Being the older brother by two years, Greg Scarpa quickly sucked his brother into the Colombo family. However, Greg Sr. and his son both eventually became capos in the organization while Salvatore remained a soldier throughout all the years.

• Sal and three other men were indicted in 1981 as co-conspirators in a complex fraud and theft scheme.
• In September 1986, Sal was charged with cocaine possession.
• On the 14 of January, 1987, Salvatore Scarpa was shot to death. He was allegedly the victim of a coke-war which was started by Greg Scarpa's son, Gregory Jr.