The curious timing of Gino DiPietro hit

Wacked right in the middle of Uncle Joes trial, talk about bad press, was somebody trying to get rid of him? follows the pattern od the Billy Veasey murder the day his brother was set to testify(Stanfa was done after that one), The murder of Anthony Turra right in the middle of his trail, so where they trying to make Uncle Joe,or even borgayzi look bad? who knows but no boss would let that happen in the middle of his trail.



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I think that grande and niccodemo had some dealings in drug world outside of the philly family and kind of went off the reservation and did this.... middle of day people around... biggest thing is how is niccodemo going to do the 30 years

Though discussed many times on these posts, the whole incident makes little to no sense. Does anyone know the whereabouts of Grande allegedly when incident was taking place? Was he brought in for questioning? Nicodemo drugs in system at time of arrest? Is Grande financially taking care of Noel & kids?

That whole thing will make you crazy if you try to make any real sense out of it.
I have tried to figure out what went down and not one scenario makes sense to me.
Please someone with a good mind try to piece together that ...

PURE SPECULATION - I don't know if this was said before, but it's possible that Grande wanted to settle something from his old days with the 10th and Oregon. And Tony Nics was simply along for the ride.

As for making the boss look bad and all that: Maybe they acted on impulse without any thought; just assumed they wouldn't get caught.

Bottom Line, maybe it had zero to do with the "family"

As for punishment, Nicodemo is in jail a long time. If Grande was involved, any punishment on him would be private so it didn't attarct more LE probing

In own car, murder weapon left in vehicle, vehicle parked outside Tony's house, etc etc Though neither are rocket scientists, both have been involved in heavy work before. Why this time so extremely sloppy at every turn?

this is SCOTT BURNSTEIN theory of how and why it went down

http://gangsterreport.com/dipietro-hit-approved-could-be-rolled-into-philly-mob-rico/



i think it was okayed by steve and joey but i cant understand how it was so badly planned i mean its not like its nicdemeos first hit he was involved with the johnny cassanto and raymond muders so you would think maybes its a heat of the moment type thing but dom grande the shooter was wearing mask and was carrying a gun which makes you think maybe it was planned i really dont understand this

Read that before and still do not understand maybe dont believe that they actually sat down and planned that out....niccodemo is relatively bright guy, he owns(ed) sveral properties in the area legitimately he ran a multi million dollar book out of the borgata.....

seems more like as stated above grande and niccodemo were all yaoed and up grande saw dipietro and said fuck this guy and shot him at 2 in the afternoon and then niccodemo maybe had no clue what was going down or to the extent drove away stunned, dropped grande off somwehere and police were at his house a few minutes later and if he sells out grande he sells out every single one of his friends and family that he had for life

When I first herd all the details I immediately said setup !!
I never at any moment thought that he was involved .

Just could not wrap my head around that level of stupidity from guys that have done this and have planed this stuff even just in there head since they were young men...

As was mentioned above, according to Scott Bernstein's sources for what it's worth apparently Joey and Steve Mazzone both met with Nicodemo and Grande on several occasions to approve and plan the hit. Furthermore, I agree with the fact that because they had a clear get away plan (sloppy but planned nonetheless) as well as a mask and gun I don't think it was a random shooting on a whim. Also, for what it's worth, in Leonetti's book he mentions in his commentary on the current landscape of the Philly Family that he thought it was all a ploy of the Merlino faction to keep Ligambi and those guys in the can as it is consistent with their plots in the past to do the same with Stanfa (Veasey) and Turra (Turra's father). I see this as being plausible however not totally buying just because I truly feel that Ligambi was fine with stepping aside once he wasn't needed as acting boss when merlino and the others were released and back on the streets hence it wouldn't be necessary to execute a hit to ensure that Ligambi would stay in jail. Furthermore, don't you think there would be more of a rift and bad blood between Ligambi, etc and Merlino if Ligambi truly felt that Merlino & Crew were trying to keep him in the can by orchestrating this hit during his trial? When it comes down to it though this hit makes so little sense on so many different levels that nothing really seems to make sense so who knows!

