Mob Talk - 1/25/16

[joeycigars]

He certainy had a lot of luck on his side. If Veasey's bullet had gone a few inches higher, if that bomb under his car had gone off or if any one of the countless murder plots aganst him had gone off he would be dead. So he had luck or maybe it was just the devil in him.


Pogo

That would be more incompetency on behalf of the perpetrators then Merlino Luck ,

[Pogo The Clown]

That was both.


Pogo

[Chucky]

He certainy had a lot of luck on his side. If Veasey's bullet had gone a few inches higher, if that bomb under his car had gone off or if any one of the countless murder plots aganst him had gone off he would be dead. So he had luck or maybe it was just the devil in him.


Pogo

That would be more incompetency on behalf of the perpetrators then Merlino Luck ,

Especially when you look at who was stalking him...a glorified bodyguard and the neighborhood junkie

[joeycigars]

He certainy had a lot of luck on his side. If Veasey's bullet had gone a few inches higher, if that bomb under his car had gone off or if any one of the countless murder plots aganst him had gone off he would be dead. So he had luck or maybe it was just the devil in him.


Pogo

That would be more incompetency on behalf of the perpetrators then Merlino Luck ,

Especially when you look at who was stalking him...a glorified bodyguard and the neighborhood junkie

Not to mention Brenda Colletti and the plan to lure Merlino to his death with knock out drops Joey must of got a kick out of that one , I wish there was a good Philly movie this shit is too good to be true

[Lupara]

He certainy had a lot of luck on his side. If Veasey's bullet had gone a few inches higher, if that bomb under his car had gone off or if any one of the countless murder plots aganst him had gone off he would be dead. So he had luck or maybe it was just the devil in him.


Pogo

That would be more incompetency on behalf of the perpetrators then Merlino Luck ,

You can call that luck because it was out of his control. However, his ability to form a group and be recognised as a leader has nothing to do with luck whatsoever.

[Ivan]

You can call that luck because it was out of his control. However, his ability to build a group around him and be recognised as a leader has nothing to do with luck whatsoever.

This is what I meant in my post earlier, but you said it better.

[B.]

Is Merlino lucky ? You have to look at his whole inner circle too...Are they just lucky , If most people try to do what these guys have done will it just take luck ?,

The answer is NO . Its not luck , For the record Merlino has had some very bad luck and wasnt handed the throne he went and got it,

If it was luck ....Just maybe there is a 100 other ways he could have risen to the top spot very easy through his Father and uncle but it didnt happen that way , So he shot the TWO bosses sons Stanfa and Scarfo and won a deadly war ,Merlino did it the hardest way possible, If people call that luck then I hate to have there luck

That is something I have wondered about why Joey was essentially a nobody when his father was the underboss? Did chucky not want him involved? There were guys like scafidi and Phil narducci that were same age or close to joeys age and they were made in the mid 80's under scarfo yet Joey didn't get his button till 93 or whatever under stanfa. Also does anyone know if chucky had any behind the scenes role in the war with stanfa?

The poster AtlanticCity from the old boards who was a very good, reputable poster attended the D'Alfonso murder re-trial in the late 90s and claims that he had lunch with a retired Bruno member whose son was one of the defendants. He says that this old-time member (definitely referring to Iannarella Sr.) said that Scarfo purposely held Merlino, Scarfo Jr., and several other young guys back (probably the Ciancaglinis as well) because he was trying to build the future of the family up in phases. For whatever reason, he pushed guys like Scafidi, Narducci, and Grande first. I don't know how true this is, but it does make sense. Those guys that got an earlier push were also much more aggressive in trying to prove themselves, whereas the guys whose fathers were the boss, underboss, etc. were coasting on their father's reputations.

My final thoughts on Merlino:

Nobody is a born winner, there are only competitors... people who put themselves in a position to win. There are sports philosophies based around the idea that you don't coach to win the game, you aim to compete and take advantage of opportunities. Nobody is straight up "lucky" -- you have to first put yourself in a position to BE lucky.

That is what successful businessmen and criminals do as well as sports teams. I'd say Joey Merlino has always managed to be a competitor who has put himself in the right position. That is why he survived being on Scarfo's shitlist, survived his war with Stanfa, prevailed over Natale, and ultimately kept his top position in the family despite a long prison sentence.

I'm not a fan of Merlino or any of these guys, just someone who tries to understand what makes these people who they are.

And by the way, Merlino can't be considered an outsider at all. He was shelved for a few years at the end of Scarfo's run, but it meant very little as the organization was practically nonexistent in Philly at the time. Throughout the history of the Philly family we see it take major blows then rebound under new leadership. I would say Merlino succeeded in rebuilding the family because he was a total South Philly "insider", not an outsider.

[Lupara]

That is why he survived being on Scarfo's shitlist

Can't help but wonder whether that was a typo.

[B.]

That is why he survived being on Scarfo's shitlist

Can't help but wonder whether that was a typo.

Haha, not a typo. I don't think he ever put a contract on Merlino, only threatened to, so it was more "shit" than "hit"... with Scarfo the two lists overlapped, though.

