29 Nov. 1992 – FRANCESCO DIGIACOMO (Associate):
- A drug addict, Francesco DiGiacomo owed money to the organisation and was claiming to be connected to Stanfa in order to demand food from Continental Foods, the mob boss’ headquarters. Associate Rosario Bellocchi volunteered to kill DiGiacomo, his friend, in order to ingratiate himself with Stanfa. Bellocchi picked up DiGiacomo in soldier Biagio Adornetto’s car and shot him in the neck and stomach, dumping his body on the side of the road. Bellocchi reported the next morning to Stanfa and underboss Joseph F Ciancaglini. The car and the gun were disposed of by Gaeton Lucibello and Stanfa rewarded Bellocchi with a fully furnished apartment.
- Bodybuilder Rod Colombo was suspected of skimming cash from extortion payments owed to the Stanfa mob and had been marked for death for a while, with Biagio Adornetto and Rosario Bellocchi having previously been given the contract. Frank Martines and Gaeton Lucibello lured Colombo to a meeting under the ruse of committing a burglary. Colombo drove Martines and Lucibello to a residential street when Martines, from the back seat, shot Colombo in the head. The two hit men were then picked up in a car driven by Ciancaglini. The gun used had previously been in the possession of Rosario Bellocchi, leading to him initially being charged with the murder. Bellocchi was made aware of the killing when Stanfa showed him a newspaper clipping the day after.
- Long-time associate-turned-government-witness Mario Riccobene left the witness protection programme in 1992 and attempted to reintegrate himself with the Stanfa organisation. Associate Raymond Esposito was given the contract and others involved in the planning included Ciancaglini, Martines, Lucibello, and Luigi Tripodi. When Esposito began dragging his feet on the murder, Ciancaglini threatened to kill him and associate Sergio Battaglia relayed this message to Esposito through his friend Tripodi. Battaglia, Martines and Herbert Keller were then also put on the contract and drove to a New Jersey diner to scope it out as a place to kill Riccobene. Coincidentally, they arrived in time to hear the gunfire as Esposito finally carried out the contract and shot Riccobene to death in his car. Battaglia, Esposito and Martines were then inducted into the family at a ceremony in that Spring.
- Stanfa had inducted Michael Ciancaglini and Joseph Merlino, leaders of a dissident faction of younger wiseguys, into his organisation because he thought it would make them easier to kill and ordered their executions after deducing that they orchestrated the attempted murder of his underboss, Michael’s brother, Joseph F Ciancaglini. Recently brought into the organisation by newly appointed acting underboss Frank Martines, associate John Veasey was put on the contract to kill the two lead rebels with Philip Colletti. Colletti sought to use a stolen car in the hit but was instead told by Sergio Battaglia to use a rental car leased from his family’s dealership in his own name. The gunmen found Ciancaglini and Merlino outside a clubhouse in South Philadelphia and pulled up alongside. Veasey opened fire from the back seat and Colletti from the front passenger’s window, shooting Merlino in the buttocks and killing Ciancaglini with a bullet that struck him in the chest. They drove to a garage, left their guns and torched the car, accidentally setting Veasey’s hand on fire in the process. The two hitmen were picked up by Colletti’s wife, Brenda, who reported the car as stolen to the police. In an attempt to avoid being linked to the torched vehicle, Veasey later set his hand alight later that night to disguise it as a fresh wound and went to the hospital. The guns had been provided by Salvatore Brunetti, who picked them up from the garage and disposed of them. Stanfa arranged for Veasey to be clocked-in at a construction site where he worked run by the mob boss’ brother-in-law as an alibi.
Brunetti and Colletti both expected to be inducted into the family for their roles in the murder of Ciancaglini, but neither would be. Veasey would be the only member of the hit team to go on to become a made member of the organisation.
- An associate of Merlino, Frank Baldino was targeted by the Stanfa organisation as the mob war escalated. Martines found Baldino at the Melrose Diner in South Philadelphia and called associate Thomas Rebbie to meet him there. Rebbie called associate Stephen Weinstein, who drove him to the diner where they found Martines, Veasey and Giuseppe Gallara in a separate car. Once Baldino left the diner and entered his car he was approached by Veasey and Gallara, who both shot him multiple times, killing him. Martines sped around the corner, followed by Rebbie and Weinstein. The two gunmen got into the back of Weinstein’s car and made their getaway. They stopped at Franklin D Roosevelt Park where Rebbie disposed of the two guns in different ponds, then stopped at a second location to drop Veasey off and finally the remaining three hitmen went to a bar for drinks. Gallara and Veasey were later inducted into the family for their roles as shooters.
In additions to the five murders carried out by the Stanfa organisation there were several other attempted murders and murder conspiracies:
- George Fresolone claimed that Gigi Cappello had been murdered in New Jersey on Stanfa’s orders
- Michael Ciancaglini survived an assassination attempt outside his house following the murder of Stanfa soldier Felix Bocchino – Ciancaglini identified his brother Joseph and Gaeton Lucibello as his would-be-killers, whereas Battaglia later took credit for it, saying he and Herbert Keller attempted to murder the young mob leader
- Soldier Biagio Adornetto fell out of favour with Stanfa shortly after the DiGiacomo murder. Rosario Bellocchi attempted to shoot Adornetto at point-blank range with a shotgun but Adornetto survived when the weapon failed to fire – Lucibello had loaded it with the wrong ammunition
- After Adornetto went on the run, Bellocchi and Gary Tavella intended to find his whereabouts by kidnapped Fernando Vincenti, torturing him to find out what he knew and then killing him – the kidnapping failed and Bellocchi and Tavella were arrested
- Associate Ron Mazzone was marked for death with Colombo for skimming shakedown payments
- Stanfa wanted to have reporter George Anastasia and lawyers Joseph Santaguida and Donald Marino killed – he didn’t like Anastasia’s articles, he feared Santaguida was too close to the Merlino faction and felt disrespected when Marino asked to be paid up front. The murder plots were abandoned as the organisation prioritised wiping out Merlino and his associates
- Multiple plots to kill Merlino failed including conspiracies to kill him with a rifle, a car bomb and cyanide
- Conspiracies to kill Merlino associates during the gang war including Steven Mazzone, Michael Avicolli and Ronald Galati
- Mob soldier Gaeton Lucibello was marked for death for joining the Merlino faction and, after Stanfa’s son survived an assassination attempt, Stanfa wanted Lucibello’s teenage son killed in retribution
- Sal Brunetti told Thomas Rebbie to poison Stephen Weinstein with cyanide in order to prevent him from revealing anything about the Baldino murder – Rebbie took the cyanide but instead kept it with the intention of poisoning himself if things got too bad
- Stanfa viewed hitmen Veasey and Colletti as loose cannons and wanted them killed, planning to lure them to Wilkes-Barre, where they would be killed and buried with the assistance of Bufalino family boss William D’Elia
- Veasey later survived an assassination attempt in January 1994, shortly after becoming a cooperating informant, where Martines and capo Vincent Pagano shot him multiple times in the head and chest – Veasey fought his way out and went on to testify against Stanfa and the organisation
- Battaglia claimed that in March 1994 he, Herbert Keller and John Casasanto met with Steven Mazzone, Michael Lancellotti and Vincent Iannece, and told them they were sick of Stanfa and planning to murder him themselves – they were indicted soon after and Battaglia would go on to become a government witness in 1996
