Good stuff, Moe. The irony is, if it wasn't for that tape we probably wouldn't be having this debate today .

Moe was this a wiretap on a telephone or a bug somewhere? If it was a phone did they think by whispering the feds would not hear them? If so they are real dumbfellas.

Thanks for posting

Other people would probably have a better idea than me. I just came across this yesterday and thought I would share.

There's also surveillance footage and audio of the Joey Chang hit and some rare footage of Merlino, Stanfa, Salvie and Riccobene.

It's pretty good. Caramandi tells it pretty straight.

it's pretty pathetic when a soldier can take on the boss

win by default, and get his ass kissed like he's champion

scarfo must've literally killed any philly mob guy that had half-a-brain

That was a bug in sal avena's office. He was a lawyer in Camden who died a couple years ago. He was charged with racketeering but was acquitted.

Somebody had to pickup the pieces, if not merlino than who? Merlino is the reason why there still is a costra nostra in philly to talk about

You kidding?
The Feds love NOTHING, and I do mean NOTHING more than catching a mob boss. NOTHING.




Philly is fucked. and hanging on by a thin, THIN thread. There is no legion of 'young turks' coming through, there is only a top heavy 'organization' of gangsters who are SHITTING themselves about Anthony Nicodemo flipping. Which he will.




Joey, outside of a SMALL circle of friends in Philly has SHIT elsewhere.
You find ONE guy from the Westside who would buy this guy a drink let alone piss on him if on fire, and Ill give my nuts to the cat.
NY DOES NOT give a SHIT about Joey, and thats putting it nicely.

"This guy being everywhere"?
Welcome to the boards but Joey will be lucky to spend half his remaining years outside prison IF HES SMART, let alone be a mob boss who's everywhere..
And if ANYONE in Chicago has even HEARD of him, let alone respects him, let alone NYC....

1985 is LONG gone.

He did. He killed a lot of people that should still be walking the streets making money today. They had the mentality to survive in this era. I don't think Scarfo would have whether he went away in 89 or not. Look at his son for example, he lived it up for a little. Had $$$ and statue but he lost that rather quickly. Maybe Scarfo is talking to the feds about Joey?

Scarfo would never talk to the feds first of all and second he doesn't know anything about Joey, the guy made a stupid mistake and violated his parole end of story

After the stanfa war, the bosses from new york wanted merlino to take charge but he turned it down and installed Natalie as boos, so he does have respect from new york

Sonny, I think the Feds might extend his supervise release but I don't think they'll throw him in the can for that violation, I do think there building a case against him again but god only knows for what.

"Top heavy" wit guys that were around in the 90s is a good thing, they can still go for another 15yrs wit all the Non Beefers he's got in his crew!

What I mean by him having respect from Chicago and New York meant, the guys background is enough for any other mob guy in the country to respect him, let's face it he faced the death penalty how many times and was accused of some serious shit, went to trial beat it and did his time like a man.
So even if they don't know him which I don't believe is true, within 5 minutes of meeting the guy and hearing the stories, he would get instant respect.

He was in jail for 10+ and went to war wit older mob bosses that went to jail for life before he started his bid and he was never beat up threatened or anything, so I do believe other gang chiefs or mobsters do respect him and recongnize him as someone important, if not I think he woulda got beat up multiple times in jail, it ain't like he's a big guy lol

Thanks big fella, I figured someone would agree, dude as much as some people hate him he def has solidified himself as "leader, crazy, boss material" since the scarfo hit, n like u said the stanfa war put him on the map, even if he won by default. Joey has got some big balls and so does the guys he came up with, borgesi, Mazzone, Angelina, Chang, lance, this is a tight group of guys that seem like they'll last if they smarten up.

hey you know whats funny about Joeys Instagram account? His user name is Joe Slim, Just like yours buddy!

Beefers? Hmmm, thats a strange word. Where have I heard that before?

And the funny thing is, Nice_Guy is the guy who ended up getting this thread locked:

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthr...true#Post759230

Where did you hear this?

Uuh Jeez, not again....I hear...*drumroll*..Crickets!

Even if it's true, which is open to debate, to say the very least, that was over twenty years ago.

Today, in the year 2014, no one, but no one, outside of South Philly, cares who's emptying out a bunch of Joker Poker machines.

Lol....That statement reminds me of the scene in Donnie Brasco where they are breaking open parking meters....Open Sesame

A lot of parking meters down there in Florida.

But I wonder how those goombahs would adapt to the times?

....Yeah i guess you would have to use a little more brain power there.

