Joe Ligambi

Has Joe Ligambi retired?

as somebody thats not from Philly and has zero inside info, from everything Ive read and heard it sounds like he's either retired or very close to it.

From what I've gathered, I think he's partially retired, and may be ready to full step aside soon, if he hasn't already done so and the general public just doesn't know it.

But, to my understanding, Ligambi is currently serving as the consigliere in the family, whether it be in an acting capacity or on a long-term basis.

Interim consig

in semi retirement

who is the boss now?

I'm sure the two federal trials probably beat the hell out of him, and with the chance of future impending charges that could put him away for life, I'm sure he just wants to enjoy whatever free time he really has left at this point.

I'd imagine the advisor role at the moment is to try to keep what's left of the guys on the street in one piece, kind of a guy to bridge the gap between the younger faction and some of the older guys. Once he fully retires, I could see one of Lucibello, Mikey Lance, or possibly even Borgesi (his old spot) stepping into the consigliere position.

Steven Mazzone is the acting/street boss. One of Merlino's must trusted guys. And it is still believed at this point (although never proven) that Skinny Joey has been the actual "official" boss all along.

Are there not a few guys now coming back out of jail that hold some sway in the Philly family?


Ligambi will have an FBI target on his back so no surprise he wants the quiet life..

he loves the life, he is going no where..he stood up and should keep his position..just don't kill anyone

And more may come out with his violation of parole court date next week...if the FBI was involved with the watching of him and not just the Broward cops.....does anyone know if the federal government or even the state of florida is allowed to just follow him around because he is on parole? PB would know better but it seems the place he got caught was a higher end place for Broward detectives to be hanging out in, or obvioulsly they had his routine down when they caught him with chang and the others

Quite a few of the old time, Scarfo era guys have come out of jail in the last few years. Phil and Frank Narducci, Tony and Joey Pung, and Salvatore Scafidi just to name a few. It is believed that the Pungitore's are completely out of the "life". Some claimed Scafidi was put on the shelf by Ligambi, but is now involved again. Others say that both of the Narducci's are out of the life as well, and then others say that Phil still remains a very heavy hitter and runs his own crew.

There are also a few more due out soon, including Joseph "Chickie" Ciancaglini (Johnny/Mikey/Joey Chang's dad) in 2015 and Francis "Faffy" Iannarella in 2016. However, both are in their 80's and I couldn't imagine them having much, if any, involvement in the family at that point.

Most people believed Phil Narducci was the one to watch when he was released, that he may try to make a power play for the family after doing so much time and feeling like he deserved it. If he is still in fact involved, it seems that he has fallen in line for the time being.

I can't say I know for sure, but I'm under the impression that law enforcement can basically put anyone they want under surveillance at anytime, including you and I, if they suspect us of doing something illegal. And, I'd imagine that while on federal supervised release, Joey was probably under FBI surveillance (along with Broward County) for quite some time. Like everyone else has said, law enforcement nation wide has an enormous hard-on for this guy. It shows in this case here; they want to put him away for something so petty as meeting Johnny Chang in a cigar bar a week before his parole restrictions are set to expire. However, I can agree that Joey shouldn't have been so stupid to put himself in that position with only several days to go until he was set to be a completely free man. What could have been so important to him at that time that he had to meet them? He also should have been smart enough to know that he had a target on his back and that he was most likely going to be under constant surveillance from the day he walked out of prison and the halfway house.

Seems like sour grapes behalf of law enforcement to me, especially after losing the racketeering trial in Philadelphia that included Ligambi and Borgesi. They're not going to stop until they've put all of these guys away for good.

Well we dont know for sure if they were even tailing merlino. The resturant where merlino was spotted got raided by the cops and the owner got arrested for selling drugs out of the place like a month after merlino was surveilled there. So it could very well be that the place was already under surveillance and merlino just got unlucky and chose the wrong place to have a meeting.

Ya the government cannot just start looking into any citizen for whatever because that 100% violates your constitutional rights but if you are in an area where stuff went bad like dellacroce is saying that makes sense....i mean merlino is not the average citizen, but a drug bust brings the heat on a place no matter what, so it was just the wrong place at the wrong time for him to have that meeting, and like KING said he could have probably waited

Well that stuff that went bad there happened AFTER the Merlino/Chang meeting. I believe it was about a month after the meeting that the place was raided. If I remember correctly, Frank Fiore was the owner and it was some sort of prescription or counterfeit drugs as to why the place got raided. So they can't say they had Merlino under surveillance because he was at a spot that they had just raided previously. I believe either Broward County or the FBI (maybe both) had him under surveillance for quite some time.

