Joseph 'Chickie' Ciancaglini

[chin_gigante]

Part I: Ironworker to Capo (1967-1981)

Ciancaglini.jpg

Born 15 December 1934, Joseph ‘Chickie’ Ciancaglini is one of the old heads of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra. Initiated into the mob by Angelo Bruno in the early 1970s, Ciancaglini worked primarily for his sponsor into the family, major loanshark Frank Sindone. As well as serving as Sindone’s driver and bodyguard, Ciancaglini ran Frank’s Cabana Steaks and acted as a collector and intermediary in Sindone’s illicit operations. Tall and physically imposing, Ciancaglini was well-suited to work as an enforcer. Employed as muscle for Teamsters Union Local 107 in the 1960s, Ciancaglini was shot with a small calibre firearm during a period of union infighting, but the round ‘didn’t do nothing’ to the huge wiseguy.

In 1967, Local 107 figures Robert DeGeorge and Charles Amoroso were trying to ‘clean up’ the union and held a rally of their supporters in opposition to the local’s trusteeship – which they viewed as existing to replace one corrupt official with another. The next day, 17 August, DeGeorge and fellow dissenter James Cheri drove up to the union headquarters on Spring Garden Street, where they were confronted by 107 loyalists including Ciancaglini. Gunfire broke out, Ciancaglini was shot twice in the stomach and DeGeorge was killed as he exited his car. After checking himself into hospital and refusing to answer questions, Ciancaglini was placed under armed guard and charged with the murder.

Brought to trial in early 1969, Ciancaglini took the stand in his own defence, testifying that he had not even been carrying a gun on the day of the shootout. At the time an unemployed ironworker he claimed he had been hired as a $48-a-day ‘guard’ by former Local 107 business agent, and then-acting Local 326 president, Frank Sheeran to prevent DeGeorge’s followers from getting out of hand. When DeGeorge, Cheri and a third man, Arthur Johnson, pulled up in their car, Sheeran gave the signal for Ciancaglini and several others carrying guns and hatchets to tell the dissenters they didn’t want any trouble. Ciancaglini went in expecting nothing more than a fight, approaching DeGeorge and telling him to back off, only for DeGeorge to pull a gun and shoot him. The defence argued that Cheri, firing wildly as the gunfight broke out, accidentally struck DeGeorge in the back with the shot that killed him. After a witness who told police he had seen Ciancaglini running from the scene with a gun in his hand refused to testify, Ciancaglini was acquitted. Sheeran, John West, Rocco Turra and Patrick Abbruzzese were all also charged with the DeGeorge slaying but none were convicted.

Sheeran later provided his own account of the incident, recalling that Irish hood Joseph McGreal had been attempting to take over Local 107 and organised the Amoroso/ DeGeorge rally outside Teamsters headquarters. Sheeran had been sent down the next morning with Ciancaglini to oppose McGreal’s breakaway faction when the shooting broke out and DeGeorge was killed. Sheeran then loaded Ciancaglini into a car and drove to a doctor who told him the wounds were potentially life threatening and to take Ciancaglini to a hospital where he received proper medical attention. The loyalist faction won out and McGreal was himself shot to death in 1973 by future mob boss Ralph Natale.

Ciancaglini hospital.jpg

Cleared of the DeGeorge murder and recovered from his wounds, Ciancaglini returned to work as an enforcer for the organisation. Utilising his lieutenant’s reputation as a tough guy, Sindone authorised the up-and-coming mobster to give out loans at a 10% rate in his absence and once warned underlings Vincent Panetta and Pete Ranioa that failure to pay their debts would ‘result in a visit from Ciancaglini’.

Ciancaglini’s reputation again proved useful, loanshark-turned-witness Harry Brown found, when in January 1973 Ciancaglini and another man accompanied Brown to the house of Russell Wilmerton on two occasions, as Wilmerton was unable to repay a $9,000 loan. While Brown and the other man threatened Wilmerton, and on one occasion used physical force to get their payment, Ciancaglini simply remained silent.

Brown was the general manager of the Chestnut Hill Lincoln-Mercury car dealership in Philadelphia and had borrowed money from Sindone since 1969, receiving permission from Sindone and underboss Philip Testa to lend money to Wilmerton. Struggling to repay his debts to Sindone and Testa, in April 1975 Brown staged a $175,000 cash robbery at the Chestnut Hill dealership. For his part in Brown’s criminal operations, Ciancaglini received a free car. On the day of the robbery, receipts were forged to show a cash payment from Ciancaglini of $3,000 for the vehicle, and, when questioned by the police, Ciancaglini backed up the story and denied any knowledge of the theft. Though Ciancaglini was not immediately scathed by these incidents, Brown was quickly charged and convicted of his role in the Wilmerton loan and the dealership robbery, eventually agreeing to testify against Ciancaglini at a racketeering trial in the early 1980s.

