Here is an example of the Ligambi regime recently having interaction with Gambino and Genovese mob a few years ago before he got locked up and eventually acquitted...

Happy Birthday to Joe
Mobsters flock to Margate to celebrate the Philly crime boss's 68th.
by Brendan McGarvey


print email reply rss feed
Published: Aug 15, 2007




Guess who wasn't invited to reputed mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi's birthday bash at the Shore last Saturday night? Nicky Scarfo Jr., that's who. Nope, Nicky Jr. was not asked to help blow out the 68 candles on Ligambi's cake at Memories nightclub in Margate, even though he lives less than a mile away on the same barrier island.

Recent media reports —namely, a front pager by Inquirer mob watcher George Anastasio — focused on rumors that the 42-year-old Scarfo is positioning himself to take over the Philly Cosa Nostra with backing from dear old dad, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo.

To understand the lack of love some in the Philadelphia Mafia have for the Scarfos, go back to the mid-1980s, when the teenaged Junior was a familiar sight in mob clubhouses in South Jersey and South Philly.

ADVERTISEMENT
Little Nicky ran the Philadelphia Mafia from his apartment on Georgia Avenue in Atlantic City during the 1980s and set a gangland record for killing off, demoting and exiling members of his own crime family. In those days, Ligambi was a bookmaker and associate of underboss Salvatore "Chucky" Merlino, whose son, "Skinny Joey," was pals with Junior.

It seemed to be one big happy crime family until 1986, when Little Nicky demoted Salvatore to soldier and passed over Ligambi for a promotion because of Ligambi's close ties to the demoted underboss. Junior then avoided his friend, making it clear that his father's fall from power affected Merlino's own underworld status.

Three years later, Little Nicky, Salvatore and his brother Lawrence, Phil Leonetti and more than two dozen members and associates of the crime family, including Ligambi, were arrested, tried and convicted on various charges. With dad in jail, Junior Scarfo was still strutting around the streets of Philadelphia, which angered many of the sons and nephews of the men convicted with Scarfo.

They blamed Little Nicky for mismanaging the crime family and wanted to send him a message. So on Halloween night in 1989, a gunman dressed in a Batman mask blasted Junior seven times inside Dante & Luigi's restaurant in South Philadelphia. Although never charged with the shooting, law enforcement and underworld sources swear to this day that the gunman was none other than Skinny Joey.

Scarfo Jr. survived and as soon as he was released from the hospital, moved to North Jersey, where he was twice arrested on gambling and loan-sharking charges and served two prison terms. Scarfo's dad allegedly arranged protection for his son from the Lucchese mob family.

While law enforcement sources claim Junior is now a Lucchese capo, his attorney says Scarfo, who is still on parole for his 2002 conviction, has nothing to do with any organized crime family and that he moved to Ventnor to be closer to relatives.

But now, the man who Scarfo's dad passed over for membership in the mob is the big boss of a crime family that operates in Atlantic City. Making matters more interesting is the fact that Skinny Joey, a Ligambi friend and ally, should be back out on the streets in about four years.

Still, local made men don't think Scarfo Jr. has too much to worry about. They say Ligambi will be boss until he dies or goes to jail and, as a member of a powerful New York crime family, Scarfo Jr. is safe in South Jersey — as long as he doesn't try a power grab.

"If that kid wants to make money with us, that would not be a problem. Money is always a good thing," one Philly mob associate tells City Paper. "He should be OK, as long as he don't eat at Dante & Luigi's again."

While Junior was nowhere to be seen in Margate last weekend, at least 40 "made" members of the Philadelphia Mafia, including the entire North Jersey crew, as well as representatives from the two most powerful borgatas in the country — the Genovese and Gambino crime families — were there.

"They came to pay respect to Uncle Joe," says one mob associate who attended. "They like him in New York."

The New York mobsters who zoomed down the Garden State Parkway for Uncle Joe's celebration were there to let the alleged boss of the Philadelphia underworld know that the Genovese and Gambino mobs are quite happy with his leadership. Responding to published reports indicating that Ligambi might also be thinking about having a retirement party sometime soon — which would hypothetically create a power vacuum for Scarfo Jr. — one associated simply explained that, "Joe Ligambi ain't retiring to Florida."

(editorial@citypaper.net)