Fifteen Philadelphia Family Members and Associates Indicted

[dack2001]

Amershire_Ed, you make good points. The main attack for the defense will be the tapes and the drug charges. The drug charges may hinge on the word of Persiano if all they have on tape is Dom is saying "do what you have to do" in a coded discussion, which will require Persiano testimony to de-code or they have Dom saying he could sell pills "if he had them". Since when is saying something like that a crime?

While you may think an undercover can interpret tapes without the guys who are wired up, this isn't a wiretap and reality is lot more difficult for a prosecutor. Besides the obvious question from the jury, why aren't you calling the guy involved in the conversation with Dom (which believe me, the jury will know if they are hiding AP), any undercover is speculating about the meaning of words in a conversation when the two principles aren't testifying. I doubt Dom's on tape saying to Persiano "yeah go sell whatever drugs you need but make sure you kick up".... I bet there is a lot of talking in code and they'll need AP to bring it into focus. That's where the weakness is and the pleas come into play. You don't sit on a case this long without it having some flaws.

[chin_gigante]

Lance was almost brought to the 2010 Gambino meeting until Ligambi was told to just bring Staino. If Lancellotti had gone and been picked up on tape I reckon they would have indicted him like they did with Licata and Fazzini.

Where did it come out not to bring MLance?

do you recall?

Stefanelli transcripts, I remember someone saying during the convo that Lance should really have been at the meeting but Ligambi was told to just bring one guy

[Cheech]

Thanks chin. Youre the man

[HoagieNose]

I still don’t get why they would trust a guy that wasn’t even made into their own family. Seems really stupid

[dack2001]

Sounds like Persiano, Piccolo and maybe Pelullo got made by a old-time member of the family on Scarfo's orders and then they were assigned or transferred to the Lucheses initially under Scarfo Jr. The boys downtown made a beef because none of them were officially released by Philly to go to the Lukes and Scarfo isn't the boss anymore. Some sort of a compromise was reached which got Persiano and Piccolo transferred back to the philly fold under Dom. Don't know what ended up with Pelullo but he's doing 30 years so it may not matter.

[newera_212]

In the indictment there is a Victor Deluca, any relations to the Scarfo era cooperator by the same name ?

Someone said earlier that it is the son.


Pogo

The son of the guy who was working with Riccobene and gunned down Monte with a rifle? That's crazy. It makes sense because it's a small world, but i always thought how crazy it was that Philly was so small. Seems like such a tight circle

[chin_gigante]

Think the 'old timer' who conducted the Persiano, Piccolo, Pelullo ceremony might be John Praino.

Just came to this educated guess through process of elimination. The thinking behind it is in my post here: viewtopic.php?p=163513#p163513

[jmack]

In the indictment there is a Victor Deluca, any relations to the Scarfo era cooperator by the same name ?

Someone said earlier that it is the son.


Pogo

The son of the guy who was working with Riccobene and gunned down Monte with a rifle? That's crazy. It makes sense because it's a small world, but i always thought how crazy it was that Philly was so small. Seems like such a tight circle

Correct. It seems both of their dad’s cooperated, but they chose the life.

[chin_gigante]

Also, when it comes to the 2015 ceremony, it should be pointed out that Ed Scarpo was right when he reported that Sonny Mazzone was one of the inductees.

https://www.cosanostranews.com/2016/03/ ... a.html?m=1

Scarpo said four of the five inducted at the ceremony were Mazzone, Anthony Borgesi, Anthony Accardo and Dacid Salvo. Hopefully we'll be able to find out soon if he was right about the others. Earlier this year Schratwieser described Accardo and Borgesi (along with Louis DeAngelo) as 'foot soldiers', though I'm not ready to jump on the wagon and have them listed as confirmed members yet.

[newera_212]

Also, when it comes to the 2015 ceremony, it should be pointed out that Ed Scarpo was right when he reported that Sonny Mazzone was one of the inductees.

https://www.cosanostranews.com/2016/03/ ... a.html?m=1

Scarpo said four of the five inducted at the ceremony were Mazzone, Anthony Borgesi, Anthony Accardo and Dacid Salvo. Hopefully we'll be able to find out soon if he was right about the others. Earlier this year Schratwieser described Accardo and Borgesi (along with Louis DeAngelo) as 'foot soldiers', though I'm not ready to jump on the wagon and have them listed as confirmed members yet.

Accardo has been "around" a long time. Like 20+ years. I'm surprised he wasn't made earlier

Is this making ceremony the exact one Ligambi was referencing 5 years prior when he said "let Joey make them when i come home, those are his guys?" Just from who was alleged to have been made, it sure seems like it

[Pmac2]

this john praino guy who may have run the induction of the guys for scarfo jr and sr. was he one of the guys inducted with george fresolone when he recorded his own induction in 1990? when the bosses in philly found out why didnt they kill him or fuck him up. hes a philly guy rite or did scarfo sr transfer him or something. thats crazy. you think he would have been scared. and no consequences. just inducting guys into the philly family without uncle joe or merlinos ok . i mean they kill alot of guys for less

[dack2001]

I don't buy John Praino being the guy. Big stretch there. Without the year that the making ceremony occurred its hard to get a guess on who it might be. Given Praino was unknown to almost everyone but Patty Specs when he got made I'd doubt he'd be taking calls from Scarfo and Scarfo Jr. and running a making ceremony. He had to also have connections with the Lukes to know he wouldn't get killed for doing the ceremony. My guess is it's either a guy who got locked up with Scarfo during the 80's and was out, maybe a guy like Santo Idone (though he died in 2005) or it was an under the radar old soldier still close to Scarfo willing to do the favor. if this case goes to trial we will find out I'm sure.

[Pmac2]

he lives in the bronx to it dont make much sense. he was a big book maker in the bronx what the hell is he even doing with the philly family. unless scarfo transferd him to vic amuso in prison and amuso just asighned him to a bronx luchese capo. weird. and i dont know how to spell asighn

[Pmac2]

quick serch he died a few years back 2013

[B.]

There's a picture of Ligambi walking with Borgesi and Salvo from twenty years ago.

They have strange protocol for inducting some guys.

It came out that Anthony Borgesi and Sonny Mazzone had to wait for their brothers to be free so they could sponsor them into the family, but it appears they had to wait even longer than that, meanwhile Grande was made before them.

When a sponsor is in jail or can't attend, the mafia normally has no problem having someone else step in as the sponsor. Mazzone has plenty of friends in the family and Anthony Borgesi's uncle has been the acting boss, but they had to wait for the brothers to personally do it.

The guys Merlino proposed must have been outsiders if Ligambi said he didn't know them. Most Philadelphia and Jersey people would be familiar to Ligambi's people. Makes you wonder if it's true they were recruiting new people from Florida and the Northeast, or somewhere else.

Joey Merlino has met with the Genovese and Lucchese families in NYC/NJ, goes everywhere with a Gambino associate, and meets any number of people in Florida. He seems to be living it up when he is free, but whenever we get a glimpse behind the curtain he is networking with top mafia families.