Said I would post this a while ago so here it is. Enjoy!
The Press
Atlantic City, N.J., Saturday, May 1, 1982
The Prisoner of N. Georgia Avenue
By Michael Checchio
Press Staff Writer
ATLANTIC CITY - He lives quietly in a modest apartment on North Georgia Avenue in the Italian-American section of the city.
When he ventures outside his apartment, now infrequently, he does not stray very far. Once a week, he may dine at Angeloni's restaurant on the corner, a few yards from his home.
Most often, he is accompanied outside either by his nephew or a close friend. Occasionally, he goes to the two casinos closest to his home, Playboy and Caesars Boardwalk Regency. Sometimes he takes in a boxing match.
He is a fight fan, a vintage movies' buff and a skilled chess player. An American flag flies in his backyard. An image of the Liberty Bell is painted on his garage.
To his neighbors, he is a family man, devoted to his mother, with whom he lives, married and the father of three sons. In public, they say, he is always a gentleman.
To law enforcement authorities, however, he is the new don of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra, a violent, unpredictable Mafiosi who ascended to power in a bloody gangland war.
His name is Nicodemo Domenic Scarfo, a short, always dapperly dressed man known in underworld and law enforcement circles as "Little Nicky." And although he may be the new Philadelphia don, he lives like a virtual prisoner in the Georgia Avenue boarding house his mother owns.
It is as though he is under a state of siege. Law enforcement surveillance of his home is constant. He is vulnerable to the threat of court-issued subpoenas. Investigators have studied him so closely they know his idiosyncrasies - the allergies that make him sneeze, his sweet tooth, his favorite drink, V.O. and water, that all others must order when they drink with him.
And lastly, there are rumors that he may be marked for murder.
His family feels the pressure too. His two youngest sons, Nick Jr. and Mark, must bear the brunt of schoolyard remarks as unflattering newspaper articles link their father to gangland killings.
The law enforcement authorities investigating Scarfo are contemptuous of him, dismissing him as violent, unpredictable and unspeakably crude in his Mafia dealings.
But an attorney who has represented Scarfo for nearly 20 years said there is another side to the man.
"Whatever he does for a living, there's another part of his life too," said Harold Garber, who successfully defended Scarfo in a 1980 murder trial.
"He's very devoted to his family," Garber said. "He's a very quiet man; he doesn't really discuss his private life with anyone."
Scarfo declined to be interviewed for this article. But he authorized Garber to answer questions concerning his background and family life.
"The only thing ever written in the papers that upsets him is any kind of reference to the fact he may be involved in narcotics," Garber said, "because he has children and his friends have children and he would never be involved in narcotics. Whatever else they may say about him does not bother him."
Scarfo was born in Brooklyn on March 8, 1929, the son of southern Italian immigrants, Philip and Catherine Scarfo, who moved form New York City to Philadelphia when Nick Scarfo was 10.
"He often spoke to me about his mother working in a factory," Garber said. "He would speak about how his family would go to work on a farm in the summer and how clean his mother made the place.
"When the war came, when Nick was about 15 years old, the men were called into the war and Nick became the head of distribution for the newsboys at the 30th St. Railroad Station in Philly. It was a position of great responsibility and respect.
"As a teenager he was a boxer. At 16 he fought once in the Golden Gloves. He had one fight against a kid much bigger than him and knocked him out, but he quit the boxing game after that because he didn't like the violence.
"As well as I know him, he hasn't said too much more about his youth," Garber said.
Scarfo graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in Philadelphia, he said. Law enforcement authorities charger that Scarfo later came under the tutelage of his uncle Nicholas Piccolo, a "made member" of the Angelo Bruno Philadelphia crime family. Authorities alleged Scarfo began as a runner for the mob, and later moved to Atlantic City to supervise the Bruno family's interests in loansharking and illegal gambling.
Garber said that Scarfo moved from Philadelphia to Atlantic City with his parents when he was approximately 33 years old. He said Scarfo's parents had used their life savings to purchase a boarding house on North Georgia Avenue, where Scarfo lives with his mother and his wife of 20 years, Dominica.
His mother, younger sister Nancy, his wife and their children attend the local Roman Catholic church regularly and are closely associated with parish activities, but Scarfo himself does not frequently attend services, Garber said.
"They're a very traditional Italian family," he said.
Garber conceded that Scarfo's children have suffered for their father's notoriety.
"I don't want to go into details, but there's a great deal of pressure," Garber said.
