Stanfa family chart request

[Angelo Santino]

Who were the Merlino faction associates/unmade members?

Also, seems like there were 2 North Jersey crews in the 80s and 90s. I believe Napoli-Scoops-Caprio were one crew. And Sodano was also given Capo status over his own group of associates. I know Anastasia makes it sound different in TLG but the Fresolone book I feel covered Jersey better. Thoughts?

Pogo thanks for this.

[Pogo The Clown]

I believe the two Jersey Crews (if indeed there were two after 1990 when Freselone flipped), would have been after Sodano got clipped. The Stanfa tapes from 1991 indicate there was only one North Jersey Capo (Ralph Napoli).


As for the Merlino Faction associates here are some of them.


The core group:
Ralph Natale (IP)
Steven Mazzone
George Borgesi
Gaeton "Tommy Horsehead" Scafidi (switched to the Stanfa side in 1993)
Martin "Marty" Angelina
Michael "Mikey Lance" Lancellotti
Vincent "Vince" Iannece
Michael "Dutchie" Avicoli


Other Associates:
Charles “Chad” Ianecce Jr.
Frank Baldino (Killed in 1993)
Angelo Lutz


Not sure if the following were part of the faction by this time but most probably.


Frank Gambino, Michael "Mikey Pen Knife" Virgilio, Anthony "Tony Cujino" Accardo, Steven "Snitch" Frangipani, Phillip Ligambi and Albert “Ally Lance” Lancelotti. Roger Vella was probably another one.


They also had scores of younger hanger-ons at the time. The most likely candidates for this group would include Salvatore "Sonny" Mazzone, Michael "Mike" Angelina, Damion “Dame” Canalichio and Anthony “Tony Nics” Nicodemo. These were in their early 20s at the time its questionable just how involved they were during the 1991-1993 period.


So basically most of the Philly family today came out of the Merlino faction.


Pogo

[Chucky]

Canalichio was involved by that point, I'm not sure about Nicodemo, and Lucibello switched over in '93. Anthony Accardo, Mike Virgilio, Gary Tavella, Phil Ligambi, Frank DiPasquale, and Steve Frangipani were a few others. Joe Licata proposed Merlino & Ciancaglini so I wonder where he fit in.

[Angelo Santino]

According to Fresolone's Blood Oath, if you go back to 1990, Scoops Licata was acting for Martirano. At the same time, it seems Sodano was allowed to become a captain as well. Napoli was taken down before Martirano. I remember what Anastasia said about Napoli running things in 91, but I disagree, and there's other sources out there (Fresolone) and newspapers that refer to Licata as replacing Martirano...

Piccolo was having legal problems in the 1990's which may be why he stepped down. Scoops and a few other people were indicted and eventually convicted in 1996 or 97. That was when Caprio became capo, but GA made it sound like he was replacing Sodano. It seems instead that Caprio was rewarded for killing Sodano by receiving capo over the crew Licata ran. Sodano appeared to have had a crew of gambling associates.

It doesn't make sense that Natale calls the NJ crew and everyone shows up except for Sodano. Sodano appears to have wanted little to do with those guys. I can find articles from the 90's that refer to Licata as the NJ capo.

[B.]

Nicodemo starts showing up in surveillance photos of Merlino hangouts by the mid-late 90s. Basically everyone who was old enough and related to other players was involved by then as well (i.e. Sonny Mazzone).

I am not sure about there being two NJ crews except the brief period when George Fresolone was promoted. I thought Sodano was promoted (maybe acting) because of Scoops' constant legal problems throughout the 90s.

[Pogo The Clown]

According to Fresolone's Blood Oath, if you go back to 1990, Scoops Licata was acting for Martirano. At the same time, it seems Sodano was allowed to become a captain as well. Napoli was taken down before Martirano. I remember what Anastasia said about Napoli running things in 91, but I disagree, and there's other sources out there (Fresolone) and newspapers that refer to Licata as replacing Martirano.

