The Bruno Mob of Philadelphia

The City of Philadelphia has been a vibrant center of Mafia activity for well over a century now, and its still going strong today!

But for many of those years the "City of Brotherhood Love" was anything but. Blood was spilled in the streets regularly.

This expose traces much of that early lineage and development right up to the present day. And now...

The Bruno Family of Cosa Nostra!

https://thenewyorkmafia.com/2021/05/23/the-bruno-family-of-philadelphia/

New Orleans
Milwaukee
....and then it'll have to be a potpourri of underworld stuff. I basically covered nearly every other family, and many regimes as well. Lol

It's been almost 2 years of extremely steady research and writing. No joke.

Sabella, Dovi, Avena, Ida, Bruno, Testa, Scarfo, Merlino....

I made a mistake. Salvatore Merlino is Joey's father, not Yogi. I wrote it incorrectly.

A few thoughts and some corrections I noticed while reading through the article:

- The extent to which it could be argued that Ida succeeded as boss hinges largely on Marco Reginelli holding the underboss position during that time.

- Harry Riccobene spoke quite highly of Joe Bruno to Celeste Morello [not really a correction, just an interesting bit of info].

- Dominick Oliveto and Joe Rugnetta both briefly led the family prior to Pollina.

- Angelo Bruno may not have been a long-time soldier. According to Riccobene, he was only made a few years before becoming boss.

- Sonny Riccobene was not a soldier though his father Mario was a long-time member, being inducted into the Mafia in Sicily before coming to the US.

- Antonio Caponigro may not have been a capo before becoming consigliere. According to George Fresolone, the Newark guys unofficially answered to Caponigro until he was promoted to consigliere in 1978, at which point they were officially assigned to him [most likely they were all still part of the Simone crew until then].

- Blinky Palermo might not have been made.

- Mario Maggio likely was never a member. In 1964, he was asked to leave a meeting between his brother Peter and a couple of Gambino members from Baltimore because he wasn't made.

- Charles Costello was an acting capo for John Simone rather than an official capo in his own right.

- The Nicky Russo identified as a member of Costello's crew was Trenton-based Gambino member Nicholas Russo.

- Peter Casella and Frank Narducci weren't involved in the plot to kill Bruno. They were however the main conspirators in the Phil Testa murder.

- Frank Sindone was never a capo as far as I can tell. He was sponsored for membership by Bruno and likely answered directly to him.

- Stanfa actually was injured during the Bruno hit but not seriously, though he did end up in hospital.

- Robert Lumio wasn't killed, he died of cancer.

- I don't think there's anything concrete to identify Michele Maggio as ever serving as consigliere, though he is a plausible candidate.

- Philip Casale, Rosario Bellocchi, Philip Colletti, Joseph Altimari, Frank Martucci, and James Datillo were never made.

---

Some stuff regarding the modern day chart:

- Based on the latest indictment against Mazzone, Grande, et al., the latest "official" information on the hierarchy comes from the recorded ceremony in 2015. Merlino is obviously the boss but under him we have Michael Lancellotti as the acting boss, Steven Mazzone as the official underboss and Joseph Ligambi as the official consigliere.

- Domenic Grande, George Borgesi, and John Ciancaglini were present at the ceremony as captains. Martin Angelina was identified as a captain when he was sentenced in 2012 so it's possible he still holds that position. Joseph Licata is still captain of the North Jersey crew.

- Phil Narducci looks to be doing his own thing. Anthony Staino came home about a year ago and has said he wants to be moving on with his life. According to Dave Schratwieser, there isn't a position for him to hold at the minute.

- Vincent Centorino, Charles Iannece, Antonino Sciglitano, Frank Narducci Jr, and Ralph Staino are all deceased. Joseph Bongiovanni may have been made before he died but he also passed.

- The newspaper sources identifying Phil Ligambi and Albert Lancellotti as members are both quite questionable and I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out neither were made.

- Haven't seen anything to suggest that Ralph Abruzzi, Michael Angelina, or Vincent Iannece are made either.

- Domenic Rugnetta (if he's still alive) is in his mid-90s and was made under Bruno.

- Could add John Stanfa, Frank Martines, Giuseppe Gallara, and Salvatore Piccolo as incarcerated members.

- There's paperwork to back up the claim that, in addition to Vetere, members of the Boston crew included Robert Gentile and Paul Pepicelli, both still alive. I haven't seen paperwork to back up the following names but at other points Luisi has described Paul Tanso, David Pepicelli, and Robert Paleo as made guys too.

Good info Chin.
I must admit that for this particular storyline I was my least prepped for. And did not deeply research it as much as I should have. And I guess it shows. Lol

As far as current members goes, it's always a bit of a crap shoot of sorts because positions can change so rapidly.

I thank you for your insight into this crew. It's does seem spot on.

Has it ever been confirmed that Harry Riccobene was an informant or is it all speculation? A couple Philly related books mention similar points from this website also

http://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/philadelphiainf.html

Nice expose on the Philly Mob!

One quick question- what was Ange's relationship with the other families (Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese, Colombo) in the 1960s?

Curious if anyone knows anything about Angelo Bruno’s wife, Assunta “Sue” Maranca. She was from Abruzzo, curious why Bruno didn’t marry a Sicilian?

Was her family connected? How is Abruzzese related to CN & La Cosa Nostra? Is not Southern Italian?

https://www.abruzzonews.eu/assunta-...o-angelo-bruno-era-abruzzese-534354.html

I know that there were Marancas on Railway Street original from Sicily with Antonio Papalia, etc, so I can see them being involved. One of them ran the trains, the other ended up moving to Buffalo and working for the Church over there, St. Anthony’s.

The Abruzzi region is still far enough south that it's considered Southern Italy. There are many members of organized crime in the United States whose families were Abruzzese. If you checked the exact origins of mafia members who the authorities say came from Campania and Calabria, you would find more than a few of them actually come from small towns in the Abruzzi region.

i was wondering were the salvos have thier own crew .. joey was in margate in early july at the salvos restaruant in margate nj. the restaruant is called saltwater i believe. down the street from the greenhouse. the salvos have plenty of pictures of joey, they are always with joey down there. i was wondering if the salvos are from pa or nj.

I think they are from New Jersey, but spent alot of time in South Philadelphia. There are a lot of pictures of them with Philadelphia higher ups, but I believe David and Michael are or were on record with George Borgesi. David was Joe Ligmabi driver and bodyguard when he was acting boss. David might have been proposed for membership or is now made, no concrete evidence on that. With how things have been in Philadelphia I would not be suprised to find out that one Salvo brother is made or both are on record with some else.

David Salvo was made in 2015

Nah, the Salvos are from Norristown. Huge family.