Was Angelo Bruno really a Robin Hood type boss?

Read quite a bit that says Angelo "The Gentle Don" Bruno was more of a Robin Hood type of Mobster, which means he conducted himself like an early mafioso, during the times when the Mafia started in Sicily. They say he was like Don Corleone, who didn't deal in drugs or kill anybody when he was boss unless there was no way around it. What's your take on it?

That's not true.Long John Martonrano's was one his right hand men but was never made because of his drug trafficking activities. Bruno's legitmate employment was through John (via vending) and according the everyones favorite Informant Phillip he was Angelo and John were partners in the drug game or at least Angelo was taking drug tribute payments from him along with Cherry Hill Gambino's via a small Sicilian clan in jersey

He was a smart business man and a good boss but I wouldn't say he was anything like Robin Hood. He was still a criminal and though he was called the gentle don he still sanctioned murders and committed other crimes and as already stated he made a lot of money from drugs mostly from Ray "Long John" Martorano but also from Harry Riccobene who was heavy into the drug trade. So while he may not have been a homicidal maniac like Scarfo and may have been a nice guy he certainly wasn't a Robin Hood figure by any means.

Angelo Bruno was a peaceful person for being a mafioso.
When his predeccessore Pollina was deposed by the Commission Bruno decided to don't whack him . He was a friend and relative of Carlo Gambino, and being born in Sicily, he preferred to do business and to earn in the shadows, he didn't want his men entered the drug bussiness , but accepted a share of the profits from associates and other criminals as Martorano. The Robin Hood fame was born with the violent power exercised by Scarfo, Stanfa, Merlino and Natale.

I remember reading Bruno ordered to kill somebody named Caruso for disrespecting Joe Rugnetta. Not just to take a beating or be quickly killed, but specified that he had to be strangled. With this, I think the Robin Hood comparison flies out of the window, he probably was just smarter than some others and thought killing too much isn't really necessary, but couldn't deny himself an occasional "pleasure".

think he was more a hypocrite. like he said he didn't want anything to do with the casinos but had millions sneakly invested in the first casino in a.c. I think it was called resorts? then he challegend scarfo every whichway for total control of the unions there probably the resson the Genovese did take him out and of course he treated the gambinos better then his guys. there one wiretap of sindone talking how rich he is and Bruno wouldn't let the guy retire guess he ran the biggest book in philly with Bruno and could get out to his horse farm out west. there was also a huge land grab in south florida he teamed up with carlo Gambino, did big paul go to the funeral or any bosses in 1980? or did all the outside families boycott.

Angelo Bruno, whose full name is Angelo Bruno Annaloro, had been boss of the Philadelphia family from approximately 1959 to 1980. Bruno, who was born in Villalba, Caltanisetta, Sicily, was 69 when he was killed. Although one of the nation's most powerful bosses, Bruno portrayed himself as a mere commission salesman for a tobacco products firm, John's Wholesale Distributors. During the 1970s, Bruno spent time in prison. He was called to testify before the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation and ordered to jail in October of 1970 for refusing to answer questions put to him by that agency. After limited releases because of illness in 1972 and 1973, Bruno was freed for an indeterminate period in mid 1973 because an alleged medical condition had worsened. He finally purged himself of contempt by answerinq the authority's questions in 1977. (He was questioned by the SCI the last time a few days before he was killed.)

Bruno's reputation for seeking negotiated solutions to problems, as opposed to aggression, may have begun with the circumstances surrounding his rise to power. A vacuum was created in the Philadelphia area in the late 1950s when Joseph Ida fled to Italy following an arrest and indictment arising from his attendance at the infamous Apalachin meeting. Ida designated his good friend Antonio Dominick Pollina as temporary boss of the Philadelphia family. In an attempt to consolidate power, Pollina plotted the murder of his principal rival, Bruno, and a "contract" for Bruno's murder was let by Pollina to Ignazio Denaro, Pollina's underboss. Denaro informed Bruno of the plot and Bruno told the Commission.

