This week I'm looking at the Philadelphia family which for me is one of the most powerful now with a lot of new members and even the members of the hierarchy are like very young compared to other families.
Anthony Nicodemo: Born in 1971 Soldier currently incarcerated. His brother is also a family member.
Damon Canalichio: Born in 1970 Soldier currently incarcerated. His brother Dante is also a young members.
Anthony Borgesi: Born in 1974 as Salvatore Mazzone.
Andrew Micali: Born in 1976 and Douglas Rubino: Born in 1977.
Dominic Grande: Born in 1979.Matthew Zambanini: Born in 1980.
Nicholas Caltibiano: Born in 1983. Stephen Cassasanto: Born in 1972.
William Depena: Born in 1968
Freres Baldino Frank and Joseph Born in 1985 and 1987.
Joseph Joe Mariutti and son son of Frank Narducci are also very young.
The son of Joseph Massimino who is arrested this year was born in 1971.
And there are others I think this family still has a good year ahead.
She for me just below the Genovese, Gambino, Bonanno, Lucchese and even stronger or as strong as the Colombo.
What do you think ?

Interesting thread good info. No way you can put the Philly “family” with 30-40 members ahead of the Columbo’s. Even the low estimates of the Columbo’s are 65-70 men. They have unions and traditional mob rackets all over NY. The “family” in Philly famously couldn’t fence a load of baby formula. The Philly Family is a quasi- LCN Family. A true 21st century American melting pot of a mafia family. More gang and family ties and less Mafia. I don’t think The “Don” Skinny Joey even gives a shit about the mafia. He just wants easy money.

I could agree with you that they might not be ahead of the likes of the Colombo's or the Bonnanos, but they're definitely right behind those two (certainly not on the level of the other three NY families), and they're arguably the strongest of all of the LCN families outside of the five NY families. Yes, they were basically the equivalent to a major street gang during the mid-to-late 90s when Merlino and his guys inherited a decimated Crime Family. However, since Ligambi stabilized the Family they've been gaining tremendous strength. Just with sheer numbers, since 2010-2012, you've seen a ton of guys come out of the can between Scarfo guys and Merlino guys, which has not only replenished numbers, but a number of those guys are very "capable guys" who in the past 7-8 years have been rebuilding and rebuilt that family in earnest. I know for a fact that they're presence in South Philly and beyond (Center City, NorthEast Philly, South Jersey/AC, and even North Jersey, and Florida, etc) is much more significant. They've come a long ways since the 90s and much more low-key and worried more about building the Family and making money on the down-low, as opposed to being in the paper and what not. To the point that everyone, including the Feds are having trouble figuring out the heirarchy let alone who the boss is. The sheer fact that they've got a bunch of stuff going on with the Genovese Family alone should lend creedence to the fact that they are once again a strong and capable LCN family capable of doing things. I don't think the Genovese would have touched Merlino and the Philly Family with a 10 foot pole in the 90s, but now you see them emersed in Gambling, Loan Sharking, major-Healthcare Fraud, Garbage/Recycling/landfills, Construction, etc, and possible more since that's all we know about now at this point with the Genovese, Gambinos, Lucheses, and Bonnanos. And on top of all of the made guys that have gotten out of prison, they've been making people (we already know about once ceremony where five people were made supposedly and there could have been other ceremonies that we don't even know about). As Dave Fritchey (ex-OC Strike Force Prosecutor in Philly) put it, people aren't striving to be made into or to join a weak organization that isn't making money or let alone isn't active. Finally, the other thing about Philly is, while they only typically have anywhere from 30-60 made guys typically, they have and have always had a TON of associates. They probably have, if I had to guess, anywhere from ~1,000-2,000 associates if you're including NJ/PA/DE/MD/FL and anywhere else that they have stuff going on so you have to take that into account, and the Philly Family has always been that way even going back to their "Golden era" when Bruno was in charge back in the 50s/60s/70' and even early 80s. Bruno always preferred to keep the Family very small in terms of made members while keeping an abundnace of active Associates, which was one reason, albeit it a small reason, for his downfall since he wasn't letting new, younger blood into the family. For all of the admiration that I have for Bruno, I always thought that this was one of his negatives points because while keeping the Family small was good for him and the other made guys that were in the Family already (for the most part) as it kept the money between as few made guys as possible translating to more money (in theory) for Bruno and the Family, it also wasn't in the best interest of the Family in the long run because once guys started getting older and dying off (for natural and unnatural reasons), there wasn't anyone capable and groomed in the Family to move and take their places. This was actually one of Scarfo's positives as he realized that he needed to replenish the ranks and get new and young blood in the Family or else the Family would die off once the impending Government pressure inevitably took much of the Family off of the streets. Now you could also argue he did it for selfish reasons in that he wanted people loyal to him and only him, but I also truly believe he had the long-term vision knowing that Family would only survive with new and young blood. Say what you want about Scarfo, but you can argue that he truly did care about LCN and the Family and felt that it was his duty to ensure that the Family was viable into the future well past his "time". I've even heard that was the reason that he made young guys like Salvi, the Pungitores, Milanos, Narduccis, etc, but didn't bring along other younger guys like Thin Joey Merlino, all of the Changs, the young Iannece brothers, Borgesi, etc (like keeping a bullpen almost). And while it sort of backfired on him in a sense (to his own fault though you could argue), regardless, it basically saved the Family considering if the other young guys (Merlino's group listed above and others) had been made or even just simply brought into the fray doing big time rackets then they would have been indicted with Scarfo and everyone else and then where would we be today? Certainly you can argue that Stanfa would have had a much longer and prosperous run, but assuming that eventually Stanfa and his guys would have eventually been brought down in the late 90s instead of '94, then who would have taken over the Family to fill that void? Stanfa probably would have been taken down around '95-'96 anyways as he was killing people left and right unrelated to the Merlino War and the Feds already had him on a ton a stuff unrelated to the Merlino War with the Avena Law Firm Bug and Previte ratting and other bugged hangouts, the Merlino War just sped things up a bit. But regardless, it wasn't a matter of if, but when Stanfa was going to be brought down and I can't think of too many people that would have been qualified and capable enough to take over that Family after he went away. Say what you will about Merlino and the Young Turks in the 90's, but they were essentially taking over a major Family with minimal experience so of course they're not going to take an already decimiated Family to the next level, but they kept it going and lived to play another day, which is the present, and in my opinion is now one of, if not the MOST powerful LCN Family outside of New York's Five Families as discussed above in the beginning of my post. Anyways, sorry for the novel that I just posted, but I sort of went on a roll and kept having ideas/thoughts so I just let it rip. Would appreciate any comments/feedback (positive/negative, agree/disagree) to my post!

