Now the guy revised the article. So honestly nobody will know what's the truth until they get some guys on a wire running there mouths.

Handsome Stevie just to clarify my comments above are not directed towards you. You are the best.thing to happen to this forum since DD and PB. I just am amazed at the B.S. some people post in regards to this when they are obviously clueless

Mazzone's running the show, a guy on parole can't run nothing, especially someone as dumb as borgesi.

Like I have said twice before, I never said it was true or that I believe it. Just saying I could see it happening. Never know what's happening for sure especially in Philly until you hear top guys on the wire.

Mafiosi on parole can't take the top spot, if it's true he'll be back in jail within the month. You said it makes sense to you..really? A guy on parole trying to be boss? No.

Vegas your my boy I didn't think you directed anything towards me. Most things people say on here are not facts at all. People are like arguing with me like I'm the asshole who wrote the article lol

That's strictly not true, but the fact it makes sense to you in fairy land says it all.

Tommy it makes plenty sense. Can we really sit here and say we have never seen someone on parole trying to be boss? Lol

I'm not gonna.sit.here and debate over and over.with you.Its Friday night and over here in the US of A we gets it in on Friday night! So I'm done peter panning with you today lol

You've clearly never been to England Stevie, we drink like men over here But seeing as I'm sick as a dog I'm stuck in on the internet being a dick lol

You're a good poster, every mobster who comes out of prison waits til there parole to pass before jumping back in pretty much, it's common knowledge, just what I've picked up researching over last few years.

Have a good one.

Come on, boys. You're both quality posters. Relax .

Yes Thank U for clarify that I kno my shit just confused da Narducci Brothers Acorse I meant the one whos been out for a while and on Speculation as a key player confused the names my bad... That Being said No Family is as entertaing as Philly!! And some of u guys say that there not a lot of Rackets out there and shit im sure there is! I Might be shooting my mouth off Joey down in Florida cd make a solid Coke connect down there weather its likely or not.. u kno im sure there's Money to be made out there if they want it! Since George,Merlino,Mazzone and Narducci r Standup guys and NY sees that mayb Ny cuts Philly in on some Piece of action or Philly gets a cut if Ny does shit in Philly!! THEY JUST NEED A good LEADER!!!!!!! So forgive me if I rant shooting off my mouth just floating ideas!

The last time I read the statistics for Europe, Czech Republic were the #1 drinkers of alcohol, followed by Ireland at #2. All the Eastern European countries traditionally rank very high. Germany, too, with Oktoberfest. The French are more into wine, brandy, rum and shit. Same with the Italians. I wouldn't say the Spanish are very high.

I have had first hand experience of seeing Eastern Europeans drinking alcohol and they put the Irish and the Brits to shame.

I always thought that the Irish had the highest tolerance for alcohol but the Polaks and Russkis put away 100% proof vodka like it's water. LOL

haha I know a lot of Polish people (England is full of them) they drink vodka like it's nothing but struggle to drink pints of beer even though it's nowhere near as strong lol it's weird, they were just raised on spirits.

There really isn't, Philly crew is mainly gambling and loansharking.

Years ago there was a Ukrainian neighborhood up in South Yonkers. That's where the actor Jon Voight grew up.

Anyway, I used to drink at a couple of the bars up there a long time ago. And no one, but no one, can put it ways like those Ukes and Slovaks.

And they're tough motherfuckers, too. They can look dead drunk and still fight like it's the UFC. No bullshit.

I have no idea who John Vought is but yeah I here you there animals on the drink, I used to drink with a mix of Polish and Latvians who worked at a warehouse I was supervising at and go to there house parties, they all live in poor areas that are 90% black so they keep there heads down but there not to be messed with in a fist fight. most of them are tight bastards and will rather get a litre bottle of vodka and drink it in they're house then go to the pub, can't blame them though, when you're drinking triple vodkas in town centre in Nottingham it's £4-6 no joke. £3.50 for a good pint of beer over here in town centre, what's the prices like in the Bronx, beer wise?

He's Angelina Jolie's father, and a wonderful actor himself .

You mean in a pub?

A bottle of American beer is about $3.00 American, give or take. An import Like Heineken is closer to $5.00 a bottle. A pint on tap is about $2.00 during most happy hours.

Of course that's in the Bronx and the other outer boroughs. Manhattan prices are MUCH higher.

Depends where in Manhattan. You can find excellent deals around Alphabet City if you know where to look. That said, in general, Manhattan is very expensive.

Those places are getting fewer and farther between. Right up until about ten years ago, places like Vazac's Horseshoe Bar were the norm on the Lower East Side, not the exception.

One of my buildings is on West 8th Street, just off MacDougal. Try drinking in THAT neighborhood today on a budget. Not gonna happen. It's a shame.

Simple & Economical Boating Easy to tow, launch, and use

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S a t u r d a y , J u l y 1 2 , 2 0 1 4

Ed Scarpo at 12:20 AM

Revised: Does It Matter Who's Boss in Philly?

George Borgesi, 50, is trying to take the big seat, a source told Cosa Nostra News, but he is facing pressure from allies of Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino.

