for the local philly guys. who is meant to of whacked sonny? and on whos orders?(stanfa, merlino? etc).

Stanfas orders forsure, the shooter probably some zips.

why would stanfa want him dead bobby?

He rolled on harry in the 80's, went into witsec than in 92 he went back to Philly.

harrys organisation became separate to scarfo's though? and he inherited scarfo's right? why did he kill for that reason?

and did he use those zips in the war with merlino? makes you wonder why he would need to make veasey. sure there were hundreds of young wiseguys in south philly with better resumes than a junkie lol

Yeah it stumps me to, i never got philly.

And i mean since he was a zip himself he hhad some on his side but they were all amateuts hence is why he made someone like veasy.

He didn't do it for scarfo persay, he was a rat and came back to philly, to not do something would of made stanfa look weaker than he already was.

thanks for clearing that up bobby. apparently sonny thought he could get back into the game. what a fatally stupid choice

Yeah, George Freselone talked about it in his book, Blood Oath. Riccobene came back to South Philly like nothing had ever happened and Stanfa and his guys couldn't believe it. Since they were then in charge, they basically felt it was their job to take him out.

Ivy ive heard about you and when I saw you post on this thread i expected to come in and find you tearing me a new asshole, I am suprised you have agreed with me, thank you lol.

interesting stuff, is this book any good ivy?

Personally, I think it's as good as any book written on the Philadelphia mob. It's a little different than Anastasia's books, as it's completely from a first-person account. I'd recommend it to anyone, especially as it gives a good look at the family's North Jersey crew.

how far back does fresolone and his story go with philly? was he an associate in scarfo and bruno days or just scarfo? i know this guy was younger right?

If memory serves, he was an associate back in the Bruno days. He grew up in Newark in the 1960's. Eventually got made (he taped his 1990 ceremony) and was eventually made underboss for a brief period during the interim between Scarfo and Stanfa.

yeah i heard he taped it. why was he made ub after just getting made? philly is f****d up! also can we hear the tapes anywhere?

It was during that interim period, right after Scarfo and a lot of his guys were taken down, when things were in flux down in Philadelphia. Anthony "Tony Buck" Piccolo (also of the North Jersey crew) was acting boss at the time, Leonetti had flipped, and decided to make Fresolone underboss. I've never seen the audio of the tapes anywhere.

According to this article it was Raymond Esposito.
http://articles.philly.com/1996-03-01/news/25636641_1_john-stanfa-mob-informant-mob-underboss

Fresolone was never underboss . Patty spec martorano was made underboss by piccolo but died a year later

No.

He was trying to get zips, but the guys across the pond didn't feel it was worth it or beneficial to send anyone over.

That is why he had to make a junkie like veasey his top hitter

the one guy that he was speaking italian to in his lawyer office, when he was threatening to send Merlinos tongue to his wife that was talking tough never killed anyone either.

Was all talk, and rolled quicker than the pillsbury dough boy when he was picked up. Can't recall his name. Think he was an Italian rich boy mob wannabe

The guys name who was in the lawyers office with Stanfa was Sergio Battaglia.

The best part about those meetings were Stanfa was under a vintage World War II poster referring to the famous "Loose Lips Sink Ships - Don't Talk" campaign, when he was talking openly about killing his rivals and settling disputes with members of New York mob families.

The guys tongue they wanted to cut out was gaetano lucibello

What's interesting is that Esposito was half blind and his other eye wasn't very good, yet they still used him as a hitman. Stanfa would have better done the job himself.

http://articles.philly.com/1996-11-15/news/25649281_1_mob-boss-joseph-skinny-joey-merlino-mob-figure

I thought it was Gino Tripodi who Stanfa was talking to, but I might be wrong. Most of the Sicilian around Stanfa either became rats or didn't have the stomach to fight, like Tripodi who went back to Italy for awhile.

Anyone know if Raymond Esposito is related to suspected member Eric Esposito?

Lang here's the article about Battaglia who was talking to Stanfa in the office about cutting Lucibello's tongue out and mailing it to his wife...Cheers

http://articles.philly.com/1996-03-30/ne...ino-john-stanfa

ahh yes, I got the names all mixed up.

During his 18 months in the mob, Battaglia admitted that he planned to kill 17 people. ``You're 0 for 17,'' said defense attorney Edwin Jacobs.

He explained his many failed attempts to kill rival mobster Joseph ``Skinny Joey'' Merlino: ``I had a lot of misfortunes. I didn't kill him.''

After quizzing Battaglia on his mob income, F. Emmett Fitzpatrick asked: ``That's nowhere near what you were making in the automobile business, was it?'' Battaglia explained more than once: ``I didn't want to be a car salesman anymore, I wanted to be a gangster.''

Idiot.

Was making good money at his parents dealership and wanted to be a wiseguy, making less money

damn shame, ran them into the ground