Napoli was demoted in 1984 (replaced by Martirano) but he got his Capo rank back sometime after the Freselone situation. There is a transcript of a taped coversation (in The Goodfella Tapes) between Stanfa, Licata and Sodano from 1991 where they are talking about replacing Napoli as the North Jersey Capo because he was too old and the responsiblities were too much for him.


Pogo

[willychichi]

According to Fresolone's Blood Oath, if you go back to 1990, Scoops Licata was acting for Martirano. At the same time, it seems Sodano was allowed to become a captain as well. Napoli was taken down before Martirano. I remember what Anastasia said about Napoli running things in 91, but I disagree, and there's other sources out there (Fresolone) and newspapers that refer to Licata as replacing Martirano.

Napoli was demoted in 1984 (replaced by Martirano) but he got his Capo rank back sometime after the Freselone situation. There is a transcript of a taped coversation (in The Goodfella Tapes) between Stanfa, Licata and Sodano from 1991 where they are talking about replacing Napoli as the North Jersey Capo because he was too old and the responsiblities were too much for him.


Pogo

Here's some back and forth from the tapes.



According to the transcript and court records this is what happened:

Stanfa's first problem was "Blackie," the co-capo of Newark, N.J., identified as Ralph "Blackie" Napoli.

"He hates everybody. Whoever you mention, he don't like," Sodano said.

Licata, the other Newark co-capo, was worried what would happen because he was expecting to go to jail soon for a lengthy term.

Sodano said that he had tried to set up a meeting between Napoli and Licata, but Napoli snarled at him, "I'll spit in his face, I'll kick him in the b - - - - . . .

" 'Blackie,' I said, what kind of talk is that?' " Sodano continued.

Sodano told the others he thought Napoli was getting senile and not remembering things.

"I believe that he's reached a point that he could be part senile, that he could be partly losing his mind. He makes statements like he don't give a f - - - if he gets killed, he don't give a f - - - if he dies in jail."

During a 15-minute conversation, Napoli might ask 10 times what a guy's name is, Sodano explained.

"I said, 'Blackie, don't keep saying in front of people that you don't remember . . . You're tying your own hands when you keep saying I don't remember this and I don't remember that . . .' "

Sodano said he confronted Napoli with stepping down from his supervisory duties.

"I said, 'Blackie, you have told me more than on one occasion you've made a mistake in taking the position and I have said to you I don't feel you made a mistake, I know you made a mistake.' "

In the middle of the conversation about Napoli, Sodano inadvertently mentioned that Sparacio, a Philadelphia mob defendant currently on trial, came up to North Jersey to meet with mobsters from the Genovese crime family about a problem.

"For what?" asked Stanfa, taken aback.

Any meetings among crime families have to be set up by the bosses, according to court records.

It was Napoli's fault, Sodano said.

Andy Gerardo, a Genovese family member, was having a problem with someone Sparacio knew. So Gerardo contacted Napoli and asked him to set up the meeting with Sparacio.

Napoli failed to notify Stanfa or Piccolo about being contacted by Gerardo. Napoli told Sodano he was planning to introduce Sparacio to the Genovese family and then just sit on the side without getting involved.

Sodano said he warned Napoli: "Blackie, the guy's with us . . . You're not supposed to let the guy sit by himself."

Not only was Sparacio wrong, but Gerardo as well for failing to go through mob bosses, Stanfa said.

"Blackie, they're supposed to contact us," said Stanfa, "before they go to Shotsie (Sparacio)."

"That's right," Piccolo agreed.

"I am here to say that I do not believe that Blackie is mentally capable of handling the position and I think he's aware of it," Sodano said. He said he told Napoli, "Everyone feels you should step down, that you should retire."

Stanfa finally said, "I don't think this guy is qualified for this job."

But the mob boss was clearly frustrated by Napoli and other problems. Stanfa said he was 51 years old, and didn't just come in from the street. His mob pedigree came from "generation and generation."

Stanfa, speaking in the third person about himself, shared his frustrations with the others: "I say, John, you know, what are you, you don't need over here, you need a, you need a machine gun. That's what you need. You got to clean up everything and start over again."

