All kidding aside, I've heard from someone whose opinion I value that this guy has no shame when it comes to taking money off people, and that he has quite a few middle-aged groupies picking up his checks down there.

I agree, the tie was a little too wide too.

GREAT video.....

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/2675893...in-philadelphia

So the guy Wags that was walking into court with Joey today is a convicted felon too, no???

http://articles.philly.com/2008-01-11/news/25253461_1_gambling-ring-mortgage-applications-bets

More about Wags....

Reputed mob figure sings like a canary
Capo | March 29, 2009 | 0 Comments
You shoulda been at La Stanza last night. The place was mobbed.

Sure, they make great ravioli, but most of the restaurant’s patrons came to see Ralph “Ralphie Head” Abbruzzi, the reputed mob associate who talked his way out of house arrest for the night to sing Louis Prima tunes.

He didn’t disappoint, opening with “Buona Sera,” then a hip-shaking version of “Jump, Jive an’ Wail” backed by a horn section. He didn’t have a saxophone, but the air sax worked just fine.

“I’m doing what I love to do,” Abbruzzi said. “I should have done this sooner.”

Might’ve been a better career choice.

In 2001, when Abbruzzi was convicted of participating in an interstate theft ring, prosecutors described him as a “confirmed criminal likely to remain so” and said it’s “unlikely that he will ever be a productive member of society.”

But Ralphie Head looked pretty damned productive in his pork- pie hat last night at 20th Street and Oregon Avenue. He had the audience eating out of his hand in between bites of pork medallions.

“The crowd goes crazy when he starts singing. They go nuts,” said Debbie Leuzzi, his daughter’s godmother, who has known Abbruzzi since they were teenagers.

Abbruzzi, 59, started singing in the early 1980s alongside “Cookie Jar and the Crumbs” in Atlantic City, Leuzzi said.

“Ralphie’s just a really sweet guy,” she said. “I know he has not too good of a record, but he’s good-hearted.”

Earlier this month, Abbruzzi pleaded guilty in Media to criminal use of a telephone, a third-degree felony. He was busted last summer in the “Operation Delco Nostra” organized-crime probe for selling winning lottery tickets to Nicholas “Nicky the Hat” Cimino to conceal Cimino’s illegal income.

Abbruzzi was sentenced to 30 days house arrest, but he personally convinced Delaware County Judge Frank Hazel to let him out for the previously scheduled La Stanza performance.

“Maybe come have dinner and watch me do a couple numbers,” he told the judge.

Some of Abbruzzi’s old associates were there. Rita Merlino, the mother of jailed mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, was on her feet clapping and cheering with her girlfriends as Abbruzzi belted out “That Old Black Magic.”

Reputed mob underboss Anthony Staino sat at a round table of friends, sharing a word with defense attorney Greg Pagano.

Convicted bookmaker and mob associate Edward “Wags” Wagner, 42, was there hugging women and shaking hands, and his brother, Raymond Wagner, stopped by.

But Judge Hazel didn’t.

philly.com/dailynews/local/20090328_Reputed_mob_figure_sings_like_a_canary.html

Dante i'm pretty sure the guy with Merlino at the court house today was Ray Wags. Eddie Wags is his brother.

Ray Wags...

Fund-raiser For Merlino Hard To Crash, But ... Restrooms Were Mobbed

by Kitty Caparella, Daily News Staff Writer
POSTED: September 21, 2000
It was a perfect bird's eye seat, just inside Les and Joey's Restaurant inside the Park Towne Apartments.

Next door was Colleen's, a banquet hall on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway near 22nd Street, where the family and friends of reputed mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino were holding a benefit to raise money for his legal defense.

Merlino, 38, goes on trial early next year in a racketeering conspiracy that includes three murders, four attempted murders and a slew of other charges with eight codefendants. Two codefendants already pleaded guilty.

Tickets were 100 bucks, and one had been left for me taped to a newspaper honor box. (A true story.) This was the first fund-raiser for a mob boss in anyone's memory and I wanted to be there. They were mum about the amount raised.

In spite of a lavish spread of shrimp, crabs' legs, crabmeat, tomatoes and Buffalo mozzarella, chicken Marsala and other dishes to die for, I wasn't ready to join the 10 tables of 10 guests each. At a smaller restaurant next door, I ate grilled chicken Caesar salad with Les and Joey's regulars.