Borgesi ain't no Joe Ligambi would be an understatement; the two (Uncle Joe really is Borgesi's uncle) don't like each other. Skinny Joey doesn't like Borgesi, either.

And as the troubled, fracture Philly mob prepares to evolve (likely not for the better), other ethnic crime groups, including one considered a threat to national security, are vying for power.

"Georgie Boy" has nevertheless been trying to assert himself -- and one person telling him to stop is Skinny Joey, through his viceroys on the street: Stevie Mazzone and John "Johnny Chang" Ciancaglini, both of whom are from the tough South Philadelphia faction.

Borgesi, Merlino, Mazzone and Ciancaglini were all convicted of racketeering in 2001. They all recently got out, as well, Borgesi last because of the Ligambi trials.

Merlino, 51, has been living in Florida since his release from prison three years ago and insists he has no desire to return to South Philadelphia.

Mazzone and Ciancaglini, are back in the old neighborhood. Law enforcement and underworld sources allege Ciancaglini controls mob gambling and loan-sharking in Delaware County, an area where Borgesi once held sway.

Apparently, Borgesi has been acting like the boss, and he may well be a boss --but not anywhere near Delaware County. In fact, Borgesi was told in no uncertain terms to stay out of Delaware County.

In the Delaware area, the Mafia once influenced at least four labor unions and ran the city’s largest illegal gambling operations; it also was the "bank" for smaller gambling syndicates from the black, Greek and Irish communities and for numerous gambling operators throughout the area, but that was during the golden years of the Angelo Bruno era. As profitable as the areas is for the mob, it's certainly not worth as much as it once was.

It seems a question worth asking is how much of a Mafia is there in Philly these days anyway, if they're fighting over a single piece of turf. It is difficult to resist comparing what the Philly mob has today versus in those years when Angelo Bruno was boss.

A July 2001 story from Philadelphia City Paper titled "Not For Nuthin'" noted that Merlino's Mafia is nowhere near what it had been thirty years ago:

Consider that when Philadelphia mob boss Angelo Bruno was gunned down in 1980, his criminal empire was vast. [Aside from operations in the Delaware Valley, the Bruno family had much more going on.] Two outlaw motorcycle gangs were subservient to the Mafia. The Philadelphia mob had pieces of restaurants, casinos, banks and companies in New England; Las Vegas; Florida; the Poconos; the Philly suburbs of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and northern Delaware; Newark; New York; and overseas, in London and in the Caribbean.

Angelo Bruno didn’t allow his men to deal drugs, but his connections to the Gambino crime family and the Sicilian Mafia enabled him to "tax" millions of dollars worth of the profits from narcotics moved by the Sicilian mob and its network of American distributors. In the local underworld, rival gangs and criminals sought out Bruno or his men as mediators, business partners and protectors. South Philadelphia was one of the safest areas in the city — there were no street crimes to speak of because petty criminals feared the wise guys who ran their neighborhoods.

And Angelo Bruno was friends with mob bosses across the country, allowing him to work with other crime families when it suited him. Angelo Bruno had a piece of everything —illegal or legitimate. Through his union connections, Bruno and his mob had access to politicians and even some judges. And Bruno kept a low profile.

Merlino’s so-called Mafia allegedly extorted some small-time crooks, dealt in stolen goods, ran a moderately sized gambling syndicate and some video poker machines and may have been involved in two or three mid-level cocaine deals in Boston. Yet the U.S. government seemed to spare no expense in surveilling, wiretapping and infiltrating the Philadelphia Mafia. Their argument was that the mob in Philly may have been weak, but they had to knock it out completely. But does the trial of these reputed organized crime figures mean organized crime has come to a halt? ...Does organized crime have much to do with Italian-Americans from the narrow streets of South Philadelphia anymore?"

According to FBI and DEA reports international Dominican drug syndicates were operating in the area back in 2001, "so powerful they represent a threat to national security." Dominican drug money from Philly was used to influence two presidential elections in the Dominican Republic, these reports warned, adding that alleged Dominican drug traffickers and money launderers contributed money to the Democratic Party and to presidential candidates here in the U.S.

In the mid-1990s, the FBI discovered that an international company in Bucks County was actually a front for the Russian Mafia. In 2001, law enforcement sources claimed Russian and Eastern European underworld gangs were flourishing in the Delaware Valley.

Canalichio was picked up on tape complaining about a South Philadelphia lowlife who was showing up at an after-hours club that Canalichio and mobster Marty Angelina owned.

Canalichio called the guy “a fuckin’ junkie,” which may have been true. But it says a lot about the character and mentality of local mobsters when a guy like Canalichio, who has two prior convictions for dealing cocaine, has the balls to complain about a junkie.

Confidential informants told the FBI that the Russian Mafia had purchased dozens of million-dollar homes in Bucks County and in central New Jersey for use as safe houses in case some of their corrupt politicos back on Russia needed to flee in a hurry.

From South Philadelphia to South Jersey Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese street gangs were running wild.

African-American crime families have flourished in Philadelphia for generations, largely ignored by the police and the media. These groups got their start running numbers, then amassed enough money to finance major drug deals.