Don Anthony Danza

Of course they did. Broward has a relationship with the Feds that goes back forever. Just last year there was a bullshit sports bust that became a fucking RICO down there, which is ridiculous (and the State of Florida has their own version of RICO, by the way).

If Merlino's out, then he has nothing to worry about. But if he's back in the game, he's eventually going back to jail. Because the Feds are NEVER going to give him any peace. EVER.

I thought Judith Light was The Boss?

Pasty faced waspy women scare the shit out of me.

Danza must have been front boss. He was fat tony salerno to Judith's Gigante

Mona's the real power.

no delly, last article i read they followed merlino to the restaurant and then the club from his house. he is def on close supervision. im not going to go digging for the article but u know my word is good.

and I dont know if Ligambi is in the game or not but I would highly doubt he doesnt have his hands in a book. he was a bookie under scarfo if im correct. once a bookie always a bookie. and im sure he has some money on the street

Hell yes.....and with the pittsburgh loss last week at -7.5 and the Falcons loss to Minny...he along with the rest are buying more land for bigger buildings

Don't forget the 2011 indictment. 2 or 3 guys that pled out have already been released. Both Lucibello and Angelina get out in 2015.

She's the chick who beats up her husband in Men Don't Tell. She's/was a very attractive woman imo. Uber milf.

I'm no fanboy but I saw Ligambi on the streets a few weeks ago and he had a couple of goons with him, definitely watching his back. WTF he need that for if he's out?

Maybe they were his kids Big Joey, Little Joey, Joe Joe and Bitch Joey.

Not true

How do you know they were 'goons' could just be personal family members?

People say he's Consigliere, where exactly is that info coming from?

To be honest I'd be surprised if they have an official UB/Consig.

Reasonable question. You could tell. They were on the street corner in Center City, not south philly. Ligambi is not a big guy, physically, by any stretch. The guys he had with him were fucking monsters. And, by the body language, positioning, etc.

It wasn't normal behavior for 3 friends/family members. Definitely were watching his back.

Probably his son and friends or something

Not like there is an active Philly war

Nope. His kids aren't 6 feet + tall and 240 lbs. These guys definitely had the old mans back. Plain and simple.

Do you blame him in today's age? He for the most part is a public figure in Philadelphia considering the idiotic reporters and newspapers romanticizing his blue-collar organization.

I have seen his family members out and about too or acquaintances and they are all average to smaller older guys and family members so you are probably right on about the goons.....and that goes into speculation that someone has maybe informed him that if certain court cases in philly go the way we all think that uncle joe is going down for rico and then maybe uncle joe rolls on someone in s florida and maybe the word is out on the streets towards uncle joe

This could be what you call "The Domino Effect"....If i was Ligambi i would take off and go on the lam to Brazil with Joe Conforte.

I don't see how anyone can think Ligambi would flip. I mean, the guy already took a life sentence on the chin and didn't say boo. He's only out because of a miraculous technicality. That's why, if he went back to prison tomorrow, he had close to fifteen years on the street that he wouldn't have had. He's playing with house money if you ask me. But I'm a Bronx guy, so what the fuck do I know?

Good point PB...but being above ground for the next 15 years he has left with his wife, in a somewhat witness protection program might beat being locked up for the last 15....and no one is killing government witnesses anymore so he could come and go as he pleases if it ever came to that....and like you always say PB, joey merlino is dumb if he is back being the shotcaller in philly

Ligambi flipping

gravano flipping...joey massino flipping....leonetti flipping

That's a fair point. Gravano and Leonetti flipped before the Internet. But these sites were around when Massino flipped. And prior to that the groupies used to WORSHIP HIM on the boards. The Last Godfather, blah blah blah. A Man's Man, blah blah blah. And other like minded bullshit.

When he flipped they turned on him at the drop of a hat. I knew he was no fucking good, blah blah blah. He was a rat all along, blah blah blah.

Yeah, sure they knew .

But I'd still be shocked if Ligambi ever rolled. That's just my humble opinion, though.

I agree with you PB, because as you stated he did do some time for murder and kept quiet.....Im just speculating because of him having a few goons around him to protect him, because if he is retired and done, why need the protection, I mean he is just a retired italian businessman

None of them got life in prison and did 10 years of the sentence without a peep, they ratted when faced with a heavy sentence. Your clutching at straws.

Transplant Gravano and Leonetti to the present and I guarantee nobody would see them ratting either.

"Gravano is Cosa Nostra to the core. He had Castellano's ear. Gambino would have been proud of him. He's all substance and no style. Other people wear the flash suits, scream blue murder and grab the headlines. Gravano gets up at 8am, puts on his hard hat, his work boots and makes money for the family. He has his fingers in every pie!"

