Various Articles

[mafiastudent]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/ ... s-minister

[chin_gigante]

Philly article from early 1992. Inaccurate description of the family hierarchy but still contains some interesting tidbits like the identification of Phil Ligambi as a member and Borgesi working for Joe Pungitore during the 1980s.

Philadelphia Daily News 24 Feb 1999
Cops: Merlino showing who’s boss
Kitty Caparella

Like most corporations, the Mafia re-evaluates its top officers for their earnings potential and liabilities.
Such matters usually are greeted with a bang: a gangland slaying with screaming headlines.
Well, this is one of those rare moments when there have been changes at the top without so much as a whimper.
Could the mob boss be honing his management skills?
Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, 36, remains acting mob boss - without a challenger in sight.
Some law-enforcement sources now call him the Boss. But Merlino apparently will keep his "acting" title out of respect for Ralph Natale, the jailed mob boss who turns 68 on March 6. Merlino celebrates his birthday a week later.
Natale is expected to be released in October after a year in federal prison for parole violations including meeting with known felons 10 times.
However, those close to Natale do not believe the feds will let him out of jail, and he'll permanently hold the new no-pay job classification of jailed mob boss, just like his predecessors - John Stanfa and Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo.
Contingency plans include naming Merlino permanently to the job he's been doing anyway, sources say.
Steve Mazzone, who was Merlino's top lieutenant for several years and who escaped an assassination plot by the rival John Stanfa mob in 1993, was promoted to underboss - a position that Merlino held under Natale since 1994, sources say.
In the role of consigliere, say the sources, is Philip Ligambi, the low-key brother of Joseph, a "made" member. Joseph, said by law enforcement sources to be a capo, was acquitted in a 1997 retrial of the 1985 murder of mob associate Frank "Frankie Flowers" D'Alfonso.
The job was previously held by John "Johnny Chang" Ciancaglini, 43, a plumber, who served more than four years in federal prison for shaking down drug dealers.
Ciancaglini apparently feared that he would be jailed on parole violations like Natale. He may move to North Carolina, a law enforcement source said. His family has been destroyed by the mob. His father, Joseph "Chickie" Ciancaglini, 64, a capo in the Scarfo mob, is serving a 45-year racketeering sentence.
His brother, Joseph, 40, who once served as Stanfa's underboss, is now disabled after a 1993 gangland hit by masked gunmen - one believed to be his late brother Michael - which riddled his body with bullets.
His youngest brother, Michael, was killed in a mob hit while Merlino was wounded in 1993, when the pair were engaged in a bloody war with the Stanfa mob.
Named a capo, or a mob vice president, was George Borgesi Jr., 35, nephew of the Ligambi brothers, according to sources. Borgesi, a stalwart defender of Merlino, has an expertise in illegal gambling, learned in the mid-1980s when he worked on the crew of jailed "made" member Joseph Pungitore's crew, sources said.
A Merlino associate, Anthony "Mad Dog" DiPasquale, 58, released from federal prison less than two months ago after serving 15 years of an 80-year term, is allegedly shaking down stripper bars in the Northeast, according to law-enforcement sources.

[chin_gigante]

Philadelphia Daily News 29 September 1995
Problems in North Jersey and home gave Stanfa fits
Kitty Caparella

Ah, the frustrations of running a mob.

In December 1991, crime boss John Stanfa, during his first year in office, had more than his share.

A senile mobster was driving everyone crazy in the North Jersey branch of the Philadelphia crime family.

And one of his own trusted South Jersey members, Salvatore "Shotsie" Sparacio, met with a member of the Genovese crime family without his knowledge.

In mob protocol, that was a no-no, a serious breach of etiquette.

Yesterday, the government played a court-approved taped conversation for the jury from a Dec. 3, 1991, mob meeting inside Salvatore Avena's law office in Camden. It was played at the murder/racketeering trial of mob boss Stanfa and seven co-defendants.

Stanfa and consigliere Anthony "Tony Buck" Piccolo and mobster Luigi Tripodi were meeting with North Jersey mobsters Joseph Sodano and Joseph "Scoops" Licata about management problems in North Jersey.

The exchange took place in the law office conference room where a court- ordered electronic device recorded the conversation.

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."

[bert]

I like the letter at the end by Howard Baer to the magazine. Him saying Doyle was losing his health and drinking too much makes sense, since at the time one theory on his killing was that he was acting erratic and strange. Looking back I thought it was Alzheimer's, reading the story and follow up letter to the editor I think it was bit of both.

[mafiastudent]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/11/30 ... -syndicate

[mafiastudent]

Above article: FBI files reveal powerful New York mob figure’s Chicago ties

[mafiastudent]

A Mafioso Who Doesn't Talk in court Can't Be Punished...

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/12 ... SFZH4cWDng

[axx]

Who's who among Kansas city gangsters (St. Louis post, 15 Jan 1950)

[maxiestern11]

Who's who among Kansas city gangsters (St. Louis post, 15 Jan 1950)

Very good article.informative.... see if you can
Post up the other 6 days of story

[Tonyd621]

Chris Paciello living openly in Miami.

https://www.bisnow.com/south-florida/ne ... 102783#ath

[Tonyd621]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/XOd9gH ... ravan_park

[mafiastudent]

Thought this was interesting:

FBI authorized informants to break the law 22,800 times in 4 years

https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/fbi-inf ... port-foia/

FBI Severely Underreported How Many Times It Authorized Informants to Break the Law [Updated]

https://gizmodo.com/fbi-severely-underr ... 1818517490

[mafiastudent]

THE BISTRO A-GO-GO HIT: BOOK FINALLY CLOSED ON FAMOUS CHICAGO MAFIA MURDER

https://gangsterreport.com/the-bistro-a ... ia-murder/

[mafiastudent]

I thought this was a really interesting read about plea bargains and why people take them. It doesn't necessarily mean someone is admitting to guilt.

It's written by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff out of Manhattan who was the Judge who told prosecutors to "give the script to DeNiro" during Frank Giovinco's trial last year.

http://www.theunreasonablemanblog.com/w ... B-2014.pdf

[mafiastudent]

Sorry Guys. I'm doing some research for an article coming out the next day or so and keep coming across some really interesting stuff that I think would be of interest to members of the forum. One of the things I never knew about was that when an indictment is brought, it's done via a secret grand jury where only the prosecution presents its side and the one being accused of the crime doesn't even know or have any say as to what these people hear. It's mind-blowing to me.

Anyway, here's a good article on the subject:

The Grand Jury as the New Inquisition where it really breaks it down.

https://law.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploa ... -J-693.pdf