Philip Testa

[johnny_scootch]

I have his family being from Giardini Naxos which is 5 miles east from Calatabiano. It's possible they moved around and lived in GN last before emigrating? Either way it's less than 5 miles away, not very far at all.

Bruno was from Villaba in Calt, which is NOT eastern Sicily, (I had that in my head for some reason as well as Abruzzi being in the Bari region a few days back so if I ever sound off do check as I may be wrong). I think one of the reasons I thought this was because of Calderone's Angelo Bruno story I put him and Catania together. I need to go reread what B. posted on his cousin Sinatra/Sinagra. But do you recall the details of what Calderone said about Bruno?

I think the current day sicilian family that controls Giardini-Naxos also controls Calatabiano. The book says that Testa's father was from Calatabiano and it also says that Bruno was from Vallelunga.

[Angelo Santino]

I have his family being from Giardini Naxos which is 5 miles east from Calatabiano. It's possible they moved around and lived in GN last before emigrating? Either way it's less than 5 miles away, not very far at all.

Bruno was from Villaba in Calt, which is NOT eastern Sicily, (I had that in my head for some reason as well as Abruzzi being in the Bari region a few days back so if I ever sound off do check as I may be wrong). I think one of the reasons I thought this was because of Calderone's Angelo Bruno story I put him and Catania together. I need to go reread what B. posted on his cousin Sinatra/Sinagra. But do you recall the details of what Calderone said about Bruno?

I think the current day sicilian family that controls Giardini-Naxos also controls Calatabiano. The book says that Testa's father was from Calatabiano and it also says that Bruno was from Vallelunga.

Vallelunga is 9 miles north of Villalba.

[Angelo Santino]

Ok here's something of interest. In 1950 - according to Morello who cites an FBI report dated 1965 claims Angelo Bruno and Phil Testa murdered Joseph Pane aka Peppe Longo for insulting Sabella. This murder would have occurred 1950 April 5 but I can't locate any records or even a death cert. Sabella was boss until he retired in 1931 and despite reports of being deported lived in Philly until the 60's. Former *alleged boss before Sabella- Mike Maggio was his godfather and in turn Sabella was godfather to Mike's son Peter Maggio who would become a member. Mike Maggio also sponsored Bruno and Phil's father Salvatore arrived in 1905 and may have been a member longer than Sabella was. Kinda seems that Bruno and Testa were of the same faction although Phil was 2nd generation (or 3rd if his grandfather was a member in Sicily and if there was a family in GN that early on).

[Antiliar]

Here's a file that discusses the link between Traina and Bruno

https://www.archives.gov/files/research ... 308915.pdf

https://www.archives.gov/files/research ... 576636.pdf

[willychichi]

I have his family being from Giardini Naxos which is 5 miles east from Calatabiano. It's possible they moved around and lived in GN last before emigrating? Either way it's less than 5 miles away, not very far at all.

Bruno was from Villaba in Calt, which is NOT eastern Sicily, (I had that in my head for some reason as well as Abruzzi being in the Bari region a few days back so if I ever sound off do check as I may be wrong). I think one of the reasons I thought this was because of Calderone's Angelo Bruno story I put him and Catania together. I need to go reread what B. posted on his cousin Sinatra/Sinagra. But do you recall the details of what Calderone said about Bruno?

Anyways, back to Testa. I'll be going through some stuff on him later on this week if I come across anything I'll post it. (From Morello's books 2 and 3, nothing amazing.)

Thanks Chris great info as always

[willychichi]

Here's a file that discusses the link between Traina and Bruno

https://www.archives.gov/files/research ... 308915.pdf

https://www.archives.gov/files/research ... 576636.pdf

Great info Antiliar thank for the links

[yatescj7781]

Who killed testa (I’m only aware he was killed via a bomb under his porch) and why? Where there repercussions against that party.

I have it in my head it was possibly a union dispute?

