http://www.philly.com/philly/news/201201...cmpid=131298059

JOE STANFA doesn't want you to read this.

He can't make you put down the newspaper or click on another website, but he's worried that continuing on could be bad for business, for his fresh start.

"I don't want to scare people away," Stanfa said from behind the counter at Joey Giusepp's, his new pizzeria just off the Schuylkill Expressway, in Grays Ferry.

Stanfa is perhaps the only proprietor in Philadelphia who doesn't want you to know about his pizza joint. He'd rather make you a hoagie than talk about the blood that was shed at the same address nearly 20 years ago, or the story behind the scar on his cheek.

He just doesn't want you to get the wrong idea.

It's the name. Stanfa.

A name that everyone from South Philly to Caccamo, Sicily, equates with La Cosa Nostra. A name that means 72,300 things to Google's search engine, but one above all others: John Stanfa. Joe's father.

The 71-year-old former mob boss is serving five consecutive life sentences at a high-security penitentiary near Williamsport for a 1995 federal-racketeering conviction that included murder, gambling and extortion.

John Stanfa's never getting out. He's as good as dead. But, in a way, the Sicilian-born mobster is already haunting his middle-age son in the kitchen of his restaurant at Warfield and Wharton streets, a storied corner in local mob history, just west of 34th Street.

Joe Stanfa doesn't talk about his father that way. He doesn't have to.

"All my life I've been trying to get away from that," Stanfa said during the lunch rush one day last week. "I had nothing to do with that."

"That," it was understood during this brief conversation, is his father's organized-crime activities. And getting away from it won't be easy. Not here.

Joey Giusepp's Pizzeria & Ristorante is the former Warfield Breakfast and Lunch Express, a reputed mob hangout in the early 1990s.

It's where Stanfa underboss Joseph Ciancaglini Jr. was shot five times before dawn March 2, 1993, during the mob war between Stanfa's faction and a young crew loyal to Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, then a brash 31-year-old. The FBI's surveillance camera, mounted on a pole outside, caught footage of the hitmen entering the luncheonette. A bug planted inside recorded the whole thing - the gunshots, the screaming waitress, the men scampering out the door.

Six months later, as the Stanfa-Merlino war escalated, police were back at the Warfield Breakfast and Lunch Express investigating another attempted hit - this time directed at the mob boss himself.

John Stanfa and his son were riding in a Cadillac Seville on the morning of Aug. 31, 1993, when men in a van - with gun ports cut in the side - pulled up and opened fire on the expressway during rush hour. John Stanfa wasn't hit, but Joe, then 23, caught a bullet in his face.

Riding on the rim of a blown-out tire, the Stanfas' driver, Freddy Aldrich, exited I-76 and headed for Warfield Street, parking the car in the restaurant's garage. Joe Stanfa was rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with a bullet lodged behind his cheekbone.

In 1996, Rosario Conti Bellocchi, a confessed Mafia hitman, testified in federal court that the Warfield Breakfast and Lunch Express had been a meeting spot for wiseguys in the early 1990s, and a place where guns and money were stored.

"They wasn't coming in to buy pizza," Bellocchi told the jury. "They were coming to meet with people in La Cosa Nostra."

Today, Stanfa is trying to launch a legitimate business in the same building, on the same block as his father's old warehouse and business, Continental Imported Food Distributors Inc.

"How's that for karma?" one law-enforcement official asked, chuckling.

Stanfa, 41, with salt-and-pepper hair having replaced the black mane he sported in the 1990s, was never implicated in his father's underworld dealings, and law-enforcement sources say that he isn't on their radar.

"The only hit over there these days is the chicken cutlets, the meatballs and the broccoli rabe," said Joe Stanfa's attorney, James Leonard. "Joe's always been 100-percent completely legitimate. Even the government rats who testified against his father said so."

So legitimate, in fact, that a coupon for a free federal tax return from H&R Block was slapped on the pizza boxes when the Daily News ordered a few pies from Stanfa last week. Ever heard of the mob getting along with the Internal Revenue Service? Didn't think so.

Stanfa, however, wouldn't agree to a sit-down interview for this article, or to have his photo taken. Joey Giusepp's has been open less than a month, and he's worried that the location's notorious history could drive away current and future customers.

Reminded that the Stanfa-Merlino war was nearly 20 years ago, Stanfa interjected. "Yeah, but I lived it," he said, his voice rising slightly, not in anger, just enough to make a point. A pockmark on his face remains from the 1993 gunshot wound.