After hearing both sides in an arbitration proceeding, the Commission decided in favor of deposing Pollina and making Bruno the boss. Bruno was given the additional privilege of having Pollina murdered, but Bruno declined. Since then, Pollina has been an inactive member of the Bruno family.Excluding Pollina's temporary control of the Philadelphia crime family, Bruno was the fifth boss. Joseph Ida succeeded Joseph Bruno, no relation to Angelo, who operated the Philadelphia family from Bristol, Pennsylvania, and later from New Brunswick, New Jersey. He died in 1946. The second boss of the family, John "Nazone" Avena, was shot and killed in a gunfight in South Philadelphia in 1936. The first boss was Salvatore Sabella, who controlled the family from around 1911 to 1927. In 1927, Sabella was arrested and charged with murder as a result of a gunfight on Memorial Day in which two people were killed and four wounded. Sabella was acquitted of murder charges. An attempt was made to deport him in 1954, but he was not because of his poor health and advanced years. Sabella died in 1962.

Someone on this forum said that Bruno was a bloodthirsty boss. I can't find any info to corroborate it and it'd be great if someone could provide data here.

n.j. good post, good reading, thank you.

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Yea he nailed that copy and paste

You got a problem or something buddy!....Worry about yourself, that's all you need to do. It's real simple! Very simple!


Don't reply back either because i'm not gonna go that route, the back and forth shit.

Calm down fellas, we're here to discuss the gentle don

You're not the boss of this family. That was a reply. Lol who tells someone not to reply on the internet like it garnishes any power.

Everything that I have ever read about Bruno was positive in terms of his ability to boss without violence and get along with the other families. I think the story about Frankie Flowers typifies his old school ways. He allowed people to earn, and always shared in business opportunities with the other PA families (ie. Pittsburgh and D'Elia families). Today's bosses would do well to take some lessons from the bosses of yesteryear.

MY guess is he kept the violence down not because he was gentle, but because he didn't want too much heat form law enforcement. Dropping bodies is the best way to end up in prison. The NY families learned that 30 years later.

Of course. I agree with this a million percent. I always say this, but everything is relative to the era that you were active in. Bruno probably ordered more murders than most of the sitting bosses today.

Ok, that's what I mean. Someone somewhere (not necessarily on the BB) mentioned that Bruno was very secretive about the way he orchestrated hits. He would supposedly have the hitter not know where the mark would be disposed of. He would send in a separate team to take away the mark and dispose of them in secret locales. It was like a double or triple blind experiment or something. I'm not sure of the exact methodology, but it seemed like a "need to know basis" type of MO.

Don't make me come after you. I will send my best man. Joseph Lubrano is just dying to Lubricate someone. He will Lube you up six ways from Sunday. You will be so Lubed, and you will be slipping and sliding so much, that you won't know whether you're coming or going!

Ordering "necessary" hits as part of the ice and being a "violent" boss are two different subjects. You can order hits and not be considered particularly violent...ie. Bruno, Castellano, Gambino, etc....they ordered many hits but we're not considered violent Dons by any means.

Part of the life...not ice!

You know, I would just love it if you were really Joe Coffey

I could be...but I don't think I swear enough.

Dam right he did ,not only that he had a very good working relationship with a few bosses in NY not like today (a real working relationship)
Everybody says he was the gentle Don you bet he loved that shit ,he was connected to murders in all the states . The working relationship he had with Gambino is out there but he was tight with Profaci/Colombo family to the point of being involved it many killings and one of the "high profile" ones to boot.
Then there was the other family's north and west he was tight with.
Then they say he was generous ,he was in the early days(and a great business mind) but as soon as he became boss things changed .
The fact that he did not make guys kick up to him only at X-mas is true but he got "his" all at once or he got it when they came to him to start the racket.
This guy was just as treacherous and ruthless as the rest of them don't let anyone tell you different.

