What was the relationship between Salvie Testa and Joey Merlino?

[MafiaMancave]

Ironically Salvie's killer,"Wayne Grande, has a son Dominic "Baby Dom" Grande who is very close to the administration and just went to prison to serve 6 years. It's not unusual for children of made men not to be held accountable for their father's cooperation. Another example of this would be Frank Narducci's sons Frank Jr and Phil. They were put in Salvie's crew after he killed their father and participated in the murder of Rocco Marinucci. Marrinucci was part of the plot that "blew up the 'chicken man' last night",as Bruce Springsteen's famous song "Atlantic City" says. If that isn't true Cosa Nostra I don't know what is.

[MafiaMancave]

Another excellent example of Philadelphia not holding members who are still loyal to The Family would have to be the Ciancaglini clan. The two brothers,Joe Jr and Michael, were alleged to be actual shooters in the failed attempt on Joe that the FBI captured on video and one the two attempts on Michael. Unfortunately the 2nd attempt on "Mikey Chang" was successful and according to information from informants the father Joseph Sr gave his approval for the hit on Joe Jr. Nowhere in the history of American Cosa Nostra have their been 4 members from one blood famiy been more complicit in the murder and the attempted murder of each other. I say American Cosa Nostra because in Italy the rules are clearly not the same as in the States

[knockaround_ny]

While it's said that they were friends/crewmates (In fact Grande's father "Coo Coo Johnny" Grande was in Phillip Testa's crew at one point becoming Bruno's underboss in 1970, after which Chickie Narducci took over the crew), I heard on a GangsterBB.net article, "Scarfo vs Salvie" that Grande didn't seem to like Salvie and was even the one to put the final two shots in Testa and inherited control of some of his former gambling operations after his death

[Mikeymike12]

Salvie and Joey were close ... they knew each other since childhood, there families were super close.

[knockaround_ny]

This is biggest "what ifs" shaking my head regarding the mob. Would he have most likely gotten convicted along with the rest of the Scarfo crew in '88 including Scarfo, Leonetti, the Merlinos, Joey Pung, the Narduccis, the Grandes, etc.

[furiofromnaples]

He would be convicted after Leonetti flipping and after years in the can he would be a big player or the family boss.

[Don_Peppino]

I had a similar thought about what-if all most of the important guys from Scarfos time did get whacked. How much stronger/better would they have been? Or is the thought, besides federal investigations, that particular cast of Philly guys wouldn't be able to co-exist in the 90s and beyond.

[Mikeymike12]

He would of got arrested when all those indictments Came out . He would of probably been back on the street now so who knows what would he be doing now.

[knockaround_ny]

I've been thinking what would have happened if Salvie if ever got the top spot because of his reputation, pedigree and power base in South Philly. The stories I've heard makes me think that he could possibly be just another version of Scarfo or something idk

[furiofromnaples]

Salvie Testa wasnt like Scarfo because had no the same blood thirst,of course kill who blow up his father but nothing more. He would survived and avoited incrimination due Leonetti flipping he would be a old school boss,definitly not a new Scarfo.

[ShotgunTheRifle]

Just curious what are you trying to get access to? All these threads about a thought you had are cool!

[chin_gigante]

Merged all these Salvie Testa threads. It clogs up the forum.

[PHL_Mob]

Just to be clear Chick did not “approve” any hits on either brother. Gonna have to trust me on this one. Yes he wanted everyone to fall in line with Stanfa whether he agreed with or “sided” with Stanfa. If anything he held a slight grudge against Joey for letting it happen aka maybe fueling the fire I’ll leave it at that.