Hey dap you know whats starting to aggitate me is the reporting by GA sounding more and more like a mouthpiece for the feds.... GA writes for the philly inquirer while the philly Daily News has a writer, William Bender that is more realistic and fair to all invovled. Im sure GA is a good man that has a good rep but lately it looks like hes abandoned is fairness for gossip and anything negative against the defendants...

i totally agree with you 123

Thanks southphilly. I don't support the mob or advocate anything they do, but Ligambi wasn't a dangerous psychopath like Scarfo or Stanfa. His activity wasn't large scale like it is in New Jersey or New York. In years past I would've applauded that a mob boss was going to jail, but I think this is soley for the benefit for the government and pisses me off a bit.

Ive couldnt of said it any better, if there were murders,drug dealing and extorting legimate business people then i would say try to bang them with heavy time.

i agree they have way bigger things to worry about. they should focus on other things

How is south Philly these days oldhead? I've never been to that area of Philadelphia. Is it still predominantly Italian?

The Feds don't care about the crime rate in one city, though. That's for the local administration and police to worry about.

It's ironic that despite GA constantly saying that, he's a major player in creating headlines on Ligambi.

South PHilly is great, lots of Italians, and a good irish section down on 2nd street, its gotton a little tighter over the years since a lot of families moved to Washington township but peolple are moving back and there are great resturantes comparable with New York. Lots of luncheanettes, delis, corner grocery stores,and Yuppies are buying up property and living in them so that they dont have to pay enormous rents in center city where they work. South Philly is 10 to 15 minutes away from center city

Let me tell you,you need the national guard and maybe even the seal team to fix Camden.The only person other than the above mentioned to fix Camden would have been Mayor Rizzo.He would have just bulldozed it to the ground and start over.You know a lot of this ''gambling'' money by the old italian men goes fight back out on the street to fund drug deals and whatever.I'm no advocate against this [the mob] by any means but its not just lining your pockets with a little extra cash for Christmas.Now their funding pharmacuitacals and anything else that they can profit from.

Well said..."based on old intimidation" sayd the mob lawyers.. a PA judge just gave one west philly criminal 240 years he is 28, for violent robbery

wats the laywer say when if i remember correct the second shooter i think its wayne grande or one of the young guys who flipped says on the stand yaeh i plead guilty to this frankie flowers murder i was shooting him next to joseph ligambi and thats how he got made and then the crow comes up and says yep. i just thinking that not old intimdation right, and i dont want to here they fliped the case, the feds will get there way. i hope they win or just beat the racketeering conspiracy charge cause that a b.s. unconstitutional law and it enhances alot of time, hay there in a mafia/gang there all convicted cause its all a racket.its weak charge and basicaly unbeatable.

Hey 22 its about time somebody stands up for the gangsters that are just bookmaking and loansharking. YOU ARE WRONG TO THINK THAT THE MONEY THEY MAKE OF THOSE RACKETS BACK UP DRUG DEALS Those who deal drugs are financing their own drug deals and is nothing but profit for them. These wiseguys know that if they get invovled with financing a drug deal that they will get nailed with big time. Lets see the last thing i remember is that the investigation went from 1999 to 2012 and ther are NO DRUGS in this case. Your gona tell me in 13 years not one drug dealer got caught and could rat on a wiseguy and didnt. Know what your talking about before you talk. Im not saying in the past that mob families werent financing drug deals but they did get charged with that crime. NOT IN THIS CASE!! 13 years NOT ONE DRUG CHARGE in this case so get it right

i dont even see whats wrong with bookmaking and loansharking

I don't with bookmaking but i do with loansharking .

whats wrong with it? its just loaning money and its their choice. loaning places have high rates too

Not as high as most loansharks though. I have problems with loansharking because my friends and family have had personal troubles that i'd rather not go into with loansharks. They know that they accepted the loans while knowing the potential consequences which i think shows the problem with them preying on vulnerable people who need the money. These people i'm speaking of deserve the blame also for being so stupid though .

Why do you think it shouldn't be illegal ?

Loaning places you're a gem Nicky

Ya south philly is fine in some parts as well as center city and down 1st st and old city, BUT north philly is a war zone and 3rd and indiana and temple area...someone needs to clean that up...and camden....there is an aquarium

because its the persons choice to get the loan

maybe you people dont know the process.somebody needs money in like a a few days or a week and not 2 or 3 months that a bank has to go through all this paper work. Nicky is right what is so wrong with it if that person is asking for it knowing the terms of it. and we are always talking about Southphilly and not North Philly or camden. The questions ask were about South Philly and not about North Philly or camden which is over the bridge and in another state

[/quote]
whats wrong with it? its just loaning money and its their choice. loaning places have high rates too [/quote]

Not as high as most loansharks though. I have problems with loansharking because my friends and family have had personal troubles that i'd rather not go into with loansharks. They know that they accepted the loans while knowing the potential consequences which i think shows the problem with them preying on vulnerable people who need the money. These people i'm speaking of deserve the blame also for being so stupid though .

Why do you think it shouldn't be illegal ?[/quote]

because its the persons choice to get the loan [/quote]

I get it's the persons fault for taking the loan the reason it should be illegal is because of what the consequences are if you're unable to pay it. I hate to break it to you Nicky but they won't act in the same manner as a bank.

The people who take the loans aren't just people looking for quick loans it's also people who can't get loans from the bank btw i wasn't talking about anywhere in Philly i was talking about where i'm from.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_je...atened_him.html

on the surface it looks bad but the guy got 50 k and had 7-8 years to repay it and nothing happened and this is the govts case....montell williams is a similar loan shark with mony mutual

So what ever happen to this witness that took the stand Friday ? Does he still live in South Phila and what's his deal ?

nobody had to twist his arm to take the loan. he asked for it. So lets see, he robbed the postal service, the lottery.and the mob and nothing happened to him. No he doesnt live in South Philly anymore and yes his second wife found out what the first wife had known that hes just a scumbag. Also Camaral,the banks do way worse than the mob here in philly, they take your house and throw your family in the street and give you bad credit which means you cant do anything

Christ Almighty, just agree to disagree already. Old Head thinks the mob are just a bunch of harmless old guys with cigars who buy drinks down the shore. Not everyone agrees, but that's his prerogative. But at the end of the day they're still all going to jail, no matter how many Internet supporters they may have.

And let's not lose sight of one thing here: If not for a technicality, Ligambi would have died in jail for murder anyway. And murder is not a harmless vice like bookmaking, Old Head. And I don't care what kind of guy Frank D'Alfonso was.

So if Ligambi goes away for bullshit here, well, he got away with one already. It's almost like OJ Simpson getting 20 years for robbing his own stuff. Call it karma if not justice.

I agree
Pizza boy , However I still believe this should be a state case ! Looks like the Feds just want to make headlines ! Also I don't believe the Phila family has money and really think most of the crew is broke !

You have a point about the State. But if the Feds want a case bad enough, they just snatch it. How do you think that makes the Staties feel? That's why they're never on the same page in joint investigations. Too much resentment.

And I don't have a horse in his race. I just try to play the peacemaker in silly arguments. Problem is, then everyone hates me .

Pizza boy, i repect evreryones opinion to speak their own mind. This case hits close to home for me.This is a way of life down here in SP. When someone makes a statement that the money they make off sports bookmaking which you can go through some tough times as a bookie and loansharking which if one person decides he cant pay you it takes alot to make that money up then says if funds drug dealing then that annoys me. that might have been the old days but not now.