Gangland:5/12/16

[Dellacroce]

May 12, 2016 This Week in Gang Land
By George Anastasia

Trump and the Mob; The Atlantic City Story

As Donald Trump moves ever closer to securing the Republican presidential nomination expect more to be written about his possible "mob connections." Like so much else during this political campaign, the story is based on spin and speculation.

In March, Gang Land looked at some of Trump's alleged mob ties to the late Genovese wiseguy Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno, as well as The Donald's close links to Roy Cohn, the late New York powerbroker who also represented Fat Tony and other top wiseguys.

This week we'll focus on Atlantic City, the struggling South Jersey resort where Trump once owned three casino-hotels and where his name, scrawled in big, red letters across his properties, dominated the skyline.

"Trump is Trump," said mobster-turned government-witness Ron (Big Ron) Previte who operated in Atlantic City in the 1980s when Trump first arrived on the scene there. "He didn't need us."

Previte, a Philadelphia cop who became a wiseguy and a man whose politics skew hard right, made it clear that he would like to see a President Trump. He said he knew of no major Trump-mob connections on the Boardwalk and that Trump's dealings in Atlantic City were no different than any other developer.

Many of those dealings were written about back then and are being revisited now.

In 1985, Trump bought a piece of Atlantic City property from the young sons of two Philadelphia mobsters. Some national news outlets covering the current campaign have raised questions about the deal and have incorrectly opined that the land became part of his first casino-hotel.

In fact, the property, on the corner of Missouri and Pacific Avenues, was adjacent to what was to become the Trump Plaza. Salvatore Testa and Frank Narducci Jr. owned the corner lot in question which was the site of a small nightclub called the Le Bistro.

Testa, then just 22, and Narducci, 25, bought the bar in 1978 for $250,000. Testa's father was Philip (Chicken Man) Testa, the underboss of the Philadelphia crime family. Frank (Chickie) Narducci Sr. was a capo in the organization.

New Jersey authorities, ever on the watch for mob incursions into the then-bustling casino city, immediately began to question the Le Bistro purchase. Neither Sal Testa nor Narducci Jr. had jobs at the time and the supposition was they were fronting for their fathers.

After a long and protracted investigation, the New Jersey Division of Alcohol and Beverage Control turned down the young mobsters' application for a liquor license.

In effect, they were stuck. They owned a bar in Atlantic City but they couldn't sell booze.

Trump came along around this time and was buying up the block. He would eventually build the parking garage there for his casino-hotel.

Location is everything, they say in the real estate game. Salvie Testa and Frank Narducci Jr. could attest to that. They sold their property to Trump for $1.1 million, more than four times what they had paid for it.

It was a typical real estate transaction at a time when land speculators had turned Atlantic City into a real life Monopoly game. The deal was scrutinized by law enforcement authorities and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement which ultimately raised no objections to Trump's casino license application.

A state investigator at the time just shook his head at the irony. By denying Testa and Narducci a liquor license, the state had paved the way for their million dollar deal.

"We sure showed them," he said.

There also have been reports that Trump used Scarf Inc. as the cement contractor on his Atlantic City projects. Scarf Inc. was owned by mob boss Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo and his nephew and underboss Philip (Crazy Phil) Leonetti.

Scarfo became crime family consigliere after Angelo Bruno was killed in 1980. A year later, when Bruno's successor Chicken Man Testa was killed, Scarfo became boss.

As the refreshed and re-invigorated Ask Andy noted last week, Testa was killed when a nail bomb planted under his front door was detonated on March 15 — the Ides of March — 1981. His murder was later immortalized by Bruce Springsteen who, on his song "Atlantic City," croons "They blew up the Chicken Man last night."

It was the start of one of the bloodiest periods inthe history of the Philadelphia mob.

Frank Narducci Sr. was suspected of orchestrating the Phil Testa murder. Within a year Narducci was dead, gunned down on Scarfo'sorders by Salvie Testa. The younger Testa, handsome, charismatic and born to be a mobster, was featured in a front page article in the Wall Street Journal that described him as a rising star in the Philadelphia mob. The ever-paranoid Scarfo, who owed his career to Phil Testa, nevertheless decided that Salvie Testa had to go.

Testa was killed in 1984, set up by his best friend and dispatched with a bullet to the head. It was part of a reign of terror launched by Scarfo in which nearly two dozen made mobsters and associates were killed. Two of Scarfo's shooters during that internecine blood bath were the brothers Phil and Frank Narducci Jr., the sons of the capo who had been a behind-the-scenes partner with Phil Testa in the Le Bistro deal and who had been killed by Sal Testa on Scarfo's orders in 1982.

