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

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

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

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

BTW does anyone kow where I can buy the book "Blood and Honor" by George Anastasia with Paypal? Would be greatly appreciated.

Salvie had nerve and he didn't care who he killed. Sometimes we used to go [on a contract] and we'd come back and tell him, "Well, the kids were in the car, the family's in the car.' "I don't care whose in the car', he'd say. 'Everybody goes.' That's the kind of guy he was. One Thanksgiving Day he wanted use to go into Sonny [Mario] Riccobene's house where Robert Riccobene was havin' dinner with his family. 'Shoot everybody in the house'. But he and Charlie [Iannece]] and Faffy [Francis Ianarella] made up some story that he didn't show up. Just to appease Salvie. 'Cause we didn't go for killing kids. It was something we drew a line with, but he (Testa) was just so full of venom that he didn't care. He was a guy made for 'this thing.' He loved it. He lived it.

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

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

A damn shame, that a charismatic guy like Salvie Testa didnt get out while he still could.

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

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

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

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

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