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

[Ivan]

Wow. The relative lack of murders since Long John or so certainly hasn't been from lack of trying it seems.

[chin_gigante]

Should also add that a few years before the Stefanelli-recorded meeting in North Jersey, Daniel D'Ambrosia's father approached Ligambi and said the FBI told him that Ligambi was going to kill his son. Ligambi told him to go away.

[Pogo The Clown]

Pretty ballsy to go after Natale's kids though not unheard of. Remember Scarfo ordered that hit on Joe Salerno's father (a civilian) after Joe flipped on Scarfo. The guy was shot by Phil Narducci but survived.


Pogo

[Chopper]

Wow. The relative lack of murders since Long John or so certainly hasn't been from lack of trying it seems.

They killed a bookmaker after the Long John shooting right? Plus the whole Nicodemo fiasco.

Philly is by far the most interesting family outside NY lol. Plus, as has been mentioned on the forum, its insane how many known killers are active on the street today.

Gotta give Joey and Joe credit, the Philly mob has survived against all the fucking odds. Maybe its true what Dave and George are reporting and the family is winding down, but personally I doubt it.

[Ivan]

Wow. The relative lack of murders since Long John or so certainly hasn't been from lack of trying it seems.

They killed a bookmaker after the Long John shooting right?

Yeah I should have said "since Casasanto" because that was the last of the late 90s early 2000s spree of hits. Murders have been very infrequent since then, but it looks like much of this scarcity has been attributable to law enforcement intervention etc. rather than a lack of bloodlust.

Philly is the most interesting family to me because of all the colorful characters it seems to produce.

[Chopper]

Absolutly lol, colorful is the correct word.

I think they allegedly killed a bookmaker in 2011, Maniscalco, although it hasnt been proven in court.

[Ivan]

Absolutly lol, colorful is the correct word.

I think they allegedly killed a bookmaker in 2011, Maniscalco, although it hasnt been proven in court.

Yeah Maniscalco is one of the sporadic "recent" murders I alluded to, if they actually did it.

It is not humanly possible to be more colorful than Little Nicky Scarfo. I can't really think of anyone who is other than maybe the Joker from the Batman movies and comics, but he's fictional.

[Fughedaboutit]

Wow. The relative lack of murders since Long John or so certainly hasn't been from lack of trying it seems.

They killed a bookmaker after the Long John shooting right? Plus the whole Nicodemo fiasco.

Philly is by far the most interesting family outside NY lol. Plus, as has been mentioned on the forum, its insane how many known killers are active on the street today.

Gotta give Joey and Joe credit, the Philly mob has survived against all the fucking odds. Maybe its true what Dave and George are reporting and the family is winding down, but personally I doubt it.

They just dont have any sources or info anymore so thats their line imo

[chin_gigante]

I found transcripts of some old reports produced by Dave Schratwieser for Fox29. The transcripts appear to be autogenerated and are quite difficult to decipher at times (e.g. Damion Canalichio is once referred to as CAME MEEIAN CAT LICK KEOGH) but I’m very confident in my interpretation of everything below:

12 May 2005

• Sources reveal that the FBI have identified Anthony Staino as the acting underboss of the family.

15 Jul 2005

• Fox29 obtained a copy of the latest FBI chart of the family. Joseph Ligambi is identified as the boss and Staino is his number two. Conspicuously absent from the chart are Joseph Merlino and 6 others who were jailed with him [likely Steven Mazzone, George Borgesi, Martin Angelina, John Ciancaglini, Frank Gambino and associate Angelo Lutz]. The FBI claim Merlino and the other six were omitted due to their incarceration. Joseph Massimino was, however, included with an asterisk to indicate his jailed status.

22 May 2006

• Special interview with Gaetano Scafidi, who makes the following claims:
  • Scafidi was involved in the murders of Salvatore Testa, Robert Riccobene, Salvatore Tamburrino*, and James Diaddorio, as well as the attempted murder of Joseph F Ciancaglini
  • Scafidi intervened with John Stanfa to save the life of Geraldo Rivera
  • Raymond Martorano was killed for coming home from prison and wanting to take back “what was his”
  • John Casasanto was killed for an incident c.1992 where he shot at Philip Ligambi and his son

[*Riccobene and Tamburrino’s names were butchered in the transcription. Riccobene was transcribed as “basically ricky benny the one killed in front of his mother” and Tamburrino was transcribed as “burrito” – at least, Tamburrino was my best guess for that one]

05 Jul 2007

• While discussing Steven Mazzone and John Ciancaglini’s then-upcoming release to a halfway house, Schratwieser – seemingly inaccurately – refers to Ciancaglini as a former captain*. The report states Mazzone is expected to re-join the ranks, while Ciancaglini may seek permission to permanently leave Philadelphia.