So much for family loyalty in the City of Brotherly Love.

Scarfo called most of these shots while running his cement contracting business in Atlantic City.

Scarf Inc. got most of the casino contract cement work back in those days after the word went out that in order to avoid labor problems, general contractors would be wise to sub the cement work to Scarf Inc. and the rebar work to a company controlled by mob brothers Salvatore and Lawrence Merlino.

As Gang Land noted back in March, Trump had done business with S&A Concrete in Manhattan, a company owned by Fat Tony Salerno and Paul Castellano. In Atlantic City, it was Scarf Inc. It's the way the game was being played and to read a genuine mob link into those deals would be to indict nearly ever casino developer in the early days of the gambling boom.

It can also be said that every casino hotel, including Trump's, hired members of mobbed-up Local 54 of hotel workers union to staff their properties. There was no other option. Scarfo had behind-the-scenes control of what would become the biggest and most powerful labor union in the city. And it wasn't until the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil RICO and put a monitor in place to run Local 54 in the early 1990s that the mob's control was eliminated. The Justice Department portrayed the casino-hotel owners as targets not partners of the mob.

There is also the Donald Trump - Robert LiButti connection.

The story, reported first on Yahoo.news and then by U.S. News and World Report, centered on LiButti, a high rolling gambler who once boasted that he was an associate of the late John Gotti.

LiButti was a thoroughbred horse trader and a self-described degenerate gambler who dropped piles of money at the Atlantic City casinos. Millions by his own estimate.

And as a result, he received special treatment — comps and perks and access to people and places that your average gambler didn't get. LiButti was what they call a "whale."

Trump has denied knowing LiButti, a fact that LiButti's daughter, in an interview with Yahoo.news, has refuted. She claims that both she and her late father were treated to rides on the Trump helicopter, that Trump attended her birthday party at one of his casino-hotels and that she and her dad later socialized with The Donald and others on one of Trump's yachts.

Trump, through a spokesperson, told Yahoo that, "During the years I very successfully ran the casino business, I knew many high rollers. I assume Mr. LiButti was one of them, but I don't recognize the name."

If LiButti got favorable treatment it wasn't because of his "mob ties," but because he was a high roller. It's the nature of the casino business. To make more of it than that is to stretch the truth.

U.S. News and World Report pointed out that Trump's casino was fined more than $600,000 by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission for the excessive special treatment it afford LiButti in violation of casino regulations. This included giving LiButti nine luxury cars as comps, cars that he would later convert to $1.6 million in cash, the magazine reported. There was also paid vacations, jewelry and tickets to the Super Bowl, boxing matches and the theater.

Libutti, who died two years ago, was convicted of tax fraud in 1994 and sentenced to five years in prison. He was picked up on a tapped telephone boasting about his ties to Gotti, but later claimed he was only puffing and had no real connection to the mob boss.

In its report, Yahoo.news noted that "Trump's response to questions about LiButti underscores what critics say is a recurring theme in his career — a tendency to minimize or deny associations with unsavory characters with whom he has done business."

Trump has largely ignored the issue during the current campaign where, one could argue, the only unsavory characters he has been dealing with are fellow politicians.

Maybe it's part of his makeover, the move to be more presidential now that he's the likely Republican party choice for POTUS.

A few decades ago another well-heeled New Yorker found himself caught up in a somewhat similar situation as the Donald.

Morris Levy, a music industry impresario and the owner of Roulette Records, had been indicted along with several members of the Genovese crime family in what the feds said was a scam to rip off a secondary distributor for powerful MCA Records.

Gaetano (Corky) Vastola, DeCavalcante family mobster, was charged in the same case and documents showed links among Levy, Corky and then-Genovese crime family boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante. Levy died of natural causes before he could be brought to trial. Vastola was convicted.

In an interview after the indictment was announced, Levy was asked about his mob ties and whether he knew some of the gangsters named in the case.

"Sure, I know them," he said, pointing out that he was a businessman in New York and came in contact with all kinds of people.

Then he smiled and added, "I also know Cardinal Spellman. That don't make me a Catholic."

Mob Busters Say Merlino's Running The Philadelphia Show From Florida

Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino insists that he's put the wiseguy life behind him and that he's now concentrating on running his restaurant in Boca Raton (Merlino's), and enjoying his life in the sun.

"People live longer in Florida," he quipped shortly after his release from prison in 2011.