yearh you probably right i dont think the hit itself was planned but i would not be surprised if some of these guys like mazzone wanted him dead dom grande and niccodemo met with steve the night before the hit and the feds want to charge merlino and mazzone swell according to scott which makes me think it might have been okayed but if steve mazzone and maybe merlinio did give the go ahead you would think it would be planned i mean this was cowboy shit it shows no signs of planning. If this was okayed joey and steve must be very worried about this and must be very annoyed with nicdemeo and dom grande. Uncle joe must have been really pissed of i can imagine angry discussions after the trial

So Skinny" has the balls" to do this hit with uncle Joe hanging in the joint, and shoves" it in the face" of every FED that ever laid eyes on Skinny ..

If that's the case the feds" are looking to torch" him on a "RICO" so bad..

This I do know ,the picture of Eddie down Florida last year having a smoke with Skinny and his "wallet" ,part of that conversation was about a RICO and a big case coming at Skinny ,just don't know if it's this murder .

I do know Eddie was down there for a deposition that trip ....

All merlino have to say is that he retired before he got out of prison and case closed...unless somebody snitch

No doubt he did . I posted what I posted above last year(in a thread with that picture) when that photo was leaked or posted with them three in Florida.
But that's all I knew ,so that could be old news and it's just reaching us ,so Scott is that his name ? could be way way off...

As far as those two being coked up and doing the hit on a whim???
Lets say they wanted to settle an old beef and they bolted home and haphazardly grabbed a gun and a ski mask then rushed over to the crime scene thinking they could clip him and take off...that would still be an unplanned and somewhat random hit. Also, everyone keeps bringing up Grande and perhaps he never had anything to do with it.
That sounds plausible to me.

+1 Crash.



Bullshit that Uncle Joe or Skinny ok'd or this was planned.

I really don't buy the kill while ligambi is in jail conspiracy. Makes zero sense, and if ligambi sniffdd it out, he could have potentially flipped and brought down the enite thing. Plus, he seemed to acknowledge Merlino as boss so why bother?

The whole thing is crazy !

But one of two things went down.

1 It was ordered

2 Philly is so fucked up that a couple soldiers can walk around and shoot and kill people(on there own) that are connected to the family and get everyone in trouble.

sounds like they were high on coke or meth when they did the hit

Yea I'd say second is most likely. Or they asked for permission and got it from Skinny who thought two things:

1. He was far enough removed that he wasn't be a suspect.

2. If would signify he is back and they aren't fucking around anymore. We know he loves intimidation.

Are either of these two guys known for doing coke or meth ?

'Ordering' supposes planning.

If it was ordered then Nicodemo and 'Grande' 'planned' to use Nicodemo's car and 'planned' to leave the murder weapon in it.
Two blocks from the hit.

Now, whats more likely?

The above scenario or a spur of the moment hit?

I think the answer is reasonably obvious.

I don't know but scott said on his site that Steve mazzone met with Dom grande and nicedemeo the night before the hit and the feds were trying to bring Joey into the murder. That's why I think it was given the go ahead but these two maybe it was arrogrance or stupidity thought they could get away with it Dom grande had a gun and a mask with him that's why I am unsure if it was a just spur of the moment type thing. When the cops got to his house he was panting and the cops said he looked like he ran a marathon.

Still steve must have been angry this brought a lot of heat and Joe ligambi must have been going nuts

Well, Dominic Grande came up with the 10th and O crew as a young man before he swayed over to Philly LCN (went under Anthony Nicodemo and got schooled by him) and eventually got made. The 10th and O crew is HEAVILY involved in narcotics. Where there is smoke, there is fire. You guys can come to your own conclusions...

I personally believe that Tony Nicks felt untouchable after successfully pulling off the Johnny Gongs and Long John hits. Its like how serial killers get caught, they eventually feel arrogant, untouchable, and smarter than the police. This leads to sloppiness and BOLD murders. The cops always eventually catch serial killers due to them eventually making BOLD murders. That is my theory....