Pete Casella, Rocco Marinucci, Teddy DiPretorio. Made to look as retaliation for John McCullough murder.used a nail bomb. Scarfo sniffed that shit out like a truffle pig.

[Luca Brasi]

Now present day Philly, along with most of American Borgatas from major cities, is the watered down reflection of its old self. So the allegiance between itself and a particular NYC family, might not have concrete footprints leading back to Sicily or mainland Italy, as it had through atleast Scarfo and maybe Stanfa as the recognized Bosses of Philly. One important thing that I took from the book Mafia Prince was Scarfo's somewhat paranoid obsession that Sicilians couldn't trust Neapolitan to help in time of need, and Vice versa. It would be very interesting to find out if Merlino/Ligambi and company still carry those strong beliefs and to get verification as to exactly where Current day Genovese + Gambino leadership's lineage hails from across the pond? Very interesting to say the least, if these principles were still implemented by leadership, it really would impress me that finally someone or somebody stuck to their morals + values in 2018!!
Take care,

Luca

[SonnyBlackstein]

Who killed testa (I’m only aware he was killed via a bomb under his porch) and why? Where there repercussions against that party.

I have it in my head it was possibly a union dispute?

Pete Casella, Rocco Marinucci, Teddy DiPretorio. Made to look as retaliation for John McCullough murder.used a nail bomb. Scarfo sniffed that shit out like a truffle pig.

Cheers.

Had a chuckle at the Scarfo quip.

[B.]

Bruno was from Villalba and his cousin Sinatra was from Vallelunga and the boss of that town. During his visit to Sicily, Bruno met with other members of the Vallelunga family. His cousin, Trenton-based soldier Pappy Ippolito's family also comes from Villalba (hence cousins) and it looks like he was a 2nd cousin of the infamous Sicilian mafioso Calogero Vizzini of Villalba. Did Villalba have its own family or was it under Vallelunga?

Fresolone's book has a lot of great info but he makes many mistakes/assumptions about the Philadelphia faction of the family. It's extremely unlikely that Testa and Bruno had no contact for any significant period of time. South Philly was a small place especially for mafia members and Bruno and Testa would have had to melodramatically go out of their way to not run into each other. For example, Bruno ordered some Philly members to admit knowing each other when interviwed by the FBI because there was no way they could not know each other given living/hanging out in the same neighborhoods.

Thoughts on some of what is being discussed in this topic:
- Phil Testa and Bruno were inseperable through the 1960s. Testa becomes underboss in 1970 and we don't have much concrete info on their relationship after that, only that Testa kept his position until Bruno's death. Bruno had previously had much more severe issues with former underboss Ignazio Denaro, though, and didn't demote him, simply stripped him of influence, so simply keeping someone in a position isn't a good indicator of anything.

- It's likely that Testa and Bruno either had a falling out or were otherwise not on great terms by the time of Bruno's death, as Testa was recorded in the late 1970s talking with other members (Riccobene, Narducci, Scarfo) about how Bruno was leaving him out of the loop, even on the election of the new consigliere post-Rugnetta. It seems unlikely that a move to murder Bruno would have moved forward if Testa was still a hardline Bruno loyalist like he had been previously; Testa had an intimidating reputation.

- Like others have said, Scarfo had a strong connection to the Genovese family through his prison time with Manna and others in the 1970s as well as his residence in AC. Scarfo's address/phone book obtained during the Falcone investigation showed extensive contacts with NY, particularly the Genovese family.

- Phil Testa was a captain since 1958 and underboss since 1970 in an east coast family that was the largest/closest in proximity to NYC/NJ. The idea of him being some cowpolk who had none of his own contacts in NYC is ridiculous, though as said it seems Scarfo's connections were much stronger. Reports from the 1960s have Testa traveling to NYC multiple times on numbers business. Looks like this may have involved Gambino members/associates, but it's vague. Either way, Testa wasn't completely foreign to NYC.