Beefers? Hmmm, thats a strange word. Where have I heard that before?

And the funny thing is, Nice_Guy is the guy who ended up getting this thread locked:

Beefers is a Chicago word I guess, Sorry but you lost me on that one

Login Sign-up

Go to...      Cover      News      Events      Submit An Event      Funsaver Half-Price Deals      Food & Drink      Meal Ticket      Meal Ticket Magazine      Map of reviewed restaurants      Features      Columns      Picks      Movies      Concert reviews and photos      Features      Columns      Album reviews      Picks      Get Lit      The Naked City      Meal Ticket      Photos of the Week      Typos Intentional      City Guide      Contests      I Love You I Hate You      Submit an I Love You I Hate You      Archives      Advertiser profiles      Post Your FREE Classified Ad[an error occurred while processing this directive]

March 22–29, 2001

city beat| mob trials

Who’s the Boss?

Was Ralph Natale the head of the local mob or a henpecked, know-nothing straw man? Depends on which gangsters you talk to.

by Jim Barry and Howard Altman

Hanging with Mr. Big:Ruthann Seccio and Ralph Natale relax at a Philadelphia bar/nightclub in 1997.

When Ralph Natale and Ruthann Seccio finished their dinner at Striped Bass on a warm Thursday night in the spring of 1998, they were not finished for the evening.

It was still early, and the reputed boss of the Philadelphia Mafia, then 67, and his girlfriend, 29, wanted to have a few more drinks.

So they stopped in at Gino’s Café — a supposed mob haunt in South Philadelphia — to hobnob with his alleged underboss Joey Merlino, some of Merlino’s friends, including Georgie Borgesi and Marty Angelina, and an assortment of Pagan motorcycle gangsters who happened to be in the bar that night.

What happened next is a matter of debate in the underworld and speaks volumes about the relationship between Natale and Merlino — a relationship now under scrutiny in a federal murder and racketeering trial, with Merlino, Borgesi and Angelina among the defendants and Natale as star witness.

Ralph Natale is the first alleged mob boss in the history of the American Mafia to become a government witness. But was he really the boss?

A number of Merlino’s underworld allies claim Natale was a straw man who really didn’t know much about the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra’s day-to-day activities — including murders. A key part of Merlino’s defense will hinge on painting Natale as a liar; according to that scenario, Natale is trying to save himself by making up stories about his and others’ role in the mob, and is using the federal government to exact revenge on fellow gangsters he believes betrayed him.

It wasn’t always this way between Natale and Merlino, who met as cellmates in a federal pen in McKean, PA.

That night at Gino’s Café may have been the beginning of the end.

 

Everyone who was at Gino’s that night agrees that Natale got into some kind of beef with Seccio.

But the stories differ beyond that, with Seccio painting a portrait of a minor lovers’ spat, while sources close to Merlino say that she was bossing Natale around — in their eyes, a horrifying sign of weakness.

Seccio, interviewed over lunch recently at The Plough & The Stars, says she was jealous that Natale was paying attention to other women that night at Gino’s.

"Ralph was talking to these two women who were flirting with him and sticking their chests out in his face," she says. "Real sluts. So I told Ralph to come over here, away from those two. Of course he didn’t. So when he finally came over to sit down, he shoved me off my chair. I shoved him back. That was it. End of story. The next week he sent me a dozen roses every single day to apologize."

Seccio says she was in love with Natale and that they spent almost every night together, including trips to Florida, New York City and summer love nests in Brigantine and Margate.

"Ralph loved to take me to very good restaurants. He was a total gentleman," she says in between bites of a hamburger. "Ralph was very loving and protective of me. He was a wonderful lover.

"By that I mean he taught me everything about love and how to make love. I used to think that sex was just laying there and moaning and groaning until I met him."

She smiles for a moment.

"He was very well-endowed," she says. "I was a very happy woman."

 

Made in the shade: Natale at the Jersey shore in ’97.

Friends and associates of Joey Merlino who were there that night tell a different story.

Speaking on condition of anonymity in a recent interview in a South Street nightclub, these sources say that Natale was attacked by his girlfriend.

"Ruthann scratched Ralph," says one source. "She was yelling at him that she didn’t want him talking to Joey Merlino. She attacked him and started scratching his face and head. Blood was running down over his eyes. Then they started fist-fighting. Punching each other. We were mad. How could this man, Ralph, allow anyone to disrespect him like that? If Ruth had tried that with [imprisoned former mob boss] Little Nicky Scarfo she would have been dead in two minutes."

