The murder of Salvie Testa

I think he was found hog tied. Was this done on Scarfo's orders as a sign of disrespect because of him and his father were known to where cowboy hats or was this just a coincidence?

Thank-you for your time

I could go on for hours about this one. I saw someone keep saying that Scarfo's hits were under LCN politics...and I tend to agree...but this was defniitely not. This was basically pure jealousy. Scarfo was starting to lose it. I never heard anyone say a bad word about Salvie really...even the men who killed him. Salvie was Phil's son. Scarfo took Salvie under his wing after Phil's murder. But Salvie was already making good money with LCN and elsewhere. I think he was a millionaire at this point. He basically ran the family during the Scarfo-Ricobene war at times when Scarfo was locked up. The guys loved him and that started to make Scarfo jealous. And then there was the Wall Street Journal article that dubbed Salvie "The prince of Philly"...or something like that and that didn't sit well with Scarfo. Then Scarfo also used the fact that Salvie ended the engagment with Merlino's daughter. Merlino was pissed but deep down Scarfo knew this was no reason to kill a great earner. There is so much more info I could give that happened around this time but its been said before. So Scarfo put a hit on him basically...to me..out of jealousy. Salvie was also very smart and watched his back so Scarfo new the hit would be a hard one. So he had Salvie's best friend Joey Pung and a couple other guys do the hit. I think Grande was in on it...I heard he never really liked Salvie. So they got him in a candy store up passyunk and then dumped him in Jersey and Scarfo spilt up Salvie's rackets. Funny thing tho...the guys didn't have toll money to get over the Walt Whitman bridge...lol. That toll money story reminds me of the dumb ass Stanfa hitmen.

So you are saying that the hog tie of Salvie was done on purpose as a sign of disrespect? I for one would appreciate it if you would elaborate more on what you know. I have been looking to buy the book "Blood and Honor" by George Anastasia but can't find a place that accepts paypal and I don't have a credit card, so I would honestly greatly appreciate it if you would elaborate and share more of what you know.

Yes spmob was right on everything he said.They said Salvie was no dummy and he knew something was up,that's why it took so long to get him.They said he had a way of shaking your hand and patting you down at the same time.Finally Scarfo had to use Salvie's closest friends to set him up.Joey Pung Refused to be a shooter but was threatened to the point where he agreed to lure him to a candy store on Passyunk Ave. to supposedley settle a dispute.The gun was hidden in a sofa and like spmob said Salvatore Grande was more than willing to do the shooting.Phil Leonetti,Nick Caramandi all said the same thing that Salvie was a man's man and if scarfo could kill him he could kill any of them.That was the beginning of the end for Scarfo.

Sal Testa was rising through the ranks, and he feared a potential threat. Being that Testa's father was boss of the family, Salvie probably, more than likely held influence with some of the guys. I'm sure it was a bunch of good fellas who wanted Scarfo's egotistical ass clipped. Salvie coulda been boss if Scarfo hadn't knocked him off: Smart decision though for him as boss, if I must say so.

Sal Testa was the man in Philly back in '84. Everybody loved him. The only reason he got whacked was because of his power. I often wonder how his life would've turned out if they hadn't whacked him.

A damn shame. As we see time and time again, eh? The so called "Men of Honour", the made guys. A murder they all felt was wrong, & yet not one gave him a heads up, a little "get the the fuck out of town" or nothing. Friends of ours my fat cock. The son of the boss, left roadside like roadkill. A damn shame, that a charismatic guy like Salvie Testa didnt get out while he still could.

From a mafia perspective it's a damn mother**** shame. But like many others, this man was a brutal killer.

That's a good point, Sonny. His Wikipedia article is so extensive that a lot of people make that their first stop for information, but it's a bit biased - "He was a ruggedly handsome 210-pound man who stood 6 feet tall with hazel eyes and real long lashes and dimpled cheeks." Salvie repeatedly toyed with the idea of killing whole families of mob rulebreakers, and his guys had to intentionally foil a plot he hatched to kill a whole family. I can imagine him as a good boss, though. Philly has always been robbed of good bosses. I mean, Bruno was nothing special. But he kept peace.

