Harry Riccobene

[rayray]

This guy was around a long time and seemed to have his hands in a lot of different things. A money maker that was allowed to work semi-autonomous within the Philly mob as long as he made his annual Christmas gift to Bruno. Scarfo on the other hand wanted a more traditional kick-up, most likely to keep a more accurate count on the dollars Riccobene was bringing into the family.

What's the history of Riccobene's crew? The size (made and associates), when did he get so much leeway from the family etc etc etc?...

The recent pics got me a little more curious about him and his crew. Obviously, Riccobene and Scarfo knew each other a long time with not a whole lot of trust or respect between the two.

[Stroccos]

This guy was around a long time and seemed to have his hands in a lot of different things. A money maker that was allowed to work semi-autonomous within the Philly mob as long as he made his annual Christmas gift to Bruno. Scarfo on the other hand wanted a more traditional kick-up, most likely to keep a more accurate count on the dollars Riccobene was bringing into the family.

What's the history of Riccobene's crew? The size (made and associates), when did he get so much leeway from the family etc etc etc?...

The recent pics got me a little more curious about him and his crew. Obviously, Riccobene and Scarfo knew each other a long time with not a whole lot of trust or respect between the two.

I think they were selling heroin with some people in buffalo and Cleveland . If I am not mistaken they all got busted as well

[PHL_Mob]

Riccobene got a lot of respect because he was basically the oldest active member around at that point in time and as a result had seen and been through a lot. He apparently seemed to know the ins and outs of LCN and the rules very well because pretty senior guys tended to consult him regarding rules and LCN politics, etc. There was actually a wiretap from Tyrone DeNittis' office on Broad Street (music biz and talent agency owner who was and still is a mob associate) where Harry's Riccobene used to operate out of and use as his defacto HQ. The Feds recorded Phil Testa, Chickie Narducci, Nicky Scarfo and Harry Riccobene meeting there and discussing how the voting for Consig worked (Joe Rugnetta had just died) and who should get it, etc amongst other things. Anyways, because if his seniority and lifespan in the mob, I think ange showed him some respect and just took an annual payment (Ange also didn't levy a street tax so a one-time tribute payment, usually at Christmas, was pretty customary doing Bruno's reign). The same applied to Frankie Flowers for instance. But when Scarfo took over though he wanted a more NY style family kick with his directs and "registered" associates. In some ways he wasn't wrong, but in the long-term it probably wasn't the best move/strategy to take, but when Nicky took over he was just grabbing with both hands so...

[rayray]

Yea, I was thinking that, "Who else did Bruno treat different?" I forgot about Frankie Flowers...I was also thinking about the Cherry Hill Gambino's (with the Gambio family), how there was an arrangement with them and Bruno. How they were involved in narcotics and so was Riccobene and maybe Bruno wanted a separation with narcotic guys and others?

Now, Harry Riccobene was just a soldier that reported direct to Bruno...so I'm assuming all the guys under Riccobene were associates? For a soldier he sure had quite a few guys! And since he was brought up, Frankie Flowers was an associate direct with Bruno.

Man, only if these guys fell in line when Scarfo took over and just followed the new regime.

I guess Chicken Man Testa wasn't in long enough to change the rules, regarding Flowers and Riccobene?

[PHL_Mob]

The street tax wasn't implemented with Phil Testa. It wasn't until Scarfo came along and one of his AC associciates named Saul Kane put the idea in his head in about 1983 that he started the street tax, which Philly had not ever seen before...

[Dwalin2014]

Is there any information about what murders was Riccobene involved in during his whole career? He had Frank Monte whacked, but this can't be the only one, he was in the mafia for too long; when he was young, did he pull the trigger? I think there was a mention in one of the books from the "Before Bruno" trilogy by Celeste Morello, that he participated in the murders of some of the Lanzetti brothers as retaliation for John Avena's death? I am not sure, have to check the book, though it's on paper only unfortunately, otherwise it would be easier to check for key words / information.

[Pogo The Clown]

The street tax wasn't implemented with Phil Testa. It wasn't until Scarfo came along and one of his AC associciates named Saul Kane put the idea in his head in about 1983 that he started the street tax, which Philly had not ever seen before...

Interestingly Philly did have a street tax during their early days but it stopped in the early 40s (don't know why). Scarfo reinstated it and it continued up until the early 2000s at least.


Pogo

[UTC]

Harry The Hunchback was also the contact for the Pagans of course.

[Mukremin]

The Riccobene wars... that only is enough to understand how he operatea and stands in Philly. His family members werent made right? Only associates.

[dave]

Here's good video of Crow and Leonetti talking about the street tax and Riccobene, starting 21:39

https://youtu.be/LZXILPh7unI

[Pogo The Clown]

His family members werent made right? Only associates.

Correct. I believe Harry even stopped one of his brothers (I believe it was Mario) from being made when he was proposed.


Pogo

[Nicholas]

Harry The Hunchback was also the contact for the Pagans of course.

No shit; really?

[UTC]

problem?

[B.]

Caramandi says in his book that when Merlino issued the Riccobene contract, the reason was because Riccoebene was an informant. At the time it seemed like a ridiculous excuse to kill him, but now we know they were on to something. Did Scarfo/Merlino somehow find out that Riccobene had given information (back in the 50s/60s at least, no indication if it continued into the 70s/80s), or was it just a made up reason that coincidentally hit on some truth?

It often gets mentioned that Riccobene had an arrangement with Angelo Bruno, which Scarfo rejected and prompted the Riccobene war, but the Phil Testa period never gets mentioned. If there was some kind of arrangement with Bruno, then it must have continued through Testa's reign. It's possible Testa was too busy getting the rest of the family in order to worry about Riccobene, but we know Testa had a better relationship with Riccobene than Scarfo. Docs on the MF site show that Riccobene respected Testa, while he felt Scarfo should not have been a member.

Like Pogo said, Sonny Riccobene was blocked from membership by Harry, supposedly because the organization had gone downhill. His logic was sort of strange though because Sonny was as deep as someone could get in the rackets and associated closely with many members. He also blocked his associate Long John Martorano from being made for unknown reasons. Riccobene was extremely opinioned on who should and shouldn't be a member.

Most of the Riccobene crew associates were pretty young, at least compared to Harry. When he went to prison for that long stretch starting in the 1950s, he had fellow soldier Angelo Bruno look after a number of his rackets. Doesn't seem the "Riccobene crew" really existed before he was released from prison in the 1970s. The RICO indictment centered around the 70s showed that Riccobene and his associates were still pretty close to the center of the family, not as independent as they're made out to be later.

[Mukremin]

Him being an informant is just an excuse by Scarfo imo. Caramandi also mentiones his encounter in jail with Riccobene how the guards made a mistake and they ended up in the same room.