Active Scarfo-Era Guys

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

Honestly I’d be really surprised but who knows you could be right. Merlino has close relatives in the NorthEast (Hazelton, Nesquehoning/Tamaqua, Poconos, etc areas) so it’s possible that there’s a connection. But again, I always was under the impression that Nicky Volpe was a huge Merlino suckup and mob wannabe who basically worshipped Joey and did whatever he could to get in and stay in Joey’s good-graces and let him hang with them etc. his daughter Jonna’s wedding was in philly I think it was at some spot on Broad street.

Regardless if Nicky Volpe is a Merlino headfuck, the Volpe's of Northeast PA were related to many of the Volpe's from the Philly area.

There also were/are the Volpe's from Pitt. Bazzano, Sr. was killed for taking them out w/out
Commission permission. Would be interesting to see Volpe family tree.

I know that history extremely well, it’s my area of expertise. No relation at all to the Volpe’s of Scranton, completely different area of Italy that both Volpe’s came from.

Interesting that there's no relation.
So many of the same surnames pop up in different cities:
Russo; Scioritino (sp?); Bonventre; Licata; Volpe.
The whole St. Louis-Detroit-Cleveland nexus especially with the
Toccos; Bommaritos; Corrado; Palozzolo. It goes on and on.

[JCB1977]

Honestly I’d be really surprised but who knows you could be right. Merlino has close relatives in the NorthEast (Hazelton, Nesquehoning/Tamaqua, Poconos, etc areas) so it’s possible that there’s a connection. But again, I always was under the impression that Nicky Volpe was a huge Merlino suckup and mob wannabe who basically worshipped Joey and did whatever he could to get in and stay in Joey’s good-graces and let him hang with them etc. his daughter Jonna’s wedding was in philly I think it was at some spot on Broad street.

Regardless if Nicky Volpe is a Merlino headfuck, the Volpe's of Northeast PA were related to many of the Volpe's from the Philly area.

There also were/are the Volpe's from Pitt. Bazzano, Sr. was killed for taking them out w/out
Commission permission. Would be interesting to see Volpe family tree.

I know that history extremely well, it’s my area of expertise. No relation at all to the Volpe’s of Scranton, completely different area of Italy that both Volpe’s came from.

Interesting that there's no relation.
So many of the same surnames pop up in different cities:
Russo; Scioritino (sp?); Bonventre; Licata; Volpe.
The whole St. Louis-Detroit-Cleveland nexus especially with the
Toccos; Bommaritos; Corrado; Palozzolo. It goes on and on.

It's definitely pretty wild. My favorite part of all this is studying the roots and where these guys came from.

[JCB1977]

oops

[chin_gigante]

I’ve put together everything I’ve found on the activities on the Scarfo guys who have been released since 2000:

Anthony Pungitore Jr is listed as an active member on the 2009 chart made by Philadelphia PD
Nicholas Milano was reported as inactive during the 2000s, having been put on the shelf upon his release; more recently, mob watchers have spotted him driving a BMW and hanging out at Jesters NYB in South Philadelphia
Ralph Staino died of natural causes October 2015
83-year-old Charles Iannece, father of Merlino-soldier Vincent and associate Charles Jr, has been rumoured to be inactive and retired since his release
In Mafia Prince, Philip Leonetti identifies Salvatore Scafidi and Joseph Pungitore as both living in Florida upon their release from federal custody
Frank Narducci Jr was observed by Philadelphia PD attending the 2009 Christmas party at the Saloon; Narducci returned to federal custody in June 2015 and was released in October 2017
The Licata detention memo says that in 2010 Joseph Pungitore tried to convince the administration to have Joseph Grande killed; Licata intervened on Grande’s behalf and voiced his admiration for him
Joseph Pungitore was identified as a supposed ‘faction leader’ in the Dave Schratwieser investigation for Fox29 a couple of years ago; the report emphasises Pungitore’s success in the real estate business and identifies Phillip Narducci as another supposed ‘faction leader’
Phillip Narducci opened his restaurant, Chick’s (named after Frank ‘Chickie’ Narducci Sr), in South Philadelphia, and has been photographed taking part in bodybuilding and fishing
Mafia Prince mentioned Phillip Narducci as an especially ambitious figure to keep an eye on; Ed Scarpo reported in 2015 that Narducci was the new acting boss; George Anastasia placed Narducci on a three-man panel overseeing the family; Burnstein reported that one of Narducci’s guys was among the five proposed members inducted in 2015, however it is unclear whether this was a reference to rumoured member Joseph Baldino, who is related to Narducci but is actually with John Ciancaglini
Scott Burnstein has identified Joseph Ciancaglini Sr as being promoted to underboss following his release from prison; George Anastasia has identified Ciancaglini as serving as a dual-consigliere along with Joseph Ligambi; Ciancaglini has been recorded by the Mob Talk Sitdown camera crew hanging out with his son John at a lottery stand
Having cleared his supervised release, Francis Iannarella has been spotted by Mob Talk Sitdown associating and attending meetings with high-ranking members including Joseph Merlino and Michael Lancellotti; internet rumours have circulated suggesting that Iannarella is being considered for a promotion to either caporegime or even consigliere

