Tommy Scafidi interviewed by Dave Schratwieser

[chin_gigante]

Forget Leonetti - Scarfo himself probably did not even know ! This all went down the way it did bc the WS thru Bobby Manna wanted Nick as Boss. Again Chin think about the bloodletting in the aftermath of Bruno and then Testa everyone involved brutally slain and or tortured but PC gets a pass from the WS ? 40 years later and no one can say for sure who the mysterious Genovese family friend of PC is ? PC got a pass bc he was down with the WS all along. Just by chance Bobby Mannas Hoboken headquarters was “ Casella’s Restaurant”

Casella's Restaurant was owned by Manna associate Martin Casella. No relation to the Philadelphia Casellas as far as I know. There is also no evidence to suggest the Genovese family was behind Testa's murder. Considering how well-known it is that the Genovese family was behind Caponigro's plot, there would likely be some evidence if the Genoveses were involved in Casella's attempted coup.

[HoagieNose]

Did Ligambi have a good relationship with the NYC families after all this? I know he was caught meeting with one of the families at a dinner so I assume they eventually started recognizing him as boss.

[Manhattan_]

Forget Leonetti - Scarfo himself probably did not even know ! This all went down the way it did bc the WS thru Bobby Manna wanted Nick as Boss. Again Chin think about the bloodletting in the aftermath of Bruno and then Testa everyone involved brutally slain and or tortured but PC gets a pass from the WS ? 40 years later and no one can say for sure who the mysterious Genovese family friend of PC is ? PC got a pass bc he was down with the WS all along. Just by chance Bobby Mannas Hoboken headquarters was “ Casella’s Restaurant”

Casella's Restaurant was owned by Manna associate Martin Casella. No relation to the Philadelphia Casellas as far as I know. There is also no evidence to suggest the Genovese family was behind Testa's murder. Considering how well-known it is that the Genovese family was behind Caponigro's plot, there would likely be some evidence if the Genoveses were involved in Casella's attempted coup.

Thats just how they (Genovese) like it - no fingers pointing back at them - and they then put their man (Scarfo) in the Boss Chair. Testa had no NY connection - WS wanted someone that they could deal with and that was not Phil Testa.

[Manhattan_]

WS initially wanted Nick Scarfo as Boss but Scarfo in a rare moment of humility deferred saying no - Phil Testa is next in line for the Boss position he deserves it. Little did he know that statement most likely got Phil Testa killed.

[dack2001]

Sindone was identified as a captain a few times due to his close relationship with Bruno but its not by guys like Leonnetti and Caramandi, those who would be in a position to know. Historically speaking when Bruno got hit the closest members who flipped never spoke about Sindone as a captain or having a crew to reassign like they did with other "traditional" captains. The other captains besides Narducci had been in their seats for many years. Unless he was a captain without a crew, which I don't see precedent for in Philly, it is much more likely he was direct with Bruno. There is precedent for guys being direct with the boss. Caponigro was never a captain but he was direct with Bruno. Scarfo put the Crow and Charlie Iannece direct with him. The wiretaps from the racketeering trial make clear that Sindone handled Bruno's investments downtown.

[chin_gigante]

WS initially wanted Nick Scarfo as Boss but Scarfo in a rare moment of humility deferred saying no - Phil Testa is next in line for the Boss position he deserves it. Little did he know that statement most likely got Phil Testa killed.

You're entitled to your opinion but I remain unconvinced until presented with evidence or a source that says otherwise

[Manhattan_]

Ditto

[B.]

Sindone was identified as a captain a few times due to his close relationship with Bruno but its not by guys like Leonnetti and Caramandi, those who would be in a position to know. Historically speaking when Bruno got hit the closest members who flipped never spoke about Sindone as a captain or having a crew to reassign like they did with other "traditional" captains. The other captains besides Narducci had been in their seats for many years. Unless he was a captain without a crew, which I don't see precedent for in Philly, it is much more likely he was direct with Bruno. There is precedent for guys being direct with the boss. Caponigro was never a captain but he was direct with Bruno. Scarfo put the Crow and Charlie Iannece direct with him. The wiretaps from the racketeering trial make clear that Sindone handled Bruno's investments downtown.

