Philly making ceremonies (1990's-present) and misc. research

[MikeyRiens11]

There was a report a couple years back, regarding the pawn shops, recycling haulers, and scrap metal companies and how people with drug addictions would steal items and sell it to these businesses for quick cash. One of the businesses mentioned (can't remember the name off the top of my head) mentioned both Nicky O and Big Lou as employees at different points.

[NJShore4Life]

The report is from last year (June 2018) and here it is:

https://www.nj.gov/sci/pdf/Stolen%20Goo ... 0Final.pdf

[NJShore4Life]

http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/n ... /713562002

[MikeyRiens11]

That's it! On page 21 of the report, they talk about them both being on the payroll for Klein Recycling.

[NJShore4Life]

Yup Nicky O and Fazzini are on the Payroll for Klein Recycling.

Nicky O was a big Bloomfield Ave guy (Was always at Michael Angelo's Restaurant back in the day on The Avenue) but I am not joking at all when I say that he is down the Shore these days working at a swimming pool supply store last I heard.

[Dante]

I’m pretty sure the only ever” source” for the idea that the ceremony was invalidated and the inductees not being recognized was Lenehan’s bullshit.

[dack2001]

Fresolone spent a long time in his book talking about problems emanating from the ceremony and Joe Scoops telling other families they didn't have to recognize the new guys so there is more to it than some internet sleuths blaming it all on Lenehan's ghost.

[chin_gigante]

Some more notes on Stanfa admin appointments

Prior to Stanfa becoming boss, Salvatore Sparacio proposed that Anthony Piccolo remain as boss with himself as underboss and Stanfa as consigliere. This suggestion was ignored however, with Stanfa becoming boss in early 1991, Piccolo consigliere and Sparacio the capo in charge of the family's South Jersey rackets.

FBI surveillance tape
03 December 1991

JOHN STANFA: Joe [Sodano], between us… this other guy became part a problem from the first day, Shotsie. He don't know nothing from nothing. Joe, I'm up to here, Joe, I can't take Shotsie… He don't belong… When I came into this thing, it's good. You know what we do. He said, "We put Tony boss." He say, "I'll be the underboss," he appoint himself. He said, "You gonna be consigliere." I say. "What, what are you talking about?"

Stanfa considered making Luigi Tripodi his underboss (Kitty Caparella, 'Opening arguments target mob lawyer in murder trial', Philadelphia Daily News, 05 Mar 1996). Stanfa however inducted Joseph F Ciancaglini November 1991 (Tripodi was likely also inducted at this ceremony) and shortly after made him underboss. Rosario Bellocchi testified that Biagio Adornetto (inducted September 1992) felt he was better suited to the role of underboss than Ciancaglini.

ROSARIO BELLOCCHI: Biagio used to say Joe Chang wasn't worth it. He said American people were stupid… stupid in a certain way. Not really smart enough to be mob members, to be in a position to lead.

Piccolo and Sparacio cautioned Stanfa against inducting rival faction leaders Michael Ciancaglini and Joseph Merlino. Stanfa inducted them anyway at the same ceremony as Adornetto with the intention of keeping them close but inevitably killing them. It's possible that Ciancaglini and Merlino were assigned to Tripodi as he described the conflict with the rival faction as 'his problem', and cited a rumour that they were planning to kill Tripodi and then Stanfa. Tripodi was also the only member identified as a capo in the Stanfa regime to be operating in Philadelphia at that time (Vincent Pagano did not return to Philadelphia from Florida until Fall 1993).

FBI surveillance tape
16 Apr 1993

LUIGI TRIPODI: Mike [Ciancaglini] and Joe Merlino are gonna kill me and John.
ANTHONY PICCOLO: Oh yeah? I didn’t hear that, but I heard something else.
TRIPODI: They plan to kill me first.
PICCOLO: Watch yourself. Be careful… Sons of bitches, I knew it was going to come to that.

Philadelphia Inquirer 26 Mar 1996
Stanfa mob called collection of 'misfits'
Joseph A Slobodzian

Tripodi was introduced to him as a "made member" of the Stanfa crime family, Battaglia testified. He said Tripodi, on the eve of a trip to Italy to visit his sister, offered to stop in Sicily on his way home and bring back some mob gunmen to help Stanfa with "our problem" with Merlino.
Battaglia quoted Tripodi as telling Stanfa: "This is my problem. I'm a big boy and I'll handle it my way."

