When we were sneaking into Philly bars in the 1990s you could see Joey Merlino and his crew all the time in certain spots--in Old City, you'd see them at The Continental, or at The Five Spot, which had swing dancing when that became huge, and then later became more of a hip hop spot before it "burned down accidentally." The local weekly used to have a MobWatch page where they'd profile these guys, and then you'd see them drinking it up down the bar from you a week later, it was fun.

The Five Spot had been Ralph Natale's hangout, and Phil Testa's before him, when it was called Virgilio's.

Merlino was a short, slight guy, and George Borgesi was a fire hydrant, but some of the others--Stevie Mazzone, Marty Angelina--were big guys, and big partiers.