Gravano flipped? I knew the little dwarf would flip!

"Leonetti is Cosa Nostra to the core. It's in his blood. He would never sell out Uncle Nicky. The guy is crazy. It's even in his name. He eats rats for dinner."

The guy ratted on his own uncle. The sonofabitch! He sat there beside him in the courtroom playing it ice cool, knowing he would be sipping Mai Tai's in North Dakota in no time! I called it!

So am I .

But my wife has a little girl .22 in her purse. Full carry permit. She owns and operates two laundromats in Mount Vernon, so it's honestly a necessity. That crazy nag is all the protection I need .

Anyone would have flipped with an uncle like Scarfo. It's not ratting/betraying the family in this case, it's just common sense. Wasn't Scarfo searching for a reason to kill the nephew anyway? He asked for it.

Ligmabi flipping this time around as opposed to the flowers thing in the late 80s are 2 different games. I have close family friends who were swept up in the 80s with scarfo and did 10+ years because of it.

When they talk about those days, they say it plain and simple: "you kept your mouth shut or they would kill you and your family". Scarfo and Philly LCN in the 80s were just as deadly and intimidating as any other gang in the US. It's the truth; look at the body count. And most of them were LCN family members.

Point is, Ligambi was all brand new when he got convicted of the flowers hit; that's what earned him his button. IF your around people all day long who have been in a crew for years and THEY are scared about getting whacked, AND at the same time you are watching these guys plot and scheme and kill; the way they hunt people down and kill em, you go directly to jail and shut the fuck up. IF not you worry when they are gonna get your daughter/grandkid/nephew; the one who chose to stay behind while the rest of you are in Nebraska.

Present day mob, this guy, along with the current administration in PHilly are almost encouraging flipping because bent finger and the rest have no repercussions. Who knows, maybe he wants to kill the rats and the other guys are saying NO WAY. If so, what the fucks he got to lose if he flips.

Have they ever gone after a family member like that?

Yeah Scarfo did. He couldn't get to Joe Salerno who testified against him in the Vincent Falcone murder so he sent Philip Narducci to shoot the guys father which he did and the guy got lucky and survived.

Thanks Ted, yes I forgot about those guys. Lucibello is due out in February 2015, and Marty Angelina in July 2015. Possibly even earlier for Lucibello, I think I read a news report somewhere that said he may be released to a halfway house. Can't say I know for sure about that, though. I guess could possibly be the same situation for Angelina as well.

I agree, PB. You hit the nail right on the head. Just my opinion, but I don't think Ligambi WOULD EVER flip. If he goes down for life, he goes down and does his time. Like you said, he's now had what, nearly 14 years considering the time he was locked away during the federal trial, on the street that he didn't imagine he would have.

This is a highly speculative question, but one I want to get some opinions on. Say that, hypothetically, Nicodemo was granted bail before the murder trial he is now facing. Just like now, there is a chance he could go away for life, and possibly flip if that happens.

If he was out on the street, do you think the family is so worried about him that they would try to take him out? If it's true that he was in on, or knows about some of those past hits, he can potentially put a lot of people away. Wasn't DiPietro killed because they thought he was ratting somebody out?

Ligambi, if he has two brain cells left to rub together MUST realise he's dodged enough bullets in his time.
The life sentence overturned on a miracle.
The recent racketeering trial.

If he's not walking away now he WANTS to die in the can.

But it's all a moot point really as it's all down to Nicodemo.
And saying that, uncle Joe's fucked.

Don't know anything about these people past what I read here.... But you really gotta wonder about a guy like him at his age...talk about having 9 lives.... move somewhere warm and go out on a high note...

But I guess like a lot of them they live for being in those power positions.

I'm no Philly guy either (which I should learn since my family came from there) but I wouldn't imagine Ligambi flipping either.

Cheers Sonny. Scarfo was a nut job for sure.

If he started taking out innocent people do you think NY would have clipped him?

Is Philly the mess people say it is, or is the family tighter than people think?

They are tighter than the Royal Family anyway. Remember how the Queen of Queens, Queen Elizabeth, had Princess Diana whacked?

Totally agree....and that could be the the meaning of the presence of bodyguards....or maybe he is taking a cue from junior soprano and saying fuk the merlino faction this is my family and come try and get me before I get you

Mess.

House o cards with too many chiefs not enough Indians. Wouldn't surprise me if a Nicodemo flips, the following indictments could render Philly non functioning as a viable family.

Wouldn't surprise me if that 'conspiracy theory' was actually true, unlike literally EVERY other member of the royal family she was a decent person.

