Philadelphia Underboss 2000-2011

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chin_gigante
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Philadelphia Underboss 2000-2011

Post by chin_gigante »

A breakdown of the often conflicting information put forward about the underboss(es) of the Philadelphia LCN family from 2000 to the Ligambi RICO case.
  • Steven Mazzone is indicted as acting underboss March 2000, trial begins March 2001, convicted July and sentenced December
  • Joseph Massimino is indicted as a soldier February 2001
  • George Anastasia describes Massimino as accompanying acting boss Joseph Ligambi to Merlino and co.’s RICO trial and a figure soon to emerge as Ligambi’s underboss
  • Massimino (along with Gaeton Lucibello, Michael Lancellotti and Anthony Staino) is reported as member of Ligambi’s ‘inner circle’ December 2001, a group from which he is expected to name his underboss and consigliere
  • Massimino’s ‘meet the underboss’ phone call takes place 2003
  • Massimino pleads guilty March 2004 and is sentenced in June
  • Staino describes himself as the CFO, and that Vincent Filipelli reports to him in a March 2004 conversation
  • Martin Angelina released from prison November 2005
  • Staino is reported to be Ligambi’s new underboss in early 2006
  • Angelina returns to prison for four months January 2007 after being caught associating with Ligambi, Michael Lancellotti, Damion Canalichio and Steven Frangipani
  • Angelina is found to have violated his parole again October 2008 and released March 2009
  • Philadelphia PD release an organisational chart August 2009 listing Angelina as the acting underboss and Staino as a capo
  • Angelina is arrested for disorderly conduct September 2009 and sentenced to a year’s probation August 2010
  • Massimino is released from prison October 2009 and both he and Angelina are observed attending the family Christmas party later that year
  • Massimino is indicted as underboss, Staino as a caporegime and Angelina as a ‘high-ranking’ member May 2011
  • Angelina is identified as a capo in a DOJ press release following his sentencing September 2012
  • Ligambi is initially indicted as ‘boss’ but this is amended in superseding indictments to ‘acting boss’ having risen first through the ranks to be the underboss; however Massimino remains listed simply as the underboss (though the indictment also describes George Borgesi as having previously served as ‘consigliere’ when he was indicted in 2000 as the acting consigliere)
Does anyone know of any available source that explicitly refers to Massimino as being the 'acting underboss' during this period?
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Chucky
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Re: Philadelphia Underboss 2000-2011

Post by Chucky »

NJ State report labeled Mouse as the acting underboss in '04, not sure if he was after he got out in '09, but he was still one of the top guys regardless.
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SonnyBlackstein
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Re: Philadelphia Underboss 2000-2011

Post by SonnyBlackstein »

Guy has done a lot of time this century
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Re: Philadelphia Underboss 2000-2011

Post by Pogo The Clown »

I also recall articles from 2001 refering to him as Acting UnderBoss.


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Re: Philadelphia Underboss 2000-2011

Post by NJShore4Life »

Angelina only got the Underboss title due to his lifelong ass kissing to Merlino. They go way back and Marty is Godfather to Merlino’s daughter. Ligambi was throwing Merlino a bone when giving Marty Underboss title to have one of Joeys boys in an admin position while Joey was away. Marty is a full blown alcoholic. Everytime I’ve seen him he’s been a complete drunken asshole who could barely walk or was being carried out of a bar. He also beats women and acts like a complete asshole 24/7.

Ligambi’s right hand guys were always Staino and Massimino .
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Re: Philadelphia Underboss 2000-2011

Post by chin_gigante »

Did another dive into the newspaper archives and found earliest reference to Massimino as underboss from Anastasia in April 2002 after he got put on the casino exclusion list:
Joseph “Mousie” Massimino, identified by law enforcement investigators as the acting underboss of the Philadelphia-South Jersey mob, is no longer welcome in Atlantic City’s casinos.
Regarding the hierarchy of the family in general, this Anastasia article from December 2001, after Steven Mazzone's sentencing, said this:
Though authorities say it is too soon to outline a structured organization – underboss, consigliere, capos, etc. – they have identified several top Ligambi associates. They include his driver, Anthony Staino, a former official with the Atlantic City bartenders union and one of the targets of the gambling inquiry, according to a Philadelphia police report.
Two others who were identified as suspects in mob hits, Gaeton Lucibello and Michael Lancelotti, are also part of Ligambi’s inner circle, authorities say. Another key figure, they say, is Joseph “Mousie” Massimino, who is under indictment in New Jersey in a bookmaking-racketeering case.
I also found a Kitty Caparella article from April 2000 identifying Lancellotti as a capo, which is the earliest reference to him as such that I can find.

Regarding Angelina as acting underboss I also found this excerpt from an Oct 2008 Anastasia article:
Once described by a federal prosecutor as a "bully running with a gang of misfits," Angelina, 45, is believed by law enforcement investigators to hold a position of authority within the Ligambi organization.
Angelina was given a spot in the mob hierarchy, they say, when he returned to South Philadelphia in November 2005 after serving 66 months in federal prison on a racketeering charge. Mob leader Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino and five others were also jailed in that case. […]
Reputed mobster Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello has been charged in two separate presentments in the case, one of which alleges he solicited another mob figure to assault Angelina.
Authorities allege that Monacello, who lives around the corner from Ligambi, first plotted with an associate to have Angelina killed. The associate, who was cooperating with the Pennsylvania State Police, reported the plot to authorities and wore a body wire to a second meeting. At that meeting, Monacello allegedly said that instead of killing Angelina, he wanted Angelina "beaten so badly he would have to be hospitalized," according to the grand-jury presentment.
Law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation said that Monacello was involved in a dispute with Angelina over the control and collection of gambling debts and that either Monacello or one of his customers had been threatened by Angelina.
Documents in the case indicate that Monacello had complained to Ligambi. But Monacello allegedly told the informant he would deny any involvement in the assault on Angelina if Ligambi questioned him about it.
In a taped conversation, Monacello said he would tell the mob boss, "if it was me, I would have just . . . killed him, OK?"
In the same conversation, Monacello used a epithet to describe Angelina and said he was the "most hated" member of the South Philadelphia crime family.
While not definitive, that would certainly look like Angelina was acting underboss from as far back as late 2005 to at least 2009 (when Massimino was released), his position being as a favour to Merlino would also explain the confusion around Staino as he became Ligambi's de facto no. 2 despite Angelina's title.
'You don't go crucifying people outside a church; not on Good Friday.'
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