Philip Testa

[PHL_Mob]

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.

The Genovese Capo who stood up for Peter Casella and effectively got him a pass with The Chin was Carmine Battaglia. I believe they served time together in Atlanta during the 60s and 70s while Casella was doing a 20-year stretch for Heroin trafficking and they became close then.

[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.

The Genovese Capo who stood up for Peter Casella and effectively got him a pass with The Chin was Carmine Battaglia. I believe they served time together in Atlanta during the 60s and 70s while Casella was doing a 20-year stretch for Heroin trafficking and they became close then.

I've seen Battaglia ranked only as a soldier. I've seen some info he died in the late 70's. Do you know when he got a promotion? I know he was an old-school guy from Newark who was very close with Catena. Years before the Bruno hit,Battaglia spoke up in defense of Tony Bananas when he was trying to operate in Newark and stepped on Boiardo's toes.

[Teddy Persico]

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.

How so? Narducci would of killed Testa regardless.

[willychichi]

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.

Great info B, thanks for sharing it.

[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.

How so? Narducci would of killed Testa regardless.

I don't think he would of done it or at least not so quickly. If he kills Testa and Scarfo was underboss, I don't see Narducci taking the boss position even if he gets a pass for the murder from New York. Leonetti says Scarfo was the first choice for the top spot after Bruno's killing, but passed on it to give Testa his chance and Testa later 'thanked him' by not giving him the №2 spot. Also I think Narducci was banking on Casella's connections, to an extent, to ensure they get away with an unsanctioned hit, and to inherit him as boss, if he doesn't become the boss straight up. It was borderline suicide as it was and with Scarfo up there as second in command in Cassella's place it's a guaranteed suicide. A lot of whataboutism either way.