The Pungitore brothers, Ciancaglini, Grande, Iannarella and Frank Narducci have all at times been associated with the ‘Merlino guys’, with Ciancaglini, Grande, Iannece and Staino fathers or uncles of younger members, undermining reports of tension between the generations.

[CatStevens9]

I’ve put together everything I’ve found on the activities on the Scarfo guys who have been released since 2000:

Anthony Pungitore Jr is listed as an active member on the 2009 chart made by Philadelphia PD
Nicholas Milano was reported as inactive during the 2000s, having been put on the shelf upon his release; more recently, mob watchers have spotted him driving a BMW and hanging out at Jesters NYB in South Philadelphia
Ralph Staino died of natural causes October 2015
83-year-old Charles Iannece, father of Merlino-soldier Vincent and associate Charles Jr, has been rumoured to be inactive and retired since his release
In Mafia Prince, Philip Leonetti identifies Salvatore Scafidi and Joseph Pungitore as both living in Florida upon their release from federal custody
Frank Narducci Jr was observed by Philadelphia PD attending the 2009 Christmas party at the Saloon; Narducci returned to federal custody in June 2015 and was released in October 2017
The Licata detention memo says that in 2010 Joseph Pungitore tried to convince the administration to have Joseph Grande killed; Licata intervened on Grande’s behalf and voiced his admiration for him
Joseph Pungitore was identified as a supposed ‘faction leader’ in the Dave Schratwieser investigation for Fox29 a couple of years ago; the report emphasises Pungitore’s success in the real estate business and identifies Phillip Narducci as another supposed ‘faction leader’
Phillip Narducci opened his restaurant, Chick’s (named after Frank ‘Chickie’ Narducci Sr), in South Philadelphia, and has been photographed taking part in bodybuilding and fishing
Mafia Prince mentioned Phillip Narducci as an especially ambitious figure to keep an eye on; Ed Scarpo reported in 2015 that Narducci was the new acting boss; George Anastasia placed Narducci on a three-man panel overseeing the family; Burnstein reported that one of Narducci’s guys was among the five proposed members inducted in 2015, however it is unclear whether this was a reference to rumoured member Joseph Baldino, who is related to Narducci but is actually with John Ciancaglini
Scott Burnstein has identified Joseph Ciancaglini Sr as being promoted to underboss following his release from prison; George Anastasia has identified Ciancaglini as serving as a dual-consigliere along with Joseph Ligambi; Ciancaglini has been recorded by the Mob Talk Sitdown camera crew hanging out with his son John at a lottery stand
Having cleared his supervised release, Francis Iannarella has been spotted by Mob Talk Sitdown associating and attending meetings with high-ranking members including Joseph Merlino and Michael Lancellotti; internet rumours have circulated suggesting that Iannarella is being considered for a promotion to either caporegime or even consigliere

The Pungitore brothers, Ciancaglini, Grande, Iannarella and Frank Narducci have all at times been associated with the ‘Merlino guys’, with Ciancaglini, Grande, Iannece and Staino fathers or uncles of younger members, undermining reports of tension between the generations.

What was with Pungitore wanting Grande clipped?

[Pete]

Has there been any real intel that Phil Narducci is still involved? Based on interviews and his high profile with the restaurant it seems like maybe he’s happy to be taking a back seat. Of course it could all be bullshit but realistically after doing that much time it wouldn’t surprise me if Phil said he was going legit he’s married now and has legit interests and is very public with this restaurant. I just haven’t seen anything solid but street talk saying he’s still a player. I’m not expert on philly so I could be very wrong and If so somebody fill me in. Joey punge as well was on tapes back in the 80’s talking about going legit is there any real info he’s still a player?

[chin_gigante]

What was with Pungitore wanting Grande clipped?

