Mob Talk - 1/25/16

[OlBlueEyesClub]

I think guys are too hung up over the term "factions". Factions doesn't necessarily have to mean warring parties. The impression I got from it, and the Implication I think Shratweiser was making, with info from law enforcement, was that there are four crews. With Ligambi still being acting boss, while Merlino spends most of his time in Florida. And Ligambi's "faction" may solely consist of Borgesi and very few relatives who are plugged into the Philly LCN. Whom he only wishes to hold court with, and Borgesi relays his messages to the Mazzone camp, Pungs guys, and others. All coexisting happily and content with what they have and how things are. Outside of New Year festival photos, Ligambi is rarely captured in the presence of Mazzone & Merlino or any of their immediate guys, but hes often seen with Borgesi, a blood relative. Ligambi is simply doing what hes always been doing, taking the old school approach and attempting to stay out the newspapers. Thats were I think the supposed division between Merlino/Mazzone camp and Ligambi comes in..I find it entirely plausible that Ligambi meets with only one or two guys regularly, mainly Borgesi, and Borgesi is the link between the acting boss and the other crews.


Thats just my opinion, in that aspect alone, I think theres some truth to Shratenweisers report.

[Chucky]

Ligambi has been with Merlino since he got out in '97, there is no "Ligambi faction", the idea is ludicrous. Merlino has been up here frequently since his supervised released ended, he was up here last week for the boat show in AC, and hung around town during the week and I would bet my left nut he saw Ligambi in that time. Ligambi sees Merlino as often as Mazzone or Borgesi do now, and back in the 90s he was always around Joey's clubhouse, he's a product of Joey...not saying that to say he's some putz, he's a serious guy no doubt about it, but if Joey wanted to replace him that would be it.

And just for the record, there's no "Narducci faction" either, he's got some punks from 10th & O and some Nicodemo cast offs around him, that's it, he's a lone wolf. It's not a faction, it's just Narducci.

Pungitore and the other Scarfo guys aren't causing any problems either, they fell in line with things, the only guy making waves is Narducci.

Merlino's the boss, and he and his "faction" are the top dogs.

[Chucky]

Ligambi is simply doing what hes always been doing, taking the old school approach and attempting to stay out the newspapers. Thats were I think the supposed division between Merlino/Mazzone camp and Ligambi comes in..I find it entirely plausible that Ligambi meets with only one or two guys regularly, mainly Borgesi, and Borgesi is the link between the acting boss and the other crews.

Ligambi was far from low key before his first trial. The papers (what's left of them) weren't interested in a 70 something former bookmaker, especially when no bodies were dropping, but he wasn't exactly hard to find downtown.

[Wiseguy]

I don't think we should interpret the "four factions" as four crews. For one thing, the two news reports on them haven't agreed on who's running those "factions." And what happened to the crew Lancellotti was running or the North Jersey crew? Lastly, I'm not sure how much any of the faction stuff has been confirmed by law enforcement.

[Ivan]

there is no "Ligambi faction", the idea is ludicrous

Yeah, the idea of a sitting boss and his own appointed acting boss being in separate faction doesn't make any logical sense to me.

[joeycigars]

I Ligambi is simply doing what hes always been doing, taking the old school approach and attempting to stay out the newspapers. Ligambi's "faction" may solely consist of Borgesi and very few relatives who are plugged into the Philly LCN. Whom he only wishes to hold court with,


Thats just my opinion, in that aspect alone, I think theres some truth to Shratenweisers report.

"old school approach and attempting to stay out the newspapers" AKA lowkey... I dont think Ligambi deserves this distinction , Or the moniker of " make money not headlines " G.A gave him , Ligambi made more headlines then money (per capita) of any other family in the USA ( IMO ) .

Ligambi in the last decade has been on Video ,Pictures , Tapes ,wire taps , magazine interviews and in the News more then Chicago ,New England , and the Five NY families acting "BOSSES" , So much for his so called low key and money making efforts ,
What is Ligambis big income from these days ? He has to kick up to Merlino , If Ligambi is making money not headlines "low key"... That would mean the "John Gotti of Philly" (Merlino) in Florida is making money and even more "low key" by not being the day to day hands on boss. I have to ask ... Does this cognitive dissonance sound right to anyone?
Its a illusion with good sound bites By G.A and company, some posters and Bloggers that quote G.A over and over till it becomes standard to say LOW KEY LIGAMBI make money not headlines , Deduced....Ligambi is about as lowkey as a coke upped drunk with a fist full of fifties in a whorehouse .But was a good acting boss by any standards ,

This is just my opinion but a strong one that I have , Some people want there to be or see factions that are not there ,Just a side note Mob wives has a few factions too , Its keeps the writers busy .
As far as factions what factions are gonna go at it ?...... None

What 2 or 3 made guys are backing a faction outside of Merlins guys ?....... NONE

A guy gets out of prison after 30 years down, he dont associate with the main crew like he used to ,and has a couple friends he becomes a faction ? ....NO it doesn't .. Not with out a dust up or two that is proven .Its more like a quite coexistence, Even Bent finger went after Marty, The hunchback went at Scarfo , Merlino went at Stanfa , The guys went after Salvie and Burno the Chicken man and so on ...those are factions

Posters a few years back where sure Merlino and Ligambi where two factions , This was disproved by facts , I don't see the FACTS on factions anywhere in the reports just some anonymous source said to some blogger or 2, That anonymous source has yet to be any more or less accurate than some of the fine posters here and other forums on this subject ....Just my take on the factions and power