Cabana Steaks.jpg

While the slaying of DeGeorge appeared to be an impromptu shootout, the first organised ‘hit’ tied to Ciancaglini was the 1974 murder of Alvin Feldman. Calling himself the ‘King of the Jews’, Feldman was an associate and business partner of Atlantic City-based mob soldier Nicodemo ‘Little Nicky’ Scarfo. They were involved in gambling and loansharking activities, briefly owned an Atlantic City nightclub called the Haunted House and operated three adult bookstores together. Scarfo was not making a lot of money with Feldman and, to make matters worse, suspected his partner of skimming cash from their joint ventures. Feldman had a reputation for greed and a history of conspiring to kill his rivals with car bombs, so when Scarfo discovered that his partner had made a duplicate of his keys he went to family head Angelo Bruno for permission to kill Feldman.

Scarfo and associate Nick Virgilio made attempts to execute Feldman outside his house, but their plans were put on hold after both men found themselves in legal trouble. Scarfo was sent to prison for two years in 1971 for refusing to testify before a New Jersey State Commission and, shortly after, Virgilio was sentenced to 12 to 15 years for a 1970 murder. However, instead of saving his life, Feldman’s would-be killers’ legal problems only cemented his fate.

In a bid to secure a lighter sentence for his friend, Scarfo had arranged for a $6,000 bribe to be sent to the Superior Court judge overseeing Virgilio’s murder case. Edwin Helfant, an attorney and municipal court judge associated with the crime family, offered to pass on the bribe and get Virgilio a more lenient penalty. Scarfo gathered the necessary funds but Virgilio got hammered at sentencing anyway, as Helfant kept the $6,000, splitting it with Feldman. Outraged, Scarfo approached Bruno again to have Feldman killed. Bruno, who was also serving time for contempt, would not approve the murder immediately because Feldman owed $60,000 to Trenton-based family soldier Carl Ippolito. By 1974 however, Feldman had repaid his debt and the murder contract was approved.

Mob soldier Joseph Scalleat contacted Feldman with a proposal to set fire to a warehouse in Pennsylvania as part of a moneymaking scheme. Feldman, an arsonist, agreed and was driven to the warehouse by Scalleat, only to find Santo Idone, Frank Narducci and Joseph Ciancaglini waiting for him. Idone grabbed Feldman while Narducci began to stab him with an ice pick. However, in the struggle, Narducci accidentally stabbed Idone in the arm, allowing Feldman to wriggle free and start running. Ciancaglini gave chase and caught Feldman, holding him down while Narducci finished him off. The hit team then buried the body at an undisclosed location. Frank Sindone, as Ciancaglini’s superior, relayed the news of the successful murder to Scarfo.

By the latter half of the 1970s, Ciancaglini had become deeply involved in the family’s gambling operations. In addition to working as a collector for a numbers game run by Sindone and Phil Testa, Ciancaglini oversaw an operation run by Sindone associate Charles Warrington and collected cash from another game run by long-time soldier Harry Riccobene and his half-brother Mario. (Ciancaglini would visit the Riccobene brothers at their office every Wednesday to collect a share of the week’s profits and coordinate the games. On one occasion, after meeting the Riccobenes, Ciancaglini was observed delivering a large sum of cash directly to Bruno.)

While firmly involved in the family’s illicit activities, Ciancaglini was not a core member of the enterprise until the early 1980s. The event to shape Ciancaglini’s future, as well as that of the entire family, was the March 1980 murder of Angelo Bruno.

Towards the end of his reign as boss, Bruno had alienated himself from his top aides. In the late 1970s, Bruno began to clash with underboss Phil Testa over their differing attitudes to La Cosa Nostra and a rift gradually opened between the pair, with supporters lining up on both sides. This feud was exacerbated by the 1976 legalisation of casino gaming in Atlantic City as Nicky Scarfo sided with Testa, resulting in a significant dispute with Bruno over the appointment of key positions in mob-run Local 54.

Atlantic City caused further problems for Bruno as the legalisation of casino gaming not only brought new opportunities in gambling, loansharking and labour racketeering for his own family but also for the five New York families. Realising he couldn’t keep New York out if he tried, Bruno acquiesced and gave a piece of the Atlantic City rackets to his allies in the Gambino family. This policy of Bruno’s was viewed by some as cow tailing to New York, particularly by his newly appointed consigliere Antonio ‘Tony Bananas’ Caponigro.

A powerful racketeer with a reputation for violence, Caponigro was the most powerful member of Bruno’s organisation in northern New Jersey and was the choice of the Calabrian faction for the role of consigliere following predecessor Joe Rugnetta’s death in 1977. Bruno gave Caponigro the role in 1978 but the promotion failed to curb the newly appointed consigliere’s ambition. A drug dealer, Caponigro had further reason to want Bruno out of the picture as Bruno was personally, and vocally, opposed to narcotics trafficking. He refused to allow his family to enter the drug trade in an organised fashion but wouldn’t completely prohibit his underlings from profiting from heroin. At the request of the Gambino family, Bruno had allowed Sicilian heroin importers to operate in his territory in southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Some of Bruno’s soldiers would buy heroin from the Gambinos and sell it on to non-mob distributors, who in turn would supply it to street dealers. While Bruno would not profit directly from heroin, he would lend money to his drug dealing underlings for their transactions, making large sums of interest in the process. Knowing that they could be making two or three times as much if they were allowed to traffic narcotics in a more organised manner, using their own connections in Sicily, Caponigro and many others viewed Bruno’s policy as hypocritical and grew to resent him for it. Things came to a head on 21 March 1980, when Caponigro finally orchestrated Bruno’s assassination outside his home in South Philadelphia. Caponigro was himself killed a few weeks later on orders of the Commission as punishment for the unsanctioned murder of a boss. (It has become widely accepted that Caponigro was tricked into killing Bruno by the Genovese family, who wanted Bruno gone to secure a larger share of Atlantic City for themselves and also sought to reclaim some gambling rackets in Jersey City that they had previously lost to Caponigro in a sitdown.)