The other thing that I have always herd even as a young man is that Nick Scarfo was banished to A.C. never herd that from anyone that did not hear it from the NEWS .
Bruno was around often Georgia ave at Nicks house every summer for as long as I can remember.He kept Nick close ,You all know that him and Testa only got along for a short time(siggy thing) and Nick was Bruno's guy and ear to the street.

The guy had an oil tycoon in Italy whacked during the 60's.

In "I Heard You Paint Houses", Frank Sheeran relates the story of one of the five or so hits Bruno ordered. Sheeran, a union guy then was offered 10 grand by a Philly associate named "Whispers" DiTullio. Whispers told Sheeran he had invested in a linen supply business that supplied hotels. But the linen supply business wasn't making any money to return his investment. They had too much competition from a linen business in Delaware called Cadillac Linen Service. He told Sheeran to bomb the Cadillac Linen Service, or torch it to the ground, and told him it was Jewish-owned.

Those jews were partners of Angelo Bruno. Sheeran drove to Delaware, casing the Cadillac Linen Service, trying to figure out where to place a bomb or fire. The next day Felix "Skinny Razor" DiTullio (Scarfo's capo before he was banished) brought Sheeran in to a meeting with Bruno himself. Also at the meeting was Russell Bufalino. Bruno told Sheeran that the place he almost blew up was owned by Jewish mob members, his partners. Here's a quote that might be relevant.

"You get one mistake. Don't make another one. And thank you friend here. If it wasn't for Russ, I would't be wasting my time. I'd have let the Jews have you. What do you think they were made with, a finger? They're not going to let someone drive around their block and not check them out." The meeting when ends when Bruno and Bufalino tell Sheeran that they believe Whispers tried to get him in trouble and have him killed, setting up the linen job knowing he would be spotted. "It's your responsibility to take care of this matter by tomorrow morning. That's the chance you get. Capische?"

The next day Whispers DiTullio was gunned down. I don't think that Bruno was a pacifist by any means. He was a pragmatist. And occasionally, as seen with Whispers DiTullio and the Caruso hit, he was like any other mob boss, he really did order hits out of anger too.

I know guys like bruno and castellano were often described as business like bosses who dislike violence but thats kind of a fairy tale. Its True bruno wasnt bloodthirsty but he would order hits if he felt it was necessary and wouldnt think twice. Castellano ordered a ton of hits as well

Scarfo told everyone he was a greedy guy always keeping for himself. And he approved 3 hits for scarfo from 75 till he died. The crooked judge that contractor and his old bar partner. Wasn't that nice. Let the gambino brothers unload tons of herion in philly. He was like all the other bosses. Read when the books open he didn't make many guys. Likely to keep more pieces of the pie for himself.

And all these people say that Bruno did not like Nick ,not true and he was never banished to A.C.Bruno was close to Nick for what ever reasons.
The people that said this were news people half ass rats who did not know the real reasons.Look at the actions not the lies.

I'm curious serp maybe you can help me out pal. I think it's the mobsters episode where they say that Bruno hands Scarfo ten paper clips because that's all he is worth is ten paper clips. When they were in jail together.
They all make it like Bruno hated him. I was always curious about that relationship.

Was he a Robin Hood type boss? Sure, he was a robbin hood.

And if John Stanfa was driving him around that night, and he was shot from the rear/right hand side, why was he left leaning back?

All you see is bleeding. Where are the exit wounds?

I always wondered if stanfa played a part in that. Or at least knew it was coming. You have to think if he was his driver then he was at least somewhat close to Bruno. I was shocked that nothing ever came of stanfa from that incident.

You gotta wonder.

One might wonder if he was allowed to live because he was made privy to the decision to whack the don and consented to it somehow. He was not whacked that day, or thereafter, so it is definitely suspect.

Understood ,who said that ? who are they ? I am telling you from just what I seen with my eyes is diff. But these guys kill each other also.
Trace down who said that paperclip thing and see, I say that sounds like it sells papers or make TV shows....
Philly you know I don't read the papers and post whats on TV shows, so you really think Bruno if he did have those feelings would do THAT ....I say look at the actions over that next 10 or so years how Bruno was close to him.
Yea he was the boss and tried to move in on things but this is what they do ,you start a racket and if it is good it is the family's ,but if it is shit they say this is your baby....
I say the proof is in the actions,thats all for all I know Bruno may wanted him dead...
But his actions said diff and he even gave the green light for him to kill a Judge just sayin..