[Angelo Santino]

The "Scarfo-Merlino" contract comes from Anastasia's Blood & Honor and The Last Last Gangster by way of Nick Caramandi. After Chuckie & Lawrence Merlino were demoted, Caramandi implied they were blacklisted and a young Merlino was told "Don't come around the Clubhouse no more." If you buy into the Bloodthirsty-Scarfo-Kill-Em-All narrative then Merlino's life was in danger. If you don't, a young Merlino was probably not a Scarfo priority circa 1986.

If you read Leonetti, the takeaway is that after everyone was rounded up in 1988, Scarfo's power was severely crippled. Leonetti quotes Scarfo Jr as saying "Mikey Chang has 5 guys and all I've got is Uncle Tony." So when Merlino made the attempted hit on Scarfo Jr, there wasn very little chance of any retribution.

However, taking it further. George Fresolone crew associate/member describes in his book that after Nicky Jr was hit he was "protected" by the Jersey Crew. During this time, there is talk of a contract on Merlino. There was even a rumor that he was taken under the wing of a Colombo captain and was en route to be made (it was later discredited). I bring this up because for Scoops/Newark to sponsor Merlino is pretty auspicious. No other term for it.

[B.]

The "Scarfo-Merlino" contract comes from Anastasia's Blood & Honor and The Last Last Gangster by way of Nick Caramandi. After Chuckie & Lawrence Merlino were demoted, Caramandi implied they were blacklisted and a young Merlino was told "Don't come around the Clubhouse no more." If you buy into the Bloodthirsty-Scarfo-Kill-Em-All narrative then Merlino's life was in danger. If you don't, a young Merlino was probably not a Scarfo priority circa 1986.

If you read Leonetti, the takeaway is that after everyone was rounded up in 1988, Scarfo's power was severely crippled. Leonetti quotes Scarfo Jr as saying "Mikey Chang has 5 guys and all I've got is Uncle Tony." So when Merlino made the attempted hit on Scarfo Jr, there wasn very little chance of any retribution.

However, taking it further. George Fresolone crew associate/member describes in his book that after Nicky Jr was hit he was "protected" by the Jersey Crew. During this time, there is talk of a contract on Merlino. There was even a rumor that he was taken under the wing of a Colombo captain and was en route to be made (it was later discredited). I bring this up because for Scoops/Newark to sponsor Merlino is pretty auspicious. No other term for it.

Yeah, there is a lot we don't know between late 1990 and early 1993. According to Fresolone, Licata was on the outs with Martirano and Piccolo by 1990, so he may have embraced Stanfa's new regime and reached out to Merlino, who had also been on the outs with the previous regime and who would have known Licata from Scarfo's parties.

New info also makes it unclear if Scarfo ever stepped down. We know the Gambino family (and possibly others) recognized John Stanfa as the new boss, but it sounds like the Luccheses (or at least Amuso) did not. The Philly NJ crew looked after Scarfo Jr. because he was the boss's son, but as soon as Scarfo lost power, Scarfo Jr. became an associate and later member of the Lucchese family, as the Philly North Jersey no longer had any loyalty to the Scarfos. Licata then wouldn't have anything holding him back from helping Merlino out, a tough kid who had been schooled by Cosa Nostra leaders and was a good recruit on paper for rebuilding a damaged family.

To go back to the Merlino contract, I believe he was shelved and threatened in 1986, but no actual contract was placed on him at that time. After Scarfo went to prison and began to rapidly lose his grip on South Philly, it sounds like there was definitely a contract placed on him.

[Wiseguy]

He certainy had a lot of luck on his side. If Veasey's bullet had gone a few inches higher, if that bomb under his car had gone off or if any one of the countless murder plots aganst him had gone off he would be dead. So he had luck or maybe it was just the devil in him.


Pogo

That would be more incompetency on behalf of the perpetrators then Merlino Luck ,

You can call that luck because it was out of his control. However, his ability to form a group and be recognised as a leader has nothing to do with luck whatsoever.

Yeah, for whatever they lacked, one thing Merlino was similar to Gotti in was the ability to have guys follow them.

[Pogo The Clown]

"He's a little drug dealing mothefucker." - Scarfo talking about Merlino.


"He tried to kill Scarfo's son." - Scarfo speaking in the 3rd person about Merlino's attempt on Nicky Jr.





Pogo

[Ivan]

"He's a little drug dealing mothefucker." - Scarfo talking about Merlino.


"He tried to kill Scarfo's son." - Scarfo speaking in the 3rd person about Merlino's attempt on Nicky Jr.

I forget, where are these quotes from?

[Pogo The Clown]

It was in Blood Oath. From a prison conservation between Nicky Sr. and Jr. that was recorded.


Now that I thnk about it the second quote may be "Suspected of trying to kill Scarfo's son". I forget which but you get the gist. Funny thinking of Scarfo speaking in the 3rd person. Apparently Scarfo did it ften according to Freselone.


Pogo