Salvie Didn't see it Coming??!!

I just re-watched a good documentary on youtube on Philly called "mob Hitmen". There are interviews with Caramandi and he talks about the hit on Salvie, Iv'e heard it a dozen times but this time I found myself thinking: by all accounts Salvie knew he was in line for being hit, he was described as being extremely cautious and according to Caramandi they had already tried and failed something like 17 times to hit him. How then did he not think it likely that it was a set-up? Invited to a closed candy store in the middle of the night? Also I know Pungitore (best friend) was used to lure him there, but it wasn't just him there in the candy store, seems Caramandi, Pungitore and Grande were there (others maybe?) I wonder if he was suspicious? Or maybe it was like in the movie version of Donnie Brasco where Al Pacino takes off his jewelry and takes his money out of his pocket and leaves for a meet he knows he won't come back from.

Side note: Always been fascinated in history, I give big props to any of the great Philly posters and locals on here who can help me. The candy store was said in the documentary to be on Passyunk Avenue, called something like "something Sweet" I'm guessing its not around anymore but I would love to know the address and what is there now thanks!

Caramandi wasn't there. He was apart of a clean up crew after the fact, but I don't even think he was involved with that, because in "Blood & Honor" he mentions being told about how stiff Salvie's body was, because he'd been laying there for the entire day and how difficult it was to move his body, not only because he was heavy but because rigamortis had already begun to set in.

And I'm guessing Salvie simply didn't expect that his best friends, those in his crew would do that to him, most notably Joey Pungitore. Perhaps he felt with Joey Pung there, all would be safe because his best friend since childhood couldn't possibly be the one to set him up. He thought wrong. And when Salvie went to go hug Wayne Grande, he did his typical patting down at the same time, and didn't feel any weapons on Grande, so perhaps he felt especially safe after that, only to turn around and have his lights put out.

Salvie was lured to Something Sweet candy store at 1613 E Passyunk Avenue which was under construction at the time and was owned by an associate of the Grande's who ended up being a big player in the Stanfa mob but also big associate during the Scarfo years named Gary Tavella. I believe he is still around but not sure if he's active anymore? His wife owned and operated that deli Vincenzo's Deli on like 8th and Mountain I want to say. Anyways, Something Sweet closed years back and is a restaurant on Passyunk now.

This much is true..the restuarant that now is there is very reputable..the only humans present @ the time of the 2shots in the back of the head of poor Salvie were pung,wayne grande (the triggerman),& joey grande.. the gun was hidden in a couch during the patdown..it all happened very quick @ 1;45 in the afternoon..they locked up the shop ,& crow ,charlie white returned 2 pick up the body around 7;30 that night,w/tommy horsehead as a blocker,& charlie whites kid as a cleaner, finally dropped the body @ sickelerville & clements rd.( SICKINING)!!

Note: I doubt did the crow & white know that where they dropped salvie was right outside his little ranch that he kept yrs. earlier his horses & a local mistress.

Very true except he was dumped on Sicklerville and Garwood Rd. It was right across the street from where I grew up. There used to be a bunch of sand dunes there where we used to play as kids.

Right on J Mac and it was in the vicinity of Salvi's family's old place .

I read the Leonetti book; the question is what salvie should how to do ?
Escape from philly ? Began a war against scarfo or try to whack him ? Salvie was cosa nostra to the bones maybe as Sonny black decide to don't flip and accept his fate.

Salvie didnt deserve to go like that, such a sad story , made a bunch of guys question the life.

alot of it was his own fault he was naive and i have little sympathy for him.

He knew scarfo and he knew how that mob worked i dont know what he expected when he broke of with chuckies daughter and from guys like the crow and leonetti he only went out with her because she was chuckies daughter.



He was dealing drugs and philip says that but he was delighed when salvie got killed i dont remember word for word but he told charlie white and crow he was happy that salvie was getting killed. Tommy del is the biggest bullshiter of them all he manipulated the whole salvie murder chuckie got him to beef on salvie to scarfo same with faffy tommy del was happy when testa got whacked he got a promotion.


You have to see from scarfos eyes he is based in ac and was in prison when this happened. All his guys were pushing for him to get whacked his best friend and underboss chuckie lawrence in ac tommy del and faffy they all beefed.


