Philly making ceremonies (1990's-present) and misc. research

[Chucky]

Billy Andrews drug/pill/loansharking case. Billy’s Mercedes was bugged I believe.

I remember this case, didn’t GA and Schratwieser put it out thee that Mousie was connected to that?

[Cheech]

Billy Andrews drug/pill/loansharking case. Billy’s Mercedes was bugged I believe.

I remember this case, didn’t GA and Schratwieser put it out thee that Mousie was connected to that?

ya they kinda hinted it was his money

[chin_gigante]

Based on Stanfa's history, I think it's possible that he would have seriously ordered Geraldo Rivera killed if he ever came back, but as things were I don't think it was as serious as, say, ordering Sergio Battaglia and Herbert Keller to throw grenades through GA's window or having them stalk lawyers, or wanting Gaeton Lucibello's son killed.

[chin_gigante]

A little more research on 1991 and 1992 making ceremonies

Further evidence Luigi Tripodi was made Nov 1991 with Joseph F Ciancaglini:

Yesterday, the government played a court-approved taped conversation for the jury from a Dec. 3, 1991, mob meeting inside Salvatore Avena’s law office in Camden. It was played at the murder/ racketeering trial of mob boss Stanfa and seven co-defendants.
Stanfa and consigliere Anthony ‘Tony Buck’ Piccolo and mobster Luigi Tripodi were meeting with North Jersey mobsters Joseph Sodano and Joseph ‘Scoops’ Licata about management problems in North Jersey.

Kitty Caparella, ‘Problems in North Jersey and home gave Stanfa fits’, Philadelphia Daily News, 29 Sep 1995

Evidence that Ronald Turchi was not part of the above ceremony:

Turchi, according to federal documents introduced during a 1994 investigation of former mob boss John Stanfa, was initiated into the mob in 1992 by Stanfa.

George Anastasia and Thomas J Gibbons Jr, ‘Lunch date may be key to Turchi slaying, investigators say’, Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 Oct 1999

Turchi, a bookmaker, was initiated into the mob in 1992 by jailed mob boss John Stanfa and later joined the rival Merlino faction during the 1993 mob war.

Kitty Caparella, ‘Witnesses: Turchi was with Merlino pal’, Philadelphia Daily News, 18 Nov 1999

Some thoughts:

• As I’ve discussed before, when Merlino violated his parole, GA reported that he was made in 1992 with four others, including Michael Ciancaglini

• When Biagio Adornetto flipped, he admitted to being part of the above ceremony

• Turchi and Joseph Massimino have both been explicitly identified as being made in 1992, making it likely they were made with Merlino, Ciancaglini and Adornetto

• However, when Turchi was jailed for violating his parole in 1997, the Sep 1992 making ceremony was not one of the violations cited

• Turchi was, however, cited for meeting with Merlino and Massimino in Oct 1992

• It remains possible that GA was initially wrong when he reported that 5 individuals were made in 1992 and that it was actually 2 ceremonies

• Adornetto only ever mentioned Ciancaglini and Merlino as part of that ceremony, as far as I can tell, but others could have been excluded based simply on how questions were worded when he was examined at trial – I can’t say confidently one way or the other

• It remains the case, however, that the only ceremonies we 100% know happened under Stanfa before the Joey Chang shooting were in Nov 1991 and Sep 1992

• The total number of members initiated in these ceremonies is about 8 or 9 (Caparella identified the 1991 ceremony as consisting of 4 members and, in a subsequent report, ‘at least three’)

• Gaeton Lucibello also had to have been made by Stanfa before the Joey Chang shooting, as he had sided with Merlino by April 1993 and Stanfa didn’t hold another ceremony until May 1993 (Battaglia, Esposito, Martines)

• It’s possible that Lucibello was made in 1991 with Joey Chang and Tripodi (by pure process of elimination – we already know of 5 members initiated in 1992 whereas the 1991 ceremony still has another open slot or two)

• The only other piece of info I’ve found on Lucibello’s initiation was an inaccurate report from Caparella having him as being made in Sep 1992 with John Veasey

• I think the most likely scenario is Joey Chang, Tripodi, Lucibello (1991) and then Adornetto, Mikey Chang, Merlino, Massimino, Turchi (1992)

[B.]

Ought to call you "the Comb" instead of "the Chin" -- great job again. Those early Stanfa ceremonies have always been of interest because he was less desperate for recruits and guys like Lucibello and Massimino went on to be respected under Merlino-Ligambi.

Can't remember, did you already look into Bocchino's position at the time of his murder?