There was a show on National Geographic last night about the Philly Mob, and they were interviewing Nick Caramandi, and he talked about how Salvie Testa would pat down guys for guns when shaking their hand. They also mentioned he had 10 hits under his belt, I don't know how true that is, being he was still a young guy. He got lucky by not getting his father looks though, who was one ugly dude.

i think i believe the ten hits thing. for a man under scarfo in that time period. philly guys were killin each other all the time. scarfo was orderin hits like we order pizza

Can you elaborate on the story of Salvie's men having to foil the plan to kill an entire family?


I have read on phillymobspot.com that Salvie had even more than 10 hits under his belt, and was responsible for over half the hits of the Riccobene war.




BTW does anyone kow where I can buy the book "Blood and Honor" by George Anastasia with Paypal( other than ebay, because right now they only have an autographed $100 copy)? Would be greatly appreciated.

ebay

Mussolini, the informant Nick Caramandi was my source. Not sure if he belonged to Salvie's crew officially, but Caramandi was taking orders from him. He implied that Salvie took loyalty to LCN to the extreme - when the Riccobene faction in a technical sense, disobeyed the family, he planned to tear them to shreds. When Enrico Riccobene (an innocent) killed himself once he heard Salvie had been looking for, he loved it. The way I see it, Salvie was absolutely about following the rules and destroying anyone who didn't. This Caramandi quote can tell you the rest.

i honestly can say that imo i think that caramandi maybe the most reliable snitch that the mob ever turned out. he just seems so real in interviews and dosen't seem fame seeking like sooo many others.

That is true, who really knows how many people these guys killed? We only know about the fellow made guys/notable associates they killed. They could have killed others who were low on the scale, or not on the scale at all. These guys were nuts, and it was in an era when it was relatively easy to kill people and get away with it. Even the rats never tell the true scale of their crimes....

Good point, Jerry. Recently uncovered two stories of extremely low-level murdered drug dealers. One jokingly claimed he would take over the family. It was during the Stanfa era if I remember correctly, but he's a throwback to back then. Michael Cifelli, another drug dealer, was murdered for so much as selling drugs to a capo's son. As we discussed a while back, you can get away with banging another guy's wife in other families.

Well said.

I look there often and so far all they have is a copy autographed by Anastasia for $100.

I certainly have to agree about Caramandi being the most reliable witness.

just keep watching ebay. i have a copy perhaps we can work something out. id rather not sell mine but i believe in sharing knowledge but keep watching ebay, it will pop up. did you try amazon?

There was an associate, Michael Avicolli, killed because he was supposedly messing with another members wife in 1996, and buried in North Jersey. I had never heard of this guy, or this hit until I came across it on the internet a few years ago. We just don't know all the stuff these guys do, because it is not stuff most people want to admit, even when they immunity. This link has some details on the Avicolli murder.

http://www.nampn.org/cases/avicolli.html

prob in the can

Does amazon accept paypal as a method of payment? Thanks for the suggestion.

i think they do, check it out www.amazon.com

Unfortunatly they don't accept paypal. I will keep checking ebay daily and I'm sure eventually I will find a copy for sale.

It wasn't so much Scarfo being worried about Salvie's influence as much as it was Chuckie Merlino getting even. His daughter was heartbroken and he and his family were embarrassed. Chuckie Merlino had Faffy Iannarella and Tommy DelGiorno plant ideas of treason in Scarfo's head.

Merlino was Scarfo's protege and just as much as a killer as Scarfo or Testa. Merlino wasn't gonna stop until Testa was dead. Why Scarfo is attributed with the blame is beyond me. People make this Testa out to be a martyr...he killed 11 people for christ sakes, fuck him. Merlino, Scarfo's Underboss as well as Phil Leonetti, who was a Capo in '84, were pushing for the hit, as well as several key soldiers; at some point Scarfo was just gonna give in and he did.

Scarfo saw what happened to guys like Bruno & Phil Testa and he wasn't gonna let it happen to him.

And to add to this discussion:

It was also a very idiotic move of Testa to cancel the wedding at the last minute. Merlino's daughter wasn't ugly at all.

It was such an arrogant and stupid move for this guy to make when he was a rising star. He had it comming.

no way i saw recent pics of her on the real deal forum she is still hot!!!!!

Hey phatmattrese do you know the status of Vince Filipelli,I know he's doing time for a gambling conviction.There has always been some controversy wheather he is a made man or not.Saw him at the coastline in Cherry Hill back in 02,after he had just gotten out of prison for that kidnapping-extortion charge involving some business man.Always at Stanfa's side,back in the day.