So you are saying # 2 ?

Correct

Crazy Philly Sonny !

Dante brings a good point about T Nicks feeling a little too bold .
But I can not see him knowing how Philly still kills the guys they want out .
He and Dom know how treacherous Skinny can be.

I mean the guy that kept the seat warm, and did not let the whole thing fall apart, like it was headed when Skinny went away.Uncle Joe was hanging in the can ,and Skinny gives the go-ahead !

True I agree with that I think skinny gave the go ahead scott said he gave the green light at his father's funeral. I just think it was mucked up by these two still not sure how there planning was so bad I think like the others said that nicdemeo felt he was invincible. Still gino must have known staying in Philly was a bad idea everyone knew he was a rat

Nicodemo is pure CN from all we've heard about him. I just cant see him, coked up or not participating in some random murder. Who was Gino connected to? Who'd he come up around? Remember the old Scarfo adage of sending a message and just leaving a body in the street, especially when it came to informants? Shit is weird as hell, but still seems a bit plausible that someone wanted it to go down exactly how it did. I just don't see an explanation for leaving the murder weapon and mask in his car. If he had the ingenuity to mask up in that situation and get Grande the fuck outta dodge, he clearly wasn't that far gone. Shit is weird for sure.

Tell who would stand to gain if any of that was a set up ?

It would look like uncle Joe gave the order and possibly fry him while he is going to court.

Skinny is the type to just throw it all away and order that hit !
Then if it was a set up (and I am not saying it was)then who stands to gain with Uncle Joe and Skinny having the finger pointed at them.
We know it did not come out that way (yet) but it don't mean that none of that stupid shit did not go down.

Because look at what went down..even more crazy !!
I can not wrap my head around what went down that day .

I think they just fucked up the hit plain and simple, no master plan...we have to follow what happens to grande to find out the truth

Dom seems to be doing great, always hanging around with Handsome Stevie these days

No doubt , just the strangest thing from guys that have lived that life through and through .

Did Dom leave them and Nic not have a clue till the handcuffs were put on !

The state never said that Nic was the shooter but he was involved and his car was used committing a felony so obviously the police know there was another shooter....i am guessing if it was a drug hit and not a CN hit or outside of philly that someone who is outside of the family will get pinched soon and probably try to tell what they know or heard aboujt the hit....the philly pd OC unit probably already know exactly what happned through informants and niccodemos actions but they have no proof on getting grande other than heresay......... one day it may come out that it was a planned out LCN sanctioned hit...... but i just think it happned liek stated above some old beef from 10th and orange and maybe some drug crap and saw the guy and popped him over there near marconi park

It sounds like nic fucked up, it was his job to get rid of the evidence and for some reason he didn't

Not sure I'my willing to believe the drug theory. These are made guys who clearly know better, or at least should have, than to commit some random killing over drugs. Whatever the case, I just can't figure this one out.

theres nothing random about having skimasks and a gun in your car in the afternoon if they used a stolen car or switched some plates probaly never got caught. also they would be in trouble with the leaders for doing this out on there own.

Still no matter we all agree that something is wrong with this hit.

This never happens ,and it should have not happened here .

Like a couple posters said we have to see how Dom is treated from here on out.

If he is outed or hit well we know the deal. If he is taken care of then Nic blew it and is paying for it.

It looks to me like a poster said Nic blew it and he will suffer ..
Then there is always the flip, the Feds will give him what ever he wants if he can hand them what they want.
I think he can hand them the top guys in the family and more !!

Im sure these dudes roll alot of times with guns in their car and it was decemeber so it was cold..jk...im guessing anastasia or scott b will at sometime here if pietro was in fact some informant which would shed more light onto this.....the thing that gets me on this as stated by PMAC, is the no stolen car, plates,etc...and i thought teh police said they circled blocked 2x, so it could have been oh shit there he is lets go get him....very dumb considering the outcome...one day like to find out...