After meeting with high ranking figures in the Gambino, Genovese and Luchese families, Phil Testa was installed as Bruno’s successor and tasked with eliminating Caponigro’s co-conspirators, including Ciancaglini’s superior Frank Sindone.

Whether or not Sindone was actually involved in Caponigro’s conspiracy is unclear. Though he had complained about not being allowed to retire to California, Sindone was a Bruno loyalist and sided with him in the rift with Testa. However, Sindone and Ciancaglini had also been close to Caponigro, frequently attending Tuesday-night banquettes thrown by the consigliere in Newark. Those who believed Sindone was involved in Caponigro’s plot anticipated his elevation to underboss in the new regime.

Following the assassination, Sindone and Trenton-based capo John Simone visited John Stanfa, who drove Bruno home that night, and spoke in a whispered Sicilian dialect. Surveillance teams later spotted the three men driving to Newark where they met with Caponigro and Pasquale Martirano and drove on to a meeting in New York. Martirano associate George Fresolone however stated that Sindone, Simone and Stanfa had not been involved in the Bruno slaying but went to this meet to be questioned by the Gambino family in the investigation of the murder. According to Fresolone, Sindone was the popular choice of the captains to succeed Bruno and therefore posed a threat to Phil Testa, who was appointed boss by the Commission. Regardless of his involvement in the attempted coup, Sindone was targeted as a Caponigro co-conspirator and marked for death.

Sindone vanished following Caponigro’s murder, not even returning to Philadelphia for Ciancaglini’s wedding. Viewed with suspicion by the new administration due to his allegiance to Sindone, Ciancaglini was called in (apparently ‘with a gun to his head’) to meet with the Testa, underboss Peter Casella and consigliere Nicky Scarfo. Ciancaglini insisted that he wasn’t involved in the conspiracy and Scarfo interceded on his behalf, saying that Ciancaglini was ‘innocent of [Sindone’s] tricks’. With his loyalty determined, Ciancaglini was used to lure Sindone back to Philadelphia.

In October 1980 Sindone was driven to a house by Testa’s son Salvie, where he met with Frank Monte and Salvatore ‘Chuckie’ Merlino. Merlino then shot Sindone three times in the back of the head. The body was wrapped in plastic and dumped behind a store in South Philadelphia. Ciancaglini was rewarded with a piece of his former boss’ criminal operations and assigned to work for newly appointed captain Frank Monte.

In February 1981, Ciancaglini’s world was rocked again when he was named in a federal racketeering indictment along with Phil Testa and several other defendants. ‘Operation Gangplank’ charged Ciancaglini, Testa, Frank Narducci, Carl Ippolito, Harry Riccobene, Joseph Bongiovanni, Frank Primerano, Mario Riccobene, Pasquale Spirito and Charles Warrington as part of a RICO enterprise involved in gambling and loansharking. Ciancaglini was specifically charged with RICO conspiracy, running craps games with Warrington, and overseeing the Riccobene numbers operation. Though a total of 10 individuals were charged in the case, only seven would go on to face trial.

On the night of 15 March 1981, Phil Testa was killed by a nail bomb planted under the porch of his South Philadelphia home. This time the plot came from underboss Peter Casella. Working with ambitious capo and Ciancaglini co-defendant Frank Narducci, Casella ordered the murder in a bid to take over and, remembering what had happened to Caponigro, used a nail bomb to blame the assassination on local Irish hood John Berkery. Nicky Scarfo saw through this lie however and, sensing that he was next on Casella and Narducci’s hit list, arranged a meeting with New York. Casella was brought before the Genovese family and confessed to the conspiracy, though his life was spared thanks to his connection to a Genovese capo. Instead of sharing Caponigro’s fate before him, Casella was shelved and banished to Florida, where he died a few years later.

Scarfo, having gathered the support of most of the Philadelphia captains, was installed as the new boss and quickly went about rearranging the family. In April, at an induction ceremony held in the basement of La Dolce Vita (later LaCucina) on South Street, Scarfo elevated Chuckie Merlino to underboss and Frank Monte to consigliere. To fill the vacancy in Monte’s crew, Scarfo promoted the 46-year-old Ciancaglini to captain.

[Dr031718]

Great write up

[chin_gigante]

Part II: The Scarfo Era (1981-1991)

Ciancaglini Stanfa Ippolito Sindone Simone Bruno.jpg

One of Ciancaglini’s first responsibilities in the Scarfo regime was overseeing the murder of loanshark and drug dealer John Calabrese. A largely independent figure, Calabrese had been with Tony Caponigro but was refusing to give a piece of his operation to anyone following the former consigliere’s death. Scarfo was already suspicious of Calabrese, concerned that he was in on a possible plot to kill both him and Phil Testa when they were at odds with Angelo Bruno in the late 1970s. Sealing his fate, in the immediate aftermath of Testa’s bombing, the opportunistic Calabrese attempted to shake down the slain boss’ son Salvie.