To some extent the surburbinizing of the mob has helped them spread their gambling rackets , especially with the internet as IMO wiseguy sports books are the biggest they have ever been , that's a guess on my part but I also guess that spreading out helped them re build their real estate and construction game in south jersey as heir had been a borderline construction boom in he area.

I was under the impression that the west side backed Merlino in the 90s while the Gambinos backed Stanfa . Funny how the mob has its own proxy wars like govt do ( power plays have similar moves I guess ). From my limited understanding the west side really built up their south jersey sports gambling book and even got into Philly when Merlino was away so my guess is they had to work something out .

I also agree and would guess the west side and philly have more going on as their territories overlap and had to of been bumping into each other a lot and gambling is one of those business that morph into a lot of other things connections and thus rackets

Wow thanks for that info.
Great post !

Yeah the Genovese supposedly backed Merlino/Natale in the 90s while the Stanfa was backed by the Gambinos, but it wasn't all the meaningful. Neither side was sending guys down to help either side in the Merlino/Stanfa War let alone anything else. I think it was more of a "we support and recognize you, but that's it" kind of thing. Now a days, it sounds more like the Gambinos and Genovese (and on a lesser extend the Bonnanos and Lucheses) not only recognize Merlino and the current Philly Admin, but they also have a lot of stuff going on together (joint rackets, etc). I mean just with the recent Merlino indictment (East Coast LCN Enterprise Case) we've seen all the stuff come out with regards to joint rackets and joint efforts between the Genovese and Philly Fam (Healthcare Fraud, Construction Safety School in Philly & NYC) in addition to the Gambinos and Philly Fam (Gambling sitdown with Anthony Cirillo/Carmine Gallo/Danny Pagano), lunch meeting in New Jersey at La Graglia with the Gambino higher-ups that Nicky Skins taped, the recycling/illegal dumping racket in South Jersey that Merlino Associate Bradley Sirkin was caught up in and tied to the Bonnanos/Gambinos/Genovese are just a few examples for instance.

With regards to the Genovese coming into S. Jersey and even Philly, we know that in the early 2000s when the Merlino guys were all going away for that RICO bust the Genovese were trying to go in and take them out and setup their own puppet admin in Philly. That never came to fruition, however, it shows that they've always wanted to have a presence in the area and that they overlap. I think now they just have a better working relationship. I've actually heard that the Genovese have a couple wirerooms and active bookmaking operation(s) setup literally in South Philly, but Ligambi gave their blessing to have them continue to operate, but Ligambi/Philly got a cut of it and are essentially partners in the book so there's definitely a working a relationship there, and much more so than the 90s.