"While the trial of Merlino and his associates is almost over, it appears that organized crime in Philadelphia, is not," City Paper reported back then.

And Ligambi can retire, but he'll still be a target. Why? Thank Anthony Nicodemo, the wheelman involved in what is considered to be one of the dumbest mob hits ever committed; it was done in broad daylight no less.

The City Paper, earlier this year, also noted the case of Damion Canalichio, who was convicted of racketeering conspiracy in the first Ligambi trial. which ended last February...

Canalichio was picked up on tape complaining about a South Philadelphia lowlife who was showing up at an after-hours club that Canalichio and mobster Marty Angelina owned.

Canalichio called the guy “a fuckin’ junkie,” which may have been true. But it says a lot about the character and mentality of local mobsters when a guy like Canalichio, who has two prior convictions for dealing cocaine, has the balls to complain about a junkie.

Nicodemo and Canalichio, both in their 40s, are the next generation of the South Philadelphia mob. In many ways they epitomize what has happened to a once secret and supposedly honorable society.

In another time and place, legendary Philadelphia mob boss Angelo Bruno could have been the CEO of a company, the president of a bank, a titan of industry. But as an Italian immigrant, certain doors were closed to him. He chose organized crime as a way out and rose to the top of his field. That’s not to justify or excuse what he did, but merely to offer an explanation. Bruno’s murder in March 1980 sent the Philadelphia mob into a tailspin from which it has never recovered. Society was changing. So was life in the Italian-American community. And so was the mob.

Omerta, the code of silence, is a thing of the past. Starting with Nick Caramandi and Tommy DelGiorno in the late 1980s through mob boss Ralph Natale and burly mob capo Ron Previte at the turn of the century, the Philadelphia crime family has had more members per capita who have become cooperating witnesses than any other Cosa Nostra family in America.

Add to the mix sophisticated investigative techniques, ever-present electronic surveillance and a multi-pronged RICO law — that allows the feds to prosecute members for their roles in a criminal enterprise rather than for their participation in individual crimes — and you have an idea how the Justice Department has taken the family apart. In many ways, the local mob has been one of the most dysfunctional Mafia families in America.

Call them the Simpsons of the underworld.

So, is it any wonder that Ligambi, who has spent more than 12 years of his adult life behind bars, has had enough? He did 10 years for the murder of Frank “Frankie Flowers” D’Alfonso before the conviction was overturned in 1997. After his indictment in May 2011 on racketeering-conspiracy, gambling and loan-sharking charges, Ligambi was held without bail for more than two years while awaiting trial.

While portrayed in some circles as a thuggish hit man who happened to be in the right place at the right time when he became boss 14 years ago, reality suggests otherwise. Ligambi had a relatively peaceful and, one would assume, lucrative run. He may be smart enough now to just walk away...

As for the situation now, it seems volatile, somewhat.

Borgesi "pretty much put himself in that position when his uncle said he was retiring and going to Florida. Everybody is just waiting for the shoe to drop and see what's left."

"Nobody knows who to trust or who will step up when the dust clears. Scarfo Senior's guys are out but staying under the radar. It's gonna be interesting who steps to the plate."

In January 26, 2014, after 13 years in prison, Borgesi, the Philadelphia mob's former consigliere, walked away from the James A. Byrne federal courthouse holding hands with a woman he married while behind bars.

A jury had acquitted "Georgie Boy" on one count of racketeering conspiracy and said it was hopelessly deadlocked on three of four counts facing his uncle and codefendant, Ligambi. The jury cleared Ligambi of one witness-intimidation count and he was later let go as well when prosecutors decided not to put the boss of the Philly mob on trial for a third time.

Ligambi wasted no time in announcing his plans to retire from the mob, as we noted, in order to "summer in Longport and winter in Florida."

Among whatever other rivalries within the Philly mob family, the basic stage includes two generations historically at odds with each other, the old Scarfo gang and the Merlino young turks.

The ability to hold the two groups together was said to be largely due to the finesse of "Uncle Joe," who is credited for keeping the peace.

But with or without him, shifts in power are inevitable as the family's composition changes as some members return to the street, and others head off to prison.

He edited the article and that's what it says now. Lol

Now he's "trying to take the big seat."

What a fucking hack!

No Pizzaboy but there is a Scotland in Connecticut and South Dakota

You and I both love to read, right? How bad is this article written. Fucking hack is the best way to describe that poorly written piece. And that's being kind

Indeed. Who was the person who wrote it? I want to know so I can avoid reading anything they write or post online.

Wow I was sick for a week,what did I miss.Georgie is the boss,man this is going to get interesting.The rumors are flying as I could see.You got ''Chickie''Ciancaglini and Faffy getting out soon.If they would do it right and organize you got a ton of expiernce all out on the street.You got muscle with the younger guys,but something tells me it won't be smooth.Where's the old ''Philadelphia Journal''I used to love that paper.That was the Philly edition of the NY Post.

Now as I have read more posts I see that's not necessarily the case.It did seem kind of odd since he has kept such a low profile since getting out.I guess now that the trials are over in Philly for now everyone is getting restless on here.

You're missing Philly, 22. I can tell .

I get the same way about New York when I'm down there too long .