Ciancaglini, with the help of associates Tommy DelGiorno, Faffy Iannarella and Pat Spirito, tried for several months to carry out the contract until settling on a plan to hit Calabrese outside Cous’ Little Italy, the same spot Angelo Bruno dined the night of his murder. Ciancaglini and DelGiorno were partners in Cous’ and knew that Calabrese could be lulled into a false sense of security at the crowded restaurant.

On the night of 6 October 1981, Ciancaglini met with Calabrese at Cous’ while DelGiorno and Iannarella waited down the street. The gunmen had been provided with pistols, gloves and ski masks but found the masks were too small. They decided to go through with the hit with their faces uncovered. As Ciancaglini walked Calabrese to his car, the two gunmen approached the loanshark from behind and opened fire, killing him with two shots to the head and three to the chest. DelGiorno and Iannarella then raced to the getaway car driven by Spirito, leaving their guns, masks and gloves in the gutter. All three associates were to be inducted into the family for their roles in the murder, but their initiation ceremony would not take place until January 1982, by which point another brazen mob hit had occurred.

Jury selection for Ciancaglini’s racketeering trial began on 4 January. Phil Testa had been killed and the elderly Carl Ippolito was declared unfit to stand trial, but the remaining defendants appeared at court each day for the proceedings. Late in the afternoon on 7 January, as the group made their way out of the courthouse, Ciancaglini broke from the rest and made a call at a nearby phonebooth. Frank Narducci, the man responsible for the bombing of Phil Testa, got into his car for the 20-minute ride home. After getting out of his car a block from his house, Narducci came face to face with Salvie Testa and his friend Joe Pungitore. With ten shots, point blank to the face, neck and chest, Salvie Testa avenged his father’s murder and severed another defendant from the racketeering case.

Narducci’s murder delayed the trial until April, giving Ciancaglini a reprieve in which to welcome three new soldiers into his crew. At the house of an associate in Vineland, Scarfo held a ceremony to induct Tommy DelGiorno, Faffy Iannarella and Pat Spirito. Joe Pungitore and Gino Milano, who had been the getaway driver in the Narducci murder, were among the others inducted at the ceremony and were assigned to newly appointed capo Salvie Testa.

With a crew of his own and a reputation for violence, Ciancaglini diversified his criminal activities through extortion. In early 1982, Scarfo approved a racket to shake down bookmakers operating outside of the family for ‘street tax’, eventually expanding the scheme to include drug dealers and other criminals. With Scarfo’s blessing, Ciancaglini and Pat Spirito formed the ‘bomb squad’, a shake down crew consisting of associates Nick Caramandi, Charlie Iannece and Ralph Staino. The bomb squad would identify independent hoods, bring them to Spirito’s clubhouse on Bancroft Street and demand payment from them under threat of death. Bookmakers would be forced to pay regular weekly sums, while the amount paid by drug dealers would vary due to the sporadic nature of their work. Half of the money raised would be kept by its collectors, while the other half would be kicked up ‘the elbow’ – a collective name for Scarfo, Chuckie Merlino, Frank Monte and capos Chickie Ciancaglini, Phil Leonetti, Lawrence Merlino and Salvie Testa.

Initially, the bomb squad collected from 60 to 70 shake down victims, each paying anywhere between $100 and $300 per week, with some delivering lump sums of thousands of dollars up front as compensation for ‘past performances’. A couple of months later, the trio were bringing in $5,000 to $7,000 per week through shake downs.

Independent hoods were not the only ones being squeezed by the new administration. Harry Riccobene, long-time mob soldier and Ciancaglini co-defendant, had enjoyed a laissez-faire relationship with Angelo Bruno and refused to conform to Scarfo’s demands for increased tribute. Wanting a piece of Riccobene’s lucrative operations, Scarfo ordered the unruly wiseguy to be hit and gave the contract to Pat Spirito. In March, Spirito planned to lure Riccobene to the backroom of the clubhouse on Bancroft and distract him while bomb squad member Charlie Iannece hit the target over the head with a pipe. The two hitmen would finish off Riccobene with a gun and dump the body under the cover of darkness, but the plot was abandoned after Riccobene failed to appear.

As Spirito’s capo, Ciancaglini would be updated regarding the Riccobene contract on a daily basis and offered any assistance he could in the form of advice or tipoffs. Ciancaglini and Salvie Testa received a tip one evening that Riccobene would be picking up a girl on Seventeenth Street and passed the information on to Spirito. The tip was good, Riccobene showed, and Iannece was ready to pull up alongside the elderly wiseguy and shoot him, but Spirito backed off at the last minute. Spirito’s hesitation cost him the chance to carry out the contract and would mark the start of a dangerous pattern for the newly made man of dodging murder assignments.

