The Mob in Trenton

Does anyone have any background on the mob in Trenton, Its interesting becouse the Gambinos and Philly family's rubbed elbows there,Ive read about the older stuff all the way up to Russo and Johnney Keys, the Frankie Stillitano killing Russos son prompting Paul to dispatch Sammy the rat, any activity after the death of John Simone, Stillitano, Nicky Russo? I read about Al Poltani being the last known Capo for Philly but since he does nada,Greatly appreciated boys

Big food stamps racket in Trenton.

gambino' had a good guy joe, forgot last name..he died some years back

Gravano did not kill Steele, according to Phil Leonetti.

The Gambino's wanted Frankie Steele hit for the Russo shooting and he was supposedly hiding out in philly so the Gambino's asked Scarfo to try to locate him for them. Scarfo told them he'd take care of Steele as a favor to NY. According to Leonetti it was John Berkery and Long John Martorano who took care of Frankie Steele. His body was found in the trunk of car parked at the airport in philly.

That's not just Tranton these days my friend Obama would prefer it be like that everywhere apparently,lol Exuse me my young republican side is showng

trenton is a hellhole these days, not quite on the level of camden, but not too far behind either. like many other crime ridden cities in nj, crack and heroin rule the roost there, and have for some time now.

Trenton doesnt come close to camden. I mean its still bad, but camden is FUCKED UP.

so is Irvington. i knew a cop in union cty and he said cops dont even go into irvington, they just try to prevent the crime and gangs from spilling into surrounding areas....like the wild west over there.

Trenton is a sh*t-hole these days....all the Italians moved to the suburbs. The Burg (Italian section) is no more. Tonyboy, you pretty much covered what most people know about Trenton mafia. Haven't heard much lately. Still a ton of political corruption (Trenton mayor under indictment, Hamilton mayor just convicted).

Irvington is where all my boys are from! There and west orange. U can literally practice ur aim on stop signs in west orange and not worry about cops lol.

Amen to that brother. Camden is the shithole of all shitholes, at least as far as jersey goes. They should just bulldoze the entire dump and pave it over or better still burn it down, pay those lazy deadbeat fucks who live there to move to another state and to not come back. They've been pouring money into that sewer of a city for decades, nothing works, i say just nuke it and the so called residents who live there.

Anybody whos got 10-20k to invest, and literally forget about for 10 years, look on trulia or zillow, houses in camden start at like 8k. Probly one of usa's cheapest housing markets next to detroit.... Close proximity to philly, never know, it cant stay ghetto for ever. Look at bed stuy

Detroit's stayed ghetto for the last thirty years, that dumpster of a city isn't recovering anytime soon. I'm with Giancarlo, just burn Camden to the ground and let nature come back to take it's place. They could use another state park.

Leonetti talks about Nick Russo running the Gambino family's operations in Trenton years ago. Another Gambino guy there back in the day was Anthony Tassone.

What about the genovese ivy?

Ninny Bruschi's crew was operating there when they were busted back in 2003.

http://articles.philly.com/1998-05-01/news/25742458_1_parking-lot-investigators-homeless-man

Was this guy killed for being in on the Russo hit too?

I remember reading about that arm, not sure if he was one of the hitters or not.

Here's an article on what Leonetti told the cops about the hit on Steele. Yogi Merlino confirmed the same story after he flipped.

http://articles.philly.com/1990-11-18/ne...philip-leonetti

trenton doesn't even have jobs for the lazy deadbeats to apply for

it ain't up to the so called residents to fix potholes

you probably have more evil in your heart than the citizens of trenton

I don't have any problem with the people from Trenton, that place is a 5 star resort compared to that shithole of a city called Camden. They've been pouring millions into that sewer for at least the past 50 years and nothing has changed one bit. Fuck them, i'm sick of that place dragging down the home values in the county. It's nothing but a drain on the county and state and i'm sick of my tax dollars being wasted on people who do absolutely nothing to help themselves except to apply for welfare.

You got it pal, if it was up to me i'd nuke that place in a fuckin heart beat, but if you like it so much then feel free to move in, plenty of half burnt (or more) down houses to choose from. I'm sure you'll just love it there with all the hard working whores, drug dealers and junkies.

Ahhhhh a cherry hill guy eh?

I gotta report to parole in camden later today, what a great city.

