Suspected Philadelphia mob boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino’s firestorm-starting podcast, The Skinny, will no longer be financed by Hollywood actor Kevin Connolly (Entourage, The Notebook) and his Action Park Media company. What this means for the future of the buzzy pod is unclear at this moment.

On-line personality Jeff Nadu, formerly of Barstool Sports, broke the news of the Merlino and Connolly camps parting ways Tuesday afternoon on his The Sitdown true-crime socials. Merlino, who lives in Florida these days and claims to be retired from his time as a mafia shot caller, shocked the masses back in the late summer when he teamed with Action Park Media to launch his pod and social-media brand.

https://gangsterreport.com/breaking...siness-relationship-how-is-pod-effected/

If he can hang onto sponsorships they may keep it going but if they’re hooked up with Connolly then may be having to start from the bottom if they wanna keep doing it. I would be surprised unless they get another financer to pick it up

Sounds to me someone paid Kevin a visit and gave him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Hahaha I considered the same thing. Beyond unlikely but not impossible

Extortion or blackmail to get him to stop supporting Joey wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Don't think Connelly did as much for them as we think.

Connolly pulled the financing from the snippet rush street sent so I think we are yet to find out but I can’t imagine Joey would continue without someone paying him to do it.. He’s the star of the show, not the suit behind the camera!

The mob fucking told Kevin to cut off the bullshit or they would blow him up. He told Joey to hit the road.

There could be a million reasons for why this is happening, but it is strange. Joey was gaining traction all over social media

Some people seem to be scoffing at the idea that the mob could have threatened Kevin Connolly, but you are incredibly naive if you belong to that group. It would honestly be the least surprising news to me.

I guess will have to see.

He will need someone else to back him. There's plenty of rich nut jobs out there who would love nothing more than to be in business with that degenerate lol

Correct. It just is weird how the guy drops out of the picture out of nowhere and stops supporting Joey when he was doing quite well.

It's very weird. I don't think Joey broke his trust or anything like that. Joey sees this as a way to make legitimate money and is probably trying his damn hardest to be nice to his backers. Something is going on at Kevin's end

Best way to get rid of the problem is not go after Joey, but the guy that is financing his podcast. Easiest solution.

Who knows what's going on here...but it is true that Scott Burnstein has been reporting on his OG Gangster podcast/YouTube for several weeks that the bosses of the NY families are pissed off about this show and told him to kill it immediately, and now it's suddenly killed (at least for now). Burnstein even went as far as to say people visited Stevie Mazzone in prison asking him to get the show shut down..this is like a week ago and now it's suddenly shut down. Scott says this came straight from Barney Bellomo. Who knows...

Agreed, if he’s wanting to keep doing the show, he’ll find someone to fund it. Maybe it’ll be a new racket for that Colombo underboss not paying his rent

Hollywood rarely ponies up its own money… they get a ton from outside the country to rich foreigners who think it’s cool to hang with celebrities

Hollywood is owned by movie studios and entertainment conglomerates. They usually "pony up" all the money. It is rare that individuals finance large projects. J. Lo did it with her This Is Me project, but that's because no one else believed in it (and rightly so lol)

Podcasts on the other hand are often funded individually, especially in the early stages

Yes, the IRS or someone from the justice department. If anyone here thinks the mob paid a high profile businessman like the owner of Action Park Media a visit to threaten him, no way.

Are you a LE member? No way the mob threatened him. None---none at all. Total BS.

Gee its surprising a money grubbing criminal couldn't keep a legitimate business or partnership going, right? lol This happens to every podcaster - ask that doofus who started the podcast with Pennisi. These guys prey on people - they steal money and can't help themselves. This guy Snuff probably got burned as did all of Merlino's sponsors. Merlino lives like Trump does - talking tough and big while spending other people's money and never paying for shit himself. When it runs out, he just walks away. At least Merlino served time for it. These mob guys will always look at a business as a 'bust out' scenario - there is no long-term plan here. There is only the short-term. Merlino is not a wealthy guy considering he's been a 'boss' longer than any other mobster in this country at this point. He's spending the money of the suckers who still worship him.

Merlino is a lowlife, but I would be surprised if he's that stupid. The guy needs sustainable income.

I'm sure at some point we'll get the real story about what really happened here

Pal Merlino is pushing 60 and has never had a stable income in his life. This was just a 'score' for him - I'm sure he walked away with plenty of cash he insisted be given 'up front.' They can take this guy to court for not fulfilling contracts, but that isn't going to get their money back.

There’s a lot of foreign money coming in. Not saying it’s all of Hollywood but a lot of it.

Walked away? Joey is not walking away from doing podcasts. What really happened here? They just cut out the middle man. More money for them and Joey can talk about rats until he's blue in the face, which is probaly what he wanted lol

Frankly, I think he's loving doing the podcasts. Its apparent that he gets kind of a high being around guys like Bernard Hopkins and Ric Flair. I don't think anyone from Stevie Mazzone to Barney Bellomo is going to stop him. And honestly, there probably isn't another way for him to bring in income. Philly is basically defunct, and he definitely is being monitored by the Feds. At this point, I don't think he's really doing anything wrong. And in the case that he just says fuck it, and starts telling mob stories (i doubt he ever does), I'd be willing to take bets that nothing ever happens to him.

I agree 100% with what you just said ....

How is Philly basically defunct?

You just dont ever hear much going.

Lol...they have like 6 guys left, including their boss who has his own podcast now.