Pungitore reached out to Ligambi to complain that Grande was still loyal to Scarfo and not the new administration, recommending that they kill him. Licata intervened on Grande's behalf, saying that he admired how he came back to Philadelphia not knowing whether he would be killed or not.
As for the motive, this is from Leonetti's book:

'Joey Grande is 52 now. His father was a made guy under Ange and, like the Narduccis, he knows the rules of La Cosa Nostra and all of the moves, but he’s a troublemaker. I remember him coming to me one time and whispering stuff to me in front of Joe Punge, to make it look like we were talking about him, which we weren’t. Joe Punge picked up on it right away and said to me afterwards, “I got a hard-on for this kid. You have no idea all the bullshit him and his brother are doing.” […] My uncle told me that if I got out, he wanted me to kill three people: his wife Mimi, and then the two Grande brothers, Joey and Wayne.'

Caramandi also mentions there being bad blood between Pungitore and Joe Grande leading up to the big crackdown in the late 1980s.

[chin_gigante]

Has there been any real intel that Phil Narducci is still involved? Based on interviews and his high profile with the restaurant it seems like maybe he’s happy to be taking a back seat. Of course it could all be bullshit but realistically after doing that much time it wouldn’t surprise me if Phil said he was going legit he’s married now and has legit interests and is very public with this restaurant. I just haven’t seen anything solid but street talk saying he’s still a player. I’m not expert on philly so I could be very wrong and If so somebody fill me in. Joey punge as well was on tapes back in the 80’s talking about going legit is there any real info he’s still a player?

Based on what's out there in terms of evidence and the things Narducci has been seen to be involved in, everything seems legitimate so far. It seems at least he's acting on his own if he is even doing anything illegal. I think most of the rumours about him come from Leonetti's speculation about him. Going by him naming the restaurant Chick's and having a picture of his father up on the wall, it seems reasonable to speculate that he wouldn't want to associate with Joe Punge. It would be pretty humiliating for it to come out that almost immediately after your father was murdered you knowingly went to work for his killers. But that's the whole thing about the Narducci situation; it all seems to be speculative based on his reputation thirty years ago.

[Pete]

Has there been any real intel that Phil Narducci is still involved? Based on interviews and his high profile with the restaurant it seems like maybe he’s happy to be taking a back seat. Of course it could all be bullshit but realistically after doing that much time it wouldn’t surprise me if Phil said he was going legit he’s married now and has legit interests and is very public with this restaurant. I just haven’t seen anything solid but street talk saying he’s still a player. I’m not expert on philly so I could be very wrong and If so somebody fill me in. Joey punge as well was on tapes back in the 80’s talking about going legit is there any real info he’s still a player?

Based on what's out there in terms of evidence and the things Narducci has been seen to be involved in, everything seems legitimate so far. It seems at least he's acting on his own if he is even doing anything illegal. I think most of the rumours about him come from Leonetti's speculation about him. Going by him naming the restaurant Chick's and having a picture of his father up on the wall, it seems reasonable to speculate that he wouldn't want to associate with Joe Punge. It would be pretty humiliating for it to come out that almost immediately after your father was murdered you knowingly went to work for his killers. But that's the whole thing about the Narducci situation; it all seems to be speculative based on his reputation thirty years ago.

On one of the mob talks there was talk of a wiretap from the 80’s with Joe Punge who said he wanted to make his money legit in real estate. After all that time in the can I wouldn’t be surprised if Joe Punge and Narducci were legit. Again could be wrong but haven’t seen anything definitive showing these guys are still involved. I agree Narducci has a big rep but that doesn’t mean he’s active. Maybe someone else can chime in

[Angelo Santino]

I’ve put together everything I’ve found on the activities on the Scarfo guys who have been released since 2000:

Anthony Pungitore Jr is listed as an active member on the 2009 chart made by Philadelphia PD
Nicholas Milano was reported as inactive during the 2000s, having been put on the shelf upon his release; more recently, mob watchers have spotted him driving a BMW and hanging out at Jesters NYB in South Philadelphia
Ralph Staino died of natural causes October 2015
83-year-old Charles Iannece, father of Merlino-soldier Vincent and associate Charles Jr, has been rumoured to be inactive and retired since his release
In Mafia Prince, Philip Leonetti identifies Salvatore Scafidi and Joseph Pungitore as both living in Florida upon their release from federal custody
Frank Narducci Jr was observed by Philadelphia PD attending the 2009 Christmas party at the Saloon; Narducci returned to federal custody in June 2015 and was released in October 2017
The Licata detention memo says that in 2010 Joseph Pungitore tried to convince the administration to have Joseph Grande killed; Licata intervened on Grande’s behalf and voiced his admiration for him
Joseph Pungitore was identified as a supposed ‘faction leader’ in the Dave Schratwieser investigation for Fox29 a couple of years ago; the report emphasises Pungitore’s success in the real estate business and identifies Phillip Narducci as another supposed ‘faction leader’
Phillip Narducci opened his restaurant, Chick’s (named after Frank ‘Chickie’ Narducci Sr), in South Philadelphia, and has been photographed taking part in bodybuilding and fishing
Mafia Prince mentioned Phillip Narducci as an especially ambitious figure to keep an eye on; Ed Scarpo reported in 2015 that Narducci was the new acting boss; George Anastasia placed Narducci on a three-man panel overseeing the family; Burnstein reported that one of Narducci’s guys was among the five proposed members inducted in 2015, however it is unclear whether this was a reference to rumoured member Joseph Baldino, who is related to Narducci but is actually with John Ciancaglini
Scott Burnstein has identified Joseph Ciancaglini Sr as being promoted to underboss following his release from prison; George Anastasia has identified Ciancaglini as serving as a dual-consigliere along with Joseph Ligambi; Ciancaglini has been recorded by the Mob Talk Sitdown camera crew hanging out with his son John at a lottery stand
Having cleared his supervised release, Francis Iannarella has been spotted by Mob Talk Sitdown associating and attending meetings with high-ranking members including Joseph Merlino and Michael Lancellotti; internet rumours have circulated suggesting that Iannarella is being considered for a promotion to either caporegime or even consigliere

The Pungitore brothers, Ciancaglini, Grande, Iannarella and Frank Narducci have all at times been associated with the ‘Merlino guys’, with Ciancaglini, Grande, Iannece and Staino fathers or uncles of younger members, undermining reports of tension between the generations.

That's a very informative summary, all sourced. I wish I had seen this not even a week before when I was trying to figure all of this out for a chart.

I agree with the new 'common knowledge' that seems to be developing that 'Da Scarfo Guys' and 'Merlinos' Crew are one and the same. I think a combination of Philly's past history combined with Sopranos Season 5 lead everyone (including the so-called experts) to expect a Feech LaManna situation to develop. Instead they all played baseball and opened Instagram accounts. But another faction I reckon we can do away with is the so-called Ligambi faction: with Joe Crutch being the exception because there's little known, all of his other admin members had ties to Merlino or Philly before Ligambi became boss. Staino is a good example, even if he was made by Ligambi (currently being debated) or not, he was around the Merlino faction prior to Ligambi's release. Unless Ligambi's 3 sons are his muscle I don't know who his faction could be.

[chin_gigante]

It seems there's more evidence for tensions among the Scarfo-era guys themselves (Joe Punge and Joe Grande; possibly also between Joe Punge and Phil Narducci) than between the generations. Speculation of a divide I think in part comes from the older guys staying away. But keep in mind, they just finished 20 to 30 year sentences and were out on supervised release. The minute Faffy clears his probation he's seen hanging around the younger guys. People forget that Faffy at one point was protecting Joey from the Riccobene guys during the war with Scarfo.
And when it comes to the generational divide, the younger Scarfo guys are about the same age as the 'young Turks'. Merlino, Phil Narducci and Tore Scafidi are all 56.
I'm curious to find out more on Scafidi because he's mentioned least of all in my research. He's certainly young enough to still be active. Balancing act between whether he wants to avoid going back to jail or make up for the missed time he spent behind bars not making any money.

[Angelo Santino]

It seems there's more evidence for tensions among the Scarfo-era guys themselves (Joe Punge and Joe Grande; possibly also between Joe Punge and Phil Narducci) than between the generations. Speculation of a divide I think in part comes from the older guys staying away. But keep in mind, they just finished 20 to 30 year sentences and were out on supervised release. The minute Faffy clears his probation he's seen hanging around the younger guys. People forget that Faffy at one point was protecting Joey from the Riccobene guys during the war with Scarfo.
And when it comes to the generational divide, the younger Scarfo guys are about the same age as the 'young Turks'. Merlino, Phil Narducci and Tore Scafidi are all 56.
I'm curious to find out more on Scafidi because he's mentioned least of all in my research. He's certainly young enough to still be active. Balancing act between whether he wants to avoid going back to jail or make up for the missed time he spent behind bars not making any money.