[chin_gigante]

Everything I have in my notes on Bocchino:

• Arrested in 1948 for fraud, sentenced to 4 to 7 years in NJ State Prison and released in 1951

• Bocchino would pose as a salesman at a car dealership and run off with the payment for vehicles; similarly, he would offer to supply shops with cigarettes and liquor only to take the cash in return for nothing (the shop owners wouldn’t complain as the goods they were trying to buy were often stolen)

• Bocchino boasted about making between $80,000 and $100,000 from these scams

• He was arrested in 1956 and 1957 by federal agents for making bootleg whisky

• NJ police identified Bocchino as being involved in a 1973 sports betting operation at Garden State Park racetrack and in 1976 they identified him as a controller in Angelo Bruno’s gambling operations

• In 1976, Bocchino was part of a ‘junket’ of 54 mobsters who, using the Las Vegas connections of Carl Ippolito and associate Gary Garramone, ripped off the Paradise Casino in a 3-day credit scam, leaving it bankrupt (others involved in the scam included associates Eugene Bulgarino, John Berkery, John Calabrese, John Creagh, Victor DeLuca, Anthony DiSalvo, Vincent Pagano and Freddy Casella)

• Canadian drug trafficker Giovanni Mollo told authorities that he worked with Bocchino and Tony Caponigro in 1978 and 1979 (Bocchino was Mollo’s source for heroin in Philadelphia)

• Bocchino and John Calabrese wanted to kill Victor DeLuca and Pete Rinaldi in a dispute over shaking down meth dealer Ronald Raiton. Bocchino and Calabrese were both with Caponigro so he sided with them in this matter, but Bruno settled the dispute peacefully – he wouldn’t sanction the murders, but DeLuca and Rinaldi could no longer shake Raiton down

• Ralph Natale recalled that Bocchino and Anthony Ferrante, who was also with Caponigro, at one point wanted to kill Frank ‘Blinky’ Palermo after a couple of deals they were involved with turned sour

• Natale and Philip Leonetti both identified Bocchino as involved in providing the shotgun for the Bruno murder

• Bocchino was a partner with Caponigro in a loanshark operation and, following Caponigro’s death, Bocchino offered a share of the business to Phil Testa as a peace offering

• In the 1984 Pennsylvania Crime Commission report, Bocchino is identified as ‘having played a key role in arranging certain meetings after the murder of Angelo Bruno’

• Bocchino was arrested on New Year’s Eve 1980 by NJ police so he could testify before a grand jury investigating Bruno’s murder

• Made by Scarfo January 1982 at the home of Robert Locicero in Vineland

• After Scarfo instituted his street tax, Bocchino shook down a Pagan-run methamphetamine network for $2,000 per week

• In June 1983, Bocchino was fined $20,000 and sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to failing to file federal income tax returns since 1979 (though he hadn’t filed since 1964)

• Bocchino kept a low profile after his release in January 1985, due to his age, but attended the 1985 Christmas party at La Cucina

• Sometime after his release, Bocchino delivered $180,000 to Leonetti for the Elbow after making a score

• In 1990, the Pennsylvania Crime Commission identified 10 of the most active members of the family at that time but did not include Bocchino (the list consisted of John Grande, Joseph Licata, Alphonse Marconi, Guerino Marconi, Anthony Piccolo, Anthony Pungitore, Santo Romeo, Joseph Scalleat, Joseph Sodano and Salvatore Sparacio)

• Bocchino became more involved again under Stanfa, collecting street tax from gamblers and drug dealers

• Natale testified that Bocchino was a key ally of Stanfa and ran everything for him on the street but only passed along small amounts of shakedown payments to him, pocketing the rest

• Natale called Bocchino from prison to get him to stop shaking down Michael ‘Sheiky’ Baldino, but when Bocchino denied having done it Natale told Mikey Chang to kill him

• Natale testified that Steve Mazzone killed Bocchino, that it had been his first murder and, resultingly, Joey Merlino and Mikey Chang wanted to make him for it (in April 2001, Kitty Caparella wrote that Tommy Scafidi had reportedly told authorities that someone else was the killer)

• Witnesses at the time of Bocchino’s murder told police the shooter was heavyset and wearing a windbreaker

• A high school teacher testified at the Merlino et al., RICO trial that he saw the shooter (5-foot-10, chubby, clean shaved, dark hair, with a puffy, jowled face) but didn’t come forward earlier because a ‘newsstand owner’ gave him a disapproving look (he also failed to identify Mazzone)

• Bocchino was described alternately as a soldier or a ‘member’ in the coverage of his murder (he was also referred to as a ‘very low profile’ and ‘minor’ figure, which contrasts with what Natale said about him)

• I think it’s likely from when he took over in 1991 until about 6 months before the Joey Chang shooting that Stanfa did not appoint an underboss or possibly even a captain based out of Philly (though Gino Tripodi was attending high level meetings as early as December 1991 so it's possible he got bumped up as soon as he was made)

• About three dozen family and friends attended Bocchino’s funeral but no mob members were present

• The 1990 Pennsylvania Crime Commission report identified Bocchino’s younger brother Richard as an associate subordinate to him involved in narcotics

• Richard Bocchino had gambling and assault arrests and was called as a defence witness in the Frankie Flowers murder retrial (he testified that Gino Milano, who was his roommate at the time, boasted about killing D’Alfonso)

