The Riccobene War

I was wondering if anyone out there can shed some light on what the fued between him and Scarfo was really over and if anyone else in the Philadelphia crime family was siding with Riccobene over Scarfo. I have seen the TV special on Phil Leonetti and all he says was that " Riccobene broke every rule in Cosa Nostra". I have also heard that Scarfo was demanding a tribute sum that the Riccobene faction thought was too high and they refused to pay but I have not heard anything from a reliable source.

Thank you for your time.

Harry the Hunchback was always a very interesting figure to me, having been made by Bruno at the ridiculous age of 17/21 or (tellingly, at least) there about, and sticking around under more or less his own aegis for decades until, of course, Little Nicky got pissed off at how Riccobene had for so many years been "getting away" with kicking up what seemed like a paltry sum from such a big & well-known earner.

George Anastasia has written a bit on him & the conflict with Scarfo; Blood & Honour seems by consensus to be the best account, although he touches on Riccobene in Last Gangster.

Allen May has written about it, & references the numerous guys Scarfo tapped to take him out, like Pat the Cat Spirito & Nicky the Crow, as well as Frank Monte & Long John Martorano's tapping Harry's brother Mario, who of course promptly alerted Harry. In essence, though, it seems like it was pretty much Harry & his fiercly loyal crew against pretty much the entire Scarfo combine. In which case Harry did pretty well, considering.
http://www.crimemagazine.com/serving-harry-riccobenescarfo-war

Theres a fair few fansites about the guy too. Some peole gush over guys like Riccobene, being one of those "old-school" archtypes like Bruno/Catena/Gambino era gangsters of "the good old days", which is of course a completely fictitious statement.
Granted, five ft. whatever Harry "The Hump/Hunchback" Riccobene is one of those gangsters we like to think "could have succeeded at anything", but for the fact that the choices they did make invariably ended them up in prison. There are some good photos of him in public record, whcih sites like this one make good use of;
http://phillymobspot.blogspot.com/2008/10/harry-was-no-hump.html

The one of him surrounded by several guards just towering over him is a classic.

He wasn't made by Bruno, he was made by Sabella or Avena. Bruno wasn't a made guy till only a few years before becoming boss, a lot of people dont know that.

There you go, I didnt know that. Many sources say Bruno, but considering it was in the 30's it is obviously much more likely to have been Sabella or Avena, seeing as Bruno was'nt even boss back then. Thanks PhillyKid.

Obviously, for good reasons, Scarfo had the well earned reputation of being an indiscriminate killer. However, technically, he was perfectly within his rights to demand tribute from Riccobene. Scarfo was the boss and had been approved by New York. I really have no idea how much of a cut Scarfo wanted and maybe that was part of the problem. Demanding too much is what initially caused the rift between Amuso and Casso and the Jersey faction of the Lucchese family. Anyway, maybe a more subtle and reserved boss might have tried to meet with Riccobene and come to an agreement peacefully. Of course that wasn't Scarfo's style.

Riccobene and Nicky were never on good terms. Nicky was technically right, Riccobene was a member of LCN and Nicky was entitled to a cut of his profits since he was Boss.

Say what you want about Nicky but he was a master of LCN politics and just about every murder he sanctioned was justified under the politics and rules of LCN. I hate how he is compared to Gotti. Scarfo followed the rules of LCN to the tee and was a very shrewd labor racketeer; he wasn't just some tough guy like Gotti.

General consensus says that Bruno was made in 34; with Sabella stepping down by 31 (as reported by Capeci in "Idiots Guide") it would seem by Avena. Bruno was not made boss until 59, so it would seem Bruno had been made for over two decades by that point...?

Bruno was not made until 1955. I read it in one of those fbi documents on http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page. A lot of good LCN intelligence reports from the 1960s. I'll try and find a direct link to that specific doc, might take me a bit, it's not an easy site to navigate.

I see what you mean about navigating. Thanks but. Interesting site.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=141818&relPageId=10

There's the link, Mickey. Oddly enough, based on the information given in this particular document...the informant is likely Harry Riccobene. Also in Blood & Honor, Chuckie Merlino accuses Riccobene of being an informant as well.

Wow! Great find dude. Theres some awesome info in that. Thanks for linking!

See, thats why I like this site. For the guys that not only post info, but can back it up! Seriously, thanks again. This'll keep me busy for a while!

Hey, man I'm glad you enjoyed it.

You know the more I read of Bruno the less I am impressed? When he took over as boss there were over 100 made members, but stopped making members almost completely. They barely had 50 by the time he was killed. He also never got involved with labor construction, Scarfo was the one who expanded the family in that. No involvement in drugs, yet he allowed the Gambinos to deal in his territory for a percentage. Essentially no politic connections whatsoever.

He simply appeased factions, tried to keep things as quiet as possible, but when you read up on the Philly family a lot of guys were struggling to get by towards the end of the Bruno era. He and Testa had a falling out in '78, Testa openly disobeyed orders and order murders behind Bruno's back. He virtually did nothing with the AC casinos or AC for that matter. The organization was very loose, not centralized at all. In terms of money being brought in, it's very obvious the family peaked under Scarfo.

Sure, Scarfo formed some political contacts, had HEREU Local 54, and consolidated the Philly mob to a degree. But one could also argue that from Bruno's killing on was the beginning of the end. All the murders, the rats, the power vacuums which led to more murders, which led to more rats....