"Scarfo was a real gangster," the second source at the nightclub says. "This Natale, he was a fraud. After that night in Gino’s we all wondered, ‘What was wrong with this guy? How could he let a broad treat him that way?’"

In a separate interview, another crime soldier who was an eyewitness to the Gino’s incident says that "we all wanted to get up and just pound Ruthie. But Joey [Merlino] had to calm us down. He even had to calm some of the Pagans because they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They wanted to beat Ruthie up and Joey told them to leave it alone. We were foaming at the mouth, we were so mad."

In the Philadelphia crime family, there was smoldering resentment over the place Ruthann Seccio occupied in the mob boss’ life. One mob associate charges that "Ralph turned to selling drugs just to have enough money to keep Ruthann. Of course he didn’t tell us anything about it."

At the South Street nightclub, Merlino’s allies claim Natale was obsessed with Seccio and was jealous of any man who came near her. "After a while that’s all he thought about. We’d all be having dinner with Ralph and all of the sudden Ruth would show up and he’d pretend it was an accident. ‘Look who’s here. Ruthie, what are you doing here?’ Ralph would pretend and then she’d sit down with us and we all had to go along with it. It happened over and over and over again."

Seccio says Natale wasn’t obsessive. He was protective. He was from that generation that believed in treating a woman well and watching out for her.

"We had a lot in common," says Seccio, who met Natale in 1994 through his daughter Vanessa after he was paroled from a 17-year term for arson and drug trafficking. "My father was in the bartenders’ union when Ralph ran it before he went to jail for 17 years. Ironic, isn’t it? We used to talk about stuff like that and how great it was that we were together, that we found each other. We were very happy."

 

The Gino’s incident was the most visible sign of a growing schism between Natale and Merlino.

A friend of Natale’s, who spoke on condition of anonymity at a recent interview at an Old City coffeeshop, says that as early as 1995 Natale began to suspect that Merlino was running his own unauthorized operations.

"They tried to leave Ralph out," says Natale’s friend. "But he knew. People would drop money or other things off for Joey but Joey wouldn’t be there and Ralph was. So Ralph would say, ‘I’ll hold onto it.’ Then he’d check it out and find money or something from a scheme nobody had told him about. This was about 1995, less than a year in his position, that Natale began to suspect Merlino and his friends were very disloyal. They were cutting him out of deals and going behind his back to make money. Natale was letting them get comfortable and bury themselves."

Merlino’s associates paint a different picture.

A key element of the defense strategy in the federal trial, for which jury selection began Tuesday, is that Natale was a know-nothing.

In interviews with City Paper, Merlino’s associates admit that Merlino was acting without Natale’s consent, but they say Natale was merely a straw man propped up by Merlino. Natale only became boss, they claim, after New York gangsters offered the position to Merlino and he turned it down. "Merlino didn’t want the job because he knew that the FBI would target the boss of a crime family more than any other member‚" they say.

Members of the Merlino faction say they grew increasingly displeased about Natale’s grandiose statements concerning his role in the underworld. "At first Natale had us all fooled. He would huff and puff and walk the walk and say things like, ‘I’m going to get my work clothes. Gonna go to work.’ Work clothes means you’re gonna go kill somebody."

They say that Ralph Natale, who has told the government he was involved in numerous Mafia killings, never murdered a person in his life. One mob source says, "Natale was there when they killed Joey McGreal, the guy who was trying to take over the Bartenders’ Union from Natale. McGreal was shot in the head on Christmas Eve, 1973. Ralph was not the shooter. In fact, he got sick to his stomach and was throwing up all over the place."

And two longtime members of the Philadelphia mob claim that Ralph Natale paid for his membership in the Cosa Nostra. "He bought his bucket [membership] to become a made guy. He paid to get in," they allege.

Natale’s friend disputes all this, saying that not only was Natale aware of what was going on, he was planning on murdering Merlino and his crew. Merlino’s freelancing, according to Natale’s friend, would have given Natale a legit reason to kill him and his associates in the eyes of the New York bosses who were backing Natale. But Natale never got the chance to kill Merlino because he got picked up on a parole violation in June of 1998 and then was charged with dealing crystal meth.

"That’s why Natale became a government witness," says Natale’s friend. "He couldn’t get his revenge any other way. So Ralph had no choice. This was the only way he could get back at them. And notice that it’s only Merlino and his guys that are in jail? There are a lot of people still out on the street that Ralph didn’t give up. They’re all doing illegal things. But Ralph Natale used the government to get Merlino because he couldn’t kill Joey himself. And Ralph left everybody else out there alone."