Read more: http://articles.philly.com/1995-09-29/n ... ly-mobster

[Angelo Santino]

I pulled out BO I'm looking for it...

Page 148: For a long time the so-called northern faction of our family had been split in two, divided after Tony Bananas' death between those who were tied to Blackie Napoli and those who were around Patty. We- this is, those of around Patty- had been very close to what was going on in Philadelphia after Nicky Sr went to jail because Patty was asked to take over the family and because he was very close personally to Cousin Anthony. Those who had been around Blacie really didn't now what was going on beyond rumors they heard or things they were told unofficially by us.

After Patty screwed to South America, I got a call one day from a made guy who had been around Blackie. He was demanding to know if our family was disbanded and given to one of the New York families- thought the Bruno-Scarfo family was in such a state of disorganization that it should be disbanded and its members divided between the Gambinos, the Genoveses, and Luccheses. Actually the rumors were even more explicit: The Gambinos would get a portion of the family in Philadelphia; the Genoveses would get us in the northern faction; the Luccheses would get the few of our guys such as John Praino, who were active in NYC; and those guys left in Atlantic City would be divided up in some yet unspecified way.

Page 149: Cousin Anthony responded that while Patty was away he would remain the captain. He again stopped short of calling Scoops and Slicker acting captains but repeated that they would be the ones making the day-to-day decisions.

Page 250: Nicky Sr. also had a Joey on the brain: Joey Merlino. For both the Scarfos, senior and junior, whacking Merlino was topic number one. Joey was now in jail, and so both Scarfos were just marking time waiting for him to get out. But a new worry had emerged. Nicky Sr. had heard from some sources in South Philly that the Luccheses might be making a move on recruiting Joey in jail. He was not a made guy, so theoretically frowned upon, but it did happen occasionally when a guy had a serious falling out with his own family and wanted to move along. Since both the Scarfos were counting the hours until they could kill Merlino, this could probably be considered a serious falling out. So the Luccheses could probably get away with recruiting Joey.

The rumors were that a Lucchese captain named "Vince" was in the same lockup as Joey and had taken a shine on him. Supposedly the guy had offered to take Joey in when they got out and had promised that if he went with the Luccheses, they would straighten him out immediately.

"George," Nicky Jr. Said, "my father wants you to reach out for Michael Perna. Find out who this Vince guy in the slam with Joey is. If he's a Lucchese, tell Michael that we would have a serious problem if this guy tries to take Joey. Tell him we would like for him to pass this along."

I did just that later in the month. Michael said he would look into it, and he got back to me a couple of days later. "The story is bullshit, George." he reported. "We don't have anybody in that joint. We don't even have a Vince in any joint. Besides, we wouldn't touch Merlino on any account. The rumor just isn't true."


And no, I can't find any reference to Sodano having his own crew. After Nicky went to prison, Sodano allegedly stopped sending up money, so the Jersey crew had to track him down and get him to agree.

Maybe I got it from Steve:

What is your opinion of Joe Scoops Licata and Nicky Oliveri ?

Scoops Licata is a jerk off in my opinion. He was Tony Banana’s bagman. When Banana’s got clipped, Scoops got rich. When I was in the can in 1986 I heard from Nicky O that Scoops got made. Nicky was passed over and that pissed me off because in my book Scoops is a fag. I once called him a fat fuck to his face because he made a remark about Jerry Chilli to me. There were a lot of people around when I said it including Nicky o, Louie fazzini, Bobby Spags, Marty Taccetta and Jimmy Fede. If Scoops didn't have Mike Perna backing him up no one would have paid him. He's one of those cases where he got respect when he got a button, but he never had it before. He also shit every time Joey Sodano came around. They were both 'acting' skippers for awhile, but Joey was a 'hitter' and Scoops was most certainly not.