Yea that's true serp. I think it was judge Helfant I believe. Something like that. But with stanfa you would have thought that he would have been killed as well. I guess we will never know.

I I think he was spared by the New York family or families that were really behind the killing.... or he just got lucky , guys are getting older we may never find out

I was always interested in Bruno/Scarfo relationship. In the 1980 PA crime commission report, there is a wiretap transcript of Charlie Allen, who was an associate of bruno involved in dirty work. Now, before we get nuts here, this Allen guy went into Witsec and was later convicted of raping his stepdaughter. I don't believe Bruno was a robin hood; I believe he was as devious as any other mobster. He was low-key.

Back to Allen wiretap. He says that the family split right down the middle with Chickie Narducci and Phil Testa on one side and Angelo on the other. Leonetti touches on this in his book, saying Scarfo told Bruno, when Bruno came down to AC to ask him whose side he would be on, and Scarfo replied "one family, no sides". So, there was friction there. Testa was definitely into drugs, he had a 1974 heroin charge. And so was Tony Bananas. Apparently, Bruno was too, thru Long John and the Cherry HIll Gambinos, he just didn't share the profits.

I also read in another document, which I thought was credible, that Scarfo caught some irish guy watching him on Georgia Avenue. He knew the guy was a Bruno Associate and he told Bruno he would kill the fucking guy if he saw him again.

Bruno knew Scarfo was very capable, had a lot of friends in the family, and knew a lot of people in NYC, etc., through Jail, SKinny Razor, and others. There were 3 or 4 Picolos in the Bruno Family at the time and Scarfo was aligned with Testa.

As for the Stanfa thing, the only thing I read was that Barracuda Sindone and either Johnny Keys or Bananas Brother in-law went to see him in the hospital the day or night after the shooting and they were speaking. Leonetti's book gives reasons for him being spared.

Like Serp says, we may never know.

I have never had mob info ,I was not ever involved in there Bizz.But over herd many things .Thing is Bruno had a house here and was around often who knows what was what.
The big thing was the Sicilian /Calabrian thing is the factor in all of the Philly mob always has been.I know everyone calls Nick sr. crazy for the way he did things(Murders) but the reason was just that .The two factions,and all the deceit going way back.They have always been killing each other cos of it.He really was just a product of the Philly bosses before him.This is why he broke them all.
Testa did not get along with Bruno,I know this sounds crazy but true.Well in the very beginning they did.
This is where all the deceit came from the rest was $$$$$$.
I do believe that Bruno kept Nick close for that reason and all the things NickyWip said..
And the Irish guy story ,that is true and it was high alert on georgia ave and most of us got the word trickle down effect .That stuff was leaked .But not all the stuff I wish I had the answers for.

Wasn't Bruno out on bail for Rico shit. Think him harry hunch Joe Chang and a few others pat spirito all got indicted in 1980 and it all went to hell. In the end only Joe Chang and harry went to trial everyone else was murder.harry and Joe were found guilty so I'm guessing Bruno would have to. Just wonder what the case was on Bruno. Think it was loan sharking n gambling. Bruno put 2 guys under him that didn't have his best intentions. Tony n testa. Maybe he was slipping cause bambino was gone. Why didn't he break testa. I think tony c just was devious and greedy. And he just waited his turn he probably would have been boss or testas under. They were realty screwy 3. Think the NY family's were putting them against each other for a bigger piece of a.c. and in the end it worked. All 5 families just stroled in probably riggi to

Sorry to get off topic : P-Mac check your PM

WTF Serp. How you gonna cut everyone else out of the conversation and PM the PMAC?? Fuckers. Lol. I gotta take a dump anyhow.

I sent it to you get back to me.