They don't even have a police department anymore in Camden

people might see that and think its a joke, but its true. i believe that their police force was just so ineffective and broke, that they are in the process of scrapping the whole damn thing. i think that they have sheriffs from other counties, as well as state police picking up the slack for now until they can figure out how to fix the problem, good luck with that!i remember our family trip to the camden aquarium sometime in the early 90's, a real culture shock, thats for sure!

There going to have some metro unit. Then I heard there starting some program for the inner-city kids to be cops see why the corruption never ends there. They should drop a goddamn bomb on that city I don't think anyone would give a shit plus the concerts in camden aren't as good as they use to be so fuggedaboutit

Haha I have more or less the same memory of Camden

Yeah some girls I'm friends for that teach elementary ed. that have to take their classes there or the Philadelphia Zoo I feel sorry for

I'm sure you'd be at the park a lot

we went to the zoo in elementary school. we also went to the please touch museum, fun times!

O yeah did they have Sasha Gray there or Jenna Jaminson molds in the souvenir shop or what about Betsy Ross she was a whoristorial too if I remember right...

is your problem with trenton's politics or the residents of trenton?

if trenton is fucked up then it's because of the powers that be

not the so-called residents

You realize we're talking about camden right?

police corruption in camden was out of control.mostly the special investigations unit.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/moore...ca82a05878.html

http://www.aroundphilly.com/blog/2012/04...erturned-cases/

http://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/camden-agrees-pay-35m-victims-police-corruption

They laid off half the police department but hired some guys back for less money. They are in the process now of having a new county police force that will primarily patrol Camden. I report to parole on hadron ave right across from the police building and even literally right there it is pretty sketchy lol.

I'd think more East Orange than West. West Orange at least has some nice parts.

There are mansions with west orange addresses. Central orange, east and south, hell they all suck.

Agreed. But I always felt the least safe in East Orange, or Illtown as Naughty By Nature used to call it.

My friend in Philadelphia told me how Camden NJ is nothing to mess around with going to, and how it makes parts of North Philadelphia look like a nice area.

I grew up in West Orange in the 80s . It has certainly gotten worse , and mostly on the East Orange border but it's still not that bad . Somewhat similiar to a Montclair which has some areas that can be tough yet million dollar houses blocks away . The high school has gotten worse as the wealthier send their kids to seton hall prep . A lot of NJ devils lived there. South Orange has some similarities to West Orange.

Now east orange is bad and Irvington is a disaster , back in the day though it was all Italian , I basically consider it a bad spot of Newark but it's scary bad . My first job out of college I had to close a financial product at the person house in Irvington , hilarious me In my suit , white boy on Springfield ave and everyone just assumes your there for drugs , I haven't been back lol

I haven't been there in probably 10 years, but West Orange was always very nice compared to East and South Orange. There's a lot of money in West Orange, I can't picture the place turning into a dump. Must be just certain neighborhoods on the border.

There really are no Italians left in Chambersburg anymore whatsoever. Rossi's recently closed this past summer as well as Papa's relocated to Robbinsville. Trenton is just a poor, gang ridden city that is almost entirely Black and Hispanic. Amici Milano is last standing Italian restaurant in the 'Burg. The Italians are now out in the suburbs mainly spread out throughout the Hamilton Township suburbs and somewhat Robbinsville. Here are more recent Trenton mafia activity articles...

Crack?!?!, is this guy even in a real crew, theres no way

Anyone have any info on this 1995 hit in...as never solved

More Trenton articles if anyone even cares....

Sammy The Bull in Trenton

Philly LCN briefly run by a Trenton Capo in 1987

Dante,

Welcome to the boards and thank you for the articles.

That crack guy was not a member of an actual crew, but more of a "junior crew" called the Pitbulls I believe. They were kind of like a farm team, most into drugs.

And Trenton's scumbag citizenry is a huge part of the reason it's fucked up....it's not just the leaders. Of course this subject cannot be honestly addressed on this board.

NNY78,

Thank you for the warm welcome, I have been enjoying this forum for years now-figured that I would finally sign up and contribute. I always enjoyed reading your posts among many other posters here. Salute!

Another article-Recent gambino activity in Trenton (garbage)

JerseyShine,

Were they a farm team for the Philly LCN and Gambino LCN crews that were operating in Trenton area or what? I never heard of them before. Trenton is run by the Bloods and MS13 now 100% within the city.

