New Pennisi Article About Philadelphia

[Tonyd621]

Pennisi when you listen him, he's such a stickler for the rules... except when it applies to him, of course.

[chin_gigante]

Chin , I agree with you ,
MY point is If you take out the inaccurate info on Pennisi being introduced to Doms "wife" and being "pregnant" and take out the inaccurate info on Mazzone ordering a murder according to DS ,Then yes ..Pennisi took a ride down the Jersey turn pike to meet some guys,

You know better then most Chin , This info on Philly was out there on the forums for ages ,Pennisi is reshuffling the deck with the same cards on top looks good and fools a lot of people , This is my opinion , I dont fault anyone who falls for good inaccurate stories 90% truth 10% inaccurate , I love a good story too ,

GA: The other interesting thing is the timing of this, of what Pennisi said. Why does this become the story three days after Stevie's released from jail? Because he, in his recounting of what he learned, he alleges that Stevie at least was involved in I guess approving one of the murders that he's alleging in this blog. I don't know. The timing is certainly suspect. What, why, when? Those kind of things. Why's it coming out now? I guess the third element is you gotta keep in perspective what Pennisi's saying in his blog is information he gleans second-hand. He doesn't have first-hand knowledge.

I think Pennisi has really good info on his time in the Luccheses , But he went outside his wheelhouse on this one

I think we're in more agreement on this than we might appear to have been. Think we've been talking past each other a bit so I'll apologise for my part in that. To be clear, this is the way I see it:

The info about the murders is second hand so it's important to keep that in mind. I think the bit that Schratwieser is specifically referring to as inaccurate is the placement of Grande in the Casasanto hit, not necessarily the Mazzone stuff. I'm not taking the stuff he says about the murders as gospel because, after all, this is something he alleges he heard from a conversation with Joe Perna years ago, so it's reliant on an accurate recollection of events and Perna's information being accurate. So I think there's always plenty of room for inaccuracy in the murder information without classifying it as BS.

When it comes to the timing of the piece coming out now I can see why some might see it as suspect but I think it's important to keep in mind that Pennisi only started writing within the past six months. Had he started the blog years and years ago and was only just mentioning his connection to Philly then yeah that'd be a bit suspicious. If I had recently started a blog and I had a Philly story and then the Philly guys got busted I'd also think it'd be a good time to write a couple of blogs on my interractions with the Philly guys.

Keeping in mind I view this article like this: he goes to Philly with Joey Perna and meets a handful of guys on a social visit. Prior to this he'd already met Merlino and he also met Scoops Licata at Johnny Perna's wedding. I find that entirely believable considering Pennisi's connection to Joey Perna and the Perna connection to the Philly guys. Especially if, as DS suggests, the meeting was observed by law enforcement. He doesn't big his meeting up to be much more than a social visit apart from the bit about passing the message from Joey Amato to Johnny Chang, which as I've said before could've just been to say hello or whatever. Then he has the car ride home with Perna and Perna tells him stuff about the murders.

What I took issue with was the characterisation of Pennisi as some kind of BS artist based off a story that seems entirely plausible and believable to me. When he's relaying second-hand information, like knowledge he got from Perna, that's obviously more likely to be incorrect than the stuff he knows first hand. But repeating a piece of incorrect information that he learned second-hand is not synonymous with BS in my book. That implies he actively made stuff up when, as I've laid out before, it looks to me just like an honest mistake. I think it's generally pretty clear when Pennisi is relaying stuff he learned first-hand and when he's repeating stuff he's heard from other people or read. This article was a good example of that for me. The Philly history stuff was a combination of stuff he read and stuff he was told. The meeting and the encounters in Philly were first hand. Then the murder stuff was stuff he heard in a conversation with Perna.

So that's the way I approach these articles. I locate the first-hand stuff and I put that above the other stuff in terms of credibility. There's an acceptable margin of error for the stuff he heard second-hand or read.

[joeycigars]

Yes Chin , I agree with your synopsis ,Also Pennisi has some good info for the Chart guys and historians to catch up to date info ,

[HoagieNose]

I agree with the Luchesse guys. Merlino looks like an asshole in that video dancing. A don doesn’t dance like that.

[jimmi_beans8]

IT COULD BE,,,HE GOT THE 2 JOES MIXED UP,,,,,LICATA/LIGAMBI

[chin_gigante]

When I asked Pennisi about this he said he had made a mistake when he initially identified Licata as consigliere. He told me he was introduced to Licata as a caporegime at Johnny Perna's wedding

[NJShore4Life]

I guarantee the Consigliere listed as JL was Joe Ligambi.

No way they would have someone 90 miles away in North Jersey who came up in The Ironbound (Downneck) of Newark who is in his 80s as the Consigliere.

Uncle Joe is absolutely revered in South Philly, everyone loves him.

-Dante

[TommyGambino]

I guarantee the Consigliere listed as JL was Joe Ligambi.

No way they would have someone 90 miles away in North Jersey who came up in The Ironbound (Downneck) of Newark who is in his 80s as the Consigliere.

Uncle Joe is absolutely revered in South Philly, everyone loves him.

-Dante

And wasn't scoops on tape saying the sdmin should all be from Philly

[Chucky]

I agree with the Luchesse guys. Merlino looks like an asshole in that video dancing. A don doesn’t dance like that.

Lol who gives a fuck?

[Angelo Santino]

I think Pennisi's core knowledge centers around his crew, his region and the Luccheses and the more he goes out of his area the less he can be accurate on. I think his exploration of Philly is interesting, but this goes into the hierarchy of sources. If he said Joe Licata was consig meanwhile we have wiretaps that come out of Philly to reveal it being Ligambi, I'm going to go with the latter likely being more accurate. It doesn't mean that Pennisi was lying or trying to embellish. These guys are gangsters, they're not going around trying to take notes on everything.

Hello CC, Where does Pennisi get the Joe Licata was consig, In your opinion , From his ride to Philly ? do the dates and charts match up ?

No clue. If I recall correctly (and I may not) I believe he was told that on the way over or back. Chin would know.

[chin_gigante]

Pennisi met Licata in August 2015 at the Brownstone. Met Merlino at some point, I can't remember whether it was before or after, then met the other guys in early 2016

[joeycigars]

I think Pennisi's core knowledge centers around his crew, his region and the Luccheses and the more he goes out of his area the less he can be accurate on. I think his exploration of Philly is interesting, but this goes into the hierarchy of sources. If he said Joe Licata was consig meanwhile we have wiretaps that come out of Philly to reveal it being Ligambi, I'm going to go with the latter likely being more accurate. It doesn't mean that Pennisi was lying or trying to embellish. These guys are gangsters, they're not going around trying to take notes on everything.

Hello CC, Where does Pennisi get the Joe Licata was consig, In your opinion , From his ride to Philly ? do the dates and charts match up ?

No clue. If I recall correctly (and I may not) I believe he was told that on the way over or back. Chin would know.

Yes Chin did know , at Johnny Perna's wedding,

[Angelo Santino]

It's possible he was acting consig for a time? But to my knowledge I don't believe that we have anything that confirms JL is referencing Joe Ligambi. Time will tell.

[chin_gigante]

I've gone back and forth on this so much I've given up and I'm just waiting for new info on the case. Hoping someone tracks down Anthony Persiano at some point in the next few years to get a good interview out of him.

[Angelo Santino]

I've gone back and forth on this so much I've given up and I'm just waiting for new info on the case. Hoping someone tracks down Anthony Persiano at some point in the next few years to get a good interview out of him.

You're one of the most foremost experts on this group. Always enjoy your thoughts and perspectives.