"The only thing he's ever said to his boys in front of me was 'Just act like a gentleman and don't worry about what other people say. You just be a gentleman, you do the right thing.' Those were his words to them.
"He's very family oriented. I don't think there's any question, and all the surveillance will prove that. He has asked people not to visit him for their benefit because he doesn't want anybody else to be tainted just for dropping in to say hello," Garber said.
Rumors of threats on Scarfo's life abound.
"He has been informed by various government agencies over the past year, through me, that he is about to be killed," Garber said. "The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office and other agencies have offered protection. He has not responded."
Asked if Scarfo believed the threats on hid life to be valid, Garber replied, "Absolutely not."
Scarfo has resigned himself to the law enforcement surveillance that dominates his life, Garber said.
"On the whole, he generally has no problems with law enforcement agencies. He respects them and knows that it is their duty to do what they have to do. But there are some who have become infected by the very disease they have sworn to stamp out. They violate the law even though they're sworn to uphold it," Garber charged.
In reply to allegations that he is the new head of the Philadelphia Mafia, Scarfo challenges the law enforcement agencies to prove it, according to Garber.
"His reaction," Garber said, " is - 'Where's the indictment?'"
Garber said Scarfo is deeply patriotic.
"He has a fetish for cleanliness. He also has a fetish for being like an American citizen. He has a flag in his backyard, the Liberty Bell on his garage door.
"He has often said he would never participate in anything that would undermine the country, like counterfeiting. He would never associate with anyone who would participate in that kind of thing, or narcotics. He would never associate with a pimp. He says, 'A pimp is not a man.'"
Garber said Scarfo is very close to his nephew Philip Leonetti and their friend Lawrence Merlino. They are his constant companions, he said.
"He's an ardent boxing fan, that is his great hobby," Garber said. "He's also an expert on old time movies. He knows the names of all the movies and the stars and the backgrounds of the stars.
"He's also a very good chess player," Garber added. "He learned to play while serving time in Yardville. He's been playing chess ever since then. I've played with him, and he's very good."
"He's just a very normal, natural, fun-loving person. He loves a joke. He loves to rib people. I think anyone who met him under normal circumstances would like him," Garber said.
According to law enforcement authorities, Scarfo has the following arrest record:
* Atrocious assault and battery, a knifing, Philadelphia, May 8, 1948. Charge dismissed.
* Illegal lottery, conspiracy, Philadelphia, February 28, 1950. $75 fine, one year's probation.
* Homicide, Philadelphia, June 4, 1963. Scarfo stabbed a man named William Dugan to death following an argument in the Oregon Diner. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 6 to 23 months in county jail.
* Contempt of court, Mercer County, N.J., June 23, 1971. Scarfo refused to testify about his Cosa Nostra activities before the N.J. State Commission of Investigation. He was discharged from prison in 1973.
* Murder, Atlantic County, Dec. 23, 1979. Scarfo, his nephew, and their friend Lawrence Merlino stood trial for the shooting of Margate cement contractor Vincent Falcone. They were acquitted.
* Possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, Jan. 4, 1980. Scarfo was convicted and sentenced to two years in federal prison. He remains free pending appeal.
Law enforcement authorities contend that Scarfo gained control of the Philadelphia mob in the wake of a two-year-old gangland purger that began with the assassination of Bruno.
"During the two decades that Bruno served as a head of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra there were no murders within the family," The Pennsylvania Crime Commission stated in its annual report released form Harrisburg this week.
"Since Bruno's death, there have been six family members murdered, three in Philadelphia.
"Respect was the linchpin of the old Cosa Nostra. The younger members followed orders without question. But in time, the 'young turks' tired of being held down while taking all the risks. They wanted a chunk of the growing methamphetamine and cocaine trade and a bigger piece of the Atlantic City action.
"In 1975, the FBI uncovered a split in the Bruno family. A year later it became even more apparent when Philip Testa, Frank Narducci, and Nicodemo Scarfo began holding meetings apart from Bruno.
"In May of 1978, the first casino opened at the Jersey shore, and the fight for control of the lucrative new markets spawned by legalized gambling was underway," the commission reported.
The result was "a frantic, often violent scramble for power," according to the crime commission.
"The new boss appears to be Nicodemo Domenic Scarfo...," the commission charged. Law enforcement authorities allege Scarfo is involved in union racketeering, loansharking, gambling, and, contrary to what he claims, narcotics.
For now, he remains on North Georgia Avenue, a quiet man on a quiet neighborhood street in the eye of a law enforcement hurricane.