[*During his investigation into Ciancaglini’s lottery stand in October 2010, Schratwieser refers to both Ciancaglini and Mazzone as captains and identifies Michael Lancellotti as a soldier. We know from the Stefanelli transcripts that, in 2010, Mazzone was consigliere and Lancellotti a captain, so the identification of Ciancaglini as a captain at that time was probably also wrong]

08 Aug 2007

• Following his release from prison, Nicodemo S Scarfo is back at the Jersey shore “making noise”. Under the direction of his father, Scarfo has put together a small crew with the backing of the Luchese family. Scarfo has another year and a half of supervised release and may be waiting for the next wave of indictments to make his move to take over Philadelphia. Sources also say that Ligambi and Merlino are considering retiring to Florida.

My biggest takeaway from the above is Staino’s identification as acting underboss. Considering Joseph Massimino was incarcerated June 2004 and Martin Angelina wasn’t released until November 2005, I’d say Staino served in the role between Massimino and Angelina. This would certainly explain the long history of confusion over Staino’s rank under Ligambi. As Staino described himself as the “CFO” in March 2004, it’s possible that Staino even started serving as acting underboss after Massimino pled guilty 04 March 2004.

A proposed timeline for the underboss position in the Natale/ Merlino regime:

Joseph Merlino (1994-1998)
Joseph Ligambi (1998-1999) [possibly official underboss]
Steven Mazzone (1999-2000) [acting underboss]
Joseph Massimino (c.2002-2004) [first acting underboss, possibly transitioned to official underboss]*
Anthony Staino (2004-2005) [acting underboss]
Martin Angelina (2005-2009) [acting underboss]
Joseph Massimino (2009-2011) [possibly official underboss]

Then things get hazy after the 2011 indictments

*Massimino was indicted as a soldier February 2001. He was first identified as acting underboss April 2002 but after that the “acting” was dropped from his title (including in the New Jersey Commission of Investigation report from 2004). In the 2011 and subsequent superseding indictments, he was referred to simply as the underboss, with no mention of “acting”

[B.]

Scafidi intervened with John Stanfa to save the life of Geraldo Rivera

Everything to do with Scafidi is cracking me up lately.

[Chucky]

One of the pieces of evidence against Massimino in the 2011 case was a taped call he was having with someone (I forget if they were identified or not) where the guy was saying he wanted to take someone to see Massimino and “introduce him to the underboss”. May not mean anything, Massimino’s lawyer passed it off as Massimino and his friend bullshitting over the phone. I don’t remember if this tape came from his 2004 case or from when he got out around 2009.

[chin_gigante]

One of the pieces of evidence against Massimino in the 2011 case was a taped call he was having with someone (I forget if they were identified or not) where the guy was saying he wanted to take someone to see Massimino and “introduce him to the underboss”. May not mean anything, Massimino’s lawyer passed it off as Massimino and his friend bullshitting over the phone. I don’t remember if this tape came from his 2004 case or from when he got out around 2009.

That phonecall was from 2003

[PHL_Mob]

Billy Andrews drug/pill/loansharking case. Billy’s Mercedes was bugged I believe.

[Hired_Goonz]

Was Tommy Horsehead really involved in the Testa, Riccobene and Tamburrino murders? I don't remember Caramandi naming him. How did he avoid getting indicted back then when so many guys involved ended up cooperating? Plus he would have been really young at the time too, barely out of senior year. Isn't he the younger brother?

Does anyone know the story behind the reference to saving Geraldo's life? Was Stanfa seriously threatening to kill that fuckin guy? Plus didn't Scafidi flip in 2000? Why is he giving insight on hits that happened after that?

[Pogo The Clown]

He may have helped clean up the van in the Testa hit. Caramandi said they used some young guys from the neighborhood to do it. Vince Iannece was another one involved in the clean up. Don't know what role he could have played in the other two murders.


The Geraldo thing was, if memory serves me, due to Geraldo confronting Stanfa with a camera crew. This supposedly infuriated Stanfa and he put a hit out on Geraldo. Though it is questionable how serious it was. It may have just been Stanfa blowing off steam.


Pogo