Dante, the pitbulls had ZERO ties to LCN. I grew up in that area during their heyday. The original pitbulls (who would be in their early to mid 40s now) were just a bunch of chambersburg kids who got into fights. Period. No rackets whatsoever, just brawlers. Then there was a slightly younger crew who emulated them. Were talking about 5 or 6 kids tops. Same thing. Only about fighting, no rackets. They killed some kid (Andrew Whited) during a party when they were all drugged up and half of them flipped on each other. Now one of them is doing life. The gang is non-existent now. It was never really bigger than about 10 kids who would go out and brawl. Now some are dead (mostly ODs) and some in prison....the rest are family guys now that they outgrew their teenage brawling phase. It was nothing more than a teenage gang.

The crack guy mentioned above has nothing to do with the pitbulls. He was much older than those guys. I think I heard from someone that I know that he became friendly with some LCN guys while in prison but can't confirm that.

There really isn't any LCN in the trenton area anymore that I know of. If there is some gambling, they may be kicking up to someone in Philly most likely but who knows. There are pretty much zero Italians living in Trenton these days. They all moved to Hamilton or surrounding areas.

You should always tell the truth as you see it.
Everybody here is an adult...just be consistent.

Most of west orange is still nice, although very jewish. The area that borders orange is where all the trouble is. Montclair, south orange, and maplewood is now a haven for ultra liberals from the west side of manhattan and park slope brooklyn; a bunch of friggin weirdo's. The women dont cook and the men are a bunch of fags. I mean that in a good way..lol

Ahhh you could say something like that...though I don't know if any of them ever got called up to the majors. Many/most of them were involved with crack smoking shenanigans, and I'm sure a few at least got involved in the dope scene that is so huge in Trenton (and all of NJ really). "Capone" is just the most infamous of the bunch.

And yeah, Chambersburg started to die off around the mid to late 90's and now the process is just about complete, and that was the last Italian stronghold in the city of Trenton. Even Amici Milano's is run by an Egyptian now and recently left the city. The BEST place to eat left in the Burg and by extension all of Trenton is Blue Danube, which serves Eastern/Central European food. You can sometimes see wiseguys in there...or at least those playing the part. Malagas is great too but technically in Hamilton.

Camden may be the single worst city in America. If its not #1 its top 3.
60 Minutes did a piece on Camden about twenty five thirty years ago and they were interviewing a parish priest - he said if Jesus came back today and landed in Camden he turn around and go right back up to heaven.
Shame because back in the day lots of immigrant families settled in Camden, lots of job oppurtunities with the Delaware water front, Campbell Soup HQ, etc. al.

Yeah if only we could pick out some common denomenator between Trenton, Camden, Detroit etc...

Jerseyshine,

Seems like your hinting around that your a racist,a coward and a imbecile but I can't be sure with your cryptic posts. Let me answer your question for you though about the 3 cities, they are all in the dumper because of a lack of quality jobs, the breakdown of the family unit and drugs probably supplied by guys like Vegasmikey. Hope that helps

Let's all be open and honest.

The common denominator in those cities are Black families that don't stress education or entrepreneurship to their children.
When you do that, you remain stuck in the same place socially & economically for generations.
Previous immigrant groups took what work was available but pushed their children to get educations or trades. Many members of those earlier groups left. The ones who were left behind and encounter the new immigrant group, Blacks from the south moving north, are angry.
Angry at the neighborhood destroying behavior of some of the members of the new group, and mad at themselves for not taking advantage of opportunities like other members of their own ethnic group did and not being able to move somewhere else. Familiarity breeds contempt.

If you feel a group of people are beneath you, and then they are living among you and you can't move away, I guess you'd start questioning some of your life decisions.


I've lived in a wide range of places and been a part of a range of "social classes" . I'm not gonna come in here and tell lies or argue against the truth about what happened to those cities.


People not stressing education/entrepreneurship to their children...and when the factories close down...or when an even newer group of immigrants come in and are willing/able to work for less than what you are..........you're left behind. True for Detroit,Camden, Trenton (Trenton makes, the world takes), and true for Newark,NJ.