Remember that Scarfo had a very similar setup/relationship with the Genovese Family back in the 80s and essentially how he came into power and was able to maintain his grip on the Family. He had joint stuff going with the Genovese in AC, which was where the real money was back at that time so pretty similiar stuff going compared to today... Same game, Different players!

The Genovese sportsbooking operation has grown and extended into areas of Jersey that were always Philly LCN...

I wonder if bobby manna still calls shots cor all the jersey crews. Hes up there in age. But hes super respected. Guys were calling him to settle problems over recorded phones only a decade ago. He was in charge of the 5 nj crew an ran them for chin. I read merlinos going to trial cause he wont plead guilty to a charge even if its means probation cause theyll turn around indict him on rico again and its a automatic strike in the predicate act shit. Were they find you guilty of any 2 predicate acts then they could smoke you to the moon. The guy dino s from the colombo family who beat the cop killing charges and a few other murders got 50 yrs for to lesser offenses in the rico thing.

Manna is basically an advisor at best. He really isnt consulted with from the outside. Inside prison, he is royalty but outside...not so much anymore.
Philly is controlled by outside forces. They do what they do, no doubt. That said, they know who the real powers are and when called upon, they listen. Its really a well known fact. They control philly but let philly control the day to day.
They have an on going working relationship with 2 families and partly with a third.
The north jersey crew gives orders on behalf of the guys in NYC.
Philly are basically a bunch of bookies and shylocks. Merlino gets involved with shit he has no experience with and finds himself in uncharted waters. He knows nothing about insurance fraud at that level. Whatever....it is what it is.
Im not downplaying merlino because some of the guys in NYC like him. After all, he did a solid 11 years.
New York was always a different breed than Philly. In fact, all of the violence perpetuated by scarfo back in the day was to basically impress the wise guys in NYC. New york controlled kennedy airport, philly didnt control a go cart track never mind a fuckn airport.
The crew in north jersey always had a solid relationship with the Lucchese thanks to mikey p. Also the gambinos to an extent.
Scarfo was close with bobby manna so that was the obvious hook with the genovese. Bruno had a history with the gambinos as well which had nothing to do with north jersey. Also, patty specs was both respected and liked by almost everyone in north jersey.

Aces : I don't know about everything you said but you said one thing right they don't know the rackets .

This all falls back to Bruno getting killed ,there was not many to teach the young and the ones that would have " they tried to kill .

They are 55-65 and they are practically clueless in organized crime and big money rackets , why do something that you can go away for life" if you are just a street gang .

Now some of them are learning but they are so far back ! including the top of the family going away all at same time in the 80's ,and when NY tried to get them stabilized they went to war over it and shit there so called boss just really got out and in two or three years later he is looking at going back .

This is something that I am sure they never thought about but they all looked like fools " when they could of pulled together and fell in line and then once stable if you want to pull a power play at least the old guys taught your solders instead of them wondering for a few bucks and looking at hard time for pennies.

They all break Nicky Jr balls but he made them look like amateur street thug's when it came to real rackets and if not for him being easy going and letting a couple fools play godfather he may been a millionaire and on the street right now.

MEYER - You are welcome. Say hello to your mother for me. I left one of my rings on her bedstand. I will swing by Sunday and get it.


Ryan earned himself a two month vacation for this flaming post. He'd been warned about doing this, but he chose to forget the warning. IF there is a next time he'll be banned - SC

Serp
I totally agree with what you say about scarfo jr.

I agree 100%!good roll..

Well,this is true..But, Local 54 wasn't exactly a go kart track..

Hoodlum, you are correct regarding 54; i was mostly referring to merlino and post scarfo.
Very overlooked was all the money scarfo made through concrete and rebar.
He controlled at least 2 companies. Scarfo was a killer but also a racketeer.
Merlino is a bookie.

Exactly.

Yo tough guy what is your problem ?!?
Talking about my mother !?!?!

Meyer got a one week suspension for returning the flame and then arguing about it. (Ryan got two months vacation). IF you have an issue with another member notify one of the moderators and DO NOT flame!

That is essentially what a Mafia family is.

I don't think anybody tells Merlino what to do, if NYC had their way, Merlino wouldn't be boss. Joey only listens when Thiers money involved like any boss would

1000-2000 associates seems too much for philly family.

Serp, do you know when and why Nicky Jr stopped being friends with Joey Merlino and that crew? I've read it was when Scarfo Sr demoted the Merlinos but an old article I read from 1988 says (direct quote), "They hugged and cried and showered each other with love, even those whom the government informants claim were plotting at one time to kill each other." I'm not certain but I'm presuming this is referring to the Scarfos and the Merlinos.

