by B. » Wed Sep 27, 2017 1:44 am
Caramandi says in his book that when Merlino issued the Riccobene contract, the reason was because Riccoebene was an informant. At the time it seemed like a ridiculous excuse to kill him, but now we know they were on to something. Did Scarfo/Merlino somehow find out that Riccobene had given information (back in the 50s/60s at least, no indication if it continued into the 70s/80s), or was it just a made up reason that coincidentally hit on some truth?
It often gets mentioned that Riccobene had an arrangement with Angelo Bruno, which Scarfo rejected and prompted the Riccobene war, but the Phil Testa period never gets mentioned. If there was some kind of arrangement with Bruno, then it must have continued through Testa's reign. It's possible Testa was too busy getting the rest of the family in order to worry about Riccobene, but we know Testa had a better relationship with Riccobene than Scarfo. Docs on the MF site show that Riccobene respected Testa, while he felt Scarfo should not have been a member.
Like Pogo said, Sonny Riccobene was blocked from membership by Harry, supposedly because the organization had gone downhill. His logic was sort of strange though because Sonny was as deep as someone could get in the rackets and associated closely with many members. He also blocked his associate Long John Martorano from being made for unknown reasons. Riccobene was extremely opinioned on who should and shouldn't be a member.
Most of the Riccobene crew associates were pretty young, at least compared to Harry. When he went to prison for that long stretch starting in the 1950s, he had fellow soldier Angelo Bruno look after a number of his rackets. Doesn't seem the "Riccobene crew" really existed before he was released from prison in the 1970s. The RICO indictment centered around the 70s showed that Riccobene and his associates were still pretty close to the center of the family, not as independent as they're made out to be later.
Caramandi says in his book that when Merlino issued the Riccobene contract, the reason was because Riccoebene was an informant. At the time it seemed like a ridiculous excuse to kill him, but now we know they were on to something. Did Scarfo/Merlino somehow find out that Riccobene had given information (back in the 50s/60s at least, no indication if it continued into the 70s/80s), or was it just a made up reason that coincidentally hit on some truth?
It often gets mentioned that Riccobene had an arrangement with Angelo Bruno, which Scarfo rejected and prompted the Riccobene war, but the Phil Testa period never gets mentioned. If there was some kind of arrangement with Bruno, then it must have continued through Testa's reign. It's possible Testa was too busy getting the rest of the family in order to worry about Riccobene, but we know Testa had a better relationship with Riccobene than Scarfo. Docs on the MF site show that Riccobene respected Testa, while he felt Scarfo should not have been a member.
Like Pogo said, Sonny Riccobene was blocked from membership by Harry, supposedly because the organization had gone downhill. His logic was sort of strange though because Sonny was as deep as someone could get in the rackets and associated closely with many members. He also blocked his associate Long John Martorano from being made for unknown reasons. Riccobene was extremely opinioned on who should and shouldn't be a member.
Most of the Riccobene crew associates were pretty young, at least compared to Harry. When he went to prison for that long stretch starting in the 1950s, he had fellow soldier Angelo Bruno look after a number of his rackets. Doesn't seem the "Riccobene crew" really existed before he was released from prison in the 1970s. The RICO indictment centered around the 70s showed that Riccobene and his associates were still pretty close to the center of the family, not as independent as they're made out to be later.