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Salvatore Testa
Salvatore A. "Salvie" Testa (March 31, 1956 – September 14, 1984), nicknamed "The Crowned Prince of the Philadelphia Mob", was an Italian-American mobster who served as a caporegime and later acting underboss for the Philadelphia crime family. Testa made his reputation as a hitman for the Philadelphia family during a period of internal gang conflict. The son of former boss Philip “The Chicken Man” Testa, Salvatore Testa was an emerging figure in the mob until he was killed on the orders of boss Nicodemo Scarfo. Biography Born on March 31, 1956, in Southwest Philadelphia, Testa was the son of Alfia Arcidiacono (1926–1980) and Philip "Chicken Man" Testa (1924–1981), a member of the Philadelphia crime family who served under Angelo Bruno. In 1974, he graduated from Saint John Neumann High School and he attended Temple University in Philadelphia for a year, before going into the real estate business. Testa had one sister, Maria, who managed a Center City nightclub and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is the urban core of the Philadelphia metropolitan area (sometimes called the Delaware Valley), the nation's Metropolitan statistical area, seventh-largest metropolitan area and ninth-largest combined statistical area with 6.245 million residents and 7.379 million residents, respectively. Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Americans, English Quakers, Quaker and advocate of Freedom of religion, religious freedom, and served as the capital of the Colonial history of the United States, colonial era Province of Pennsylvania. It then played a historic and vital role during the American Revolution and American Revolutionary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crime Boss
A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, mafia don, mob boss, kingpin, or godfather is the leader of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss has absolute or nearly absolute control over the other members of the organization and is often greatly feared or respected for being willing to use criminal means to exert their influence and gain profits from the criminal endeavors in which the organization engages.Manning, George A. ''iarchive:financialinvesti0002mann, Financial Investigation and Forensic Accounting.'' Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2005. Some groups may only have as little as two ranks (a crime boss and their soldiers). Other groups have a more complex, structured organization with many ranks, and structure may vary with cultural background. Organized crime enterprises originating in Sicily differ in structure from those in mainland Italy. American groups may be structured differently from their European counterparts and Latino and African American gangs oft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1956 Births
Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are killed for trespassing by the Waorani people of Ecuador, shortly after making contact with them. * January 16 – Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser vows to reconquer Palestine (region), Palestine. * January 25–January 26, 26 – Finnish troops reoccupy Porkkala, after Soviet Union, Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4. * January 26 – The 1956 Winter Olympics open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. February * February 2 – Austria and Israel establish diplomatic Austria–Israel relations, relations. * February 11 – British Espionage, spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean (spy), Donald Maclean resurface in the Soviet Union, after being missing for 5 years. * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italian Market, Philadelphia
The Italian Market is the popular name for the South 9th Street Curb Market, an area of South Philadelphia featuring awning covered sidewalks, curb carts, grocery shops, cafes, restaurants, bakeries, cheese shops, butcher shops, etc., many with an Italian influence. The historical heart of the market is the area of 9th Street between Christian Street and Washington Avenue,Historical Society of Pennsylvania Phila Place - 9th Street Market (hsp.org/default.aspx?id=1077) the commercial district chartered in 1915, the South Ninth Street Business Men's Association, covered the area between Catharine to Federal and Eighth to Tenth streets, and the market is now generally considered to extend from Fitzwater Street at the north to Federal Street at the south. The term Italian Market is also used to generally describe the surrounding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States House Committee On The Judiciary
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, federal administrative agencies, and federal law enforcement entities. The Judiciary Committee is often involved in the impeachment process against federal officials. Because of the legal nature of its oversight, committee members usually have a legal background, but this is not required. In the 119th Congress, the chairman of the committee is Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio, and the ranking minority member is Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland. History The committee was created on June 3, 1813, for the purpose of considering legislation related to the judicial system. This committee approved impeachment resolutions/ articles of impeachment against presidents in four instances: against Andrew Johnson ( in 1867), Richard Nixon ( in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loansharking
A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of collection, and generally operates outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, aggressive, and extortionate actions when seeking to enforce the satisfaction of the debt. As a consistent or repeated illegal business operation or " racket", loansharking is generally associated with organized crime and certain criminal organizations. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot use the legal system to collect such debts, thus they often resort to enforcing repayment by terms of blackmail and threats of violence. Historically, many moneylenders skirted between legal and criminal activity. In the recent western world, loan sharks have been a prominent feature of the criminal underworld. Loan sharking is not to be confused with predatory lending with extremely high interest rates such as payday or title loans, which is s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salvatore Merlino