Maybe, maybe not. While nicodemo certainly has the goods on most of the higher ups (since he did come up under the merino faction), it's hard to say that the Feds can make a case on just the word of a man looking at life on a separate charge when the murders are 10-15 years old. There is a little talk on the skins tapes by scoops about getting long john I think, but that's about it. Look, I wouldn't bet against the Feds but I think they have a good shot at beating it with Ed Jacobs. Just a thought.

Amazing how this crap starts on here, I did hear the Queen had JFK whacked, God bless her!

How could the miserable old wench have whacked JFK? We all know it was LBJ who did that.

You guys can't wait to see the philly family tear each other apart, guess what, it's not going to happen, and then you have these know it all "mob insiders" that gets on here and say what's going to happen and what's not going to happen and when thier proven wrong they never admit it. Merlino, ligambi, and mazzone can all get locked up and the philly fam will be just fine

I couldn't agree with you more. It's also frustrating when I read these threads and you have like ten people who have never even been to philly all spewing a bunch of BS and claiming philly is dead or extinct. That couldn't be further from the truth, there are people who are all the way at the bottom who are making great money. Just remember when you're reading people post things like "I'm surprised they have a consig" "there's too many chiefs and not enough Indians" "joe ligambi is in big trouble" it's all bullshit speculation from people who are guessing or piecing together bits of other gossip or speculative news pieces. Also to compare Joe Ligambi to Massino, Gravano, or Leonetti is completely absurd.

Hate to break it too you Vegas, but that's what EVERYTHING posted on here is. Speculation.

Except when The Arm posts. He has a finger in every Borgata's pie.

Just like that report that said merlino is not safe in florida and the local mobsters don't want him there, that joey has balls lol

Like when so called mob insiders said new york have no say so in philly and they didn't pick merlino as boss, then I posted an article that said new york asked him to be the boss and he turned it down and put up natalie as his front, again, "mob insiders never admit when there wrong but it's ok for them to speculate and be wrong, but when someone else speculate we're just fan boys ...lol gotta love it

Just like new couldn't tell al capone what to do in chicago, nobody tells merlino what to do in philly, merlino is the new al capone

Come on guys, Philly is known for being the City Of Brotherly Love.
"Can't We All Just Get Along"

Are you talking about me, BigFella?

Because awhile ago I posted that it was twenty years ago that Merlino last had any juice in New York, and that TODAY the New York families couldn't give a fuck who's shaking down poker machines at the Jersey Shore. And they don't.

I didn't say your name pb, I said so called "mob insiders", and new york do sent give a fuck about philly but still they had a meeting with ligambi, go figure

I was bruised and battered, I couldn't tell what I felt.
I was unrecognizable to myself.
Crazy Phil saw my reflection in a window and didn't know my own face.
Oh brother are you gonna shoot me away
On the streets of Philadelphia.

I extorted on the avenue, 'til my legs felt like stone,
I heard the voices of Scarfo, vanished and gone,
At night Stanfa took the reins,
It was just as black and whispering as he made me,
On the streets of Philadelphia.

Ain't no angel gonna greet me.
It's just the boss and me my friend.
And my clothes don't fit me no more,
A thousand miles
Just to call in.

Night has fallen, I'm lyin' awake,
I can feel myself fading away,
So receive me Stanfa with your faithless kiss,
Or will we whack each other like this
On the streets of Philadelphia.

First of all, you can table the fucking sarcasm with me. Because I generally don't even post about that town. But there hasn't been a working relationship there in years. That's all I'm trying to say.

Go ask Stevie or Barney or Cefalu to name three of Ligambi's captains. See if they care. But you probably won't get an answer. Because they're too busy counting their money from the unions, and construction, and the waterfront, and all of the other traditional mob rackets that Philly has steadily been pushed out of since the '80s.

And I've never once said that the Philly mob is "dead." It's just that they are what they are: A small group content to make a middle income living off gambling.

go WESTSIDE!!!

I think we better get this thread back on track. Because when Cook starts posting, it's never a good sign.

Is Ligambi still hands on with his book?

The only reason we found out about the ligambi - gambinos meeting is because of skins, we don't know about the meetings they've had that wasn't recorded, you just said you don't know nothing about philly then out of the other side of your mouth you swear there's no relationship between new york and philly, so which one is it, are you informed about philly or not???

*DING* *DING*....Here we go...Round 1!

There's no relationship between New York and Philly TODAY. I don't have to be "informed about Philly" to know that because I'm informed about New York. And they couldn't give a shit about that family TODAY.