Nick Olivieri was like my big brother. I used to think he was god until I realized he thought he was god. He's my goombah and godfather to my oldest son. Our families were close. We were partners under Jimmy Higgins (Palmieri) in the early 1980's. I made a lot of money with and for nick. I was the closest person to him, even when our relationship was strained, which it often was. I could count on him and he on me, but it was a love hate thing. We both had over sized egos. It was tough on both of us.

[B.]

Page 250: Nicky Sr. also had a Joey on the brain: Joey Merlino. For both the Scarfos, senior and junior, whacking Merlino was topic number one. Joey was now in jail, and so both Scarfos were just marking time waiting for him to get out. But a new worry had emerged. Nicky Sr. had heard from some sources in South Philly that the Luccheses might be making a move on recruiting Joey in jail. He was not a made guy, so theoretically frowned upon, but it did happen occasionally when a guy had a serious falling out with his own family and wanted to move along. Since both the Scarfos were counting the hours until they could kill Merlino, this could probably be considered a serious falling out. So the Luccheses could probably get away with recruiting Joey.

Funny how this situation played out almost exactly the same, except with Nicky Jr. being recruited by the Luccheses instead.

Also funny how Lenehan bashes Scoops there, but in more recent times on the boards he does nothing but praise Licata as boss material and a master politician.

[Angelo Santino]

Page 250: Nicky Sr. also had a Joey on the brain: Joey Merlino. For both the Scarfos, senior and junior, whacking Merlino was topic number one. Joey was now in jail, and so both Scarfos were just marking time waiting for him to get out. But a new worry had emerged. Nicky Sr. had heard from some sources in South Philly that the Luccheses might be making a move on recruiting Joey in jail. He was not a made guy, so theoretically frowned upon, but it did happen occasionally when a guy had a serious falling out with his own family and wanted to move along. Since both the Scarfos were counting the hours until they could kill Merlino, this could probably be considered a serious falling out. So the Luccheses could probably get away with recruiting Joey.

Funny how this situation played out almost exactly the same, except with Nicky Jr. being recruited by the Luccheses instead.

Also funny how Lenehan bashes Scoops there, but in more recent times on the boards he does nothing but praise Licata as boss material and a master politician.

Lenehan felt very much the same about people as Fresolone did, they both call Nicky O their BFF. I strongly suspect Lenehan read Blood Oath and used it to "brush up." If Lenehan was as important as he says he was, he would have made it into Fresolone's book.

[Angelo Santino]

This fucking Jersey Crew....ok....

Caponigro until 1980
Napoli - 80-84
Martirano - 84-90
- Scoops and Slicker unofficial Acting according to George's text, his intro pages at the beginning refer to Scoops only as the acting.

.. cut to TGF ..
GA makes it sound like Napoli has the spot.. According to the post above, which mentions co-captains, it appears Scoops and Napoli have the co-captain position.

In 1994, Scoops is indicted with his "direct lieutenant" Nicky O...
In 1996, Sodano (maybe replaced Napoli?)

Scoops goes away, Sodano is murdered. Caprio becomes the new boss.

Then Caprio goes away, Centorino becomes acting, Scoops comes out and takes his position back.

Does that sound kinda right? I guess I was wrong about Sodano having his own crew... Fucking Picasso.

[Pogo The Clown]

Yeah it is about right. Napoli was not promoted to Capo until April 1981 according to Leonetti. Tommy Adams DiNorscio was the Acting Capo for Caponigro (and after he was killed) until Napoli's promotion. The Licata and Oliveri indictment was in 1998.


Pogo

[Angelo Santino]

Yeah it is about right. Napoli was not promoted to Capo until April 1981 according to Leonetti. Tommy Adams DiNorscio was the Acting Capo for Caponigro (and after he was killed) until Napoli's promotion. The Licata and Oliveri indictment was in 1998.


Pogo

In Fresolone's book, he mentioned that after he, Olivieri, Cifelli and another guy was made (Fresolone's story was the basis for the Sopranos S3 making ceremony that he ended up suing over), Licata was angry because he wasn't invited yet was the capo over these associates. It sounds like he tried to raise an issue about it in NY saying the names weren't passed around, he even went as far as to introduce Fresolone as "A friend of ours, but you guys (Gambinos) don't have to recognize it."