DiPietro is confirmed as a informant, he wore a wire on his own cousin, even crazier, that some cousin found Jonny Gongs shot, who
Dom, and Nicodemo are also suspects in that shooting.

Ok I got a theory, Victor DiPietro discovered Johnny Gongs after he was killed, the feds probley sent his cousin Gino DiPietro after him, in hopes of flipping him too, or maybe he asked some sensitive questions with regards to the Gongs murder while wearing a wire, this somehow got back to whoever, and he got killed for it.

That would be Victor. Who is completely out of that life since he was released.

I also heard that Ligambi/Merlino, etc were worried Gino DiPietro had info on the Gongs murder and due to him being a known cooperator and informant they felt they had to whack him. And incidentally, with regards to the theory on Merlino trying to keep Uncle Joe in the can, if Gino DiPietro did in fact have info on the gongs murder then that would have a direct affect on Tony Nics, Ligambi, and Merlino... Hmmm! On a slightly unrelated note, there was another theory/story that was even written about in a newspaper article back then that Gino's cousin Nicky who Gino informed on was talking about Gino getting whacked amongst other things in prison in the weeks and months leading up to Gino actually getting whacked.

Yearh nicky bragged to other prisoners that gino was going to get whacked when asked by press and feds he denied ever saying that.

The johnny gongs hit I wonder how much involvment ligambi had with that I think that was all merlino the guy was banging joeys wife and then insulting joey in front of a group of merlino guys. Admittedly ligambi could have been involved johnny could testify about the raymond hit and he was trying to switch to the gambinioes and he was a hot head. I don't think gino knew anything about the johnny gongs hit otherwise they would all be under indictment and Joe ligambi is hardly going to order a hit while on trial where is lawyer is trying to prove the philly mafia is not violent. This if ordered or given the go ahead was done by merlino and mazzone.

Still if you are right then everything is connected to the raymond hit in 2002 nicdemeo and johnny gongs were allegedly the shooters then johnny gongs was killed in 2003 then gino was killed in 2012 because of his knowledge of the johnny gongs hit all goes back to Raymond though I don't think this is how and why it went down it could be though who knows until someone flips

Dom and mazzone are related. By marriage. Gongs wasn't nailing skinnys wife.

@Themafia - apparently according to George Anastasia's interview with John Alite, John says that Ligambi and Mousie and Staino went to him to inquire about Gongs being a rat in prison as it was suspected that Gongs was working with the prison guards to help bust drug smuggling rings within the prison he was in at the time which would directly link Ligambi to setting up the hit if true. Between that and Gongs banging Joey's wife, those are the two things suspected of being the straws that broke that camels back. Furthermore, even if Gong's was just whacked over Merlino's wife's alleged affair with Gongs and if it was in fact ordered by Merlino, Joey and his guys were in jail at the time and it would have had to have been planned and orchestrated and delegated, etc by Ligambi as he was acting boss for a Merlino at the time.

@NickyWhip - I was under the impression that it was pretty much common knowledge and widely accepted that Gong's was having an affair with Joey's wife. Scott Bernstein actually recently wrote an article about it and it's supposed link to the Gongs hit for what it's worth... As a side note, it was also alleged that Mazzone's wife at the time in the 90s had an affair with Michael "Dutchie" Avicolli who was one of Merlino's closest associates and part of his crew during the Stanfa/Merlino war and was subsequently killed by Mazzone shortly thereafter. His body had never been found and the murder was never solved.

Also, you're right about Steve Mazzone and Dom Grande. I think that Dom is related to the wife of Anthony Mazzone (Stevie's brother) who was a Grande before she married Stevie's brother. Not 100% on that though...

Regards the hierarchy ordering the hit?
Uncle Joe was on trial for (effectively) his life.
Skinny was on parole after serving 12 with the Feds ALL over him.

And these guys are going to order a hit?
I think its highly unlikely.

Gongs was hit in 03. Is it likely they waited NINE years with Joe on trial and Skinny on parole to hit him?
Again, using their own car, and leaving the piece in?
Its just not logical or likely.