This was my game plan: Everyone has to go to the bathroom, especially with an open bar. My seat faced the restrooms for both restaurants in the complex.

Sure enough, the whole family - both relatives and mobsters - showed up, including Merlino's wife, Deborah, his mother, Rita, and two sisters.

Missing were two VIPs.

The guy who's running the show on the streets these days - acting mob boss Joseph Ligambi - was a no show.

And chief ticket seller, Roger Vella, was told by his parole officer that he could not attend the benefit, despite efforts to sell the most tickets, a guest said. His father, Roger, was his proxy.

Vella's sales approach: "Here's a ticket. Gimme $100."

My location didn't disappoint, as I spotted:

Mob soldier Michael "Mikey Lance" Lancelotti, Anthony Staino Jr., Anthony Nicodemo, Joseph Mazzone, Raymond and Robert Wagner.

Into the small eatery walked mob associate Joseph "Mousie" Massimino, whom New Jersey authorities arrested last year as head of a gambling ring.

"Whassup? Hear anything?" asked Massimino.

"Just having dinner," I said.

I showed him my benefit ticket and asked if he'd take me in. His look suggested he was stark-raving mad.

Every person after him en route to the bathroom glanced my way - even Merlino's younger sister, Natalie, wearing a red dress, a cast on her ankle and crutches.

I got two clues they might be looking for me.

Merlino's older sister, Maria Moss, wearing sleeveless white top, black slacks and spike heels, stood squarely in the doorway with a camera to take my picture. The camera light flashed. I waved.

Visitors streamed into the restaurant. Some tried to get me thrown out. "You're a real trooper," said one of a few mobsters who stopped to chat.

Some were sincere, like reputed mob associate Salvatore "Sonny" Mazzone. He wanted to know why I had to write a love story about Ronald Previte, a former mob capo and ex-cop who snitched to the government for more than two years."That's how [Previte's] girlfriend feels," I said.

Mob associate Steven "Snitch" Frangipanni asked if I would mention his "non-cooperating agreement" when he is sentenced in November.

Last night's mob party was probably the last for Frangipanni and Ralph "Ralphie Head" Abbruzzi, both of whom pleaded guilty to racketeering charges last month.

The evening got stranger. Ruthanne Seccio, the ex-lover of reputed mob boss-turned-informant Ralph Natale, whom the mob wanted to kill last year, arrived.

"What are you doing here?" asked Raymond Wagner.

"I live here," she said. They bussed cheeks.

"I'm only here to help out an old friend," Wagner said.

I finally ducked into the benefit. Joey's sister, Natalie, tried to wave me back out the door.

"I got a ticket," I said, waving it and taking a panoramic sweep of the affair. An auctioneer was taking bids on baskets filled with wrapped presents.

Suddenly, a streak of yellow, like a heat-seeking missile, came toward me. Joey's mother, Rita, was spitting out a stream of obscenities, punctuated with "Get out of here, or I'll kick your ass." As I nonchalantly walked out, her daughter, Maria, added her two cents.

I walked down the nearest steps. At the bottom, the doors were locked. Upstairs I heard a lot of "shes" and "hers," which I assumed meant me. When the decibel level dropped, I walked back up, past Deborah Merlino, and her friends, and out the nearest door.

After I left, the Merlino women discovered Seccio, once a persona non grata, and welcomed her with open arms.

Send e-mail to caparek@phillynews.com

"Snitch" What a terrible moniker to be pinned with. Might as well be Steve "The Rat".

That's his brother Ray walking with Joey

check this out from philly mag

The Feds Want to Put Joey Merlino Back In Prison Immediately
Skinny Joey turned up in Philly’s Federal Court on Friday morning.
BY VICTOR FIORILLO | OCTOBER 10, 2014 AT 11:18 AM


Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/10/10...6FT6BTSvBZMU.99

Philadelphia’s skinniest mobster Joey Merlino has been living in Boca Raton, Florida since his March 2011 release from federal prison, where he spent a decade on racketeering and extortion charges. But now the long arm of the law has caught up with him, yanking him back to the Federal Courthouse at 6th and Market streets in Philadelphia for a hearing on Friday morning. And the end result could be his return to federal prison.

