News video: PA casinos looking to ban Merlino

[Pogo The Clown]

They were hardly low key under Ligambi. They were constantly out in the open and in the news. They were also dropping more bodies than just about every other family during that time frame.


Pogo

[JCB1977]

They were hardly low key under Ligambi. They were constantly out in the open and in the news. They were also dropping more bodies than just about every other family during that time frame.


Pogo

Actually, there wasn't a Philly mob murder in 6 years under his watch. The interview he gave was merely to curry favor in the court of public opinion around the time of his trial.

Here's an excerpt of the article:

The twelve page article features quotes attributed to Ligambi and seemingly questions the viability of the Philadelphia mob in light of the lack of bloodshed for six consecutive years leading up to the 2009 publication.

The Philadelphia mob hasn’t killed anyone in at least six years — the longest peaceful streak this city has seen since the days of Angelo Bruno, the so-called “Gentle Don,” who was shot to death in 1980. If the mob doesn’t kill anyone, is it still the mob?

[JCB1977]

In fact Pogo, Ligambi was well known to be low key:

http://philadelphiaweekly.com/2004/aug/ ... 9HNrZgrKUk

Joseph An­thony Lig­ambi is the cur­rent boss of the Phil­adelphia mob, but who is he really? In 1988 the New Jer­sey State Com­mis­sion of In­vest­ig­a­tion is­sued a re­port titled “Or­gan­ized Crime Roster—Pro­files of Bruno/Scarfo Group” that lis­ted Lig­ambi as a “sol­dier” in the Bruno/Scarfo Or­gan­ized Crime Fam­ily. In 1990 the Pennsylvania Crime Com­mis­sion lis­ted him as an “in­duct­ee” of the Pennsylvania La Cosa Nos­tra fam­ily headed by Nicodemo Scarfo.

Clearly, Lig­ambi is a seasoned or­gan­ized crime vet­er­an, but it’s not like he’s a house­hold name. Not like, say, Joey Mer­lino.

Mer­lino, the city’s former mob boss, reveled in his crim­in­al status right up un­til he got car­ted off to jail.

But Lig­ambi, 65, main­tains a pro­file so low that his name doesn’t even re­gister with most Phil­adelphi­ans.

We de­cided to ask Lt. Tom Coc­cia of the Phil­adelphia Po­lice De­part­ment’s Or­gan­ized Crime Unit to share a bit of what he knows about the city’s cur­rent mob king­pin.

So who is Joe Lig­ambi any­way?

“From my point of view right now, he’s the head of the Phil­adelphia fac­tion of La Cosa Nos­tra.”

Has Lig­ambi been fly­ing un­der the radar all these years, or has law en­force­ment been mark­ing him for a while?

“He’s been known to law en­force­ment for more than 30 years. He’s no spring chick­en.”

There’s been an as­sump­tion for a long time that the new mob is run by young, flashy guys like Joey Mer­lino. Is Lig­ambi a throw­back to the old-school, more low-key mob?

“Yes. He’s more tra­di­tion­ally old-school. You have to re­mem­ber the Phil­adelphia fac­tion of La Cosa Nos­tra took ma­jor hits from law en­force­ment. Mer­lino goes away, and this guy, Lig­ambi, he’s been to jail be­fore. He’s been ac­cused of murder be­fore. However, the pro­cess works, he paid his dues, he kept his mouth shut and he rode to the top spot. When you talk about a low-key guy, he’s it. In his form­at­ive years he was in­volved in crime with An­gelo Bruno, and whatever he learned along the way he learned dur­ing Bruno’s reign. The kind of low-key pro­gram he’s run­ning now is something he car­ried over from Bruno.”

What kind of activ­it­ies is the mob in­volved in now?

“The same old stuff—rack­et­eer­ing, num­bers, sports bet­ting, loan shark­ing. Those are the main­stays that af­ford them in­roads in­to le­git­im­ate busi­nesses.”

What about pros­ti­tu­tion or drugs?

“Are they dir­ectly in­volved in these things? I think what you have to real­ize is that La Cosa Nos­tra deals in its name and trades upon its name. And if there’s someone with­in their area that’s do­ing something il­leg­al, they will ap­proach and make a claim to whatever they’re do­ing. They may not be in­volved dir­ectly, but they have know­ledge and may be re­ceiv­ing money in trib­ute or as pro­tec­tion for the use of their name. So if they have a prob­lem with an­oth­er gang or who­ever, they can say they’re be­ing pro­tec­ted by the fam­ily.”

Are oth­er fam­il­ies in oth­er cit­ies in­volved with Phil­adelphia? Did they have a hand in the se­lec­tion of Lig­ambi to head up the Phil­adelphia fam­ily?