• Richard said that he had not spoken to his brother for the 7 years leading up to his murder

• Richard was called as a defence witness in the Merlino et al., RICO trial and said that James Diaddorio had taken credit for his brother’s murder, but admitted on the stand to never having mentioned this to his sisters or the police before (at the time of Diaddorio’s murder, he was described as a friend of the late Felix Bocchino)

[chin_gigante]

Found this on the 'Gee Gee' Cappello murder that Fresolone said Stanfa was behind:

On Jan. 20, Louis ‘Gee Gee’ Cappello, a mob associate and reputed bookmaker, was murdered in his apartment in Aldan, Delaware County. Like [Rod] Colombo, he had been shot in the head. Underworld sources say Cappello was killed because he refused to pay a ‘street tax’ being reinstituted by the local mob.

George Anastasia, ‘Phila. mob erupts in wave of violence’, Philadelphia Inquirer, 03 Mar 1993

[Pogo The Clown]

In 1990, the Pennsylvania Crime Commission identified 10 of the most active members of the family at that time but did not include Bocchino (the list consisted of John Grande, Joseph Licata, Alphonse Marconi, Guerino Marconi, Anthony Piccolo, Anthony Pungitore, Santo Romeo, Joseph Scalleat, Joseph Sodano and Salvatore Sparacio)

It is interesting how many of these guys fell by the wayside under Stanfa. Not counting the North Jersey guys only Sparacio played a leadership role under Stanfa. Piccolo of course continued in his role but even he lost a lot of influence by late 1992.


Pogo

[B.]

In 1990, the Pennsylvania Crime Commission identified 10 of the most active members of the family at that time but did not include Bocchino (the list consisted of John Grande, Joseph Licata, Alphonse Marconi, Guerino Marconi, Anthony Piccolo, Anthony Pungitore, Santo Romeo, Joseph Scalleat, Joseph Sodano and Salvatore Sparacio)

It is interesting how many of these guys fell by the wayside under Stanfa. Not counting the North Jersey guys only Sparacio played a leadership role under Stanfa. Piccolo of course continued in his role but even he lost a lot of influence by late 1992.

Yeah, I wonder how much of that was Stanfa vs. the members' own decision.

John Grande stands out there. He died in the following years, but his name doesn't come up much during the Scarfo era despite his sons being so active. He was part of the Casella-Narducci faction that killed Phil Testa which I assume contributed to that though I've never seen it said. He was also sponsored by Narducci.

Wonderful job with Bocchino. A lot in there I wasn't aware of. I suspected he may have held rank but it doesn't look like there was anything concrete. He also fits the mold of someone like Martorano who had his induction held up under Bruno given how long he was involved with family leaders but again never seen it specifically said.

[Chucky]

In 1990, the Pennsylvania Crime Commission identified 10 of the most active members of the family at that time but did not include Bocchino (the list consisted of John Grande, Joseph Licata, Alphonse Marconi, Guerino Marconi, Anthony Piccolo, Anthony Pungitore, Santo Romeo, Joseph Scalleat, Joseph Sodano and Salvatore Sparacio)

It is interesting how many of these guys fell by the wayside under Stanfa. Not counting the North Jersey guys only Sparacio played a leadership role under Stanfa. Piccolo of course continued in his role but even he lost a lot of influence by late 1992.


Pogo

I always figured those guys got spooked once bodies started dropping. Those guys managed to avoid being killed or being locked up in the 80s; I doubt they were willing to take that risk again.

[Tony Monte]

In 1990, the Pennsylvania Crime Commission identified 10 of the most active members of the family at that time but did not include Bocchino (the list consisted of John Grande, Joseph Licata, Alphonse Marconi, Guerino Marconi, Anthony Piccolo, Anthony Pungitore, Santo Romeo, Joseph Scalleat, Joseph Sodano and Salvatore Sparacio)

It is interesting how many of these guys fell by the wayside under Stanfa. Not counting the North Jersey guys only Sparacio played a leadership role under Stanfa. Piccolo of course continued in his role but even he lost a lot of influence by late 1992.


Pogo

I always figured those guys got spooked once bodies started dropping. Those guys managed to avoid being killed or being locked up in the 80s; I doubt they were willing to take that risk again.

You gotta think most of those were in mid to late 60’s, they probably kicked up or were half way retired,but didn’t want to get involved in all the bullshit that was happening between Stanfa-Merlino. They probably stood on the sidelines and let things play out

[Philly d]

There seems like there are quite a few number of made guys that you don't hear about anymore. Are there ones staying under the radar?

[NJShore4Life]

Frank DePasquale is a fully practicing lawyer. He is also Johnny Chang's first cousin.

[NJShore4Life]

That's extremely under the radar if you ask me.........

[dack2001]

He's been working behind the scenes on local cases and "second chairing" some of the bigger cases for years.