Only guy who i think the murder really had a effect on was gino he was a testa guy



did not deserved it? the guy was a nutjob just like scarfo them two are more similar than people realize

The guy was a psychopath, not some innocent kid people on here make him out to be.

so true the guy was a psychopath maybe even worse than scarfo during the riccobone war he ordered tommy del faffy the crow and charlie white to drive past the riccobones house where they were having a family dinner well faffy goes salvie there family are going to be there kids wives cousins etc salvie says fuck them kids die everyday. This guy wanted them to kill the entire family the kids biggest psychos ever in philly. this guy deserves no sympathy he and scarfo are some the biggest psychopaths in philly history


He was murder 24/7 testa just like scarfo and like i said above naive and no sympathy the guy deserved what he got

fuck leonetti aswell he never told the whole testa story he knows he helped manipulate his friends murder

Serp,What's up..Merry Christmas...did u get my pm??..anyways, hope ur ok & such,u have' nt posted much recently.hope ur enjoying this weather down there.

GR,don't believe all u read,,1rst off..salvie was NOT dealing drugs,phil even mentioned it in an on air interview,2nd, scarfo was out of latuna when it went down,they threw a party that night at la cucina on south st.,3rd, they all knew that if scarfo could whack his godson street boss,then NOBODY was safe..look @ the big picture young man.

While Salvie WAS a sociopath. He really didn't bring it upon himself. He was loyal to Nicky and the regime 100%, Idk if he was ever truly dealing drugs, but's that's something that Faffy Iannerella & Tommy Del began feeding to Nicky, among other things like Salvie was thinking of breaking off and starting his own family. The situation with Merlino's daughter didn't help, but the guy was in love with someone else, what was he supposed to do? Marry her anyway and have a goomah, but with Chuckie's temper and his drinking at the time, there was no telling what he'd do in that situation either. And he would've let it all go had Salvie started from scratch and just went back to being a soldier. That most likely meant relinquishing all of his rackets, to Iannerella & Tommy Del, Chuckie's guys. So really it was all probably business driven, and Salvie wouldn't step down. And with Philly and their treachery, it was obvious what would happen next. But I don't think he brought that situation on himself.

And as far as the "kids die everyday" comment, Salvie didn't say that. However he is quoted as saying that he didn't care who was in house and that they could all die". Also in "Blood & Honor" and his interviews on the various mob shows he's appeared on, Salvie actually did like Chuckie's daughter at one point. But during the time they were engaged and Scarfo was in prison, Salvie began to see how entitled she was. And according to The Crow, that wasn't Salvie's type, he didn't see himself as anyone special and he didn't want to spend his time with a girl like that anymore.

The other women that salvie was in love w/ was Rosina Rucci

no when salvie broke of from chuckies daughter scarfo was in prison



and i dont believe what leonetti says about testa as other mobsters say leonetti was happy with the murder

i know what you mean but he knew what chuckie was like he was a very treachourus guy he knew what tommy del and faffy was like i understand why he did but you think he would have known what would have happened.


to be honest chuckie got a taste of his own medince later on when faffy and tommy del beefed on him. I think joey pung beefed aswell

Yes GR, scarf was still in LaTuna when he (salvie) dropped Maria,but was out when sal got clipped

Nobody should get killed !!!

But he knew the life inside and out !!! He knew that Nicky would have his best friend do it ,, or Nicky would have killed the guy !!!

Next he sleeps with the under bosses daughter and drops her almost at the church !!!
Salve runns around with hot chicks down at the shore and in Philly at the same time in front of the blood families of chuckie !!!

He is messing with dope and other shit , and in that life with some of the most unstable men on the planet .
Now if he did not do that to Chuckie ,Nicky would have looked the other way , without a doubt ...
Stay away from that life and the people in it ...

Serp, am i again not doing this pm thing right again, i sent u a pm just about something about the 7 fishes, but its 2 late now,christmas eve is now over & done with ,i just wanted ur old world advice on some food issues..if u dont want to converse w/ me ,just say so..

agreed, salvie was just as bad as scarfo in terms of killing people so its hard to feel too bad for him

Merry Christmas , I did not get a PM from you . I have had five or six from other guys but none from you since 11/25 .

And yes we are in shorts and T-shirts down here ....

I guess he trusted his friends not to kill him. I don't think you can trust that kind of people.

Next he sleeps with the under bosses daughter and drops her almost at the church !!!
Salve runns around with hot chicks down at the shore and in Philly at the same time in front of the blood families of chuckie !!!


hmm I think as a man ,I rather for the groom to back out versus get married and still keep running around on my daughter.. plus was it six weeks out when the wedding was called off?. chuckie could have asked for a reimbursement of the costs and told his girl she was better off in the long run not marrying sal. yeah I know ego gets in the way. if sal was hit by somebody related to folks he killed, people would understand. to get whacked over a news article and a broken engagement sheesh!