“New York has their own prob­lems. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of in­terest from the oth­er fam­il­ies as to who’s con­trolling Philly. Is there a re­la­tion­ship between New York’s fam­ily and Phil­adelphia? Yes. How close, I don’t know. I think it’s a little loose in these days, a little in­form­al.”

A lot of stor­ies have been writ­ten in the last sev­er­al years about the de­mise of the mob. Is it still a healthy go­ing con­cern?

“We’re still a vi­able city. There’s money to be made, and as long as the money’s avail­able, I think they’ll be around. Ob­vi­ously we’re go­ing to be look­ing now at the in­tro­duc­tion of slot ma­chines.”

What about the in­tro­duc­tion of slot ma­chines?

“There’s gonna be a lot of fail-safes put in place between state, loc­al and fed­er­al law en­force­ment agen­cies. But there’s still a lot of op­por­tun­ity for people in that in­dustry to make money. Look at the sup­port ser­vices, the trash pickup, the uni­ons. I’m not say­ing that any­thing is tak­ing place right now, but his­tory tells us those are areas they tried to in­filt­rate and get their hands in­to in the past, so those are areas we’re gonna be look­ing at very closely.”

A lot of times you hear that par­tic­u­lar bars or res­taur­ants are mob fronts. Does it sur­prise you that many of those places tend to be pop­u­lar?

“I be­lieve when you talk about the gen­er­al pop­u­la­tion, there’s a part that’s caught in that al­lure. They do know, some­times, which places are fronts, and some people might go there for that. But you know, just be­cause Lig­ambi or his crew eats some­place, that doesn’t make it a front. They might just like to eat there.”

What would Lig­ambi say his pro­fes­sion is—on the books? Would he just vague it out and say he’s “a busi­ness­man”?

“He would have a hard time telling you or any­one else what he does.”

[Pogo The Clown]

They still killed more people than any other family in the country during that period with the exception of the Bonannos or Genovese (who have like 1 or 2 more, but these families are several times larger than Philly).


That interview he gave to the press was also several years before his indictment. Not to mention his Gotti's style Christmas parties every year.


Pogo

[JCB1977]

Here's another piece by George Anastasia, Philly's mob expert...again, the content is about how low key Ligambi was.

http://articles.philly.com/2007-12-02/n ... ow-profile

A 'family man' who's content in shadows The reputed mob boss keeps a low profile.

By George Anastasia INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: December 02, 2007
Joseph Ligambi, the reputed mob boss of Philadelphia, is an early riser, often out of the house by 6 a.m.

But unlike his predecessors - who, not coincidentally, are in jail - Ligambi spends most of his nights at home.

"He's a quiet family man," said an associate without a trace of irony in his voice.

"He's more interested in making money than in making headlines," adds Capt. Charles Bloom of the Philadelphia Police Department's Criminal Intelligence Unit.

Low-key, circumspect, and happy to stay in the shadows.

That's the picture of the onetime bartender and bookmaker as he marks an unofficial anniversary as the alleged head of what used to be the most dysfunctional crime family in America.

It's a picture painted both by law enforcement officials and by several associates who, because of Ligambi's desire for privacy, would speak only anonymously.

Ligambi, 68, has quietly brought stability back to the troubled Philadelphia-South Jersey branch of La Cosa Nostra with a business approach that is a reflection of his personality, they say.

Gone are the nights of wiseguys carousing at bars and clubs along Delaware Avenue, an entourage of hip gangsters out to see and be seen.

Gone, too, are the high profile parties, media-oriented charity affairs, and celebrity-like appearances at sporting events and social gatherings.

And gone, at least over the last four years, are the wanton acts of violence that attracted investigators, spawned informants, and tore the organization apart.

"He's interested in two things," said a former wiseguy. "Peace . . . and money."

He appears to have both.

Ligambi lives comfortably in a $275,000 brick corner rowhouse in an upscale South Philadelphia neighborhood. The neatly appointed home includes a carport and deck out back and a small patio in front.

The house is in the name of his wife, Olivia, according to tax records. He has three sons, two of whom are reportedly attending college. The third works in the building trades, according to sources.

Ligambi spends most summers at a rental home in a posh section of Margate at the Jersey Shore. He drives nice cars, most recently a black Cadillac STS.

And since November 2003, there hasn't been a serious act of violence attributed to the organization.

Even his nickname, "Uncle Joe," is benign.

Ligambi, through his attorney, M.W. "Mike" Pinsky, declined to comment last week. The usually loquacious Pinsky said he could not respond to questions about his client, including several inquiries about Ligambi's employment and sources of income.