Merlino has been on parole in Florida since his release, and that parole was set to end on September 2nd. But one of the terms of that parole is that he is forbidden to associate with anyone convicted of a felony or associated with La Cosa Nostra. And that’s where Merlino is alleged to have screwed up. The government moved to revoke his parole just days before it was set to expire.






According to documents filed in the case, Merlino was observed to be in the company of three convicted felons, including Philadelphia mobster John Ciancaglini, in the VIP area of the Havana Night's Cigar Bar in Boca Raton back in June.

Federal prosecutors also allege that Merlino has refused to cooperate with an investigation into his finances, which would constitute another violation of his parole.

Merlino's attorney has argued that the Philadelphia court lacks legal jurisdiction to conduct a violation hearing, and he claims that Merlino's interaction with Ciancaglini and the others was a "chance encounter," according to court filings. The attorney also maintains that Merlino's refusal to answer certain questions about his finances was an invocation of the Fifth Amendment. But the Feds say that the Fifth Amendment doesn't apply here.

In support of his case, Merlino has submitted 13 character-reference letters, including those written by his wife and youngest daughter, a Catholic priest, and the owners of a drug rehabilitation center.

Here's what Sophia Merlino had to say to Judge R. Barclay Surrick about her dad:

Dear Judge Surrick,

My name is Sophia Merlino; I am sixteen years old and a junior in high school. I am Joseph Merlino's youngest daughter of two. I moved to Florida in August of this past summer to be reunited with my family after many years apart. I left the life I knew behind, my friends, family, and my childhood. I brought hope and faith with me knowing my dad was getting off supervised parole in early September and we could finally be a "normal" family again.

I never knew what it was like to have a father figure in my life, since he was taken away from me at one and a half years old. Adjusting to a whole new life at the age of sixteen is easier said than done, but I did it for my family, because that's more important to me than anything else. Undeterred by the fact that my father got violated only a few days before his parole release date; my mother and I sacrificed pretty much everything we could to be with my dad and start and amazing journey as a united family.

Thank you for your consideration.

Regards,
Sophia Merlino


Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/10/10...6FT6BTSvBZMU.99

Maybe the children who grew up without a father thanks to Merlino should write a character reference letter too.

Thanks for the link Dante. Joey calling Troyer "mental" was priceless.

'That's Joey Merlino!'


WILLIAM BENDER, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER BENDERW@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5255
POSTED: Sunday, October 12, 2014, 3:01 AM


JOEY MERLINO is crossing Market Street wearing a pair of oversized aviator sunglasses on an overcast day. Dark suit, dark tan.

A copious amount of gel keeps his slicked-back hair locked in place, but the orange-and-blue floral tie keeps you guessing.

You don't know whether he's going to shake your hand, punch you in the mouth or buy your family a Thanksgiving turkey.

The 30-something gangster they used to call "Skinny Joey" on Passyunk Avenue in the 1990s is now a muscular 52-year-old who actually looks like the ruthless mob boss that prosecutors have described in past indictments.

MORE COVERAGE
Dapper Merlino in old form at court
Merlino's lawyers say enough is enough
Feds: Photos prove Merlino violated probation
It's a remarkable transformation - the product of 12 years in prison followed by three years of Florida sun - but the timing is less than ideal.

Merlino, who has been living in Boca Raton, Fla., since he was released from prison in 2011, was back in Philadelphia yesterday to address allegations that he violated the terms of his probation in June by associating with a mobster and two convicted felons.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Troyer told reporters that he still considers Merlino to be an active member of La Cosa Nostra - not a reformed mobster looking to get into the restaurant industry.

"I don't think Mr. Merlino has actually worked a job in a very long time, if ever," Troyer said. "I don't know him to be a maitre d' in a restaurant."

To which Merlino replied: "The guy's mental."

In court, Merlino's attorney, Edwin Jacobs Jr., presented a crafty - although outwardly ridiculous - legal argument, claiming that the feds failed to issue an official summons to Merlino prior to Sept. 6, when his probation was to have ended.

"There is no summons," Jacobs said.

One problem: It was Jacobs who caused the delay, by asking a court clerk to postpone the scheduling of a hearing date, the clerk testified. The process had been set in motion on Sept. 2.

"All right counsel, I think I understand," said U.S. District Judge Barclay Surrick, cutting Jacobs off mid-sentence when he'd finally had enough.

"It's the height of chutzpah to make this request," Troyer shot back, calling it "preposterous" that Jacobs would try to use the court's "professional courtesy" to his advantage.