No remorse for murderers. He lived by the gun and died by the gun. Yeah they betrayed him but that's the life he lived. There is no honor or loyalty and never was except in romanticized movies.

Quote from Nick Caramandi:

You see, Salvie figured by marrying the daughter of the underboss, Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino, he'd be right near the top. But she was a spoiled brat, and a few months before the wedding he backed out. Everything was all set up: the gowns, the tablecloths, the invitations to the Bellevue- Stratford, the announcement in the newspaper. It was gonna have approximately 1,000 guests and cost well over $100,000. They were gonna try and get Michael Jackson to sing. When Salvie backed out, he signed his own death warrant. It was a blow to the underboss. This was the ultimate insult. We were actually gonna kill him right in a crowded funeral parlor, but there was too much law outside. That night, it's time to leave, and Chuckie grabs Salvie by the neck and kisses him on the lips. Smaaack! I said, "Aw, if he doesn't know now, he'll never know." That was the kiss of death.

Ted : it does not matter how you explain the situation between a underboss and his daughter being left at the altar people here and regular folks will never get it .

Now Salvie knew it the minute he broke it off . In Italian neighborhoods and families if you break off a engagement that close to the wedding you are Shunned from the woman's family and her neighbors and most of the neighborhood for that matter.

This is normal thinking in the minds of Italian fathers also good thing 99% of them are nothigh ranking mafia leaders !!!

A Merlino being a spoiled brat? What a surprise.

I don't understand that mentality towards Salvie.

Would they prefer he marry the girl and go carousing with other mobsters all the time instead?

Yes" Absolutely is acceptable , In there world for the married man to run with Women outside the marriage .
What is not Acceptable , is for him to do it while they were engaged , then turn around and leave her the way he did .
No doubt " One of the highest forms of disrespect you can do to a Italian girls family , is what he did , when and the way he did it ...

Lol at anyone in that circle legitimately thinking Michael Jackson would perform at a wedding consisting of Bruno Family Mobsters. The closest thing mob affiliated with Michael was his manager Frank Dileo, and that's solely his role as Babe Vario in Goodfellas.

with a 50% divorce rate, I see that as short sighted thinking. better to let somebody show you who they are early, than get married for nothing. he did her a favor, too much poontang was coming at him according to Rosina Rucci who said that is why they broke up. they had to know he was knocking down chicks left and right. crazy stuff like you said, we will not understand

How do you know they couldn't get Michael Jackson if they had the money to pay him? Mob or not, cash is king and i am sure these guys had the money

No. They didn't. Nicky Crow says the whole thing set them back 500, 000. Michael did 90 second television interviews that costs stations more than that. And you're clearly not in the know about Michael Jackson. I guarantee you, as a fan, Michael never wouldve done it. He wasnt the kind of guy who looked at money as everything. How do I know? Because I'm a fan, I know the money he dropped on charity, which at any given moment was in the millions of dollars range. I know that he didn't feel comfortable in small settings, like a building for some reception, which is why later on in his life he never performed outside of large venues. He did a club performance ONE time during the 80s. And he definitely wasn't performing for any known organized crime figures. This was a guy who fired his last manager, Tohme Tohme, because he thought he had OC ties in the Ukraine...

wow, didnt know you were gonna go all crazy Jacko on me. lol

The mob had been getting professionals to perform for years though, but maybe he was out of their pocket range, i dont know im not a big MJ fan guy, so you got me there

Cant remmeber which singer it was Tony Banannas wanted to beat up or kill lol

Serp has a point, although in her book, Rosina also said that salvie finally realized what a spoiled little fuckin'brat maria was..I also have a thought that Rosina was 1 of the reasons that Salvie dropped Maria..He wanted back-in on the real love of his life.

Salvie was staying with two girls during the time they were hunting him . He was not doing it to hide he was always doing it !!! Just the way he was ... Not unlike most of us .

while were on the Salvie subject, random question but would he and Nicky Scarfo jr have ever crossed paths?? I guess maybe Scarfo was a bit young at that time.

Yes still playing stickball and hanging out with his local guys at the Back house , only guys close to him will know what I am talking about on Florida Avenue .

There is a short news clip of salvie carrying sr.s bags @ the airport,jr. is right behind salvie.

Haha I was thinking the same thing. I've seen it all now.

His father did not push the boys away from the life . He loved it and wanted them all in . If they had more surveillance photos you would see Mark in them to .
Nicky jr was only around 15 I think when his dad came home from Texas and the photo with Sal is that photo .if you seen the other shots from that trip you will see cousins of the family also and those cousins were neighborhood kids ... And the one lived on Florida Avenue two half blocks from Nicks house ....