Police say Ligambi claims to be "retired."

"He's very low-key," said Bloom. "That's the way he runs the organization. . . . They're not as big and strong as they once were, but . . . they're doing business."

Bloom's unit, along with the FBI, has been tracking Ligambi since his return to South Philadelphia in 1997, after serving 10 years for a gangland murder conviction that was later overturned.

Police say Ligambi eschews the celebrity-gangster style of his predecessor, Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, and the volatile, take-no-prisoners approach of his onetime underworld mentor, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo.

Merlino, serving a 14-year sentence on federal racketeering charges, was the John Gotti of Passyunk Avenue, whose comings and goings were chronicled in front-page stories and gossip columns.

Young, brash and media-savvy, Merlino garnered headlines by hosting an annual Christmas party for homeless children; sponsoring Thanksgiving turkey giveaways in low-income housing projects; and pitching for a South Philadelphia softball team whose games attracted fans and police surveillance cameras.

Ligambi is Scrooge-like in comparison.

And very circumspect.

Conscious of informants and wiretaps, he seldom discusses business on the phone or with groups of individuals, investigators say.

His closest confidant is Anthony Staino, his former driver and the man authorities believe is now running the organization's South Jersey operation.

Staino lives in a stylish house in an upscale development outside Swedesboro, Gloucester County, but is sometimes a 6 a.m. visitor to Ligambi's home.

The two have been spotted walking around the block together deep in conversation.

"When you see Ligambi, you see Staino," said one investigator.

Ligambi, sources say, became acting boss when Merlino was jailed in 1999. After Merlino was sentenced on Dec. 3, 2001 - six years ago this week - Ligambi's position became permanent.

His management style is compared most often to that of Angelo Bruno, whose relatively peaceful 21-year reign ended abruptly when he was killed in March 1980.

Under Bruno, murder was a negotiating tool of last resort. When Scarfo took over, it became a calling card.

Ligambi was convicted along with Scarfo and several others of the 1985 murder of Frank "Frankie Flowers" D'Alfonso - a conviction that was later overturned.

The murder was one of more than two dozen that occurred during the Scarfo era. Scarfo is serving a 55-year sentence on federal racketeering charges.

Ligambi, said one associate, learned from the past.

"People respect him, they don't fear him," the associate said.

Nonetheless, Philadelphia homicide detectives continue to work three unsolved mob killings that have occurred during Ligambi's watch. And the FBI is actively gathering evidence in an ongoing mob racketeering investigation.

Testimony at Merlino's trial in 2001 linked Ligambi to a lucrative illegal video-poker machine network that authorities say remains one source of income.

Bookmaking, loansharking and extortion also are money-makers for the crime family, according to Bloom.

Two associates were recently charged in a $22 million sports-betting operation being run out of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.

But to date no one has put all the pieces together in the type of multi-pronged prosecution that led to jail time for Philadelphia's last four mob leaders - Merlino, Ralph Natale (now an informant), John Stanfa and Scarfo.

Bits and pieces of different investigations have become public, however.

Informants Peter "Pete the Crumb" Caprio and Roger Vella have provided information about the October 1999 slaying of mobster Ron Turchi, according to court records. But their credibility - particularly that of Vella - is suspect.

Another informant has tied members of the Ligambi organization to the killing of Raymond "Long John" Martorano in 2002.

And three associates of the crime family are suspects in the slaying of John "Johnny Gongs" Casasanto, shot to death in his South Philadelphia rowhouse in 2003.

But after seeing a federal jury reject a half-dozen murder counts that were part of the Merlino racketeering case, prosecutors apparently have decided that hard evidence, not just informant testimony, is needed to make those types of charges stick.

Thus far, investigators haven't found that evidence.

In the interim, law enforcement sources say, the FBI continues to build a gambling, loansharking and extortion case.

And Ligambi continues to live a quiet, unassuming life.

"He's a problem-solver," said a friend who called Ligambi the antithesis of the hot-tempered, paranoid and irrational Scarfo. "He's not going to have somebody whacked because they didn't come to a Christmas party and kiss his ring."

[JCB1977]

They still killed more people than any other family in the country during that period with the exception of the Bonannos or Genovese (who have like 1 or 2 more, but these families are several times larger than Philly).


That interview he gave to the press was also several years before his indictment. Not to mention his Gotti's style Christmas parties every year.


Pogo

He's nowhere near or in the same ballpark with Gotti and Merlino. I'm not saying the guy didn't spend some cash, I'm saying he didn't draw LE attention the way Joey did and still does. He lived in a modest rowhouse and wasn't driving in a RR. I'm not trying to argue with you, but I disagree with what you said and how you compared him to Merlino.

