Originally Posted By: gangstereport
Originally Posted By: SinatraClub
What exactly is so dysfunctional about John Stanfa becoming boss? During the time, he was one of the few who was actually considered qualified. His Sicilian roots, his relationship with the Gambino's, his coming up during the Bruno era and outlasting that whole massacre and Scarfo era by default, was all looked at as good indications that he'd be a competent boss and earn the family some money again without the murderous headlines.


he survived the scarfo era by going to prison

i am not saying he was a bad boss he defo tried to bring the family back after the scarfo mess but it is dysfunctional how a soldier who was supposed to leave the country after being released from prison can end up as boss.

Yes alot worse things have happened which shows that family is dysfunctional but for him to end up as boss was wrong. Now scarfo guys it was crazy how that entire family was nearly wiped out the crow gino lawrence tommy del philip all flipping i mean it was ridiculous



i do think stanfa had an impossible job though he was stuck with an angry family kids of the guys from the 80s then he had all the oldtimers and then loads of his guys were rats john veasy battgelia etc



You're assuming he was merely a soldier in the regular Mafia related sense. I don't think that may have been the case with Stanfa. He spent time in Sicily & NY before he returned to Philly. He'd had close relations and done things with the Gambinos from Cherry Hill. Antonio Guiffre, Stanfas nephew, its been argued he may have been lower on the overall totem pole of LCN than Stanfa, and he was supposedly held some rank of stature with Provenzano. Theres no telling what Stanfa was doing in NY with the Gambinos before he went back to Philly, but he had the backing of Castellano to be named boss. Gotti supposedly gave him his backing later on as well. In fact, it was Tommaso Gambino who offered his help to Stanfa during the war, by offering to aide Stanfa in recruiting from Sicily. For whatever reason that help never came. But from the Avena wiretaps, it shows Stanfa held some rank and clout within the Sicilian Mafia. As he and Gambino we're recorded talking about how everyone knew who they were in Sicily so they weren't able to move around there with ease.

He was a soldier in the American LCN sense. Thats about it.