I was reading an older story about Lawrence when he died and it stated that Lawrence was survived by his sons, Joseph, Nicholas and Marco.

That is definitely weird if it is true.....How do you name your son, the exact name as your brothers son who came before you?
A million names to choose and he had to choose the same name? Very strange!!!

If it is true, were/are any of Lawrence's kids in LCN?

Yes, Lawrence also had a son named Joseph Merlino. I believe he is in the contracting, cement, or rebar business still to this day.

And, to the best of my knowledge, he (and the rest of his immediate family, minus his father) had no involvement with LCN.

Also - maybe Serp can confirm or correct this for me, but I believe "Fat Joey" Merlino (Lawrence's son) is in this picture - above Joseph Ligambi's right shoulder and to Scarfo's right. He's the kid who has a towel/shirt over his shoulder and the guy behind him also has his hand on his shoulder.

Lawrence Merlino's son is Joseph N Merlino aka "fat Joey". If you research inquirer articles from 89-90 it mentions a gang headed by skinny Joey and fat Joey. Not sure how much he actually did in streets if anything,but read it in more then one article around Nicky Jrs shooting. Serp may know if Fat Joey was ever considering the life but now he has rebar company (like yogi and chuckie did) in SJ and is doing well for himself.

Not sure about other two sons. Heard they are in rebar business as well.

2010 photo of Joseph N. "Fat Joey" Merlino and his mother, Phyllis, at their Bayshore Rebar offices.




Articles about Fat Joey and his rebar company:

http://njlegallib.rutgers.edu/legallib/njar/v12/p0149/

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/commu...age&photo=0

http://articles.philly.com/2009-08-25/news/25276553_1_philadelphia-mob-joey-merlino-casino-work

Thats Phils kid..
And no Yogi's kid did not .He did hang around a bit ,but quickly moved on.

They tried to help Skinny out when he was in a jam ,and he tried to extort him and his brother and his mother..

They are great people and will do anything for anyone,and in no way are they in the life..

How did his wife and kids take his flipping? I figured it may be off Inquirer had Frankie Flowers as possible boss after Bruno they are off on something as is any paper

They were young !

Skinny broke there balls and they still looked out for him.

The family has since started talking,but I don't think Skinny does..

They fought for like twenty years to work on casinos. NJ fought them for a long time.

I'm sure the kids and Yogi's wife are very nice people. However, and not to be an asshole - but what did they expect after Yogi flipped?

Why didn't they move away like most other families do in that situation? I'm definitely NOT defending Joey extorting his own family, but why would they stay in an area that is the home base of a mafia family, of which their dad/husband became an informant against? That just doesn't make any sense to me.

Same reason thousands of others do ..

They are fine now, and have a great business going and we use them so that is saying something . We have been in business for a long long time .

They have have some great party's and you would be surprised how many of the south Philly crowd shows, along with many locals.

Just good people..

There are RATS coming back to these neighborhoods themselves these days and not getting hit. Why would a family member give a shit?

Times change. The whole fucking thing is just different today. Things are the same in some respects, but completely different in others.

Nicky couldn't get to Joe Salerno so he had a Narducci boy shoot his dad. Salernos and Narducci lived close in SP and it was Joe Salerno Sr. who found someone to read Narducci Sr his last rights when he got hit. Scarfo was as cold blooded as they come and times definitely change. Couldn't even imagine it happening today, plus they are related to current boss and didn't go with Yogi either.

Sorry guys 4 bustin' in but, if u look, yogis families extension on nat- nat which is now Rebar & associates website,u will see that joey n. merlino (the cousin) is doing TONS of bizness...very well off..no wonder yogi wasn't around in the latter days of the declimation of the scarfo crew..he was getting weary of what phil & some others already knew ...IT WAS TIME TO JUMP SHIP..yogi's wife has no worries as of this day & age..nor her son, who want's no part of the other blood that run's in the system.

They are a lot like there mother obviously that's all they had .And PB is right on as usual . Things are not the way they were . And any decent guy would never hold the wife responsible let alone the children . And we all know Scarf was stuck in the 20's or 30's ...

I have never worked with them or anything, but I know they do a lot of work around South Jersey, apparently they are a legitimate company doing actual work. And I can't imagine anyone getting involved after someone close to them flipped.

Did someone say the chubby kid is Leonetti's?

moe tilden..numnut,that's philip jr...

I used to see Fat Joeys sister who is also part of the family business all over Margate at night every summer until the past 2 since the gang all started filtering back around there. Take that food for thought, I don't think any of Yogi's family want to be anywhere near those people or the life.

Can't tell if you are messing with that poster or not.

Yes that is is his son...

Of course I am serious. And I am just surprised. Leonetti was pretty lithe (and young) when the picture was taken. I just assumed it was someone else's kid for those reasons.

Joey fat merlino lives in a big house in ventnor nj. Everytime i pass thru his neighborhood he has a range rover, mercedes, bmw etc in his driveway. Everything he has is off legit construction. I know this for a fact. Joey fat merlino and his mother worked very hard for what they have. The other joey is a whole different story

serp.. u mean ,that is yogi's kid??,i thought that was philip jr., or at the very least, mark scarfo at a tender age.

Wow, since fat joey is making piles of money. Would any of his dad's ex friends come asking for tribute money seeing his old man ratted on them

The kid in the picture with all them is Phil's son...

The one as a adult is yogi's kid ...

" Yes "

If the wiseguys are smart they would stay away. George Anastasia wrote about their legal battle to do business with the casinos, they had to prove in court that they were clean. I don't know the guy or anything, but after all that, why would he start kicking up? You never know, but if he's doing alright without being connected, why would he take the chance? Didn't Nicky Crow get pinched trying to shake down a developer or contractor who wasn't connected? Look how that worked out for the mob.

Please delete double post.