Not so, say Merlino associates.

"When Ralph got caught dealing drugs he was at the bottom of the well and only one person could throw him a rope. And that person was the government."

Joseph Santaguida, Merlino’s former defense attorney, agrees.

"Ralph Natale is testifying for the government because he doesn’t want to go to jail for the rest of his life," he says. "The government is basing its whole case on Ralph Natale’s testimony and that’s why the defendants will be acquitted."

Marc Neff, Natale’s attorney, said he is "not in a position to get a hold of [Natale] to comment.

"What [Natale] did, or didn’t do on the street, he’ll tell that story on the stand and the jury will decide whether he’s telling the truth or not."

 

And what about the former girlfriend who found herself at the center of controversy in the Philadelphia crime family? Ruthann Seccio says that while Natale was in prison for parole violation, the two talked on the phone every day. Then, one day in the summer of 1999, he told her that he was being moved to a different prison.

"‘I love you. I miss you,’" she remembers him saying. "‘And when I get to the next phone I’ll call.’"

She never heard from him again.

She didn’t know at the time that the reason he was being moved was that he’d decided to turn state’s evidence and needed to be placed in protective custody. In any case, she felt abandoned, left to deal with thousands of dollars in debt and the wrath of Natale’s enemies.

But Seccio believes she’ll talk to Ralph Natale again. And when she does, she’ll ask him a question.

"Ralph was never afraid of anyone. He’ll come back here and when he does, I’ll be the first one knocking on his door to ask him why?"

"" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;">SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER VIA EMAIL

Follow Us Facebook Twitter Instagram

POPULARRECENTARCHIVES

Stay and fight for Philly schools

Changing the wine-buying climate at the Chestnut Street State Store

Next stop: Citi Hall?

A new regular dance night aims to give Philly's furry community a place to get together and get down

"" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;">WHAT TO DO TODAY

Music

Jad Fair/Danielson

Hopeless punk romantic Jad Fair has been writing love songs for so long it might actually be...

Music

Ceili Group Festival

On Thursday, singers will perform the old songs and pay tribute to the memory of Frank Malley, a...

Theater

Souvenir

The Montgomery Theater’s 21st season in Souderton (not far from the Pa. Turnpike’s Northeast...

"" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;">FROM THE ARCHIVES

Courts’ campaign to squeeze poor debtors goes awry

The threats were stark: "They'll take my house if I own a house; if I...

Why we still need Ladyfest

As if white-kid music is a nautilus shell whose growth is dictated by...

Voting turnout plummets after polling place moved from Kensington bar to other, non-bar location

An attempt to make voting more accessible to elderly voters...

"" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;">THIS WEEKS'S COVER

Cover
News
Events
Food
Arts
Movies

Music
Blogs
City Guide
Contests
Love/Hate
Archives
Get Local

PHILADELPHIA CITY GUIDE

Philadelphia's Trusted News and Entertainment Source. A complete guide to Philadelphia's current art, film, dance and theatre season.

View Philadelphia City Guide

MEAL TICKET 2014

View Meal Ticket 2014

© Copyright 2014 CityPaper About Us Advertise With Us City Paper Staff Newsletter sign upSubscriptions Terms of Use Contact Us Jobs & Internships Map of reviewed restaurants Great Sandwiches Event RSS Feeds

Back to Top

Sorry fellas, having trouble with my link

People are always talking how cool Merlino is, yet how much would he have lasted on the street if the feds hadn't picked up Stanfa? I mean, I get it that Stanfa wasn't respected, was inept etc like people say, yet why on earth do they say Merlino was winning the war? What did he ever manage to seriously accomplish during that conflict apart from wounding Stanfa's son and killing Bocchino?

Originally Posted By: TommyGambino
Originally Posted By: FrankMazola
Originally Posted By: TommyGambino

**TommyGambino**
Complete guesswork. You have no idea weather Nicodemo will flip or not.

**FrankMazola**
Yeah.



Isn't that what 50/50 toss up means? rolleyes

**TommyGambino**
No, you have no idea weather it's 50/50, like I said complete guesswork. 50 percent of mobsters don't flip, even on murder charges, so don't try play that hand.

**FrankMazola**
Jesus, what is it with people on here?! I meant nobody knows WHETHER he will rat or not. Hense 50/50, Over here in America that's a figure of speech.




Sorry Tommy, but this has me LMAO right now!

Edit: Still Laughing!

http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-john-stanfa

Good article on Stanfa/Merlino War,,,,,but why does everyone assume merlino and them would have lost that war, it seems like both sides took losses, maybe I'm missing something ?