[OlBlueEyesClub]

Once again, people are too hung up on the term factions. Disregard the "faction/crew" shit, for a second. And consider that maybe, just maybe, Ligambi, while still the sitting, acting boss for Merlino, simply meets with Borgesi, in an attempt to stay out of prison. And thats how orders are relayed back and forth to him from Merlino and Mazzone or whatever. Thats what I see the situation being. Not that Ligambi has his own crew, but that he simply is told and tells his nephew what the current objective is, and thats how things get back and forth between Ligambi and Merlino/Mazzone. I never once, alluded dissention or altercations with any of these guys, or that two or three made guys are backing a faction outside of Merlinos, because I dont consider Ligambi as having a faction of his own. But again, in Ligambis attempt to stay out of prison, his nephew is the link between Ligambi himself and Merlino/Mazzone. And to Shratweiser, that appears as separate factions somehow. I don't think he's right in that part of it, but when he says Ligambi is only seen meeting with Borgesi, he's partially correct on that aspect, only partially because he draws an inaccurate conclusion of because he's only seen meeting with Borgesi and not the rest of the Merlino camp, that he somehow is doing things on his own. That's what I mean.


As said prior to his trial, Ligambi was easy to find. However since his trial, most Philly reports suggest, Anastasia and Scott Burnstein excluded, that he spends most of his time in his house. By all definition, thats lowkey. You may know where he's at, but thats on you, as far as I know, which is little, he hasn't been out at every bar or social event, screaming out his affiliations and business dealings.

And what faction of his own did Bent Finger Lou have? He was under Borgesi, thus he was in the same faction as Angelina, they all answered to Merlino/Ligambi, they had personal beefs and Monacello appeared to have more backing on the matter than Angelina, whom as supposed under boss, I find it hard to see how that came to be. But Angelina was becoming a man on an island with his antics and legal issues. And guys were getting sick of dealing with him. I see it being more a case of that, than Monacello having his own faction, Monacello wasn't even made last I checked.

[joeycigars]

And what faction of his own did Bent Finger Lou have? He was under Borgesi, thus he was in the same faction as Angelina, they all answered to Merlino/Ligambi, they had personal beefs and Monacello appeared to have more backing on the matter than Angelina, whom as supposed under boss, I find it hard to see how that came to be. But Angelina was becoming a man on an island with his antics and legal issues. And guys were getting sick of dealing with him. I see it being more a case of that, than Monacello having his own faction, Monacello wasn't even made last I checked.

I used Bent Finger Lou as an example that tried to make a move...Where these other so called factions have made no such moves... OlBlueEyesClub

Bent finger Lou although not a member but on his way (according to his testimony) , created friction that turned into a so called faction in Delaware county , Angelina was backed by Merlino and Ligambi far from a man on a island he was acting under , All of Martys antics aside he is a loyal trusted very old friend of the inner circle , Monacello was running amok doing whatever he wanted , When you are trusted to take care of Mob business and in line to get a button and you and your friends are going after the under Boss , That would qualify as a so called faction in my opinion ...What would you call it? ...It doesn't matter who was right or wrong or who started it , It was gonna to end very very bad .And Lou knew this thats why he took it to the next ( Fuck it )level, And the proof is that the Bentfinger faction is gone and Marty is still Marty... no island

http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/01/some-pa ... r-lou.html

Monacello acknowledged, as he had on the witness stand, that he plotted with an associate, Frank "Frankie the Fixer" DiGiacomo to assault Angelina."The mistake I made was not cracking Angelina's head open myself" Monacello said again that he believed Borgesi was going to kill him "because I broke the rules" by plotting to attack Angelina, a "made" member of the mob.

Monacello said he's not concerned about going to jail. Jail, he insisted, was never the issue. He cooperated, he said, because Ligambi and Borgesi "screwed me over."


Monacello testified that while running a bookmaking and loansharking operation for Borgesi, who was in jail on a 2001 racketeering conviction, Ligambi and Angelina were constantly horning in on and undermining his business, business that he claimed was generating cash to support Borgesi.

Bentfinger also took another verbal shot at Borgesi's brother Anthony who, he said, was always "stabbing me in the back even though I was supporting his brother." He referred to Anthony Borgesi as Fredo,

[Rocco]

Does Lou Monacello still live out in the open at the Shore and in Philly? From what I remember he never entered the Witness protection right?

[Chucky]

Joey is correct, Marty was backed by Ligambi to move in on Monacello/Borgesi's shy and book in Delaware county. And no one is getting hung up on the faction shit, it's just simply that Joey and Ligambi are attached at the hip, there's no separation between the two of them and Ligambi sees more than just Borgesi, and for what it's worth Schratweiser never said that.

[B.]

Ligambi is simply doing what hes always been doing, taking the old school approach and attempting to stay out the newspapers. Thats were I think the supposed division between Merlino/Mazzone camp and Ligambi comes in..I find it entirely plausible that Ligambi meets with only one or two guys regularly, mainly Borgesi, and Borgesi is the link between the acting boss and the other crews.

Ligambi was far from low key before his first trial. The papers (what's left of them) weren't interested in a 70 something former bookmaker, especially when no bodies were dropping, but he wasn't exactly hard to find downtown.

Let's not forget the interview he did with that journalist. He promised he wouldn't ask him about the mob or whatever, but the whole point of the dinner/interview was to sit and hang out with a mob boss. Ligambi knew what it was all about.