I have heard countless times of how guys were fearful that if they did not follow orders on a murder contract, they personally would be executed.

How many times has this actually happened?
If a guy is a great earner, the boss would be cutting his own throat.

I am sure that it must be hard as heck to eliminate your best friend but, I assume that most guys caught in this catch 22 would do what happened when they tried to whack Salvie Testa........I am sure that NO ONE wanted to kill him so, they went through the motions and just reported back that he was too alert and it is next to impossible to get him.

Has anyone actually said NO to a contract and got away with it?

Pat the cat Spirito was a prime example of what you're looking for. Philly family guy from.the 80s

Spirito was a massive disappointment to scarfo wen he was made, he refused to whack one of the riccobene's

Tommy Del was going to get it for not killing Skinny.....
So he flipped instead.
Could not be cos he did not want to spend the rest of his life in jail...

To bad for Pat the Cat he was only one of a few guys who seen how sick Scarfo was back then.

I forgot about Pat the Cat.......Beside Philly, I was curious if it actually happened in other crime families?

Wait a sec!, who the heck is "Skinny" ?

Joseph "The Barber" Spione, was killed for refusing to help kill Thomas Two Gun Tommy DeSimone in the late 1970s.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DEFDC163BF935A35753C1A9629C8B63

"Along with Mr. Favara, Mr. Trinchera and Mr. Giaccone, the agents are also looking for Tommy DiSimone, a low-level mob figure who was portrayed by Joe Pesci in the gangster film ''Goodfellas,'' and another mob figure, Joseph Spione, known as Joe the Barber, who was slain because he would not help kill Mr. DiSimone in the late 1970's, investigators have said".

Joey merlino

Spione was desimones brother in law , it's said he was bludgeoned to death and dismembered in the back of the bergin

I should have known it was Skinny Joey that he was talking about..........Leaving Joey out is what threw me off.

So only 2 people in the history of LCN? Not too bad!

''He was greedy and ambitious, attributes that Scarfo could appreciate, but he lacked the killer instinct. He thought he could slide by generating enough money to keep the Little Guy down the shore satisfied. But he underestimated Scarfo's bloodlust''. This was quoted by Nick Caramandi.

Well said....

The 'need to make your bones for qualification' is a myth.

Different guys do different things. Some guys do 'work', others are earners. Management isnt going to send your 75yr old papa smurf franco/head of the local union to wet some guy.

The myth that anyone, anywhere, anytime is called upon to do work, is just that. A myth.

John Petrucelli for refusing to whack Farace, don't think he was made though.

Spot on.


True, but there was a little more to it than that. He didn't just refuse to set Farace up, he actually hid the guy. And at the time, Amuso and Casso (especially Casso) were just looking for excuses to get rid of the Bronx and Westchester guys.

That whole mess had a ripple effect, too. That's when Mikey Salerno fell out of favor with those mopes. He was dead himself a year later. Poor guy was almost 70 years old. And trust me, I know he was no angel. But he was an old man content to stay in his numbers stores all day long. He was no threat to those maniacs.

Mariano macaluso was the same , he had been in the family 50 years and casso and amuso told him to either retire or they were gonna whack him , those two were morons

You don't need an Italian to do your killing for you. Not every guy in s crew is asked to kill someone. When and if they are asked and never did it before they better start to worry. Because there is a possibility even if you do it they might have a fatal accident.

Obviously I'm not sure how it went down exactly but did Gotti not turn down a contract on killing Demeo.Yet I also read where Gravano's brother in law was marked for death and Castellano supposedly told the guys on the hit that if he(Gravano)doesn't go along to kill him on the spot.

Phil leonetti point blank refused to whack nick virgillio and chuckie Merlino , he said that if scarfo decided to kill his two oldest friends leonetti would whack scarfo

Phil Leoneeti is full of shit he was scared shitless of his Uncle and would do whatevere he asked, I do not believe a word he says and honestly Scarfo is so fucked in the head had Leonetti said this to him Scarfo would in turn probably kill Leonetti for denying him nephew or not, Scarfo is such a sick fuck he would kill his own kids if he had to.

Yeah I'm not saying it's true , it was just wot leonetti said . Scarfo would kill anyone , he wanted his own sister whacked . He still seems very bitter , I've seen some of the letters he sent to his mother

Agreed 100%. Leonetti makes himself out to be bigger than he was. While he may have been underboss for his uncle, NOBODY in NY as well as the old timers in Philly thought he was a fucking punk!

Absolutely my friend.

Caramandi in his book is so believable and the way
He speaks is classic. Scarfo was a sick man, he
Made two old timers the marconis kill Mickey
Diamond just to embarrass them or kill them
If they refused