After Pagano returned to Philadelphia, he was taped by CI James Lynch saying that he and acting underboss Frank Martines were lined up to run things for Stanfa.

VINCENT PAGANO: Me and Frank… are second and third in command… If [Stanfa] goes to jail, me and him are in charge.

When Martines and Pagano were held in custody for the attempted murder of John Veasey, Sparacio (despite Stanfa's previous concerns about him) was then identified as Stanfa's choice to take over.

Philadelphia Daily News 18 Mar 1994
Mafia down but not out
Joseph R Daughen

In fact, investigators say, speculation about Stanfa's successor had begun even before his indictment was announced. Some of that speculation was fueled by Stanfa's attempt to dictate his own successor in the event "something happened" to him, they said.
"He said if something happened to him, 'Shotsy' Sparacio would be in charge," said one source, who refused to disclose how that information was obtained. "He knew there was a good chance he was going down and he wanted to pick his own man."

Sergio Battaglia testified that by March 1994 he, along with Herbert Keller and John Casasanto, was conspiring to kill Stanfa and approached Steven Mazzone, Michael Lancellotti and Vincent Iannece with the plan.

SERGIO BATTAGLIA: I told them, 'We're no longer with John Stanfa anymore. We're done with him.' He betrayed us. He used us like dirt. I told them, 'We'll handle it. We're going to kill John Stanfa.' After that, I got indicted.

[Pogo The Clown]

Prior to Stanfa becoming boss, Salvatore Sparacio proposed that Anthony Piccolo remain as boss with himself as underboss and Stanfa as consigliere.

Would have been interesting to see how things would have played out if the family had gone in that direction.


Great research again Chin.


Pogo

[dack2001]

Yes, good stuff. Especially interesting regarding Tripodi, Joey and Mike Chang were probably assigned to him initially.

[PHL_Mob]

That’s interesting. I was always under the impression that he bumped Joey to Capo of his “young Turk crew” shortly after he and Mikey Chang got made.

[chin_gigante]

That’s interesting. I was always under the impression that he bumped Joey to Capo of his “young Turk crew” shortly after he and Mikey Chang got made.

Stanfa once talked about proposing Ciancaglini or Merlino for a promotion but never did it.
In a bugged conversation on 29 Apr 1993 with Sergio Battaglia, Stanfa talked about the plan to lure Ciancaglini, Merlino and Gaeton Lucibello to a restaurant to kill all three in retaliation for the attempted murder of Joe Ciancaglini Jr. It would have been disguised as a meeting to discuss reorganising the family, and Stanfa said he might even propose that Ciancaglini or Merlino be promoted so they wouldn't suspect anything.
The next day Stanfa told Piccolo and Sparacio about the plan, and Piccolo reiterated that it was important for Sparacio and Joseph Licata to be attend the meeting to make Ciancaglini and Merlino 'comfortable'.

[Snakes]

That’s interesting. I was always under the impression that he bumped Joey to Capo of his “young Turk crew” shortly after he and Mikey Chang got made.

Stanfa once talked about proposing Ciancaglini or Merlino for a promotion but never did it.
In a bugged conversation on 29 Apr 1993 with Sergio Battaglia, Stanfa talked about the plan to lure Ciancaglini, Merlino and Gaeton Lucibello to a restaurant to kill all three in retaliation for the attempted murder of Joe Ciancaglini Jr. It would have been disguised as a meeting to discuss reorganising the family, and Stanfa said he might even propose that Ciancaglini or Merlino be promoted so they wouldn't suspect anything.
The next day Stanfa told Piccolo and Sparacio about the plan, and Piccolo reiterated that it was important for Sparacio and Joseph Licata to be attend the meeting to make Ciancaglini and Merlino 'comfortable'.

What happened to the meeting? Merlino smell a rat?