The South Philadelphia mobster was talking about the fine weather and laid back lifestyle he clearly enjoys in southern Florida where he relocated after completing a 14-year prison sentence for racketeering. But the comment brought a smile to those familiar with the fact that Merlino has spent a good part of his life bobbing and weaving in an underworld where mob bosses John Stanfa and Nicodemo Scarfo had both targeted him for death.

Life in the sun has been good, but there are those in law enforcement who believe Skinny Joey is still calling the shots in the City of Brotherly Love. They point out that George Borgesi, a top Merlino lieutenant, has made at least two trips this year to visit his old friend and that Merlino has flown into Philadelphia on several occasions, including a trip in early March to celebrate his birthday and another visit this month to attend the wedding of the daughter of a mob associate.

Merlino turned 54 on March 13.

During his birthday visit, friends took him to a restaurant for dinner and he and his entourage, including several mob associates who were part of his crew back in the day, were later spotted at the Sugar House Casino on Delaware Avenue in Philadelphia. Authorities believe everyone brought Merlino a birthday card and that he used some of the cash in those envelopes at the blackjack tables.

Ironically, he has been on the New Jersey casino exclusion list for years but to date is not barred from any Pennsylvania casino. That may now change. Unlike New Jersey gaming regulators, Pennsylvania authorities appear to take a reactive rather than proactive approach to the exclusion issue.

Only after a so-called "undesirable" is spotted in a casino does the state move to add that person to the list.

"It would be the best thing that could happen to him," said one law enforcement source familiar with Merlino's history of big bets and big losses. In a casino it's usually blackjack. But on the streets, his game of choice is sports. Merlino had a reputation for collecting when he won and walking away from the debt when he lost. In fact, there are those who claim several bookmakers in South Philadelphia have been waiting for years for Merlino to settle up.

More recently, sources say, Merlino did "very well" with the NCAA basketball tournament, riding his hometown favorite Villanova to a series of big payoffs.

Merlino is not talking to the media these days, but those around him say he is happy to be in Florida and off the radar of Philadelphia law enforcement.

"He just wants to be left alone," said one underworld source who knows him.

Meanwhile Borgesi has emerged as a street boss with his fingers in lots of pies.

"All legitimate," those around him say, as you might expect.

Home rehab construction is booming in sections of Philadelphia undergoing gentrification and Borgesi & Company have ties to construction and mortgage refinancing. Law enforcement is tracking the action and has made note of his trips to Florida and Boston where Merlino and company planted a flag in the late 1990s and where several mob associates loyal to the Philadelphia organization are still out and about.

"It's only a matter of time," said one investigator who predicted that the legitimate veneer is a cover. "They are who they are and they do what they have always done."

For now, it's wait and see.

Merlino is still a lightning rod for the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police organized crime units that track his movements whenever he is in town. It's unclear if he gets the same kind of attention in Florida where the living is easy and where the erstwhile mob boss is enjoying the sunshine.

Always an avid sports fan, Merlino spent his teenage years as a jockey, racing thoroughbreds at several Philadelphia area tracks. He would bring up that fact whenever he and friends got into a debate about Philadelphia sports teams, claiming — only half in jest — that he was "the only professional athlete" in the room.

Now he's taken up golf. But he'll never convince anyone that's his profession.

Appeals Court Turns Down Uncle Joe's Pals

Three Philadelphia mobsters tried and convicted in a 2013 racketeering case that had targeted then mob boss Joseph (Uncle Joe) Ligambi won't be coming home any time soon.

The trio, underboss Joseph (Mousie) Massimino, capo Anthony Staino and soldier Damion Canalichio, have lost arguments filed with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel has affirmed their convictions and the sentences imposed by trial Judge Eduardo Robreno.

Ligambi beat the case along with Borgesi, his nephew, and mob capo Joseph (Scoops) Licata. Ligambi and Borgesi were tried twice. The jury hung on some of the charges in the first trial.

Massimino, Staino and Canalichio, who remains a suspect in at least one unsolved mob murder, weren't as lucky.

In upholding their convictions, and their substantial prison terms, the Appeals Court cited the "implicit and explicit threats of physical violence" that were part of the gambling and loansharking operations tied to the three defendants.

Massimino was sentenced to 188 months, Canalichio to 137 and Staino to 97.

A seventh defendant, mob associate Gary Battaglini, is schedule to appear before Judge Robreno later this month to argue that his trial lawyer was ineffective and, among other things, failed to file an appeal on time.