Lets not kid ourselves, the high crime rate area's of our country are a direct result of children born out of wedlock with no father figure. I dont care how many high paying jobs are available in those communities, if there is no father enforcing discipline in a household, why would some 17 year old kid bother getting a job??? Im not saying to ignore the job situation, quite the contrary and some blacks will prosper. However, if anyone thinks that will come close to rectifying their issues, i have a bridge to sell you.
Also, most of these woman have kids with a few different men. The black community leaders need to step up to the plate and address this problem head on. They need a a Nancy Reagan " just say no to having children out of wedlock" campaign.
Problem will never go away until black woman come to terms with their destructive behavior. I will get a lot of hate mail but what i say is true. Of course whites are guilty as well but not near the magnitude of blacks.

1)The lowest form of life is a man who leaves his family.


2)The community leaders are, 99% of the time, from the clergy.Been true historically and true now. They are not ever going to actively promote family planning,sex education, birth control, or abortion.In my opinion organized religion hinders Black people in countless ways and as it stands, clergy members are not equipped to lead in a realistic way.

I totally agree that many people living in those neighborhoods have made bad decisions that have had destructive consequences for them. But the manufacturing jobs moving overseas made those willing and able to work move elsewhere to find jobs. Which depressed the economy and more businesses closed. So more of the folks willing and able to work moved away. So more industries and businesses closed, and on and on in a vicious cycle.

YOUR right I must be a imbecile with that kind of post.

This is Present Day Trenton

Back in the late 60's till the 90's it was a decent place on hamilton. I had business there.
All of a sudden it was like a wave of scum came over that city.The last shop i had open was in the 90,s had to close it ,The place was on Hamilton ave ,I would not let my dog walk down that street now...

And all the people that cry about organized crime look at what the places were like then.

Now look at all these places now that you have disorganized crime...

"Well" The ones that complained wish that it was back the way it was.....

Nothing but scum ,they can not even live with each other...
I don't care about color or nationality or country or continent they are from.

The local mafioso may have extorted the textile plant down on the water front,but in the lot in the neighborhood he grew a garden and fed the hungry. It may not of been right ,but they did not live like animals ,and did not treat each other like animals....

All you have to do is LOOK !!!!

I used to get down that way quite a bit for the union. Our local had the funeral directors in NYC, but we also had the gravediggers for most of Jersey. And I'll tell you what, as far back as the late '80s Trenton was a fucking disaster area.

Did Richard kuklinski not run Trenton ???

What happened?

What do you think?

I think I have a fair idea, PB.

I don't know about P.B. thinks ,but i can not get it .My grandparents were as poor as dirt .
But live like kings in there hart...

That's EXACTLY my point, Serp. My grandparents were all Italian immigrants, too. On my father's side they lived in a dirt poor section of East Harlem. And even with said poverty, the crime rate wasn't nearly what it is today .

Right on P.B. The crime rate and the the people with the language barrier , the lack of law enforcement,No god dam electricity half the time,no running water ,come on they pulled it together and look how we did ...

I am no Pulitzer Prize winner or a Governor or President .
But for god s sake my children graduated college ,and it was only four generations.....

Some people would rather live in the past and let bitterness consume them.

You mean I shouldn't cry about a relative of mine who got shit on in Italy 200 years ago?

Silly me, I though it was the American way.

There was plenty of mob activity in the town,actually all of the New York families were there to some extent.The Philly family had many rackets there The DeCavalante's were there with Nicky and Bruno.I think DeCavalante's had some stuff with the Gambino's if not mistaken also..
And of course the west side was there wrapped up in rackets with Philly.

YES

And just a half hour drive from the Cherry Hill Gambinos .

You are the man P.B.

Yes just a half hour drive from the south Jersey Gambinos..

I guess this can go here.
There was a guy with philly his name is Albert Reds Pontani.
Now with out a picture i can not say for sure if this is the guy.
He was or is a made guy with Philly.

He was a Trenton guy ,do not know if he grew up there cos he was down in A.C. with north Jersey guys.(Lucchese and or DeCavalcante and possibly north Jersey Philly guys)He also spent a little time here back in the day .It could have been when Beeps was living over top of a pool hall - gambling room.

I am getting up there in years so things do not come to me like they did ..

I have reason to believe that he is, was a member here.
I was contacted by him here -E-mail - PM ....