Anyone know anything about this Frank Fiore, and Brad Sirkin? They were mentioned in the article as convicted felons. CHEETAH POMPANO BOOYAH!

It's getting too hot to be hanging at those cigar bars in Boca. Even Crazy Carl has cut back going to the one in Boca. Maybe Cheetah pompano is the way to go

Here's the latest on Fiore,

Three South Florida Residents Charged in Conspiracy to Distribute Illegal Drugs

U.S. Department of Justice Press Release

For Immediate Release
August 19, 2014
United States Attorney
Southern District of Florida

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, David W. Bourne, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Criminal Investigations, Miami Field Office, and Ric Bradshaw, Sheriff, Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office (PBSO), announce that Frank Fiore, 59, of Parkland, Gary Lee Jones, 55, of Boca Raton, and Anthony Carbone, 32, of Deerfield Beach, have been charged with conspiring to possess Alprazolam, a controlled substance, with the intent to distribute it, conspiring to traffic in counterfeit Xanax, distributing Alprazolam, and trafficking in counterfeit Xanax. In addition, Fiore and Carbone have been charged with conspiring to possess anabolic steroids and 500 grams or more of cocaine with the intent to distribute them, distributing anabolic steroids, and attempting to possess 500 grams or more of cocaine with the intent to distribute it. Jones has also been charged with possession of a firearm after conviction for a felony.



According to the allegations in the complaints and indictment, the defendants initially sold an undercover officer counterfeit Xanax. The tablets contained Alprazolam, which is the active ingredient in Xanax and is a Schedule IV controlled substance. In addition, Jones, who has a prior felony conviction, sold the undercover officer a ROMARM Wassenaar Arrangement Semiautomatic Rifles, a Romanian variant of the AK-47 rifle, for $1,000 cash. Fiore and Carbone then sold a second undercover officer various anabolic steroids. Carbone, with Fiore’s assistance, also attempted to buy a kilogram of cocaine from a second undercover officer. During the course of these drug dealings, Fiore also asked the undercover officer to kill an associate of Fiore’s and to “beat up” another associate.



Evidence at trial established that Burke and Garland created fictitious companies, including Next Level Development, and used an abandoned coin laundry in Delray Beach, to create an empire of fraudulently obtained investment properties. The abandoned coin laundry had a mailbox that served as the official address for the defendants, various fake companies, and other conspirators and fictitious individuals. Trial evidence established that Burke and Garland used fake documents, including false wage and tax documents, and false claims of employment and income, to obtain bank loans for investment properties in low-income neighborhoods. Garland was held out as the “President” of Next Level, and would sell properties to Burke, using his alias, “David Middleton.” The defendants would then enroll the properties in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Section 8 voucher program, and obtain proceeds from HUD and from low-income tenants. The defendants then used false claims of status for Burke and also for the fake name, “David Middleton,” as total and permanent disabled veterans to avoid property taxes on various fraudulently obtained properties. Burke and his fake alias were neither veterans nor disabled. Trial evidence established that the loans and rental proceeds totaled millions of dollars.



If convicted, Fiore faces maximum possible statutory sentences of 40 years in prison for conspiring to possess controlled substances with the intent to distribute them; 40 years in prison for attempting to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute it; 20 years in prison for conspiring to traffic in counterfeit Xanax; 20 years in prison for each of the four counts of trafficking in counterfeit Xanax; 10 years in prison for each of the two counts of distributing anabolic steroids; and five years in prison for each of the four counts of distributing Alprazolam.



If convicted, Jones faces maximum possible statutory sentences of 20 years in prison for conspiring to traffic in counterfeit Xanax; 20 years in prison for each of the two counts of trafficking in counterfeit Xanax; 10 years in prison for possession of a firearm after conviction for a felony; five years in prison for conspiring to possess Alprazolam with the intent to distribute it; and five years in prison for each of the three counts of distributing Alprazolam.



If convicted, Carbone faces maximum possible statutory sentences of 40 years in prison for conspiring to possess controlled substances with the intent to distribute them; 40 years in prison for attempting to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute it; 20 years in prison for conspiring to traffic in counterfeit Xanax; 20 years in prison for each of the four counts of trafficking in counterfeit Xanax; 10 years in prison for each of the three counts of distributing anabolic steroids; and five years in prison for each of the two counts of distributing Alprazolam.



Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of FDA–Office of Criminal Investigations and PBSO. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Osborne.



An indictment and information is only an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.



A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls1. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/2 or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov/3.