That entire group (Joey, Nicky Jr, the Changs, etc) all grew up together, right? I know people like to say that Joey is an idiot and doesn't know how to be a real mobster but how true is that? I mean Joey is Chuckie Merlino's son. He grew up with people who knew how to make money like Salvie Testa and Tore Scafidi so I would think he would have learned a little bit about rackets and making money during the 80s. Like you said, Nicky Jr knows how so why can't Joey when they both came up together in the mob?

My babbling wasn't only directed towards you Serp. I'd like to hear everyone else's opinions too. Anybody?

It was not just them who were Jr so called friends Georgie was around often and many more . He was getting older and the guys from Philly were also and coming down more often and to have a bosses son around the same age was perfect for them to move up or be seen, and the fact that Chuckie and Nick were friends then , but you still had Phil pushing them back and telling Jr to stay away from them but you know teens they do the opposite until Nick herd what a mess Skinny was and what he was doing to females and regular folks.
It was about kissing up to the bosses son friends had nothing to do with it and yes when Nick started blasting Chuckie Skinny was pushing back and Lawrence was verbally all right with it from what I could tell. Now as soon as Nick got real pissed and anyone close to Chuckie was in his sights!!!!!

During this time Yogi was drinking and partying heavy and so was Chuckie but I did not see Chuckie like I did Yogi and Yogi was getting verbal with just acquaintances and was getting scary by this time Nick put them down and it got worse from people close to them .

The last night I seen Yogi he was wild and loud about it and someone called Phil and he came and told Tommy to get him out of there and they left.

So it was out in the open and yes Merlino's and there friends were not liking the bosses decision .

As far as putting Skinny in with Salvi , Sal was leaps and bounds ahead of Skinny and those guys were all around each other but were quiet down here cos Nick had more ears here .

Jr had no real friends out of them , in fact when he was in the hospital after being shot there were five guys on the list to see him and they were all AC kids now men on that list other then whom his father had guys watching him and I was not in the life so I did not know the details and the north jersey guys .

I don't know how sharp Skinny has become with rackets but Chuckie was what Nick made him !! he did not have much before Nick from what I been told . And remember I was not in the family I found out stuff when it was exploding and the people in the know were slipping with there mouth .

Very interesting Serp, thank for the insight! Sounds like typical Joey to use somebody as his "friend" trying to move up. Must have sucked for Nicky Jr. Who was the other guys besides George? Just curious, what was Joey doing to females and regular folks that pissed Scarfo off and when you say Nick heard do you mean Sr or Jr?

Do you happen to know how Scarfo and Chuckie became friends? Everything I've ever read and heard is just like you said, Chuckie wasn't nothing until Scarfo bought him into the mob. Now thinking about what you mentioned, I don't know if I've heard anything about Chuckie being good with rackets.

Phil Leonetti never did like Joey. He claims in Mafia Prince he wanted Joey killed in the 80s. Sure sounds like Joey liked to cause problems.

It must have been an amazing time in the late 80s when everything was falling out. Although I'm sure it didn't feel like it then, haha.

Chuckie and Yogi's parents and grandparents lived in AC on the edge of Ducktown.

The parents moved back to Philly and I am pretty sure as grandparents got up there they followed .

Chuckie had a place on the island for a time after Nick moved him up made him money.

I can not begin to tell you the stuff Skinny did in Philly but I am sure it's out there if u look .
Around here he was bad and not in a gangster way and embarrassed his father and of course Nicky many times at little Italian bars and restaurants were we and the family had been going for years and Nick did not shit on these places he let them prosper always going after the bigger guy.

As far as kids coming around Jr he was a kid and I was a man I really did not pay attention to 98% of the guys that he messed with and many you never herd of. There were so many people coming and going between blood family on both sides and then addd mob guys from Philly and north jersey and NY and on top it was in a apartment building and a four story house with a office on bottom floor . It was busy !!!

He did have a bunch of guys on Georgia ave. and Florida ave. that he was close to .

And it's a shame his father almost got him killed and should of set up a ruling panel or made a couple of guys in the crew that was pushing back , anything would of made a difference.

Phil was the one that would hear all the bullshit form the young Philly guys messing with regular folks and I am sure many times he did not tell Nick so Nick would not go after Skinny but he just would not be a man (Skinny) so the guys started hating him Salvi had to put up with him in Philly and other made guys with his shit " I am sure it's out there in print.

I was not in the family so I would hear when the shit was over the top other then when stuff was slipped or kinda spoken in code like I would not know who or what it was but you can put some stuff together but nothing of major importants just stuff .