Yeah, there was a ton of precedent for soldiers being with the admin. Reginelli, Rugnetta, and supposedly even Denaro all had soldiers direct with them. I was responding to where you said Sindone was a soldier direct with the admin but had Ciancaglini and possibly Stanfa, who were also soldiers, assigned to him:

Sindone was direct with Bruno but wasn't a capo. Ciancaglini reported to Sindone. I suspect Stanfa reported direct to Sindone also and both were in on the plot to kill Bruno.

Ciancaglini was Sindone's main man, we know, but have you seen anything concrete that says Ciancaglini was actually assigned to him? Also what makes you think Stanfa was assigned to Sindone? I always respect your take on Philly, just wondering if you saw it somewhere or if it's a guess since you used definitive terms.

I have seen FBI reports from the mid-1970s that talk about how the family had split into the Testa-Scarfo faction and Bruno-Sindone-Simone faction. Just thought it was interesting they had two soldiers, Scarfo and Sindone, as the main players next to Testa and Bruno. Move forward a couple years, and Sindone is recording complaining about Bruno to Chucky Merlino, go figure.

[chin_gigante]

I've got a couple of thoughts about the Sindone-Ciancaglini direct with the administration thing:

- When Rocco Scafidi was reporting on the making ceremony scheduled for 1969, he said that Sindone was being proposed by Bruno himself.
- The above would be a strong indicator that Sindone was assigned direct to Bruno upon being straightened out.
- In the early 1970s, Russell Wilmerton had borrowed money from Sindone and was seeking permission to lend it out to another individual. Wilmerton had to get permission not just from Sindone but also from Phil Testa.
- The Wilmerton loan is another indication that Sindone was direct with the administration, though it should also be noted that Bruno was incarcerated at this time and Testa was running the family for him.
- Sindone therefore could have been put with Testa while Bruno was in Yardville.
- Sindone sponsored Ciancaglini for membership, making it likely he would also be assigned direct to Bruno if Sindone already was.
- Ciancaglini was also observed on one occasion delivering a sum of cash direct to Bruno after visiting a numbers operation run by Harry Riccobene.
- Ciancaglini was a collector for a numbers game run by Testa and Sindone, oversaw an operation run by Charles Warrington (described as a Sindone associate), and collected cash from the Riccobene game.
- I don't know if Riccobene ever fully confirmed that he was reporting direct to Bruno during this time but it would seem like it if the description of his quasi-independence is accurate.
- Riccobene's comments retrospectively about Bruno however are less than glowing and his participation in the criticism of Bruno's process for replacing Joe Rugnetta as consigliere would make it look like he was not a die-hard Bruno loyalist.
- However, Frank Narducci also took part in this criticism only, according to Leonetti, to then side with Bruno in the feud with Testa in hopes of becoming underboss (and Riccobene's conflict with Scarfo makes it clear he certainly wasn't on his - Scarfo's - side).
- The flow of cash from Riccobene to Ciancaglini to Bruno could also make it appear that Riccobene was assigned to the boss.
- One could make the case then that there's a good chance that at least Sindone, Ciancaglini and Riccobene were reporting direct to Bruno by the late 1970s

[B.]

Glad you mentioned Chick Warrington. He was based near Bristol / Trenton, one of the family's top non-Italian associates. Remember that Joe Ciancaglini brought his associate Pat Spirito to Philadelphia from Trenton also. Both Warrington and Spirito were part of the RICO case with Ciancaglini.

I can't remember where I got the idea, but years ago I saw something that gave me the impression Sindone may have been under John Simone, or at least closely associated with him. I wish I could find the info that gave me that impression, but you mentioning Warrington reminded me that Sindone/Ciancaglini had interests near Trenton. The report that mentions Sindone's loansharking operations extending to the Buffalo area is also interesting given deep Simone's history there.

There's also the photo of Ciancaglini, Stanfa, Sindone, Bruno, Ippolito, and Simone I mentioned earlier. Could have just been a fairly random gathering of members, or could also indicate these guys were connected. Stanfa's presence would lend itself to Dack's theory that Stanfa associated with Ciancaglini and Sindone, or he could have just been there because he was a member close to Bruno.

