I see your point Gram. My question is, why after Scarfo Senior went away was Junior trying to take over and fought with Joey's faction for control? Then on Halloween 1989 Joey shoots Junior. So what does Junior do again, he gets straightened out by the Lucchese. He had several chances to leave his father rule and life. Nicky was in Jail. he could have ran. I think Junior loved the life. What prison time he gets it's all on him.The cousin who is dead may he RIP and the other was smart enough to disassociate with the Scarfo and change his name. I think Leonetti was honest, but as to why he cooperated, was because he couldn't do the time.

I hear where your coming from Gram, i was just saying that every guy in that life has to be accountable for their own actions, you can't put the blame on nobody but yourself when you play that game. Salute Buddy!

Phil flipping (like all others) wasn't exactly altruistic he obviously saved himself from the sentence you mentioned and afforded him a 2nd shot at life with his wife and son. (And yes I do believe he took a boat load of cash too) As it relates to junior I think it was more complicated then what you outlined and what's on the surface. Again this family was communal in that junior was burdened not only with his own family but also his comatose brother, mother and his then still living grandmother all still on Georgia avenue. I guess in a weird sense of duty or loyalty he had to fill his father's shoes I don't know, I'm just speculating. This is were a guy like Serpentine could help because as stated he knows the entire clan. (Probably knows scarfo first wife Mimi? I believe shes still alive and on the elbow too) so yes junior could have flipped way back when but i think that would have been difficult based on what he was saddled with.

Makes sense. Thank you Gram.

I hear ya my friend

Well I do assume people are generally liars when they lie. Obviously I'm not gonna find the obituary but several.independent news sources confirm it did list scarfo, after leonetti said otherwise. On top of that there are various inconsistencies between blood and Honor and mafia Prince. That at very least makes me skeptical about most things he says

Gram Makes some great points here. I'm glad Serpiente is back too.

As for the inconsistencies in the books, it's just how 2 different people recall/perceive an event. Phil didn't have a lot of respect for Nicky Crows act; flimflammer. Nicky Crow was the biggest Money Maker for all of The Scarfo Mob?? That's what the Crow says in his book. And, Philly/ South Jersey aint big enough where the Crow coulda pulled off all the shit with the jewelery store Kuggerands, brass wire gold bars nonsense without being shut down right away. Granted, it was the 70s but not the fucking dark ages. Jewelers row is a couple of blocks. So that's a bit of an embellishment on his part. I'm sure he was good at scams, but he got caught so he wasn't that great.

Let's be realistic, Philip Leonetti embellished a bit in his book. All of us do when we recall stories. But, I think his main focus was to let everyone know how fucked up his uncle was. Just like Dom Montiglio did with uncle Nino.


There are alot of stories around about Phil being a tough SOB and really enjoying (outwardly) his status. But, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors. Scarfo was a fucking maniac. You think his sister/phil's mom didn't get reminded every minute of everyday by Scarfo Sr. what he was doing for his blood family? You think her "no-show" job at the Local was given to her no-strings-attached? He probably made her kick up. LCN!!

Sr. had his hooks in Phil when he was 8-9 years old. If you started to manipulate your kids at that young age, and all they were surrounded by was Uncles in LCN (Piccolos), you can fucken bet your kids gonna be that person.

Are you guys referring to this obit and it's retraction? Just copy and paste


http://web.caller.com/2000/january/29/today/national/7295.htmlSaturday,

January 29, 2000
Mobster's obit outlines his loyalty

Associate of 'Little Nicky' lists false family members
Associated Press


ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - A mobster who died while serving time for drug trafficking got the last laugh - with his obituary.
Saul Kane, 65, a former associate of Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, died Thursday of respiratory problems linked to a heart condition.
Kane, who was serving a 25-year prison term in Louisville, Ky., had his family deliver a special death notice to newspapers: It listed the imprisoned Scarfo as his brother and Scarfo's son as one of his own sons. The notice was published Saturday in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Press of Atlantic City.
Kane was convicted in the drug case in 1987 and sentenced to 95 years in prison, in part because he refused to give authorities information about Scarfo. The sentence was later reduced.
"What he's saying is that he was loyal to the end," the investigator said. "What he's saying is that, unlike some others, he wasn't a rat."

Whip his sister lived in the other house cos those two were estranged from each other.All the years except when we were real young did i ever see them talk, or sit out front together.Sitting out front of your house on folding chairs was big in that community,sort of like the dinner table....

Ah Gram thats cos we share some of the same old friends.
But thank you, good to have the time.We are redoing a lot of infrastructure down here ,so i am cashing in.
The building boom is gone...