Merlino's supporters, including his mother, wife and a priest, packed the courtroom. Some grumbled about what they consider decades of harassment by the federal government.

"This is your taxpayer money at work," a woman whispered.

If Surrick rules against Merlino, he'll have to return to court to address the underlying allegations - that he was caught hanging out with two felons and Philly mobster John "Johnny Chang" Ciancaglini at the Havana Nights Cigar Bar & Lounge in Boca Raton.

Ciancaglini, who was convicted of racketeering in 2001 alongside Merlino, was spotted yesterday on a bench directly outside the courthouse, reading the Daily News during Merlino's hearing. He was gone by the time Merlino's entourage exited the building.

Merlino, who some law enforcement officials believe still oversees mob activity here, could be thrown back in prison if he loses his latest court battle. And the feds would love nothing more than to indict him on new charges. They even wired up an informant and sent him to Florida to try to get Merlino saying something incriminating on tape.

But Merlino didn't seem particularly worried yesterday as a media scrum followed him out of the courthouse and across the street.

"I miss the Mummers parade," he quipped.

People at the bus stop recognized him. A guy at the newsstand flashed him a peace sign.

"That's Joey Merlino," said a woman outside the Dunkin' Donuts.

And then someone else said the same thing and word started to spread, and it briefly felt like 1995 all over again.


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141012__quot_That_s_Joey_Merlino_quot_.html#36UpoAXFUFD4hvmv.99

Bender should write a novel, what an opening. The folks in Philly are lighting up Facebook and Twitter.

Maybe the poor grieving kids will realize what their parents signed up for and not cast the blame on others for their parents career choices.

Thanks for posting the video and links Dante.

What are your opinions on Merlino and his cronies trying to kill John Stanfa's son, who had nothing to do with organised crime? About killing Billy Veasey who had nothing to do with the life? About recklessly putting innocents in danger when killing/attempting to kill people? About endangering innocents on an expressway in broad daylight when they were trying to kill Stanfa? About cowardly picking on people and bullying people who are weaker than them? About not working a single day in their lives? About dealing drugs and effectively selling them to children?

I bet you have animosity towards "rats". Why? You're not in the mafia so their twisted code of "honor" doesn't apply to you or effect you in any way.

Do you not think that when someone cooperates with the government and agrees to rehabilitate themselves, that that is the lesser of two evils, regardless of their motivations for doing so?

Or do you think they should continue killing people and engaging in criminality?

Don't get the animosity towards the feds for trying to put him where he belongs. He consorted with criminals. He's dealing drugs. He's not co-operating when they ask him to divulge where he is getting his money. He is still involved with organised crime.

If he wasn't such a bonehead he wouldn't be in the situation that he is in.

And the dumbass and his glorified jock friends wouldn't have even gotten their buttons if it wasn't for Stanfa.

Why was roger vella there? Isn't he a snitch???

Are you talking about the Fundraiser article?...That's before he became a snitch so to speak.

He started dry snitching in 1995 although Vella never testified in open court against any ranking organized crime members. Vella was arrested for the Ralph Mazzuca slaying in October 2000 and pleaded guilty shortly after he began cooperating about a year later, according to FBI documents.

Chang reading the paper

He's reading the funnies.

He is fifty something years old and can read the funny papers.

Michael Corleone would be proud of him.

Looks like the Feds are doing everything they can to keep Joey close to home and on paper until after Nicodemo is retried which may not happen until January.

http://articles.philly.com/2014-06-18/news/50654158_1_anthony-nicodemo-zarallo-aborted-carjacking

Who's the old guy walking behind merlino 40 seconds in

when the judge gonna make the ruling?

After Nicodemo flips .

Just kidding.

Maybe .

Wags dad owns Cookies Tavern on Oregon right? Used to be and still may be the unofficial HQ of the 10th and O gang. The dad is a big ex-military vet who does a big party every year for the Marine Corps b-day.

That does make a lot of sense.

@ Moe_Tilden----Stanfa's son was made by Stanfa. When these guys go to war any made man on the opposing side is fair game. What you should be asking is what type of asshole "Makes" their son into a crime family. Thats on stanfa. In no way shape or form am i a fanboy or do i give a rats ass about these leetches. Just wanted to point out that stanfa is just as big of a dousch as merlino.