was checking out a 1983 government report of the Philadelphia family and there is an Alfred Felice of Miami listed as a soldier. The chart had some incorrect captains listed, but most if not all of the members it listed were in fact members of the Philly-SJ family.

Is anyone familiar with this name?
[/quote]

Aware this is an old post, but was doing some research on him and came across this thread.

B., would you mind posting that source or link to that government report where he is mentioned as a Philly member? Alfred Felice is in the FBN book (i will post a photo of his page) in the "Florida" section, all of his associates i believe are all NY gangsters, he was obviously a florida based guy but I just dont see any mention whatsover of the Philly affiliation. I trust your account on his being with Simone given his main contacts, plus the Frattiano info but I just havent seen it wherever he is mentioned. Iv read his crime sheet too, his arrests mention NY guys only. He is also listed on the "mafia membership" charts as a Genovese soldier, which would make sense given his close ties to the 116th crew mobsters under his "associates", and that membership site has been fairly credible so far. We've established he associated with Philly guys in Florida, I guess i am just trying to get to the bottom of where his official membership lies.

Now maybe there are 2 different guys, but highly unlikley: same birth year and death, i believe the parents names are the same, even the "Fred Franco" nickname.

I trust your knowledge and research so I know you could probably shed some more light here. Thanks!

^ Alfred's brother Peter Felice was identified as a deceased Gambino member in an FBI report. Maybe this explains Alfred's involvement with Gambino members in drug trafficking. The Bronx connection could explain the Lucchese part of it.

Also, I don't believe I mentioned it at the time, but I've since found info that indicates Alfred Felice was a Florida-based soldier in the John Simone crew. His main contacts back in Philly/Jersey were through Simone's acting captains Charles Costello and Pappy Ippolito, who regularly traveled to Florida (where Simone spent most of his time by the 1970s). This crew was the most active group in Florida before Scarfo took over, so it would make sense Felice reported to Simone's crew.

The one killed late 1936 who was a former bootlegging associate of Legs Diamond was Peter "Red Shirt" Felice, born 1900 and a resident of the Bronx. He was shot to death in a restaurant owned by Salvatore Capolla in the early morning hours and though Capolla wasn't there, his brothers Frank and Vincent were there and claimed that Felice was drunk and involved in a dispute with an unidentified man. The Capolla brothers were conspicuously busy or "not paying attention" when the man shot Felice in the back of the head. The Capolla brothers then moved the body outside to take attention away from the restaurant. The killing was investigated as a "gangland" murder.

Curious who Felice was associated with in the time between Diamond's death and his own murder. He had previously survived an attempt on his life in 1931 when he was shot in the head and eye. Newspapers incorrectly reported that he died, but he actually recovered and refused to cooperate.

Alfred "Freddie Red Shirt" Felice, aka "Freddie Franco", was born around 1912 and is ID'd by multiple informants as a made member active in Florida who was in poor health by the 1960s. Aside from Fratianno saying he was a Bruno member, another informant in Florida believed Felice was a Philly member as he associated primarily with Philadelphia members. Said to be involved in loansharking and drugs. Looks like he might have died in 1979 though he shows up on this 1983 list... Fratianno says he believed he died in the last year during his 1981 testimony.

Looks like Alfred and Peter were brothers, as they both had a father named John and a mother named Mary or Maria. Alfred was born in the Bronx. No doubt Freddie inherited the nickname "Red Shirt" from Pete, who had earned the nickname due to his flashy fashion choices. I wonder how Freddie got hooked up with the Philly family and whether he was involved with the mob in NYC before his brother's death. He was involved in heroin trafficking with Lucchese and Gambino members in the 1940s but not sure where he was living.

Freddie Felice was close to the Rat Pack, in particular Dean Martin, who was apparently the godfather to Felice's son. Felice later opened a restaurant in North Bay Village that was named for Martin (with permission). Not sure if this is the same as Dino's, which was a club later owned by Martin in North Bay Village.

Just to follow up on the Frattiano connection, Freddy Felice was in the artichoke business with Frattiano and Ettore Zappi. Frattiano ID'd Felice as one of two Bruno members he personally knew, the other being Blinky Palermo.

[quote="Pogo The Clown"]He was also listed as a member in the 60s. He may be the “Red Shirt” Felice that Jimmy Frattiano met in the 70s and described as a Philly member.


Pogo[/quote]

Yep, I think you're right. His nickname was "Freddy Red Shirt"

However there was also a "Red Shirt" Felice killed in 1937 who was apparently associated with Legs Diamond.

Going to need to look into this a bit more.

He was also listed as a member in the 60s. He may be the “Red Shirt” Felice that Jimmy Frattiano met in the 70s and described as a Philly member.


Pogo

I was checking out a 1983 government report of the Philadelphia family and there is an Alfred Felice of Miami listed as a soldier. The chart had some incorrect captains listed, but most if not all of the members it listed were in fact members of the Philly-SJ family.

Is anyone familiar with this name?