[dack2001]

The snippets of the wiretaps I've seen from the 70's would indicate most definitively that Sindone was direct with Bruno and there was no one in-between them. Sindone was Bruno's direct conduit to the some of the unions, not just when Bruno was in prison, including the Irishmans union. He reported Bruno's wishes direct to the union participants. Sindone purchased a $300,000 loan-sharking book in the mid-60's from a large loan shark in the Niagara Falls area. He caught a loansharking case in the 70's based upon the testimony of a rat who was with Russell Buffalino, who Sindone had a relationship with through Bruno. Sindone was the supervisor of Ciancaglini who was the collector of Sindone and Bruno's book and their portion of the numbers and loansharking business. Not just Bruno though, Testa was also receive money though this may have been the historical "elbow".

I suspect that Bruno used Sindone to borrow money and split the profits with Sindone. He was essentially Bruno's loanshark and got rich doing so.
It wasn't just Sindone, Bruno was partners in multiple crews operations. Instead of requesting tribute, hhe seems to have taken a partnership or invested money and when he didn't like an opportunity he stayed away but didn't ask for money from the member. He may have put Sindone in charge of those partnerships later in the 70's. There is little evidence that soldiers paid tribute direct to Bruno or that crews paid tribute, mostly they were partners with Bruno in particular operations (numbers and loansharking mostly) and he collected portions of their profits. This seemed to be the greatest change from Scarfo to Bruno and the real reason for Riccobene's break with Scarfo. '

The wiretaps seem to indicate that Bruno became a partner of Riccobene in the numbers in the early 60's and Bruno/Sindone lent him money/became partners to get him back in the loansharking rackets when he got out of prison in 68. Whether he was direct with Bruno, I thought initially he was under Skinny Razor before he went to prison in early 60's and when he got out he was autonomous or he reported direct to Bruno. By the mid-70's Bruno wasn't meeting with many people and was using Sindone as essentially a street boss. This was a large part of the rift between Bruno and Testa.

[B.]

Thanks for going more into it, Dack. Scafidi was normally specific about ranks when he knew them but his 1975 description of Sindone as a "high-ranking member" might be exactly that -- a soldier with significant influence. That he met with Sindone and Testa together fits with what you shared as well.

That's right, the loanshark book wasn't just Buffalo but specifically Niagara Falls, where Simone had lived. No idea if Simone had any involvement but interesting connection. Bruno and Simone both had compaesani in Buffalo/NF and Magaddino was recorded saying he knew Angelo Bruno before he was a made member.

Re: partnerships. Bruno was recorded telling Magliocco in 1963 that everyone was offering him partnerships when he became boss and he was turning many of them down. He was a self-made man before he even became a member and seems to have focused mainly on his own business interests, definitely not the type to demand tribute. In the mid-1960s he decided to let the family start shaking down card games and gambling operations in South Jersey that weren't controlled directly by family associates. Pretty telling that he waited that long when you compare him to someone like Scarfo who immediately imposed a street tax / shakedowns.

[B.]

JRH = Jimmy Hoffa

[Ivan]

Forget Leonetti - Scarfo himself probably did not even know ! This all went down the way it did bc the WS thru Bobby Manna wanted Nick as Boss. Again Chin think about the bloodletting in the aftermath of Bruno and then Testa everyone involved brutally slain and or tortured but PC gets a pass from the WS ? 40 years later and no one can say for sure who the mysterious Genovese family friend of PC is ? PC got a pass bc he was down with the WS all along. Just by chance Bobby Mannas Hoboken headquarters was “ Casella’s Restaurant”

check out Oliver Stone over here

[Pogo The Clown]

Forget Leonetti - Scarfo himself probably did not even know ! This all went down the way it did bc the WS thru Bobby Manna wanted Nick as Boss. Again Chin think about the bloodletting in the aftermath of Bruno and then Testa everyone involved brutally slain and or tortured but PC gets a pass from the WS ? 40 years later and no one can say for sure who the mysterious Genovese family friend of PC is ? PC got a pass bc he was down with the WS all along. Just by chance Bobby Mannas Hoboken headquarters was “ Casella’s Restaurant”

check out Oliver Stone over here

A coup d'état with Niicky Scarfo waiting in the wings.


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