|
Steven Mazzone
Steven Mazzone (born 1964) is an American mobster and underboss of the Philadelphia crime family. After the family was decimated by prosecutions during the Nicodemo Scarfo and John Stanfa eras, Ralph Natale was released from prison in 1994. It was at this time Mazzone became a major organized crime figure in Philadelphia. Mazzone is a childhood friend of Joey Merlino. They both grew up in South Philadelphia and started their criminal careers together. According to Natale and law enforcement, Mazzone was inducted into the crime family in 1995 and made him a caporegime in 1996. Following Natale's 1998 arrest for drug trafficking, Merlino officially took over the family and become the new boss. However their reign was short. Mazzone was indicted and held without bail in 2000 along with Merlino, George Borgesi, and others for racketeering and murder. A year earlier, Natale, feeling slighted and now realizing he may have been a puppet for Merlino all along, decided to end his life as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Underboss
Underboss () is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian Mafia, Sicilian and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the Crime boss, boss. The underboss is also person-in-charge of all Caporegime, capos and its Soldato, soldiers. The underboss is sometimes a family member, such as a son, who will take over the family if the boss is sick, killed, or imprisoned. However the position of street boss has somewhat challenged the rank of underboss in the modern era. The position was installed within the Genovese crime family since at least the mid-1960s. It has also been used in the Detroit crime family and the Chicago Outfit. The power of an underboss greatly varies; some are marginal figures, while others are the most powerful individual in the family. Traditionally they run day-to-day affairs of the family. In some crime families, the appointment is for life. If a new boss takes over a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia Crime Family
The Philadelphia crime family, also known as the Bruno–Scarfo crime family, Joseph F. Sullivan, ''The New York Times'' (August 22, 1990) the Philadelphia–Atlantic City crime family,Atlantic City's Organized Crime Barrier Develops Major Fissures Margot Hornblower, ''The Washington Post'' (January 16, 1984) the Philadelphia Mafia, the Philly Mafia, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicodemo Scarfo
Nicodemo Domenico Scarfo Sr. (March 8, 1929 – January 13, 2017) also known as "Little Nicky", was an American mobster who served as boss of the Philadelphia crime family from 1981 to 1990. Infamously known for his murderous reputation, Scarfo led the family through its bloodiest period until his conviction in 1988. During his criminal career, Scarfo engaged in organized crime activities such as drug trafficking, extortion, labor union racketeering, and gambling. In 1988, he was convicted of multiple charges including conspiracy, racketeering, and first degree murder. His trial consisted of the damaging testimonies of several informants, who had carried out his murders. Scarfo died in prison on January 13, 2017, while serving his 55-year sentence. He was the father of Nicky Scarfo Jr., a Lucchese family soldier, who was sentenced in 2015 to 30 years in prison for security fraud, racketeering, and illegal gambling. Early life Scarfo was born on March 8, 1929 in Brooklyn, Ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Stanfa
Giovanni "John" Stanfa (; born December 7, 1940) is an Italian-born American mobster and former boss of the Philadelphia crime family from 1990 to 1995. Convicted of multiple charges in 1995, Stanfa was sentenced to life in prison. Early life Stanfa was born in 1940 in Caccamo, Sicily. In 1964, at the age of 23, Stanfa immigrated to the United States, and listed his occupation as a bricklayer. That same year, he married Nicolena Congialdi, and settled in New York City. By the late 1960s, the couple moved to Philadelphia. Mafia career According to law enforcement, when Stanfa arrived in New York City, his brothers and brother-in-law, who were made men in the Gambino crime family, introduced him to the family. The Gambino family leaders arranged for Stanfa to work for Angelo Bruno, the boss of the Philadelphia crime family. On March 21, 1980, Bruno was killed by a shotgun blast in the back of the head as he sat in his car in front of his home at the intersection of 10th Street ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Natale
Ralph Samuel Natale (March 6, 1935 – January 22, 2022) was an American mobster. He was the boss of the Philadelphia crime family from 1995 until 1999, when he became the first American Mafia boss to turn state's evidence. Natale helped sentence Joey Merlino to a 14-year sentence in 2001, but in January 2005, was also sentenced for racketeering, receiving a 13-year sentence. He was released in May 2011 and entered the witness protection program. Early life Natale was born on March 6, 1935, in South Philadelphia to Italian American parents; he had one younger brother. Natale's grandparents were Italian immigrants, and his paternal grandparents died in the 1918 flu pandemic in Philadelphia. Michael, Natale's father, was an associate of the Philadelphia crime family and operated a numbers operation for them. His relationship with his father was very poor; he had once repeatedly kicked him because Natale missed his curfew. Natale was mentored by hitman Felix "Skinny Razor" DiTulli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joey Merlino
Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 13, 1962) is an American former gangster, mobster who was the reputed boss (crime), boss of the Philadelphia crime family from the 1990s until 2024.Philadelphia Mob Puts Skinny Joey 'On A Shelf' Jerry Capeci, ''Gang Land News'' (September 12, 2024) He rose to power and seized control of the organization in the mid-nineties after he fought against the John Stanfa faction of the family. He has led the crime family in gambling, loan sharking, drug trafficking, and extortion. In comparison to other traditional mob bosses who shunned the limelight, Merlino has interacted regularly with the media and the public, often openly providing charity and hosting events to benefit indigent people in Philadelphia, drawing comparisons to the similarly outgoing, conspicuous, an ... [...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] |
Caporegime
A ''caporegime'' or ''capodecina'', usually shortened to ''capo'' or informally referred to as "captain", "skipper" or "lieutenant", is a leadership position in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia). A ''capo'' is a "made man, made member" of an Italian crime family who heads a ''regime'' or "crew" of soldato, soldiers and has major status and influence in the organization. ''Caporegime'' is an Italian word, used to signify the head of a family in Sicily. In general, the term indicates the head of a branch of an organized crime syndicate who commands a crew of soldiers and reports directly to the don (Crime boss, boss) or an underboss or street boss. The shortened version "''capo''" has also been used to refer to certain high-ranking members of Latin American drug cartels. Sources * Capeci, Jerry. ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia''. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. . * Pistone, Joseph D. ''Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia''. Pan Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Racketeering
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. The term "racketeering" was coined by the Employers' Association of Greater Chicago, Employers' Association of Chicago in June 1927 in a statement about the influence of organized crime in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Teamsters Union.David Witwer, "'The Most Racketeer-Ridden Union in America': The Problem of Corruption in the Teamsters Union During the 1930s", in ''Corrupt Histories'', Emmanuel Kreike and William Chester Jordan, eds., University of Rochester Press, 2004. Specifically, a racket was defined by this coinage as being a service that calls forth its own demand, and would not have been needed otherwise. Narrowly, it means coercion, coercive or fraud, fraudulent business practices; broadly, it can mean any criminal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Ligambi
Joseph Anthony "Uncle Joe" Ligambi (born August 9, 1939) is an American mobster and former acting boss of the Philadelphia crime family. Ligambi is known among law enforcement circles to have a more "old school" approach, in sharp contrast to boss Joseph Merlino's, flamboyant, high-profile style. Ligambi was credited by the Philadelphia Police Department's Criminal Intelligence Unit with "quietly bringing stability back to the troubled Philadelphia-South Jersey branch of the American Mafia" during the 2000s. The New York Mafia families were pleased with Ligambi and his approach, as well as his ability to turn the Philadelphia crime family back into a stable group. Early life Ligambi was born on August 9, 1939, in South Philadelphia, one of four children born to Italian immigrant parents. His father was a cab driver. He attended South Philadelphia High School before dropping out his junior year to join the United States Air Force, where he eventually earned his high school diploma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Merlino
Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 13, 1962) is an American former gangster, mobster who was the reputed boss (crime), boss of the Philadelphia crime family from the 1990s until 2024.Philadelphia Mob Puts Skinny Joey 'On A Shelf' Jerry Capeci, ''Gang Land News'' (September 12, 2024) He rose to power and seized control of the organization in the mid-nineties after he fought against the John Stanfa faction of the family. He has led the crime family in gambling, loan sharking, drug trafficking, and extortion. In comparison to other traditional mob bosses who shunned the limelight, Merlino has interacted regularly with the media and the public, often openly providing charity and hosting events to benefit indigent people in Philadelphia, drawing comparisons to the similarly outgoing, conspicuous, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WTXF-TV
WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market Street in Center City and a primary transmitter on the Roxborough tower farm, with a secondary transmitter on South Mountain in Allentown. Channel 29 is the longest continuously operated Philadelphia UHF station, since May 16, 1965, as WIBF-TV from studios in the suburb of Jenkintown. WIBF-TV was owned by the Fox family alongside WIBF-FM 103.9. It was the first of three new commercial UHF outlets that year, broadcasting as an independent station focusing on community and sports programming. Taft Broadcasting purchased channel 29 in 1969 and renamed it WTAF-TV. Under Taft, the station slowly emerged as the leading independent station in the Philadelphia market with popular sports coverage, movies, and syndicated programs. The station was the broadcast outle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