Vince was straightened out in '93, he gets out in August.

Barrett, Caramandi reported Joseph Ciancaglini until his imprisonment in '83. For the rest of '83, which was the end of the Riccobene/Scarfo War, he reported to Testa, who was running the Ciancaglini crew until his murder (as well as his own).

After he was made, Caramandi reported to Faffy Iannarella and Tommy DelGiorno as they were "Co-Capos" of one giant crew that was a merging of the Ciancaglini and Testa crews.

no i sure don't sorry

As mentioned upthread, in the book "The Boardwalk Jungle" by Ovid DeMaris, the author speculates that the flattering 1984 WSJ article about Salvie Testa, which called him the "heir to the top job in the Philadelphia Mafia", said that "Testa was on the brink of controlling the city's Mafia" and "has consolidated his power, bringing many friends into the Mob" would not have pleased the preening and paranoid Scarfo.

In the book "The Plumber" by Joseph Salerno and Stephen Rivele, the WSJ article is also mentioned as a source of friction, along with the claim that shortly after the broken engagement, the Family bigshots met at a restaurant and got into a heated argument which ended with Scarfo throwing Testa out.

And then finally in the book "Blood and Honor" by George Anastasia, Caramandi confirms the essentially personal nature of the Testa murder, claiming that he knew as soon as he heard of Testa's spurning of Merlino's daughter that Testa was a dead man. According to Caramandi an immediate campaign of lies and shunning began to be directed at Testa. The author also believed that Scarfo didn't take much convincing by Merlino to agree to Testa's elimination as he may feared to have Testa and Merlino too close.

Thanks there Philly Kid about the Filipelli info

Can you post a pic of her?

And will someone please ANSWER MY ORIGINAL QUESTION ABOUT THE HOG TIE?


Thank you for your time.

http://www.philly.com/philly/video/BC897450508001.html

theres a pic of her in this video. i just watched it again, shes not as hot in this video but ive seen other pics of her where she looks better but i can't find them. imo she looks better than any of the wives off vh1's show

here's a pic of deborah merlino i think i may have gotten joeys wife and his sister mixed up
[img]http://realdeal-forum.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1540&mode=view[/img]

Joey with a girl like that? Meet the real life Chris and Adriana. I've seen pictures of her, but have no access to the real deal. Why do you suppose they made it invite only?

Mussolini, all I can tell you is a story about Jimmy Burke. Jimmy Burke hogtied a man who stole money from him in an attempt to torture the thief. Jimmy got bored and confused, and just ended up shooting him. However, I seriously doubt that was the case here. It must have been disrespect.

oh sorry if u cant see it i will download it on my computer! i just got a new comp yet again today! took that piece of crap emachine back to walmart got a hp. the hp had a price tag of 348$ took it to the register rang up as $596 they gave me the $348 price because they mis marked it! go me! they made it invite only i guess to help reduce spammers and what not. they are also not very tolerant of people that don't have alot of knowledge on the mafia. ivy league got me on there. i guess he thinks i know a little bit lol. but they will rip someone to shreds for posting dumb questions or common knowledge stuff.

It's not invite only. You can request membership by sending an email to David, the administrator.

Joey wife and sisters did both look good at one time. They have that exotic look. Havent seen them or a recent picture though. But I believe Deborah isn't Italian. I always heard she was Philipino or something like that. Her maiden name is Wells I believe. But 10 years ago she was nice!

I know why. I know the real reason. PM me if you wanna hear it.

I'll give you a hint

ha ha ha ha ha ha

this is the pic of debroah merlino and joey's mom rita

vinny gourgeous's wife prob wasnt all that bad either at one time

Seems like someone didn't get his button.

I think she is half Korean or Japanese, Philipino women are usually like 4ft tall, so I doubt she is that.

My button? . Is that what they're calling it now.

vinny you fake old tough guy! you bought your fucking button you fake old tough guy you!

That fuck Albert. He gave me the deal of a lifetime. I buy button for a million two and I get to make sweet love to Carlo Gambino's wife in front of Carlo. Let's face it, that's a sweet deal.

That's what I thought becaue him and his father Phil were known to wear the cowboy hats so I always thought the reason they hog tied his body was in order to mock him and his cowboy style.

Sorry for going off topic. How can I find David?