The speculation was there on what these guys were going to do, in both writing and on GA/DS coverage, existed before they were even released. Will the Scarfo guys fall in line under Ligambi or do they swoop in if Ligambi gets indicted? Also Merlino gets released in a year and its kinda hard to see Joey not returning to South Philly, the Florida rumors are just that. 3 factions, 3 different decades, all coming home to South Philly. And something something make money don't make headlines followed by every-mob-boss-since-1980-is-dead-or-in-jail! The roving narrative has been to cast Philadelphia as being in a perpetual state of intercine war, so everyone becomes a faction and the question's asked what will they do as if they are roving sharks. Well after half a decade we can answer that: very little.

All together, on the street there's what, 15-25 members with maybe 10 of them doing anything? Do they need co-consiglieri, ruling panels and all this other shit? Not saying there isn't a structure and hierarchy but that it's arguably withered down. As is the case with every Family that sees a decline in membership.

Separately, The Riccobene faction, could be argued, carried on into the Stanfa era. Quite interesting that Martines, Espositio and Colletti all found their way next to The Power after a decade of being dormant. It appears Martines was instrumental in putting that together. He brought Veasey around, they inadvertently brought Previte around. Wasn't even Al Pagano around Riccobene way back when?

[chin_gigante]

Any information on Colletti or Esposito's roles in the Riccobene faction? I know Esposito was identified as the shooter who eventually killed Sonny Riccobene under Stanfa.

[B.]

Has there been any real intel that Phil Narducci is still involved? Based on interviews and his high profile with the restaurant it seems like maybe he’s happy to be taking a back seat. Of course it could all be bullshit but realistically after doing that much time it wouldn’t surprise me if Phil said he was going legit he’s married now and has legit interests and is very public with this restaurant. I just haven’t seen anything solid but street talk saying he’s still a player. I’m not expert on philly so I could be very wrong and If so somebody fill me in. Joey punge as well was on tapes back in the 80’s talking about going legit is there any real info he’s still a player?

Based on what's out there in terms of evidence and the things Narducci has been seen to be involved in, everything seems legitimate so far. It seems at least he's acting on his own if he is even doing anything illegal. I think most of the rumours about him come from Leonetti's speculation about him. Going by him naming the restaurant Chick's and having a picture of his father up on the wall, it seems reasonable to speculate that he wouldn't want to associate with Joe Punge. It would be pretty humiliating for it to come out that almost immediately after your father was murdered you knowingly went to work for his killers. But that's the whole thing about the Narducci situation; it all seems to be speculative based on his reputation thirty years ago.

On one of the mob talks there was talk of a wiretap from the 80’s with Joe Punge who said he wanted to make his money legit in real estate. After all that time in the can I wouldn’t be surprised if Joe Punge and Narducci were legit. Again could be wrong but haven’t seen anything definitive showing these guys are still involved. I agree Narducci has a big rep but that doesn’t mean he’s active. Maybe someone else can chime in

In one of the old indictments, it also referenced a conversation from those same mid-1980s tapes of Pungitore talking to an associate about how he was looking to "build an army" (those words specifically) and either had or was looking to have 100 guys around him. I was pretty surprised by it when I read it, as a lot of the common knowledge is that he took a step back after the Testa murder. That conversation and his supervising meth dealing, etc. paint a different picture from the one we usually read about. Not that it says anything about him today, but combined with him allegedly trying to have Joe Grande murdered for staying loyal to Scarfo in the early 2010s, I have a hard time seeing him as completely "inactive".

Keep in mind too Frank Sindone was recorded talking to Chucky Merlino in the late 1970s about wanting to retire and leave Philadelphia, then he made a move to kill the boss just a few years later.

[Ivan]

In one of the old indictments, it also referenced a conversation from those same mid-1980s tapes of Pungitore talking to an associate about how he was looking to "build an army" (those words specifically) and either had or was looking to have 100 guys around him. I was pretty surprised by it when I read it, as a lot of the common knowledge is that he took a step back after the Testa murder. That conversation and his supervising meth dealing, etc. paint a different picture from the one we usually read about. Not that it says anything about him today, but combined with him allegedly trying to have Joe Grande murdered for staying loyal to Scarfo in the early 2010s, I have a hard time seeing him as completely "inactive".

Keep in mind too Frank Sindone was recorded talking to Chucky Merlino in the late 1970s about wanting to retire and leave Philadelphia, then he made a move to kill the boss just a few years later.

Keep in mind most everyone in that family was drunk constantly, so they were probably just blathering random booze-fueled bullshit all the time at one another.