Philly murder plot

[dack2001]

It was like a poorman's 1980 plot. This has the earmarks of a internal Caprio plot with Ralph egging him on from the sidelines. This wasn't 1980 where Caponigro went to New York and had captains on board. I doubt the plot even had active conspirators further than Caprio, Casale, and Ralph (maybe D'Ambrosia in the know, maybe Turchi). Caprio signaled his intent to the Genoveses and Gambinos reps after Merlino got picked up so they would go along and not interfere....the plan would never have worked.

[Philly d]

Caprios crew was separate from scoops? So there used to be two Philly Newark crews?

[Stroccos]

Caprios crew was separate from scoops? So there used to be two Philly Newark crews?

I think scoops was in prison

[Philly d]

Thx

[Wiseguy]

Same reason Funzi gave Caponigro the okay to kill Bruno then when he was called in said IDK what you are talking about lol

It's a bit different though. Tony Caponigro screwed over the Genovese with the 2 million dollars bookmaking operation he had set up in Newark. Later on Funzi exploited steered that greed towards Bruno - the reason why Tony managed to keep the racket for himself for so long.

As Leonetti later explained, with Caponigro and Bruno gone, the Genovese family got three things:

1. The $2 million bookmaking operation

2. Commission swings back to their favor with a Genovese-installed boss

3. Access to HEREU Local 54 funds through Scarfo


I agree the Caprio plot seems like a much lower level thing with a few guys trying to make some moves.

[chin_gigante]

Caprios crew was separate from scoops? So there used to be two Philly Newark crews?

The North Jersey crew gets quite confusing after Patty Specs Martirano. You've got Scoops listed as acting, then by 1991 he and Joe Sodano are complaining to Stanfa about Blackie Napoli trying to get him taken down (so he must've been made captain again in maybe 1990). Sodano and Licata are both observed in The Goodfella Tapes going down to meet with Stanfa though Licata continues after Sodano goes to jail for a couple of years. By the start of the Natale/ Merlino era it seems Sodano is in charge and then it goes to Caprio. Maybe Licata was also a captain but it seems redundant since there were only a handful of active soldiers up there by that time. Then there's the whole thing over whether George Fresolone was made a captain after his induction. It's hard to get a grip on. I'm very confused by Newark in the early 90s

[Philly d]

Hah thanks. I think I am more confused ...jk.

[dack2001]

Look at things historically. Traditionally the Trenton crew and the Down Neck crew have always been two different crews. Scoops and Joe Sodano were both (acting?) capos under Cousin Anthony into Stanfa. Different crews though, Patty/Scoops with the Down Neck group(Caponigro's old crew) and Sodano with the old Trenton group(John Sindone's longtime crew) with guys like Tommy Adams and Caprio under their wing. Whether these groups were merged later in the 90's is another question but they were historically separate under Bruno/Scarfo into the early 90's. Scoops crew stayed loyal with Merlino/Natale and Sodano went off the reservation and met his maker. Natale told Caprio after Sodano was hit, "we are making you a capo ". That's because that crew wasn't under any control at the time because the capo wasn't reporting.

[Pogo The Clown]

All the North Jersey members were one crew. They unofficially separated into two camps following Napolis demotion but they were all under one Capo.


Pogo

[Fughedaboutit]

Same reason Funzi gave Caponigro the okay to kill Bruno then when he was called in said IDK what you are talking about lol

It's a bit different though. Tony Caponigro screwed over the Genovese with the 2 million dollars bookmaking operation he had set up in Newark. Later on Funzi exploited steered that greed towards Bruno - the reason why Tony managed to keep the racket for himself for so long.

As Leonetti later explained, with Caponigro and Bruno gone, the Genovese family got three things:

1. The $2 million bookmaking operation

2. Commission swings back to their favor with a Genovese-installed boss

3. Access to HEREU Local 54 funds through Scarfo


I agree the Caprio plot seems like a much lower level thing with a few guys trying to make some moves.

Obviously it was a lower level version, but my point remains the motive in both were simply one thing....GREED

[MikeyRiens11]

Gambino Capo Anthony Proto, Genovese Soldier Victor Alberti (and probably Larry Ricci) and NJ Capo Pete Caprio wanted to set up a video poker machine operation in Philly but felt Ligambi (who NY didn't recognize at the time) wouldn’t go along with it. So they plotted to kill him. They felt if Ligambi had to go so would his nephew Borgesi and Mazzone. They were going to lure them to a warehouse in Jersey where Caprio and Associate Raymond “Frenchy” Lepore would kill them and then bury them (either Proto or Alberti was going to dig the hole and dispose of the bodies). Afterwards Caprio would become boss and move the headquarters of the family to North Jersey. Associate Danny D’Amborsia would be inducted into the family and then promoted to UnderBoss and Marty Angelina would be made Consigliere. I don’t know if Angelina was part of the plot or if that was just a move to placate the remaining Merlino guy’s after the fact (probably the latter). Carpio was indicted and flipped before they could carry it out.


Pogo

I believe Vincent "Beeps" Centorino was some how involved as well

I believe I read that Beeps was related to Larry Ricci. It might have been part of Caprio's testimony where this information came out.

[Pogo The Clown]

Evidently he was able to escape any repercussions since he was promoted to Acting Capo right after this.


Pogo

[B.]

Look at things historically. Traditionally the Trenton crew and the Down Neck crew have always been two different crews. Scoops and Joe Sodano were both (acting?) capos under Cousin Anthony into Stanfa. Different crews though, Patty/Scoops with the Down Neck group(Caponigro's old crew) and Sodano with the old Trenton group(John Sindone's longtime crew) with guys like Tommy Adams and Caprio under their wing. Whether these groups were merged later in the 90's is another question but they were historically separate under Bruno/Scarfo into the early 90's. Scoops crew stayed loyal with Merlino/Natale and Sodano went off the reservation and met his maker. Natale told Caprio after Sodano was hit, "we are making you a capo ". That's because that crew wasn't under any control at the time because the capo wasn't reporting.

The Down Neck crew was originally part of the Trenton/Simone crew.

The Trenton crew was disbanded when Simone was killed and parts of it were absorbed by other crews. Leonetti ended up with some of it but Joe Ciancaglini had interests in Trenton so he may have taken parts of it as well. Most of the Trenton members were getting up in age or deceased by then anyway and Reds Pontani was the defacto Trenton leader under Leonetti.

I don't know what the arrangement was with Sodano, just wanted to point that out.

[dack2001]

Good call B. I should have been more careful when I posted that. Never trust your memory without verifying first. I still think they split things between Scoops and Sodano when they were both active captains. Considering that historically those groups (Patty, Blackie etc. & Simone/Pontani etc. didn't mix much it would have made some sense but only if they were reporting to the same place, so maybe they just split up the north jersey guys between them.

[B.]

Good call B. I should have been more careful when I posted that. Never trust your memory without verifying first. I still think they split things between Scoops and Sodano when they were both active captains. Considering that historically those groups (Patty, Blackie etc. & Simone/Pontani etc. didn't mix much it would have made some sense but only if they were reporting to the same place, so maybe they just split up the north jersey guys between them.

Yeah, I remember being under that impression too, that the Newark crew had been split in the 1990s. According to Fresolone, that was their plan after they inducted him -- to place the new recruits under Fresolone as a new captain, and keep the existing members in the original crew. Of course the new recruits weren't recognized after that, but it's possible they still went with the plan to have two groups since that was already on their minds.