Now the reason why i think he was not messing with me is .he knew what the inside of scarf Inc. looked like ,not that all of the cops in the county and further did not.
There was one more thing that he said to me about the way Nicky would order something from a local restaurant(just the way he said it)was like he was telling me the truth.

Now having said that ,can any of you researchers that read this find a picture, I don't know if he has a mug shot or not.(He is a made guy or was)
But the minute i said a few things to him he was in shock.
I never herd from him again,and he never posted after that...

Yeah scarfo used pontani as a link to his son I think , he was a made guy in the scarfo family

Pat Spirito (Philly) was from Trenton. You had Russo from the Gambinos in Trenton. There was a bookmaker named Sam Vasta who was killed in the 90s (not sure who he was with). Pontani's grand daughters are burlesque dancers now (look them up). I think there is still some gambling dens in Trenton but not sure if connected to anyone. Italians are all gone from Trenton...moved to Hamilton and surrounding areas. Not sure if Philly or anyone has rackets down there...at this point not sure what rackets are left other than drugs and prostitution. Tons of black and hispanic gangs there now.

I think the last LCN related gambling spots closed a couple years ago, at least the last one I knew of on Hudson. There are some black run spots who make good money off of all the young black heroin dealers who bet very stupidly I am told. Only LCN activity in Trenton proper is the occasional guy (how legit they are I do not know) reminiscing at the Blue Danube.

The pitbulls were like 5 punk kids. There was a show on id called evil twins or something. Two brothers named post were wannabes and killed there friend andrew whited and didn't even have gas money to dump him in the pine barrens. It was almost comical. Well the main brother is doing life. It was one of the worst shows I've seen that these kids had such disregard for human life. Not just Trenton but it's incredible how distorted people r white black brown yellow or red

Camden sounds like Philadelphia's Answer to East St. Louis ( both are the hellhole across the river). I used to think that here was only one place in America worse that north St. Louis and that was East St. Louis. Now I'll have to consider Camden. (Of course Detroit is always a contender)

Does anyone familiar with the area think that the south Bronx is as crappy as Detroit or Camden or does being part of NYC lift it up a bit?

The South Bronx will never gentrify. It's home to the single poorest zip code in the United States (the area just south of Melrose). The local politicians won't allow it to happen. You just can't displace that kind of poverty.

That being said, yes it's a bad area, and crime is high. But for some reason you don't see the rioting there that you see in other parts of the country when the shit hits the fan (like in Missouri last week).

The funny thing about the rioting is that that area is not all that horrible. There are much worse areas in the St. Louis area. A lot of what is going on here is total BS, but that's a whole other thread...

Is this morrisania? Is that where they had all the building fires 30 or so years ago?

It WAS a whole other thread, until it got closed .

My job requires me to be in Camden very often. I am also close to North Philly. Both are very bad.

Here's one for ya: Some guys who are bad on dope won't even go into to camden to cop. The main reason is the dope is so damn strong and because they know they may not make it out. They would rather go to Kensington.

I worked there full-time in the mid 90s on a construction job and we were REQUIRED to be out of the job by 3:30 pm. Under no circumstances were we allowed there past dusk. Too dangerous. Thats 20 years ago

That was my point, Nicky. I'm a Bronx guy, but I used to get down that way on business a lot in the late '80s and early '90s. Trenton was a cesspool then. I can't even imagine what it looks like now.

It most definitely was ,but there were pockets of good neighborhoods that the locals tried hard to hold on to.
But when the "Cluck U Chickin" opened right in the middle
of one of the last Italian strong holds that was it, my partner and i closed up shop.We were good 6 blocks from that neighborhood
but we did most of our business with there schools ,restaurants ,Little League teams Ect.
I have not been back since the early 90's when we closed...

I know exactly which one you are talking about (South Broad Street?) If you don't mind me asking, what kind of business did u have?

T Shirts silk screening and embroidery ,trophies ECT...
I was the $$$ my partner was the working hustler tough business...
No the shop was not on that street...

But the Chicken place was i think ?

I am in Construction Engineering, utility installation..

Speaking of Reds Pontani.....I read an article i believe from 1988 that said Pontani was made and was controlling Trenton when Scarfo went away.