By April, Scarfo was dissatisfied with Spirito’s inability to carry out the contract and changed gears, deciding to bring Riccobene’s half-brother Mario in on the plot. Frank Monte and Raymond Martorano approached Mario with a plan to lure Harry to a lot near Mario’s house where Martorano and associate Frank Vadino would ambush and kill him. However, Mario immediately informed his brother of the conspiracy and the Riccobenes began making plans of their own. On 13 May, Monte was shot to death by a Riccobene hit team outside a service station and open war was declared.

In the midst of increasing mob violence, Ciancaglini was frequently approached by veteran detective Frank Friel, who sought information about the spate of murders. During one exchange, Friel asked about the identities of those responsible for the killings and Ciancaglini responded, ‘Hey, you don’t think we kill people, do you?’

Ciancaglini 1980s.jpg

While continuing their attempts to carry out the Riccobene contract, Ciancaglini and Spirito were attending trial and sitting at the defence table with their would-be victims. The judge dismissed the charges against associate Frank Primerano, but the remaining defendants would go on to be convicted and sentenced in May. Ciancaglini was convicted of RICO conspiracy and his role in the Riccobene numbers operation but was acquitted of running craps games with Warrington. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and fined $10,000.

Released pending the appeal on their convictions, the defendants continued to wage war on the streets. That summer, Scarfo put Spirito, Caramandi and Iannece on the contract to kill Mario Riccobene, and the trio kept Ciancaglini informed of their progress. Multiple plots were hatched, including staking out Riccobene’s house, his girlfriend’s home in Huntingdon Valley, and following up on a tip from Trenton with local mob soldier Albert Pontani. Surmising that the FBI had bugged the clubhouse on Bancroft, Spirito moved his headquarters to an old plumbing supply store on Camac and Moore, running his gambling and street tax operations from there while he wasn’t trying to kill the Riccobenes.

Spirito was right. Among the conversations picked up on tape at the clubhouse on Bancroft was a phone call between Spirito and Ciancaglini about an incident involving Caramandi and long-time mob member Antonio Pollina. Caramandi owed Pollina $5,000 after co-signing on the loan with mob soldier Dominick ‘Mickey Diamond’ DeVito. When DeVito was murdered, Pollina held Caramandi responsible for the repayment and confronted him at the clubhouse on Bancroft, giving the bomb squad member a profane tongue-lashing. As Spirito had not been introduced to Pollina as a member, he felt unable to deescalate the situation and called Ciancaglini for help. Initially offering to send Faffy Iannarella to deal with it, Ciancaglini eventually came himself and calmed the situation down, prompting Pollina to even apologise to Caramandi.

In September, Spirito was jailed for a couple of weeks for refusing to testify before a grand jury but was unsatisfied with the support he was receiving from his superiors while incarcerated. Spirito frequently vented to Caramandi and Iannece about the leadership of the family, prompting them to approach Ciancaglini and ask to be taken away from Spirito and put with somebody else. Ciancaglini refused the request and instructed the two associates to stay with Spirito.

Ciancaglini got a break with the Riccobene contract when Mario approached him and attempted to negotiate a ceasefire. A long-time friend, Ciancaglini told Mario he would intercede on his behalf with the family leadership. Riccobene was so reassured by this that he attended a funeral with Ciancaglini, however, instead of working to bring about a truce, Ciancaglini gave the tip on Riccobene’s whereabouts to the bomb squad. The day of the funeral arrived and Ciancaglini walked Riccobene to his car, but the hit team failed to show. Furious, Ciancaglini sent word to the bomb squad to meet at his clubhouse the next day. While Spirito ran his operations from Camac and Moore, Ciancaglini’s headquarters was a delicatessen on Catharine Street run by associate Russell Conti. When the trio arrived at the deli they were first admonished by Chuckie Merlino and Salvie Testa before being taken off the Riccobene contract by Ciancaglini.

Knowing this could put their lives in danger, Caramandi and Iannece visited Ciancaglini at his house the next morning to explain what had happened. They had staked out the funeral parlour with Spirito and decided on their roles in the murder – Spirito and Iannece would be the shooters and Caramandi the driver. However, when the day came Spirito put it off and failed to meet with his accomplices, insisting that Riccobene wouldn’t show at the funeral. After hearing Caramandi and Iannece’s side of the story, Ciancaglini told them that Spirito had already visited him and tried to blame the failure on them.

After the Christmas holidays, Spirito and co. were put back on the Mario Riccobene contract during the day, while a separate hit team answering to Salvie Testa would stalk him as night. However, Spirito fumbled this last chance to carry out the contract, continuing to put it off and complaining about Ciancaglini and the other mob leaders behind their backs. Caramandi and Iannece were called to a meeting with Ciancaglini and Chuckie Merlino where they were given the contract to kill Spirito and told to use Ciancaglini associate Ronald DiCaprio. (DiCaprio had been involved with Ciancaglini in a murder before. After falling out over their shares of a drug deal, DiCaprio and Joseph Gavel approached Ciancaglini for permission to kill associate Robert Hornickel. Ciancaglini approved the murder and Hornickel was found shot and strangled in the back of his car.)