It's a well known fact that Testa was widely respected, and a couple informants in their own subtle ways mourned his death. What was the deciding factor that won everyone's respect?

I sent you a pm.

Scarfo liked to hogtie victims, he called it cowboy style.

maybe that is why they did it to salvator Testa.

1) Vinny Gorgeous' wife is hot

2) back in the 50's in Buffalo NY, the mobster Aquino brothers were murdered by being hogtied. From what I can remember, they had wet rawhide cords tied around their necks. They were laid down face in the trunk of the Cadillac , face down with their feet pulled up their back and the rawhide tied around their feet. As their muscles tightened up and the wet rawhide started drying out, they literally strangled themselves.
3) Vinny Gorgeous' wife is hot

I agree with this. He is brutally honest and doesn't sugar coat anything or make the mob seem appealing or intriguing. He was a low life con artist but he doesn't try to rewrite history like most rats. Blood and Honor is one of the best mob books and definitely the best Philly book. I got it on nook for like $6 and downloaded it instantly BTW

Sorry I just ment to quote the post about Nicky crow

Once Salvie knew that Scarfo and Merlino wanted him dead, WHY didn't he at least go and try to see if Big Paul could save his life? Paul still was the recognized boss of bosses in 83-84.

I know that a boss should have the right to eliminate whoever they want in their family BUT, when Mr. Miggs was boss and wanted to eliminate Angelo Bruno, Bruno went to Carlo and VOILA, life saved!
Even though Bruno was only a capo at the time, his case was heard and Salvie definitely had a good reason to not get whacked.

In a perfect world, Big Paul could have said, "Nicky, go to florida, you are retired! and Salvie, you are now the boss!....lol. I know that would have been a long shot but,
wasn't it the Gambino's that appointed his dad?

It couldn't have hurt to try.

Sal was young and was probably banging a handful of other broads.

It was the Genovese not the Gambinos and I doubt either family would be ok with a 28 year old boss imo

Even tho Salvie would have been a better Boss than Nicky could've ever been in his wildest dreams

who knows why? maybe he had no idea how threatened he was? Or maybe he just accepted it as how life goes? no one knows. He hadd saved Nickey once by taking that shotgun blast to the arm and maybe h Salviethought there was no way Nicky was wacking him for no reason after that show of loyalty. Nicky was a psycho and the Philly fam in the 80's y all accounts was the wild west.

Sal had bad vibes but I'm pretty sure he thought since Nicky was his godfather and phil testa was Nicky's mentor that Salvie thought whatever the beef was that it would blow over. Salvie was a one man army during the riccobene war and solidified Nicky's leadership. He prob thought chuckie was the one w the beef and Nicky would eventually squash it. Boy was he wrong

Salvie just accepted the fact he was gonna get killed. Leonetti said he wasnt the type of guy who runs away.

Yea why would Sal Testa run to Big Paul to try and have Scarfo whacked when Scarfo had the backing of the West side? Surely that could have caused a war and surely Paul was not that stupid to interfere with family business.

Look what happened with Bruno......Someone on this board said that The Chin intervened and saved Bruno's life.....Someone saved his life and told them no one touches that kid and it sure wasn't Massino, Rastelli or, Napolitano that chose to let a guy named whack whack off the hook.

I just think that if an employee can always go over a local bosses head, if their is a true injustice, the same ought to apply in the underworld.....Otherwise, the real strength of the organization(soldiers and associates) would lose faith in the structure and could group together, rebel and wipe out all the upper levels. They outnumber upper levels by 50:1. What is stopping that from occurring? Carlo Gambino's awesome Brazilian Jui Jitsu? Anthony Casso's aikido?
Look at what Luciano did with all his young buddies to set order back!

My point is the Genovese seemed to be the ones that installed and supported Scarfo. So why would Big Paul who seemed to have a better relationship with them than Philly, tell Testa he could have Scarfo hit in favor of Testa? Carlo might have had a hand in Philly but it seems to me Big Paul let them go about their own business.

What's with all the admiration for Testa? Just don't get it. Guy was a scum bag and he didn't get killed for no reason. He got killed because he broke off the wedding and because he was perceived as a major threat. That's not no reason. Some of you are a trip like he was the last action hero or something. This guy was a stone cold piece of shit I'm sure he wouldn't bother to piss on you if you were on fire.