The article said at the time many law enf sources had him pegged as possibly the next boss b/c was very powerful and violent had control over that city and crimes in Bucks county across the river. Although the sources said that they also thought at the time Martirano in Newark could be the next boss, or Scarfo could have held onto it. Obviously we know how it actually played out, but interesting shit.

Anyone else have any info on this guy? I had never heard of him until I read that article and I've lived in Phi area all my life? I will see if I can find the article

here is one of the articles on Albert "reds" Pontani of Trenton


http://articles.philly.com/1988-03-01/ne...ed-crime-family

But what i said in that post ,he is a member here i think it's him.(I do not know if he is still living)
I would need to see a mugshot to know if it is the same guy from back in the day.
This guy here contacted me and said a couple things that only he would know.
Unless it was a hang around guy and is using his name, but it does not matter cos the guy said what he said ,and he was right.
But after he said it and i said something back (He never posted again)

The guy i am talking about is smart as hell,great with rackets .
(not flim flam rackets)

Yea I dont know much about him just that article I found, but it seemed like he had alot going on at the time and they even suggested he was too smart to want to be boss, which may well have happened

http://articles.philly.com/1987-10-05/news/26216788_1_mob-boss-gambino-organization-john-gotti


This is the article the first one where I noticed this guys name...seems to be a serious earner literally never heard of him prior to this. Any other info would be greatly appreciated

Thankyou.. Mikey

Interesting. Is this guy still alive?

According to this article Albert Reds is Dead

Another Albert Reds Article

Thankyou for finding that out....

Found this article from 84:

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/22/nyregion/the-region-10-are-accused-of-racketeering.html

It mentions his son, Michael. I wonder if he is still involved. Haven't ever heard anything from him. Interesting that Anthony St Laurent was also involved.

THE REGION; 10 Are Accused Of Racketeering
AP
Published: August 22, 1984

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TRENTON, Aug. 21— A state grand jury has indicted 10 people, five of them from other states, on racketeering charges in connection with what was called an interstate gambling operation based in the Trenton area, Attorney General Irwin I. Kimmelman announced today.

Those named in the indictment were Albert Pontani, 57 years old, Hamilton Township; his son, Michael A. Pontani, 29, Trenton; Caesar Pesarini, 46, Trenton; Michael Logrecco, 53, East Detroit, Mich.; Patrick Picardi, 56, Cambridge, Mass.; Anthony St. Laurent, 43, Johnston, R.I.; Carl J. Palo, 29, Old Bridge; Nicholas Renna, 42, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Thomas Lacerra, 45, Staten Island, N.Y., and Doreen Trento, 37, Farmingdale.

The state police have have identified Albert Pontani as a member of the Bruno crime organization, which is based in Philadelphia and central and southern New Jersey. The indictment charged that Albert Pontani operated a sports bookmaking operation in the Trenton area and then ''laid off'' bets with other bookmakers and gamblers to spread the risk.

LOL.....there's only one way a neighborhood can go from there....

I am not saying that the shelved and dormit made guys and sons and nephews and associates Etc. are running a big family.But they all of a sudden, do not become upstanding citizens.
Matter of fact i think that those guys like it,and do well .
Next thing they know,there is no organization, they become there own boss and possibly the leader of the subordinates that may have never of done real earning cos of all the structure that was going on during the organized crime era.
The amount of these guys are much more then the actual family was.

I do not know about N.Y. but there is nobody pushing anyone around ,like back in the day....
(I guess that's what i am saying)Organization is gone.But the the rackets live forever.

I read somewhere Lucibello when he was a capo had gambling and loan sharking in trenton? Can anyone elaborate on that? Since hes in jail til least 2015 any philly experts know if his crew has stuff going on in Trenton or Bucks county? Always curious abou Bucks county since I live there and always heard rumors since alotta money out this way. Any info on Bucks would be appreciated.