What IS logical and likely is that this was an off the reservation spur of the moment hit.

Everything else is baseless and illogical.



How exactly would SB know that?
C'mon, honestly.

And how do you know what you're saying, Sonny?

Who knows what happened. You put a little too much stock into these guys. They're not trained assassins lol.

Sonny I would love to think the same thing.
But those two know that they would die if they did that no question period !!

I will bet you we find out . There is no way that Philly is going to get away with all these murders in this day and age ,It will come out ..

This doesn't necessarily lend weight to it being ordered Serp. It's as likely to mean it simply wasn't thought through, which, judging by the aforementioned indicators, still supports my narrative.



I know what Im saying, because I said it Nicky.

This.


And this.

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

@ NE:

Funny because I could ask you the same question.

You asked me 'And how do you know what you're saying, Sonny?'.
What facts have I stated that are contentious or open to dispute?

I am simply drawing a logical conclusion from the undisputed facts.

So I honestly have no idea what you're asking me.

Scott wrote an article about it apparently johnny in front of a load of merlino associates grabbed debrahs arse and said "you can tell joey this is mine now".

http://gangsterreport.com/casasantos-murder-probably-stemmed-from-philly-lcn-love-triangle/

Exactly" Ted that's why we are brain storming to try to find a angle.

As for using his own car with his real license plate, the only thing I can think is that they thought no one would say anything because it's South Philly.

Exactly, Tony Nicks has a rep in South Philly as a murderer and don't forget it was a South Philly outsider who dimed him out (Mailman)

That is a defo possibility especially when they had the mask and gun prob did not think they needed the car

I was thinking about it the other day and Its pretty crazy how many philly guys have done work.. literally almost everyone I can think of whos made seems to have at the very least been involved in a murder.. and many more have pulled the trigger on several occasions... theyre a bunch of fucking nuts.
grande most be in good graces of merlino cause ive seen them hanging out with eachother in boca since the hit..

if nicodemo would have been in a stolen car or at least had stolen plates they would have gotten away with it..
least he could have done was ditch the gun. that would have helped him big time...
like serp says though.. ive thought of everything and this hit still doesn't add up in the slightest.. especially since this wasn't nicodemos first rodeo. if you've gotten away with prior hits how you going to fuck this one up so bad.. these guys are seasoned criminals.. they know the tricks of the trade. so the own car thing literally blows my mind.. and being all tuned up on coke I still don't think that could be an excuse for settingit up so stupid.

if anything the coke would make them over paranoid.. not stupid like they were eating Xanax bars.. would be crazy if nicodemo flips.. also everyone making accusations of them being on coke or meth as an excuse.. does anyone even know personally if they are drug users? I have no idea but I think its dumb that people keep throwing that out there with no proof.

Or, the obvious and most likely scenario....

They werent thinking at all. IE not planned.

But, Ive said my piece.

So reading this Gino was a rat?

If so was he an active informant or, did he already snitch on somebody?

If he was a rat do you think it could strike some fear into the Philly guys who think about flipping ?

I can't remember the exact story but I think this is how it went I could be slightly wrong he got caught dealing drugs and in return for less prison time he informed on guys including his cousin who was the same guy who in prison bragged that gino was going to get whacked and that the LCN were going to do it

And no one is doing time for any of the hits in what the last 15 years !
I am telling you it is and has been a killer city for ever !

Well till this one !!!

And that is a other thing. How is Philly doing all the hits ,and N.Y. does one and they turn the city upside down till they get a rat ?

I don't know. But I think there is a lot more violent crime in Philly generally. Pretty much all "disorganized" crime, but lots of it.