DiCaprio joined Caramandi and Iannece in plotting Spirito’s demise. Under the pretence of stalking Mario Riccobene, Caramandi and Iannece convinced Spirito to drive them to Eleventh Street. Spirito picked the two associates up, Caramandi getting in the front passenger seat and Iannece in the back behind Spirito. Once they reached their destination, Iannece asked Spirito to pull over and then shot him twice in the back of the head. Caramandi and Iannece jumped out of the car and into a second vehicle driven by DiCaprio, throwing their guns out along the getaway route.

Following the successful completion of the murder, Ciancaglini told the hitmen to keep a low profile and stay away from the clubhouse for a while. Caramandi and Iannece were rewarded for their work by being given control of Spirito’s shake down operation and were later initiated into the family.

Pat Spirito.png

In July 1983, Ciancaglini’s appeal was rejected and he and Mario Riccobene began serving their sentences for the RICO case. Harry Riccobene had been behind bars since January after being found with a gun when pulled over on a minor traffic offence, and control of the Riccobene operations on the street went to another brother, Robert. Soon after Robert was murdered by a Scarfo hit team in December, Harry Riccobene surrendered from behind bars and his faction collapsed.

While serving his 10-year sentence, Ciancaglini retained his rank of capo but his crew was reassigned to Testa, and associate Russell Conti became caretaker of Ciancaglini’s loansharking operations. The chances of Ciancaglini soon returning to active participation in the enterprise were however dashed in January 1988 when, from behind bars, he was hit with a federal indictment for RICO conspiracy, extortion, gambling and narcotics charges. The indictments, which also hit Scarfo and the majority of the active membership, stemmed in part from information provided by mob turncoats Tommy DelGiorno and Nick Caramandi. Upon hearing of DelGiorno’s defection to the government, Ciancaglini approached Scarfo in prison and offered to arrange a meeting with the FBI. Ciancaglini would pretend to be interested in making a deal to cooperate but insist on seeing DelGiorno. Then, if presented with the opportunity, Ciancaglini would grab DelGiorno and leap out of a window to kill them both. (As he had brought DelGiorno into the family, Ciancaglini felt responsible for his defection.)

Ciancaglini never got his opportunity and DelGiorno, among other things, revealed his former captain’s involvement in narcotics at trial. In 1983 DelGiorno had approached Ciancaglini for permission to set up a drug deal between associates Vinnie Perry and John Santilli. Ciancaglini and Chuckie Merlino (at that point Scarfo’s acting boss) approved the scheme and DelGiorno introduced the two dealers. In return for this introduction, DelGiorno received $3,000 for every pound of meth sold in this transaction. Over a series of deals, Santilli sold Perry 50 pounds of meth, handing a total of $150,000 over to DelGiorno. Ciancaglini received $75,000 of this sum, keeping half for himself and sending the rest to Merlino and, by extension, Scarfo.

In November 1988, Ciancaglini was convicted on the narcotics charges as well as the main racketeering counts against him, including the murders of Calabrese, Narducci and Spirito. In May 1989, the 54-year-old mob capo was sentenced to 45 years imprisonment.

The successful RICO prosecutions practically finished the Scarfo regime, sending dozens of wiseguys away for the next 20 to 30 years while others, including Scarfo himself, would eventually die in prison. The remaining members on the street reorganised under a new administration led by John Stanfa, the Sicilian immigrant who drove Angelo Bruno home the night of his murder in 1980. Stanfa was backed by the Sicilian element in the Gambino family but his rise was not unopposed. A rival group of associates who were the sons, younger brothers and nephews of Scarfo-era mobsters felt that control of the organisation belonged to them. This tension eventually led to another period of open warfare on the streets of Philadelphia and Ciancaglini, despite his incarceration, was drawn into the conflict through the involvement of his sons.

[chin_gigante]

Part III: The Ciancaglini Family (1991-Present)

Ciancaglini and sons.PNG

In the void between Scarfo’s conviction and Stanfa’s rise as boss, Ciancaglini had reportedly pushed for his middle son Joseph (Joey Chang) to take over as acting boss when it became clear that Scarfo’s cousin and proxy Anthony Piccolo wanted to step down from the role. When Stanfa took over, Joey Ciancaglini fell in line and was initiated into the family at a ceremony in November 1991. His younger brother Michael (Mikey Chang), however, remained opposed to the new regime and led a rival faction of associates with Joseph ‘Skinny Joey’ Merlino, the son of Chuckie. The oldest of the three Ciancaglini brothers, John (Johnny Chang), had been convicted of shaking down drug dealers for Scarfo and joined his father behind bars, watching the emerging conflict between his younger brothers from a distance.

Stanfa’s family and the Ciancaglini-Merlino crew began to clash over the city’s lucrative shake down rackets. Mob soldier Felix Bocchino, effectively running things on the street for Stanfa, began shaking everybody down, including bookmaker and Merlino’s uncle Michael ‘Sheiky’ Baldino. When Bocchino refused to stop, Mikey Ciancaglini organised his murder. In a show of force from the young crew of associates, Bocchino was shot to death in his car on 29 January 1992. The Stanfa group struck back a couple of months later, opening fire on Mikey Chang with shotguns as he was entering his house. He survived the murder attempt unscathed but identified his older brother Joey as a member of the hit team sent to kill him.