Now I strongly suggest that we move on, and let the Philly guys keep this thread active before it gets out of hand and closed by the mods.

like you said uncle phils playing with house money guy was doing natural life in the pa. prison system. never coming home. made a lot of money as acting boss for 10+ yrs. philly like 7 million people that's a lot of gambling money. and if he as good a bookie as crazy phil said he was and he didn't gamble it he must be loaded.

im guessing he still official underboss.the eagles are doing good this year so people are doing stupid bets. its getting cold he should be down florida already.

I'm just saying...am I allowed to speak my peace? You know what, let's move on before the mods make me apologize for speaking subversive

Like pb said, do ligambi still have his hands in the books?

No one would criticize him if he did, that's for sure. The guy is 75 years old.

I've heard that he's not rich compared to his predecessors (like Bruno and Scarfo). But I have to believe that he's well off enough to live out the rest of his life in Florida luxury. In my opinion, he'd be crazy not to do just that.

You "called" it? You called what, Phil flipping? If that's what you insinuating that's laughable.

He was being sarcastic, Gram. Moe wasn't even born yet when Leonetti flipped .

And it's good to see you posting again, buddy .

Thanks for clarifying PB I guess these "wise" guys should wink a little harder or use those cartoon icons you always attach your posts with!

Ligambi was trading his baseball card collection in at the auction house down Chestnut Street he then went to Boyd's and got fitted for a suit maybe he's making someone in his new suit :Lol:

lol how long did you have to be following the guy to know this

you should have snapped some pics and sold them to tmz!

I didn't read what the squabble was about, but all due respect PB...that lunch meeting had to be a little more than a casual meeting between friends from NY and Philly

The Gambinos and Philly probably have some sort of joint ventures for them to meet up like that, unless the guys happened to be friends going back a ways, but with the people present at that meeting I doubt it.

My 2 cents.

I can't remember all the names from the meeting but from the Gambinos it was John Gambino, powerful guy. And I believe Alphonse Trucchio, one of the biggest earners captain wise at the time and his right hand Roccaforte. So they weren't meeting with slouches.

Now granted they didn't catch any criminal discussion on tape, they were probably smart enough to handle that elsewhere. On a walk outside or something.

The Cherry Hill Gambinos had a partnership with Philly that predates Ligambi's tenure as boss. I'm talking about New York as a whole (picking bosses, etc.). And by and large, the Cherry Hill Gambinos have always had a little more independence than the other New York offshoots in Jersey anyway.

Oh by no means was I insinuating they were involved like they were before like the relationships Bruno had and to a lesser extent, even Scarfo. However I do feel that meeting weren't old friends reminiscing .

Maybe the guy that followed Ligambi to the dry cleaners can let us know when John Gambino is back in town!

Now THIS is worthy of a smiley.

No need, just ask pb

Ask me what?

Mr. Bj (no pun intended) would like to be informed as to when a mr. John gambino is back in town

The meeting was about philly having problems with the lucheses and they wanted the gambinos to mediate. John gambino was recorded telling nicky skins privately that "they couldnt do anything for them"(them being philly). Now remember at the metting almost everyone there had to be introduced to each other, which made it prettyclear that most have never meet before. It seems that most if not all of the connections between NY and philly would be through the philly newark crew(at thats just bc of proximity).

Other gambinos there besides the ones mentioned was joe gambino, lorenzo mannino and nick mitamoranda and ofcourse steffanelli. Daniel marino was supposed to be there but was indicted not to long before. The philly guys that were thete were ligambi, licata, fazzini, and staino. I believe.

Del, wasn't Michael Roc Roccaforte and Alphonse Truccho also at that meeting?

Yeah they were but someone already mentioned them, Del was talking about the guys who weren't mentioned

Thank you Sonny L Sorry.

Ahhh, I think its coming back to me a little..over Scarfo Jr?

Is there an article that talks about who was there and them being introduced and about the problems being with the lucheses?

the only articles i found yesterday when I was looking was taped conversation about Big Lou's making ceremony/the bloody shirt and about how the mafia need quality over quantity

I agree, but the genuine "mob insiders" rarely ever claim that there are internal factions that can turn violent. Guys like George Anastasia are the ones saying that crap and that's just to gain more reader attention. What he says is parroted by other media sources and casual mob watchers and all of a sudden the Scarfo faction being on the verge of going to war becomes a "fact".

Good background article on Uncle Joe.

http://articles.philly.com/1999-08-17/ne...no-ralph-natale

"Shortly after the June 28 arrest of reputed acting mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino in a federal drug trafficking indictment, a mob associate said Ligambi peeved Merlino by sending him a message at the federal prison at Fairton, N.J.

The associate said Ligambi, 59, told Merlino, 37, he was taking over, saying: "We're going to do this thing right.""