Licata, according to Fresolone, was disliked by everybody. If that was the case Martirano could have chosen somebody else especially since he had "Cousin Anthony's" ear. Licata, appears to have survived alot of shit with relatively free jail time. He's been involved in running N. Jersey OC since the 1980's, he's doing something right in a family that whacks willingly.


Blood Oath is really a good book. Serves as a bridge between Anastasia's Blood And Honor and The Goodfella Tapes. Really good take on things from the North Jersey perspective on the Philly leadership. Really, you want to read the history of the Philadelphia LCN it's 80% written.

Before Bruno 1: 1880-1931
Before Bruno 2: 1931-19??
Before Bruno and How he became boss: 19??-1959

Blood and Honor / MobFather

Blood Oath

The Goodfella Tapes
The Last Gangster.

There's been more written like the Leonetti book and The Last Mouthpiece, both of which I have yet to read.

[Ivan]

There's been more written like the Leonetti book and The Last Mouthpiece, both of which I have yet to read.

They're both great. Mafia Prince is cool because Leonetti is always fascinating, and because it puts to bed a lot of the dumb mythology (like that "gentle don" business, or Scarfo being some kind of nobody who lucked into the job of boss) that even George Anastasia recycles, while The Last Mouthpiece is most interesting to me because of its positive/humanizing portrayal by a friend of guys like Sindone, Phil Testa, and Scarfo. (It is especially interesting to hear Scarfo described and characterized by someone who does not have an economic/career stake in making him out to be the devil - even the Leonetti book includes a little of that stuff (which at this point is getting extremely repetitive and lame IMO).)

[B.]

Yeah it is about right. Napoli was not promoted to Capo until April 1981 according to Leonetti. Tommy Adams DiNorscio was the Acting Capo for Caponigro (and after he was killed) until Napoli's promotion. The Licata and Oliveri indictment was in 1998.


Pogo

In Fresolone's book, he mentioned that after he, Olivieri, Cifelli and another guy was made (Fresolone's story was the basis for the Sopranos S3 making ceremony that he ended up suing over), Licata was angry because he wasn't invited yet was the capo over these associates. It sounds like he tried to raise an issue about it in NY saying the names weren't passed around, he even went as far as to introduce Fresolone as "A friend of ours, but you guys (Gambinos) don't have to recognize it."

Licata, according to Fresolone, was disliked by everybody. If that was the case Martirano could have chosen somebody else especially since he had "Cousin Anthony's" ear. Licata, appears to have survived alot of shit with relatively free jail time. He's been involved in running N. Jersey OC since the 1980's, he's doing something right in a family that whacks willingly.


Blood Oath is really a good book. Serves as a bridge between Anastasia's Blood And Honor and The Goodfella Tapes. Really good take on things from the North Jersey perspective on the Philly leadership. Really, you want to read the history of the Philadelphia LCN it's 80% written.

Before Bruno 1: 1880-1931
Before Bruno 2: 1931-19??
Before Bruno and How he became boss: 19??-1959

Blood and Honor / MobFather

Blood Oath

The Goodfella Tapes
The Last Gangster.

There's been more written like the Leonetti book and The Last Mouthpiece, both of which I have yet to read.

Leonetti's book is great as a supplement to Blood and Honor and Mobfather. You have the soldier's perspective, the captain, and then the administration's, all who took different routes coming up. Of course Mobfather isn't Tommy Del's perspective, it's his family's who hate him, but you still get a lot of his info and experience in the book.

Really everything in Philly has been covered pretty well except for the 1970s. The Mary Farrell site covers the 1960s.

About Licata... one thing that I believe helped him early on was his closeness to other families, especially the Luccheses. He was very connected to them and for a time LE actually believed he was a Lucchese associate if I remember correctly. The NJ crew is much different from the rest of the family, as they were involved in less violence and I don't believe their soldiers had to commit murder to be made like the guys in Philly and South Jersey.