Thanks so much! I don't know why, but this is super interesting to me.
It's certainly believable that Chris was more involved [in the past] than the media portrays him to have been. Scarf Inc.'s sign on Georgia Ave listed him as "VP Operations"! That role definitely entailed doing something less than kosher at one time or another!
I had heard that Phil has a daughter in the Philly/South Jersey area, but that she isn't relevant to any of this history.
I actually think that much of the hate directed at Nicky Scarfo is a little unjustified. I mean, within the parameters of mob morality and mentality, Scarfo Sr. wasn't unusually evil. As a boss, he had the right to force Harry Riccobene to kick up [and to go to war over this issue].
Was he paranoid? Probably, but ! Prior 2 bosses died in horrible ways. The issue was he ended up alienating too many poor button men like Tommy Del and Caramandi that had nothing to lose in turning state's evidence. And Salvi Testa's death showed the family that everyone was expendable. Scarfo should have channeled his paranoia into efforts to show how reasonable and practical he could be. Nick should have realized the vulnerability of his position, but he naively assumed no one would turn! Obviously, Phil's singing was a fat nail in the coffin.
But, at the end of the day, Phil ended up better than all these folks! And he got his kid out of that environment. Bad soldier, but a good father. One would think that Scarfo's relatives with kids would understand this...