[chin_gigante]

In early May the FBI warned Ciancaglini, Merlino and Lucibello that there were threats to their lives so I think that's likely why the plan to call them in never materialised and Stanfa went back to having them stalked by hit teams

[chin_gigante]

Regarding the relationship between Joseph Merlino and Michael Ciancaglini and who could have generally been considered the leader of their rival faction up until 1993. Merlino is often discussed as the head of that crew of associates with Ciancaglini as his second-in-command, I think largely because Ciancaglini was killed and Merlino went on to become the boss. Looking at the evidence from the time it seems more likely that they were at least equals or perhaps that Ciancaglini was really in charge of that faction until his murder.

In 1993 (prior to Michael Ciancaglini's murder), Merlino was reportedly telling people that he was the underboss of Philadelphia and that Ciancaglini was the boss.

New Jersey State Police surveillance tape
15 Dec 1993

GAETANO SCAFIDI: Take these kids Michael and Joey, man. They did the same thing. They did the same thing.
JAMES LYNCH: Yeah, well I heard they wasn't turning nothing in, man.
SCAFIDI: Nothing.
LYNCH: They were keeping it. Then they were going around saying they were the boss and the underboss.
SCAFIDI: Boss and underboss.
[…]
SCAFIDI: Then he went around, in the newspaper, the same exact thing I read in the newspaper. Mike, Joey [Merlino] was going around telling everybody Mike was the boss and he's the underboss.

On surveillance tapes from Salvatore Avena's office, the Stanfa administration routinely expressed concerns specifically about the threat posed by Merlino and identified him as the leader, contrasting with the previous claim.

FBI surveillance tape
01 Dec 1992

ANTHONY PICCOLO: Those other guys, John, forget about them. A bunch of young Turks. And that guy [Merlino] acts like the leader. He acts like the leader.

FBI surveillance tape
Mid-late Apr 1993

ANTHONY PICCOLO: What can I tell you Sal? You're dealing with cowboys… These are not rational people.
SALVATORE AVENA: The thin one's crazy.
PICCOLO: Right, Sal. That's what I'm saying. When is this gonna stop?

FBI surveillance tape
22 Jun 1993

JOHN STANFA: What I want to do, you know, I have to shoot these two guys. Not even if… and then whatever happens, happens. […] As I told you, they're cuckolds. They're cuckolds. There's this Joe Merlino. Merlino motherfucker.

According to information provided by Ralph Natale, Ciancaglini was the driving force behind the Louis DeLuca murder.

RALPH NATALE: When Mike Ciancaglini first came up, the first visit, he talked about this screwball, as he called him, was going around bad mouthing Joey Merlino, Michael Ciancaglini, and he heard that Ralph Natale was up there. He said they mean nothing. I'm here, and I'm with Ronnie Turchi. Michael Ciancaglini then said Ralph, you know what I feel like doing, I feel like killing him. I said well go ahead and kill him.

Gaetano Scafidi testified that Michael Ciancaglini planned the attempted murder of Joe Ciancaglini Jr in 1993 and personally threatened to kill Scafidi if he didn’t go along with it; describing Merlino as being 'nervous' when the hit failed and Michael Ciancaglini as 'furious' (Kitty Caparella, 'Hit man told: kill or be killed', Philadelphia Daily News, 25 Apr 2001). In Scafidi's plea documents, he described being told by Merlino that he had been assigned as a blocker in the murder of James Diaddorio because Ciancaglini felt Scafidi was 'too reluctant' to have a more active role (Joseph A Slobodzian, 'Another Merlino associate cooperates', Philadelphia Inquirer, 04 Oct 2000).

Scafidi also testified that it was Ciancaglini who threatened him not to tip off Nicky Scarfo Jr about the plot on his life in 1989 (George Anastasia, 'Scafidi details mob hits, attempts', Philadelphia Inquirer, 25 Apr 2001). It was reported that when Merlino ran out of ammunition by test-firing his gun prior to the Scarfo murder attempt, Ciancaglini became 'angry' (Caparella, 'Joey the hit man?', Philadelphia Daily News, 04 Mar 1996). Natale also described Ciancaglini as a 'purebred gangster', and a 'great young man in La Cosa Nostra', with a 'terrible temper', and his friends were afraid of him (Caparella, 'Merlino trial hears details of mob hit', Philadelphia Daily News, 03 Apr 2001).