[Pogo The Clown]

I'm not comparing him to Merlino or Gotti. But by no means was he low key. He was constantly in the news and out in the open. More so than just about every other Boss during that time frame.


Pogo

[JCB1977]

I'm not comparing him to Merlino or Gotti. But by no means was he low key. He was constantly in the news and out in the open. More so than just about every other Boss during that time frame.


Pogo

Not according to the Philadelphia organize crime experts or Philadelphia LE or the Philadelphia office of the FBI. Being out in the open and being a celebrity gangster are two completely different things. Carlo Gambino was out in the open, Tony Salerno was out in the open, Tony Accardo was out in the open...he certainly stabilized the family after Merlino turned it into a reality TV show which is all I am saying.

[JCB1977]

And keep in mind, the timeframe in which we are referring to is on the decline of the American mafia. Into thousand and nine and even prior to that, there were arguably only around 10 mafia families. I've always made the comparison of uncle Joe to No Nose. Obviously, LE knew who he was just like they knew every other boss at the helm. He did his job and held down the fort and was indicted over a minuscule in crime such as poker machines. He is a much more effective boss he is a much more effective boss than Merlino

[Pogo The Clown]

You are proving my point. Ligambi was constantly being written about and in the news during his run. Every other week Anasastia and Schratwieser we're doing video specials on him. He got more coverage than just about every other Boss in the country during that time frame. If you are always in the news you are not low key.


Pogo

[phatmatress777]

I think he's just trying to say ligambi isn't flashy and in your face as merlino is .... Hey if merlino wants to do that it's his business as for the old school rules... They seem to have gone out the window with every wise guy in the country


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bobbybats]

Merlino invites trouble. While most of you think he may be only hurting himself, the fact is that he's drawing attention to all of LCN across the country. Ligambi and Merlino aren't even in the same strosphere as far as bringing LE attention.

Yeah without Merlino the feds would never know who or what the mafia is.

[JCB1977]

You are proving my point. Ligambi was constantly being written about and in the news during his run. Every other week Anasastia and Schratwieser we're doing video specials on him. He got more coverage than just about every other Boss in the country during that time frame. If you are always in the news you are not low key.


Pogo

While I realize you will never see anybody else's point, you are misinterpreting. He had one indictment in what, 13-14 years at the helm and it was a chicken shit indictment. The media has gotten worse since John Gotti's days, especially with social media. My original point was he wasn't nearly as high profile as Joey Snooki. To be at the helm for that long with a weak indictment in this day in age, that's low key. Everybody today knows who these guys are...it's the low key bosses LIKE LIGAMBI who stay in the game and thus being much more effective and stable as an organization. I cited three credible sources who have written about this time and again. And the Feds still couldn't get anything major on this guy except to significantly drain his resources with several trials. The same could be said of Baby Shacks in Rhode Island, the same could be said about Jack Giacalone (arguably for those who believe they are still viable), No Nose DiFronzo is probably one of the best examples. Everybody knew him, but he was well insulated and the Feds haven't been able to nab him. Dom Cefalu of the Gambino's was as well. The least you have to agree that Ligambi provided more stability and effectiveness than Merlino. Merlino hasn't been on the street long enough to even be evaluated as a boss. He gets an incomplete grade in my book. And he wasn't on the street 5 minutes and he's gonna get tied into a RICO predicate. Joe Todaro was another one who had a great cover with his La Nova Pizza empire. How many years at the helm? Everybody knew who he was, it was written about all the time...but nothing major in all of his reign.

[Pogo The Clown]

And you are missing the point. Ligambi got lots of attention during his run. He was constantly being written about and covered on the news. He even gave an interview to the press for Christ sake. How many activ Bosses have done that? In fact he was one of the most covered Bosses during that time frame. Even more than all the NY Bosses with the exception of Massino and maybe Basciano. By definition he was not low key.


Him getting lucky in a case does not equate to being low key. Using that standard both Scarfo and Merlino were low key because they beat several murder and drug trafficking charges.


Pogo

[SonnyBlackstein]

Merlino made one significant mistake.

A boss conducting business directly with an associate, of another family no less.

This monumental stupidity will cost him several years to reflect that the LCN pyramid is designed specifically for insulation.

He should've been receiving his take from Mazzone, who in turn was getting it from Narduci with some solider under indictment for this charge.
And all three sleeping soundly outside of government digs.

Hope the extra few dollars were worth it to keep Philly out of it.

Unbelievably stupid.