Even if his restaurant could benefit from the local Mafia lore, Stanfa doesn't want to be a guy with that kind of place. Disarmingly polite, he's not trying to cash in on mob glamorization. He wants to do it his way.

"I'm trying to build this place up," he said.

Leonard, Stanfa's attorney, is no stranger to free publicity - he's represented Angelina Pivarnick from "Jersey Shore" and has appeared in two episodes of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" - but he can't blame his client for wanting to put the past behind him.

"He doesn't bother anybody, and no one bothers him," Leonard said. "He's one of the hardest-working guys I've ever met, and his food is authentic Italian. Most of the recipes come straight from his mother's kitchen."

And most of his worries come from a federal penitentiary 150 miles away in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, from the aging mobster inside who shares his last name.

"I'm just trying to make a living," Joe Stanfa said. "I'm trying to make a new start."

http://youtu.be/IOfzKFD7-d4


the backround on the shooting in the restuarant that was talked about in the article for those who are interestedabout midway through.

That the same one that got shot in the face, or did that guy die?

same one

Poor guy, never had a thing to do with crime and Merlino's ass tries to blow him away. One of Joey's most lowest moments, glad little Stanfa survived. I hope his restaurant does extremely well.

Joe Stanfa was a made guy, he was shelved after the war ended...so yeah, him not having anything to do with crime is a crock. Don't cry for him.

If his father wasn't a gangster he wouldn't have been a gangster...

I go to school outside the Philly area.. Maybe I'll stop by and grab a slice one of these weekends

??????????????? his father is John Stanfa....the former mob boss of Philly......

The guys a hard worker and comes from a respectable family!

I can assume Joe wasn't born of a position of wanting to be a gangster, he simply hung around the men who revered his old man; and I'm sure it was under his old man's influence that he earned his button.

Of which, and how can we be sure if that Joe did have a Making Ceremony.

Yeah you should and they might be serving you for lunch on Monday

where u going to school if i might ask?

a buddy of mine goes to drexel for dental school

Villanova. Like 20 minutes outside of Philly.

great school, best of luck

I was thinking of going to grad school there all depends if they give me money. Dapper you couldn't figure that out with his username being nova.

didnt notice

There was a LSD drug ring at Drexel that just got broke up. It was front page of a couple papers today.

thanks, appreciate it

I've been to this place when Stanfa owned and the guys after him, the pizza was always too fucking hot to determine if it was good or not.

George Anastasia says in the Goodfella Tapes that he wasn't in the life.

not sure how much he was in the life


joey merlino wanted him dead after the war but ralph natale kept him alive because the gambinos reached out to ralph and got him a pass. Ralph kept two guys alive ron previte and joe stanfa. He should have let joey kill ronnie but ralph and later on in 1998 joey were too greedy the guy had no loyalty alot of guys would not deal with ronnie like steve but stanfa, ralph and then joey were all too greedy

This is just about the dumbest thing I have read in a long time. Like, dead fucking serious. wow

Who gives a fuck??

If CHarles Manson wasnt crazy he wouldnt have led a murderous cult..

If a fat fuck stopped eating 8 meals a day...he wouldnt be a fat fuck

If I had the talent to play in MLB...I would be a millionaire!

Stanfa, Natale, Merlino and Borgesi, dealt with Ron Previte. As well as the Luisi guy from Boston.

to be fair bobby lugi was introduced to ronnie by joey merlino but lugi is a fucking idiot shows the merlino mob and i dont care what joey says he knew they were dealing cocaine not swag like he claimed in court


Natale kept him alive and as much as a joke ralph was its one of the things i have against previte he was informing on ralph stanfa and joey the whole time and ralph saved his life and thats how he repayed him? yes ralph was doing it out of greed ronnie was an earner but still




your forgetting angleo he dealt with ronnie him and geogre gave ronnie a sports book but the whole time they were screwing him betting into his book. Joey did it a few years before took 200k of ronnie betting into his book but that was joey.


ralphie head also dealt with ronnie in swag.

Johnny chang hated ronnie because ronnie shook down a bookie for 10k who was with johnny while johnny chang was in the can this made johnny mad because he bookie ran away to floirda meaning johnnys family had zero income.

