Gangland September 12th 2024

[Wiseguy]

Scott celebrating getting one right like he is says everything, what's he now about 1 for 7 with actual proven stuff now? It's a shame if there wasn't so much false and suspect reporting i'd subscribe for his articles. Sounds like he was bang on the money on this though, fair play

Yep credit to him he was all over this story.

I remember something about a broken block...

Frankly, I with Nadu on this. When will we learn it's in the FBI's pension interests to keep this mafia mystique afloat. Borghesi is a Merlino gofer. Merlino will always get a respect package a few times a year. Capeci has never had sources aside from the FBI. Yeah, they're driving up and down the turnpike to meet with a non-Sicilian lording over what remains of South Philadelphia.

You'd probably have to go back at least 30 years to see any comment from the FBI lauding the mystique or power of the Philadelphia mob.

[AAA-DK]

Nadu might actually be retarded

[Pmac2]

I think the family borgesi and all those killers reluctantly took joey down. they probaly had to save face. it's a bad look when your boss of the secret organization is doing vlad tv. plus they want to be taken a seriously as all the other families. the top guy can't have a podcast then go sit down with the boss of another crime family....

[Uforeality]

Finally something to really talk about. And for all of the folks here that think NY can’t pressure Philly to make a move on its boss, you apparently haven’t read much about mafia geopolitics. The idea that Joey grew up with all of these guys and they won’t turn on him is naive. That’s mafia 101. Your best friend walks you into the room.

[B.]

Finally something to really talk about. And for all of the folks here that think NY can’t pressure Philly to make a move on its boss, you apparently haven’t read much about mafia geopolitics. The idea that Joey grew up with all of these guys and they won’t turn on him is naive. That’s mafia 101. Your best friend walks you into the room.

But the childhood bonds, dude. Cosa Nostra is dead in Philly and there is only the Childhood Brotherhood left. The only mafia group in the world made up of people who grew up around each other.

And those "Sicilians" like Mannino would never care about Philly. Mannino would never spend hours hanging out with his friend Scoops Licata and the Philly leadership in a New Jersey restaurant in 2010 getting up to date on Philly activities. Philly would never consult John Gambino about their problems in 2010 and be upset Scarfo Jr. was poaching members/associates -- those guys weren't part of the Childhood Brotherhood, so why would Philly care if the Luccheses or whoever made them?

It's like some people have turned Philly into the new "Chicago Outfit" where they're a mafia-but-totally-not-the-mafia organization. You half expect to see people calling Joey Merlino "the Man" with the role of semi-retired boss-above-the-boss. Merlino pulled an Accardo. Ligambi ran the Mafia and Merlino ran the Childhood Brotherhood which is why Ligambi told the Gambinos he refused to make three of the guys Merlino proposed.

[outfit guy]

Scott celebrating getting one right like he is says everything, what's he now about 1 for 7 with actual proven stuff now? It's a shame if there wasn't so much false and suspect reporting i'd subscribe for his articles. Sounds like he was bang on the money on this though, fair play

Yep credit to him he was all over this story.

I remember something about a broken block...

Frankly, I with Nadu on this. When will we learn it's in the FBI's pension interests to keep this mafia mystique afloat. Borghesi is a Merlino gofer. Merlino will always get a respect package a few times a year. Capeci has never had sources aside from the FBI. Yeah, they're driving up and down the turnpike to meet with a non-Sicilian lording over what remains of South Philadelphia.

You'd probably have to go back at least 30 years to see any comment from the FBI lauding the mystique or power of the Philadelphia mob.

There are over 30 members of a task force chasing Borghesi. They're vested in the "Mafia Mystique". The Justice Department tried to break this up but the FBI persisted in keeping this squad together. The need Capeci and Burnstein to give structure around a loose-knit group of relatives in Philly, Detroit and R.I.

[B.]

Loose-knit? I thought this was a tight-knit circle of best friends.

A rogue faction of the FBI won't leave the Philly guys alone. In the last 14 years all they've uncovered is a fully functional Family maintaining close ties to the Gambinos and beefing with the Scarfos and Luccheses in 2010. A Family that still kills informants when they show up in the neighborhood in 2012. A fully functional Family still making guys in 2015 and trying to regain influence in South Jersey.

But in 2024 the same guys are just a group of old buddies who only care about keeping an arrogant podcasting boss rich at the expense of everything else they've always been and always done.

[Ivan]

Finally something to really talk about. And for all of the folks here that think NY can’t pressure Philly to make a move on its boss, you apparently haven’t read much about mafia geopolitics. The idea that Joey grew up with all of these guys and they won’t turn on him is naive. That’s mafia 101. Your best friend walks you into the room.

But the childhood bonds, dude. Cosa Nostra is dead in Philly and there is only the Childhood Brotherhood left. The only mafia group in the world made up of people who grew up around each other.

And those "Sicilians" like Mannino would never care about Philly. Mannino would never spend hours hanging out with his friend Scoops Licata and the Philly leadership in a New Jersey restaurant in 2010 getting up to date on Philly activities. Philly would never consult John Gambino about their problems in 2010 and be upset Scarfo Jr. was poaching members/associates -- those guys weren't part of the Childhood Brotherhood, so why would Philly care if the Luccheses or whoever made them?

It's like some people have turned Philly into the new "Chicago Outfit" where they're a mafia-but-totally-not-the-mafia organization. You half expect to see people calling Joey Merlino "the Man" with the role of semi-retired boss-above-the-boss. Merlino pulled an Accardo. Ligambi ran the Mafia and Merlino ran the Childhood Brotherhood which is why Ligambi told the Gambinos he refused to make three of the guys Merlino proposed.