Salvatore Joseph "Chuckie" Merlino (June 29, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an American mobster who was a member of the Philadelphia crime family. He served as underboss for Nicodemo Scarfo from 1981 to 1986. Biography Merlino was born on June 29, 1939, in the Ducktown district of Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was married to Rita Giordano, and fathered five children, Joey, Natale, Maria, Liza Ann and Jason. Merlino's brother Lawrence, was also a mobster who later turned government witness. He was charged along with Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo with the July 1963 stabbing murder of William Dugan. Merlino was acquitted, while Scarfo was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the case.Organized Crime in America p. 159 |
Nail Bomb
A nail bomb is an anti-personnel explosive device containing nails to increase its effectiveness at harming victims. The nails act as shrapnel, leading almost certainly to more injury in inhabited areas than the explosives alone would. A nail bomb is also a type of flechette weapon. Such weapons use bits of shrapnel ( steel balls, nail heads, screws, needles, broken razors, darts and other small metal objects) to create a larger radius of destruction. Nail bombs are often used by terrorists, including suicide bombers since they cause larger numbers of casualties when detonated in crowded places. Nail bombs can be detected by electromagnetic sensors and standard metal detectors. Nail-bomb incidents Pre-2000s * On 6 March 1970, in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, three members of the Weather Underground were killed in the accidental explosion of a nail bomb intended to be set off at a non-commissioned officers dance at the Fort Dix, New Jersey Army base. * S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Girard Park
Stephen Girard Park is a park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the South Philadelphia neighborhood of Girard Estate, bounded between West Shunk, West Porter, 21st, and 22nd Streets. Originally it was part of two parcels of land that Stephen Girard purchased in 1797–1798, aggregating seventy-five acres in what was then Passyunk Township, Pennsylvania, which Girard developed into a farming enterprise that grew to . In 1831 Stephen Girard died, leaving most of his immense estate to "the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of Philadelphia", including his country mansion, Gentilhommerie. By the 1920s, urban development had reached the area, but because Girard's will stipulated that the estate could not be sold, the city initially developed the surrounding area as rental houses. In 1951, the City received permission from Orphans Court to sell the 1920s houses and to transfer the park surrounding the mansion to the City's Fairmount Park Commission. File:Stephen Girard Park 2101 Shunk S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west."." ''City of Philadelphia''. Retrieved November 8, 2008. A diverse working-class community of many neighborhoods, South Philadelphia is well known for its large Italian-American population, though it also contains large Asian-American, Irish-American, African-American, and Latino populations. History South Philadelphia began as a satellite town of Philadelphia, with small townships such as Moyamensing and Southwark. Towards the end of the First Industrial Revolution, the area saw rapid growth in population and urban development. This expansion was in part due to an influx of working class laborers and immigrants looking for factory jobs and dock work, as well as the first wave of mass immigration of Irish refugees or impoverished immigrants from Ireland in the wake of the Great Ir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Initiation Ritual (mafia)
To become a member of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra (both the original Sicilian Mafia or the Italian-American offshoot often known as the "American Mafia")—to become a "man of honor" or a "made man"—an aspiring member must take part in an initiation ritual or initiation ceremony. The ceremony involves significant ritual, oaths, blood, and an agreement to follow the rules of the Mafia. The first known account of the ceremony dates back to 1877 in Sicily.Gambetta, ''The Sicilian Mafia'', pp. 146-53 The typical sequence of the ceremony, according to several distinct descriptions, has common features. First, the new recruit is led into the presence of other members and presented by a member. The association is explained, including its basic rules, then the recruit's finger is pricked with a needle by the officiating member. A few drops of blood are spilled on a card bearing the likeness of a saint, the card is set on fire, and finally, while the card is passed rapidly from hand to hand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Mafia
The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian-American criminal society and organized crime group. The terms Italian Mafia and Italian Mob apply to these US-based organizations, as well as the separate yet related Sicilian Mafia or other organized crime groups in Italy, or ethnic Italian crime groups in other countries. These organizations are often referred to by its members as Cosa Nostra (, "Our Thing" or "This Thing of Ours") and by the American government as La Cosa Nostra (LCN). The organization's name is derived from the original ''Mafia'' or ''Cosa Nostra'', the Sicilian Mafia, with "American Mafia" originally referring simply to Mafia groups from Sicily operating in the United States. The Mafia in the United States emerged in impoverished List of Italian-American neighborhoods, Italian immigrant neighborhoods in New York's East Harlem (or "Italian Harlem"), the Lower East Si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