Battaglini is currently serving a 96-month sentence.

The Appellate Court rejected every issue raised by lawyers for the three defendants, including Massimino's argument that a highly prejudicial letter he wrote from prison should not have been admitted as evidence. What's more, he argued, the content of the letter was misinterpreted.

The letter was written to a friend while Massimino was serving time in a New Jersey state prison on a separate racketeering-gambling conviction.

The appeals court ruled that prison authorities had the right to monitor Massimino's correspondence and to supply that letter to federal authorities because it was reasonable to assume that the letter "related to Massimino's ongoing participation in illegal (Cosa Nostra) activities."

The letter was read to the jury during the trial. In it, Mousie urged a friend to collect a $35,000 debt that Massimino said another man owed him.

"He better get my fuckin' money," Mousie wrote from his jail cell. "I don't care who the fuck he owes, he better get mine. The motherfucker owes me 35,000. I don't care if he has to rob a bank. He fuckin' better get my money."

In upholding the conviction, the appeals court also rejected Massimino's argument that the debt was personal and had nothing to do with mob activities.

Battaglini, should he win the right to file an appeal, is expected to make a similar argument, but on a much smaller scale. He has contended that while he was a bookmaker, his business was not mob related.

He has claimed, in legal papers he filed on his own behalf, that he was the victim of overzealous prosecutors who disregarded the rules in making the case against him. Among other things, he filed a civil suit from prison claiming that Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Labor, the lead prosecutor in the case, and FBI agent John Augustine had withheld and distorted evidence against him.

In the suit, Battaglini sought $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The suit was declared "baseless" and dismissed by a federal civil court judge within days of its filing.

Meanwhile, Uncle Joe, semi-retired, is living the leisure life of a South Philadelphia septuagenarian. He plays cards most days at a local mob clubhouse and authorities expect him to be heading to the Jersey Shore on a regular basis this summer. Like Merlino, he enjoys the slower paced life in the sand and sun.





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[Chucky]

Law enforcement is tracking the action and has made note of his trips to Florida and Boston where Merlino and company planted a flag in the late 1990s and where several mob associates loyal to the Philadelphia organization are still out and about.

This caught my attention more than anything else, and it raises a lot of questions.

Funny how he didn't mention the faction bullshit this time around.

[phatmatress777]

He always talks about that damn Bruce Springsteen song in almost every article


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[moneyman]

"Massimino, Staino and Canalichio, who remains a suspect in at least one unsolved mob murder, weren't as lucky."

What murder is Canalichio suspected of committing?

[Chucky]

Martorano

[B.]

Interesting that Borgesi has visited Boston. Shawn Vetere is a soldier up there and apparently is still in touch with people in South Philadelphia, including Borgesi's wife while Borgesi was incarcerated, though I would have zero clue if he's involved in anything illegal.

[Pogo The Clown]

You also got Robert Gentile up there and he has been making news recently.


Pogo

[Chucky]

Bobby Carrozza Jr was another guy pretty close with Borgesi & Luisi up in Boston

[SonnyBlackstein]

Meanwhile Borgesi has emerged as a street boss with his fingers in lots of pies.

Do we take this as Brogeai running things for Merlino. IE Streetboss, or just put this down to loose terminology?

[Chucky]

Meanwhile Borgesi has emerged as a street boss with his fingers in lots of pies.

Do we take this as Brogeai running things for Merlino. IE Streetboss, or just put this down to loose terminology?

Well he said a streetboss not the streetboss, but it's pretty clear he's top of the top guys, which Schratweiser alluded to in his piece about the housing boom in Philly.

[phatmatress777]

Sounds like he's a strong capo


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[B.]

Yeah, despite all of the talk about him losing his standing while he is in prison, he seems to have stepped right back into a similar spot that he was in before going away.

[moneyman]

Interesting didn't know he was a suspect, thought he was mainly a drug guy... who are the suspects in the Turchi murder? I know Nicodemo is a suspect in Gongs and Dipeitro

[Pogo The Clown]

who are the suspects in the Turchi murder?

Roger Vella implicated Joe Ligambi, Steve Mazzone, George Borgesi, Joe Massimino and Frank Gambino in that hit. I don't think it was reported what role they played though.


Pogo

[PHL_Mob]

I was under the impression that the Cassasanto bros (Stephen and John) were the guys on Martarano hit and then Canalchio and Nicodemo were on the Gongs hit... Is that not right? Maybe Damion C. was in the Long John hit as well and Stephen Casasanto was just a driver?