Having failed to avenge Bocchino’s murder, Stanfa attempted to deescalate the situation. After a series of meetings with the young hoods, Stanfa held a ceremony in September 1992 where he initiated Merlino and Ciancaglini into the family. Though some of his top associates advised against legitimising his rivals, Stanfa believed inducting the young mob leaders would make it easier to bring them in and kill them.

While initially successful in calming things down, Stanfa’s decision ultimately failed to ease tensions within his organisation and the Ciancaglini family. Now a made man, Mikey Chang turned completely against his brother Joey (by this point Stanfa’s underboss) and was reportedly also at odds with his imprisoned father. Tommy Scafidi, one of Michael’s associates, later testified that he believed the conflict could have been resolved if Mikey had reached out and talked to his father. In reality he never did, and the resentment grew until one morning in March 1993, when Mikey Chang sent members of his crew to kill Joey at a diner in Grays Ferry.

An FBI surveillance camera positioned outside the building captured the hit in progress as Michael’s shooters entered the diner and opened fire on the newly appointed underboss. Joey Chang survived the attack, despite taking multiple shots to the head, but his long-lasting injuries effectively removed him from active involvement in the organisation. The Ciancaglini-Merlino crew blamed the attack on Biagio Adornetto, a young immigrant and mob soldier who had fallen out of favour with the family, but Stanfa eventually saw through this lie and began plotting revenge.

After months of failed attempts to kill the young rebels, the Stanfa mob finally struck back on 5 August when associates Philip Colletti and John Veasey opened fire on Merlino and Mikey Chang in a drive-by shooting outside a clubhouse on Sixth and Catherine. Merlino survived the attack but Ciancaglini was killed by a bullet that struck his chest. With Mikey Chang dead, the expectation among many on the street was that his faction would fold and surrender, but the opposite happened. Merlino retaliated by orchestrating a daring drive-by murder attempt on the Schuylkill Expressway that left Stanfa’s son Joe with a bullet wound to the face.

The shootings continued until early 1994, when the FBI intervened. John Veasey, the hit man who had killed Michael Ciancaglini months prior, turned government witness and helped put Stanfa and the majority of his top aides behind bars for the rest of their lives. This ended the conflict between the two groups, handing victory to Merlino by default. The timing of Stanfa’s arrest was also beneficial to the new regime as, a few months later, long-time mob associate and former union head Ralph Natale was released from prison after serving over 15 years on fraud and narcotics charges. With the backing of the Gambino and Genovese families, Merlino initiated Natale into the family and installed him as the new boss of Philadelphia.

The incarcerated Ciancaglinis also fell in line with the victorious Merlino faction. Following the attempt on Joey Chang, the elder Ciancaglini threw his support behind Mikey and, along with the imprisoned Chuckie Merlino, began advising the young crew of associates in their conflict with Stanfa. John Ciancaglini also had reason to side with his brother Mikey over his brother Joey. During his stretch for extortion, Johnny Chang’s sole source of income was a bookmaker who was being shaken down by Stanfa. When the mob boss sent bodyguard Ronald Previte to take $10,000 from the bookie, the shake down caused his operation to fold and he moved to Florida. When Johnny Chang was released from prison in 1995, he fell in line under the new Natale-Merlino administration and approached them with a request.

The Ciancaglini family, like the greater LCN organisation, had been devastated by in-fighting and law FBI crackdowns. The elder Ciancaglini’s legal appeals were rejected and his 45-year sentence stood. Joey Chang, blind in one eye, partially deaf and requiring the assistance of a walker, had survived the indictments that tore down the Stanfa regime but was shelved upon Natale and Merlino’s ascension to the top of the hierarchy. Mikey Chang was dead, with his killer, John Veasey, having agreed to cooperate with the government in prosecuting the Stanfa mob. Johnny Chang approached Natale and Merlino for permission to take revenge.

On 5 October 1995, Billy Veasey, older brother of Stanfa hit man John Veasey, was shot to death behind the wheel of his car. The murder was intended as a message to potential informants, warning them that their families could be targeted, and to avenge the 1993 slaying of Mikey Chang – a brother for a brother. Johnny Chang was identified as the shooter in the hit and for his role in the murder he was initiated into the family by Natale in 1996.

Billy Veasey.jpg

The law finally caught up to Johnny Chang again in March 2000, when he was rounded up and charged in a major RICO case with several other co-defendants, including Joey Merlino. Natale, facing the prospect of returning to jail for the rest of his life on narcotics charges, had become the first sitting boss of an LCN family in American history to flip and cooperate with the government. Due to the information provided by Natale and other witnesses, including former Stanfa bodyguard and mob captain Ron Previte, Ciancaglini was charged with racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, extortion, illegal gambling and the murder of Billy Veasey. Held without bail to await trial, Johnny Chang and his co-defendants were eventually convicted of many of the charges against them in July 2001. Ciancaglini was found guilty on four of the racketeering counts against him but was acquitted on the murder charge – along with the rest of his defendants – after attacking the credibility of the government’s cooperating witnesses, particularly Natale. On 10 December, Johnny Chang was sentenced to nine years in federal prison and fined $5,000.

Released to a half-way house in 2007, Johnny Chang was formally released from custody in February 2008 and re-joined the organisation, which is still believed to be led by Merlino. Floated as a contender to take over from acting boss Joseph Ligambi upon his indictment in 2011, Ciancaglini has since been identified as a captain in the family, though, now in his 60s, has reportedly taken a step back in terms of active involvement in the mob.