But joey merlino made them make up and in a tape which arguably got johnny chang his 8 year sentence was a sitdown with ronnie he told ronnie alot of things johnny was the biggest earner in philly and that could be true today massive he had legit and illegial things going on he had so many things going on he is like a new york guy not like joey and his thugs

ronnie mentions steve mazzone once it was in 1996 ralph called ronnie to a sitdown in a bar ronnie had his guys outside armed in case things went wrong as ronnie had been with stanfa the guys at the meeting were ralph steve and this meth dealer forgot his name ralph had around him


ralph mentions steve alot




joe ligambi ronnie mentions once over some swag scan joey and ronnie did but ligambi kept most of the profits cant remember the exact details



there was this guy i forgot his name ray something who ronnie did meth deals with


this other guy aswell my memory is going also dealt meth with ronnie ralph natale slapped him in front of a bar full of wiseguys and ralph lost loads of respect (if he ever had any to begin with) he slapped him over a fucking dumb thing basicily ralph had this broad who was in her early 20s grew up in south philly everyone knew her as Ruthie but ralph got mad when people called her ruthie he said she was to be called ruthan anyway ralph was not happy with the way he was treating her so he slapped him it was a fucking disgrace slapping a wiseguy over that come on joey on tape criticzes ralph after that. Borgesi fell out with ralph because of ruthie ralph expected her to be treated like a boss but as you can imagine these guys were fuming


She once slapped ralph in front of a bar full of guys i mean scratching him well the place was full of guys bikers everything they were shocked i mean here is a LCN boss being attacked in public no reaction joey had to calm down the bikers as they wanted to kill ruthie

Tell that to CRaig Depalma, don't want to sound like a jerk or start an argument, but I don't think you understand what it's like to GROW UP in a crime family, and have it expected of you, even if it's not who you are...
Like , do you know what it feels like to be a straight up, hard working guy, and have like your father, or MOther, or your whole family look at you like you are just a pussy?
You ever read the Godfather?
I love the part how Michael bristles inside whenever they call him "civilian" when HE was the fuckin war hero lol
I mean that kid took a shot to the fuckin face, and is still here trying to make a life for himself, I respect that.
Some of the shit people say on here baffles me, like YOU AINT ABOUT THAT LIfE!!
And truthfully, you don't want to be....

Another example, that DEmeo book, Sins of my father;
His whole family expected him to take care of his family like his father did, he wasn't a gangster, but he loved his father and when his father asked him, he helped him. He probably had no idea why he's at school with a gun protecting his sister, like you know what I mean?How many times you heard this, if he was born in the suburbs instead of wherever, he woulda ran a Fortune 500, or Been a CEO, or whatever...
Look at how Scarfo felt about his hardworking dad, and how he treated the one straight son, i know from experience so I could go on and on...
I'm just saying don't judge that guy too harshly...

[quote=CabriniGreen]Tell that to CRaig Depalma, don't want to sound like a jerk or start an argument, but I don't think you understand what it's like to GROW UP in a crime family, and have it expected of you, even if it's not who you are...
Like , do you know what it feels like to be a straight up, hard working guy, and have like your father, or MOther, or your whole family look at you like you are just a pussy?
You ever read the Godfather?
I love the part how Michael bristles inside whenever they call him "civilian" when HE was the fuckin war hero lol
I mean that kid took a shot to the fuckin face, and is still here trying to make a life for himself, I respect that.
Some of the shit people say on here baffles me, like YOU AINT ABOUT THAT LIfE!!




true that is right in some cases robert decicco rugerrios kid micheal franchese junior gotti tory locasico joey and johnnny perna cirilllo s kid joey merlino joey chang johnny chang mikey chang i can go and on of these guys kids


but its the opposite for alot of mobsters who make sure there kids go legit and make sure they stay away from crime there kids go into legit stuff i mean look at bellomos kids or castanalos kids or nicky corezzos kids (yes his son in law is in the life but not his own blood or mikey scars kids or Anthony "the Genius" Megale or lugi manchiero or tony lipianas kid

i can go on and on





it all depends on the parenting some of the kids really want to join the life they are real gangsters guys like tory locasico but its differant when there fathers push them into the life they are the ones who turn out like craig depalma



but majority of mobsters make there kids go legit

Although its great that a mobster pushes his kid to go legit but kids ultimately follow their parents actions, not their words. Parenting 101.
If kids are exposed to mob life, the children think its a normal life style.