First post. Came across this site and found some of the more obscure stuff interesting so I figured why not. Most of the people I know in the life are from NY and Philly and are some still around... and I’m not into dry snitching. But... I spent a portion of my childhood in the Trenton area (which, when people say Trenton... they also mean Ewing, Hamilton and Lawrence) and my dad grew up there. Not sure if anybody is still kicking up from that area these days, but yeah back in the day Gambinos and Philly worked pretty much side by side. Nick Russo was the Gambino capo and he did time with Scarfo, Bruno, Manna and other heavy hitters. He was an old timer. Other top Gambino guys were Pal Joey (Farinella) and Anthony Tassone. Then there were guys like Dom Iavarone and Paul Campanile... who moved down from NY and got clipped. Russo and Farinella had juice, they were the go-between guys for Philly... and set up/attended the meetings between Scarfo and Gotti right after he became boss. The Stillitano thing is pretty well known, but he wasn’t Irish... that rumor started because he ran to K&A gang in Philly to hide after he killed Mike Russo. Nick Russo got shot in that incident and wouldn’t let the hospital remove the bullet (refused to cooperate). Eventually I think the cops got a judge to sign off on it though. Stillitano was a cowboy who ran with the Gambino guys but had the balls to try shake down people they were protecting. Crazy guy, before my time but I heard some wild stories. He probably would have been made at some point if he didn’t fuck up. Gravano didn’t kill him, Philly did. Tassone was the last guy to die about 10 years ago. His grandson was caught up in a big ecstasy bust back in like 2001. They were in high school and it was a LOT of pills so everybody knew where the financing came from. AJ died himself a few years back, not sure what happened since I kinda lost touch with that crowd throughout the years.

Reds was the last Philly capo that I’m aware of. He was always looking to recruit the neighborhood kids. He would leave his garage door open with cases of beer and see who had the balls to steal it. But he got locked up in the late 80s and died a few years back.

Mikey Rome was older than the pit bulls... who yeah, were really just a bunch of brawlers from Chamberburg and Hamilton. Mikey Rome probably killed Sam Vasta... but I honestly don’t know who either of them were connected to. Rome got friendly with some mob guys when he was doing time for murder in a drug deal gone bad in the 90s. He became a crack head though and he got killed in a drug deal gone back a few years ago as well. Karma I guess. The Post brothers had nothing to do with any of this... but I can tell you firsthand they were fucking terrifying human beings. Joe Post is the one doing life and I heard a rumor he is no longer allowed visitation, like forever... for behaving like a total animal in Trenton State Prison

I think I have spoken to the guy you're talking about in the past. He was very familiar with Scarf Inc and guys that hung out there. Had many details like Mikey Virgilio had the initials PN tattooed on him. When people asked him what it stood for he said Pen Knife stupid.

Here is also a link to the New Jersey OC Bars report. Has some info on Pontani and the mob all over New Jersey..,......... https://www.state.nj.us/sci/ocbars2.shtm

Maybe. Depends on when and where. I think Reds has been dead for at least 15 years (I want to say even longer). Reds was into dealing... meth in particular. He was in his late 50s/early 60s when he last got locked up and that was probably 1990 or so. Philly was so dysfuncial at the time that he was very high up because everybody else was dead or in prison. I think he was technically under the Newark faction (so was Johnny Keys). His family still owns some jewelry stores in the area.

I wasn't referring that's I spoke to Red's Pontani. This guy was an internet poster I would say at least 20 years younger than Pontani. Perhaps in his early 30s in the mid 80s

Pontani died in prison in 1993

He had a son that would be a around that age. Could be him. I think Reds inherited Johnny Key’s book after what happened there. I don’t know of any other guy with a Philly button in Trenton around that time... so I’m guessing he got what was left after Pinky Costello, his brother and Papi (who I think had a big operation) died or moved to FL.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/0...he-Mafia-family-allegedly/1476572158800/

Yeah these Post Brothers seem very unhinged:

https://www.trentonian.com/news/not...1b5171f-191b-5eda-892c-d8e86f8d2290.html

https://patch.com/new-jersey/lacey/...cey-woods-after-arrest-trenton-man-gun-0

Thanks for sharing that article. I was just a kid back then. All I know is my family liked Reds. I think some of his younger guys are still kicking around.

Found NYMafia’s stuff through this site too. What a way to kill a Saturday morning. Would love to see them do a post on Trenton from the 50s up to Philly taking care of Stillitano for Paul Castellano. Sam the Plumber lived nearby and was very close with the old timers too. Angelo Bruno’s cousins were there. I don’t know if Nicky Russo was ever more than a soldier, but he ran a crew of made guys for the Gambinos. From what I’ve been told it always sounded like an interesting crossroads where all the local wiseguys were tight no matter who they were kicking up to. I lived in Staten Island most of my life but always found the Trenton thing interesting.