@dsbaloo - I agree... Something isn't right. Only thing I can think of is that Nicodemo was planning on ditching the gun and mask at another location away from the shooting scene shortly after stopping at home. Why he needed to stop at home first before dumping the evidence is beyond me, but he must have simply thought that he had some time and possibly made some phone calls from home to have an alibi or something like that (just trying to offer some sort of scenario to explain him going home post-hit before dumping gun and mask). That makes me wonder though why Dom didn't just drop the gun right there on the street after he popped Gino? Or even simply throw the gun and mask a couple blocks away while he was dropping Dom off or on his way back to his own house? That's what all those guys did in the past hits from Scarfo going forward. Just don't get it... Also, I agree with the idea that coke/meth wouldn't have any negative effect on them being able to successfully carry out the hit let alone simply toss the gun at the scene or somewhere close by on the way from the scene of the hit.

This had nothing to do with bad blood with 10th and Oregon. 10th street ain't real big anymore and dom still cool with some guys he grew up with. He just started hanging around the hanger ons and he did his thing and then nicodemo and al And Mike lance picked him up or whatever. He really just wanted to get made. His family goes back to coo coo Grande amoung others.

yeah I don't get why the gun was left with nicodemo in the car at all.. either the gun should have been left at the scene... or dom (if he was the shooter) should have taken it with him and disposed of it as soon as nicodemo dropped him off.. that makes so much more sense and seems so much safer than leaving it in the fucking get away car!!! good thing he didn't ditch the mask on the street... could have swabbed around the mouth and nose on the inside for dna and traced it straight back to the shooter.. but as far as the gun I full agree..its so strange it almost feels like someone literally planted the gun in the car, but highly, highly doubt that happened..
this hit just stresses me out. like I really just want to know what the fuck really happened that day..i want to hear a play by play of the whole thing.. from the reason, to the planning.. to everything.. cause its just too fucking strange

@Chicken713 - my impression was that Gino was not necessarily a confirmed/official informant but due to the fact that he only got like probation or some minuscule sentence like that after being convicted for a SECOND time for drug dealing led people to assume that was an informant as anyone getting a second drug conviction would normally receive some sort of very substantial jail time and definitely not some sort of minor slap on the wrist like what Gino got. Furthermore, apparently Gino's second drug case was sealed and never opened to the public, which basically means 9 times out of 10 that he was a cooperating in the case or was an informant for the govt. Hence why they went after him especially if they thought he had info on past mob hits (I.e. Gongs, etc) on top of him being a rat in the drug case(s) AND anything/anyone else that the govt was trying to get him to rat on (the govt was also apparently trying to get him to discuss the Gongs murder with his cousin and others while wired up or something like that). Bottom line: it's quite obvious why they hit Gino and quite frankly I think it's pretty obvious that for this same reason it was most likely not a rogue hit, but an ordered hit from the top of the hierarchy to protect everyone against potential RICO murder, however, it was clearly poorly executed and begs to ask the question that we've all been debating, which is what in the hell was Nicodemo thinking/doing in terms of actually executing the hit as well as the immediate course of events that occurred post-hit.

Yeah I can imagine that. Really they just had to get it done ASAP so everything was rushed. What really astonishes me is Nick held it down for LCN. He was apart of killing a rat whether he was the gunman or not. Took the 25 and didn't rat.

"hasn't ratted" yet....he has young kids and that beautiful wife...anyone know if there are conjugal visits where he is in prison might make the time a little better

[quote=Chicken713]Yeah I can imagine that. Really they just had to get it done ASAP so everything was rushed. What really astonishes me is Nick held it down for LCN. He was apart of killing a rat whether he was the gunman or not. Took the 25 and didn't rat. [/quote

There is more stand up guys than rats just get headlines and remember not one made guy has flipped in Philly in 15 years

Nicodemo would be going against everything he ever stood for and completely disgracing his family (in his and their eyes). He is not telling. Sorry to disappoint everyone who was sure it was a matter of time. South Philly is not like North Jersey or even NYC (although I admit I know nothing about NY). South Philly is a completely insular community where everyone knows everyone and everything that happens. He would literally rather die and prison before ratting. I know it's hard for some people to realize but there really are tough guys out there,even in 2015. They may not all be geniuses but that's irrelevant lol

It's not that hard to understand. The whole Merlino crew are all friends who came up together. These guys have held the Philly family down for 20+ years. You don't last that long without having a code amongst each other.