Something interesting about the Testas is they lived in Pittsburgh before Philadelphia.

It was a coup by his UnderBoss Pete Casella and Capo Frank Narducci Sr. Casella supposedly wanted to take over because he wasn't make any money as UnderBoss and Narducci was pissed that he wasn't promoted to Underboss when Testa became Boss. Capo John Capello may have been backing the as well. Not sue on that.

Pogo

Cappello was Pete Casella's brother-in-law and supported that faction. Soldier John Grande, who was very close to Frank Narducci, was also backing them. It's possible this is one reason why John Grande played a much smaller role in the 1980s, while his sons were major players.

[PHL_Mob]

Kind of interesting that Casella wasn’t making any money during his short reign as UB. I know under Scarfo they split everything that came up to him with the Admin and definitely with his UB (Chucky Merlino). I remember Leonetti mentioning a time when Felix Bocchino brought in big six-figure score and Scarfo said to Leonetti, “let’s keep this one between us and not let Chucky know about it”, which shows that anything that came to the family in the form of their “kick” was split with the boss and underboss (and presumably the Consig as well, but we definitely know the UB would get a share). Also, I know that all of the shakedown proceeds were split 50/50 with one quarter (25%) going to the shakedown crew that collected, another quarter (25%) going to their Capo, and the rest (remaining 50%) going to the Admin (~35% each to Boss, UB & Consig). I know that Casella has a reputation for always being a brokester, but you’d assume that with the family making more money during Testa’s reign that Casella would finally start making money, which is a large reason I think Testa made Casella his UB due in part to him serving a very long prison stretch for the Family and not talking - basically Testa rewarding Casella for his loyalty via power AND monetarily. The whole reason Casella went along with Narducci’s plan to take out Testa in the first place was for monetary reasons supposedly with Narducci taking advantage of Casella’s lack of money and wealth, which we know Narducci didn’t lack - he was apparently very wealthy and made a boatload under Bruno, but lacked in the power department. Leonetti said no one really made money under Bruno except for Bruno and a handful of other guys and then under Testa everyone started making money and things were good, but people really started making money when Scarfo took over.

[johnny_scootch]

Does anyone know which Genovese Capo it was that spoke up for Casella to the Genovese admin and saved his life? He was shelved and banished rather then murdered like Caponigro was all because of his friendship with this person.

[eboli]

Does anyone know which Genovese Capo it was that spoke up for Casella to the Genovese admin and saved his life? He was shelved and banished rather then murdered like Caponigro was all because of his friendship with this person.

I don't know about the capo's name. Even Leonetti doesn't give his name in the book. We need to consider that a lot of the older philly guys had long-standing connections with the west side stretching back years before Bruno became boss and they fell in Gambino's pocket. From what I remember Jerry Catena was involved in giving Casella a pass. Back in the 50's Catena asked Reginelli to do him a favor. Reginelli gave the task to Casella and he got the job done. Also, during his long stretch in prison Casella rubbed shoulders with a lot of genovese in Atlanta. Basically Casella was very, very lucky even for a guy with solid connections, because under Narducci's influence they took out the guy The Chin picked to be boss over there.

[eboli]

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention Casella telling the truth about the other two's involvement in killing Testa probably tipped the scales a bit in his favor too. After all at the time he was old and broke. If Scarfo wasn't passed over for the ub position probably Phil Testa lives a little longer.

[Angelo Santino]

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention Casella telling the truth about the other two's involvement in killing Testa probably tipped the scales a bit in his favor too. After all at the time he was old and broke. If Scarfo wasn't passed over for the ub position probably Phil Testa lives a little longer.

I never considered that, a good point. But then there was an upcoming federal case that would have involved both Bruno and Testa had they lived long enough to stand. Unless either men had some ace in their pocket I don't see either of them- had they lived- lasting untethered past 1985 as free men but it's all theoretics.

Salut.