This is truly exquisite sarcasm, B. Can actually picture you snarling and showing off some fang while you say it.

On a more serious note, I'd like to see an in-depth investigation and analysis of what was going on with the Merlino/Stanfa conflict and the Stanfa era in general that went beyond both the "Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" narrative for Stanfa and the "Childhood Bonds" narrative for the Merlinoites. While those both have some truth to them, I'd bet it was a much more conventional mob story than the colorful version we've been given. Would be a good case for the Mob Archaeologists.

[ShotgunTheRifle]

Loose-knit? I thought this was a tight-knit circle of best friends.

To be clear it was always Scott pushing this narrative that these child friends have this unbreakable bond and no one will ever snitch on anyone in that circle. Then he reports that his best friend dethroned him. I think its something that he should have at least touched on. Again those are the rules, no one should be surprised. But if you have sources, are you not digging deeper into that part? Seems like you are throwing you sarcasm at the wrong people.

[Proletarian187]

Too many layers of sarcasm right now for me to untangle.. haha..

No matter what's true or how Merlinos personal relation is or will be with Philly, this is quite the unceremonious ending to the Merlino family name within LCN. Chuckie Merlino was shelved (even tho I assume he was "unshelved" in the 90's?), Lawrence Merlino became a rat and an embarassment and now the legendary Joey Merlino shelved and humiliated.. Talk about a damaged legacy.

[Wiseguy]

There are over 30 members of a task force chasing Borghesi. They're vested in the "Mafia Mystique". The Justice Department tried to break this up but the FBI persisted in keeping this squad together. The need Capeci and Burnstein to give structure around a loose-knit group of relatives in Philly, Detroit and R.I.

I'm not sure where you get that but if you think there is a 30 member Task Force from different law enforcement agencies in Philadelphia focusing on the LCN there, I have a bridge to sell you. Even a NY family doesn't have that. Now, a Task Force in Philly dedicated to organized crime in general, including the LCN, would be more plausible.

Loose-knit? I thought this was a tight-knit circle of best friends.

A rogue faction of the FBI won't leave the Philly guys alone. In the last 14 years all they've uncovered is a fully functional Family maintaining close ties to the Gambinos and beefing with the Scarfos and Luccheses in 2010. A Family that still kills informants when they show up in the neighborhood in 2012. A fully functional Family still making guys in 2015 and trying to regain influence in South Jersey.

But in 2024 the same guys are just a group of old buddies who only care about keeping an arrogant podcasting boss rich at the expense of everything else they've always been and always done.

For the record, though I continue to discourage overestimating Philly or any family outside NY, I've never said they shouldn't be on the "viable" list. And I've always thought this idea of the mob there being "Joey and his buddies" more than an LCN family didn't hold water. If that was the case, why continue with the LCN formalities like making ceremonies as they always have?

[Doobeez]

Nadu might actually be retarded

Might explain his hair style.

[chin_gigante]

In the last 14 years all they've uncovered is a fully functional Family maintaining close ties to the Gambinos and beefing with the Scarfos and Luccheses in 2010.

Plus an FBI agent testified during Merlino's 2018 trial that the Philadelphia family ultimately answered to the Genovese family:

IMG_4636.jpeg

[Brovelli]

Too many layers of sarcasm right now for me to untangle.. haha..

No matter what's true or how Merlinos personal relation is or will be with Philly, this is quite the unceremonious ending to the Merlino family name within LCN. Chuckie Merlino was shelved (even tho I assume he was "unshelved" in the 90's?), Lawrence Merlino became a rat and an embarassment and now the legendary Joey Merlino shelved and humiliated.. Talk about a damaged legacy.

Also an interesting situation where a (I will say allegedly) shelved member is trying to make himself the poster boy for fighting rats and defending criminals (predominantly mobsters) on YouTube. Welcome to the 21st century lol

[B.]

Loose-knit? I thought this was a tight-knit circle of best friends.

To be clear it was always Scott pushing this narrative that these child friends have this unbreakable bond and no one will ever snitch on anyone in that circle. Then he reports that his best friend dethroned him. I think its something that he should have at least touched on. Again those are the rules, no one should be surprised. But if you have sources, are you not digging deeper into that part? Seems like you are throwing you sarcasm at the wrong people.

I'm responding to some of the posts and comments making their rounds but I'll happily be equal opportunity and include Scott if he leaned into the unbreakable childhood bonds story though he seems to believe Merlino was taken down despite that.

I've made the same point that Merlino's run has heavily used those types of bonds and that's very "Cosa Nostra". The mafia originally comes from relatives, paesans, and people from the same small community who have known each other their entire lives and even over multiple generations. Philly isn't exceptional in that regard and this has made them very traditional in a roundabout way, not unlike the Persico faction, etc. That said, Cosa Nostra is also a story of mafia politics causing issues despite those bonds. I mean this is a Family where brothers were trying to kill each other. Scarfo and Chuckie Merlino were friends forever too until they weren't. When people start thinking the lifelong friendships of some members supercedes info that Merlino was taken down and shelved, it just goes in the face of everything we know about the mafia.

I don't think this means Merlino is suddenly hated in Philadelphia. These guys might well still love the guy but are they willing to lose all recognition, sever their ties to other Families, and deal with the toxic fallout of Merlino's activities just because "Joey's cool"? Capeci says he was told that no, the rest of the leaders sided with Cosa Nostra and that's unsurprising. If conflicting info came out from a good source I'd consider that valuable too.

EDIT: There is a sharp difference too between bonds stopping someone from flipping vs. taking down/shelving someone. Much different thought process in the life.