After serving over 30 years behind bars, Joseph ‘Chickie’ Ciancaglini was released to a half-way house in 2014, finally being released from federal custody on 4 May 2015 at the age of 80. Since his release, Ciancaglini has frequently been seen hanging out at a newsstand run by his son John and at Stogie Joe’s Tavern on Passyunk Avenue, spending time with his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren (as well as old friends, including long-time mob associate and DJ Jerry Blavat). Ciancaglini’s rank and status in the organisation has been the focus of speculation among law enforcement and street sources, with most agreeing that he serves as an advisor for younger members of the family, whether that is as consigliere or in an informal capacity. In a remote interview with veteran mob reporter Dave Schratwieser, Ralph Natale was asked about the current status of the crime family he once headed and said, ‘Joe Ciancaglini should be the boss of Philadelphia’.

Ciancaglini Blavat.jpg

[NJShore4Life]

You can see Chickie sitting outside Stogie Joe's Tavern these days everyday, guy doesnt miss a day there

[Angelo Santino]

Very interesting article.

I always found the Changs interesting because they came from Northern Italy and the family has been in Philadelphia since the 1890's at least. There was an earlier Ciancaglini involved but I don't know if there is any relation or if so, how.

Again, great article!

[B.]

A+ biography.

Ciancaglini was one of the members that first made me want to dig deeper into Philadelphia. With all of the informants, conflicts, and other issues surrounding that family, he is one of the few members who appears to have been respected by virtually everyone from the Bruno era through Merlino.

That surveillance photo of Chang Sr. with his sons looks like something out of a nature documentary.

I always found the Changs interesting because they came from Northern Italy and the family has been in Philadelphia since the 1890's at least. There was an earlier Ciancaglini involved but I don't know if there is any relation or if so, how.

I remember you sending me his info -- Anthony Ciancaglini, if I remember right. Joe Ciancaglini's father was named John, like the eldest son. Not exactly a common surname, so probably a relation.

Also, the Ciancaglinis are from Abruzzo (Chieti province) like many Philly members/associates. Antonio/Anthony was 20+ years older than John Ciancaglini (Joe Sr.'s father), so not a brother but could be an uncle. Joe Ciancaglini Sr. had a brother named Anthony, so the name is in the family. Joe Sr.'s sister is the mother of alleged member and lawyer Frank DePasquale Jr.

[NJShore4Life]

Abruzzo isnt Northern Italy. Most of the Italians from Philly come from Abruzzo. Joey Merlino even has roots from Abruzzo and some Sicilian as well.

[NJShore4Life]

The Changs must be the easiest creatures of habit to be able to find in South Philly, its got to be in their make up. Chickie Chang is always out in front of Stogie Joe's Tavern and Johnny Chang you will always see either in or around the Chickie's and Pete's in South Philly on Packer Ave. Johnny Chang's news stand back in the day was even in the parking lot of that Chickie's and Pete's. Johnny Chang's wife also bartends at that Chickie's and Pete's on Packer Ave.

Pure 100% speculation, but I have a feeling Johnny Chang has something to do with that Chickie's and Pete's location in South Philly (Great Sports bar by the way). Dom Grande's wife and Frank DePasquale's son both also bartend at that Chickie's and Pete's location on Packer Ave.

[Cheech]

nice post, chin. really good read

[chin_gigante]

Thanks all for the kind words. Another piece of information I found during my research that might be of interest (though I excluded it from my write-up for the sake of structuring and brevity) is that Ciancaglini's daughter Marie married mob associate Louis Cirillo in the early-90s before he was found shot to death in the Bronx in December 1992. So that's another bit of familial tragedy to hit the Ciancaglinis as a result of their involvement in LCN. A son-in-law found dead, middle son crippled and youngest son killed all in the span of less than a year.

[Pogo The Clown]

In the void between Scarfo’s conviction and Stanfa’s rise as boss, Ciancaglini had reportedly pushed for his middle son Joseph (Joey Chang) to take over as acting boss when it became clear that Scarfo’s cousin and proxy Anthony Piccolo wanted to step down from the role.

Interesting. Was this something that was really being considered? Joey was young guy and not even a a made member. Not really the same as the Natale situation since there were still a lot of active senior members on the street who could have replaced Piccolo.


Great write up.


Pogo

[Angelo Santino]

I didn't know the Changs were from Abruzzi, I thought northern Italy. Thanks for clarifying.

[B.]

The paternal side of the Merlinos are from Messina. Same with the Sindones. Wouldn't surprise me if Abruzzo works its way into the Merlino story, as it is almost unavoidable in Philadelphia. Even Angelo Bruno's wife was Abruzzese.

I've seen that before too about Joe Ciancaglini Jr. being a candidate for acting boss. I think Philly was already in motion to induct and immediately promote people to top positions based on Fresolone being immediately promoted to captain and possibly underboss, then Ciancaglini becoming underboss right away.

[NJShore4Life]

I know Joey's second cousin (Their Grandmothers were sisters) and she tells me shes 100% Sicilian.