Nickywhip good post and I agree w a lot of points you made but.honestly Caramandi seems a lot more believable then Phil and he probably was one of if not the.biggest earner for Scarfo at some point in time. Look at Madoff, etc... a flim flam guy w a license to steal and collect street tax... he was definitely generating some serious $$

Yo Serp AC needs an envelope taking mayor like Matthews again that'll turn it around! Seriously though I hate to hear the old girl is on the down slope again. What a great old town and I hope it somehow reinvents itself again. Too bad sports book got shot down that would have helped IMO. After conventions Vegas thrives on super bowl final four and football season in general.

nice post

amen

your wrong sonny. the bentley was sals and the boat belonged to a company. Jr never traveled on the boat. period.

your wrong sonny. the bentley was sals, nicky had an audi and the boat belonged to a company. Jr never traveled on the boat. period.
_________________________

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014

Scarfo, Pelullo, Maxwells Seek New Trial In FirstPlus Fraud Case
By George Anastasia
For Bigtrial.net

They want a do over.

And if they're granted a new trial, they don't want any mention of the mob.

That's the essence of a 72-page motion filed by lawyers for Salvatore Pelullo and joined by lawyers for Nicodemo Scarfo and brothers John and William Maxwell asking Judge Robert Kugler to overturn their convictions and order a retrial in the FirstPlus financial fraud case.

A hearing on the motion and the government's response is set for Monday. Sentencings, which were originally scheduled for Oct. 21, 22 and 23, have been moved to January for all four defendants.

The defense motion is built around the argument that organized crime involvement was improperly and inaccurately introduced into the fraud case and created undue prejudice for the defendants. Lawyers for the Maxwell brothers have also filed separate motions raising issues specific to their clients. John Maxwell, for example, argued again that he was only following the advice of professionals hired by the company and had no direct knowledge of the scam.

Kugler rejected similar arguments that were filed by the defense both before and during the lengthy six-month trial.

While it's unlikely the judge would reverse himself, the filings set the stage for a continued appeal on what was major defense argument: the government created undue prejudice by introducing the spectre of organized crime in a case that had no proven mob connections.

The evidence in the case failed to conform to the picture painted for both the judge in pre-trial arguments and for the jury during the trial, Pelullo's court-appointed lawyers Troy Archie and Michael Farrell argued in their motion.

The "unsubstantiated allegations made the defendants criminals in the jurors' minds before the trial even started," the lawyers wrote. They argued that the prosecution relied on "gossip, hearsay, stereotypes, innuendo, appearance and image" rather than evidence in its attempt to present a case in which it was alleged that the defendants "had pilfered a public company in order to aggrandize the mob's wealth."

Scarfo, 48, and Pelullo, 46, were convicted of orchestrating the behind-the-scenes takeover of FirstPlus Financial Group in May 2007. The troubled Texas-based mortgage company was then looted, the government alleged, through bogus consulting contracts and straw business purchases that resulted in $12 million being siphoned out of the company.

Among other things, the prosecution alleged that the money was used to support the lavish lifestyles of Scarfo, the son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, and of Pelullo.

Those life styles included fancy cars -- Pelullo bought a $217,000 Bentley Continental -- expensive homes and a yacht (valued at $850,000) that was christened "Priceless."

The scam began to unravel in April 2008 when the FBI conducted a series of raids in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Texas. the raids targeted the FirstPlus offices in Irving, Texas, and the offices of businesses set up by Scarfo and Pelullo in Philadelphia and in the Atlantic City area. Pelullo's home in Elkins Park and Scarfo's $715,000 home in Atlantic County were also hit.

The government alleged among other things that Scarfo fraudulently obtained a mortgage for that home through the FirstPlus scam. Scarfo's wife, Lisa Murray-Scarfo, pleaded guilty to a mortgage fraud charge and is awaiting sentencing. Several other co-defendants also pleaded guilty prior to the start of the trial.

Scarfo and Pelullo were each found guilty of more than 20 counts, ranging from racketeering conspiracy and fraud to money-laundering and obstruction of justice. John Maxwell, the CEO of FirstPlus, and his brother, William, a lawyer hired by the company, were also convicted of racketeering conspiracy and related offenses. Three other defendants, including Scarfo's longtime criminal defense attorney Donald Manno, were found not guilty.

The trial opened in January and the verdicts were delivered on July 3.

The indictment handed up in the case also listed the elder Scarfo and Luchese crime family boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso as unindicted co-conspirators. Both are serving lengthy federal prison terms and were inmates together in Atlanta at the time the scam was hatched.

But in the motion for a new trial, lawyers argued that there was no evidence -- other than Scarfo's familial tie to the his father -- to back up the government's claim that the mob was involved in the FirstPlus takeover.

"The Government has been allowed to visit the sins of the father upon the son," the motion reads in part, adding that the spectre of organized crime "infected the trial" and created an undue prejudice.

The defense said that the investigation began as an organized crime probe, but said when the evidence instead demonstrated that it was really a "garden variety white collar fraud," the government continued to promote it as a mob case, using organized crime references and allegations in wiretap affidavits, pre-trial motions and in arguments to the jury. The defense argued that those references and unsubstantiated claims created the unfair prejudice that tainted the case and that should result in the convictions being thrown out and a new trial ordered.

"The problem is that the Government refused to let go of the LCN/Scarfo fixation," the lawyers argued. "Instead of simply altering its theory to focus on the alleged FPFG fraud, the Prosecutors shoehorned their theory into an LCN mold that simply didn't fit."

George Anastasia can be reached at George@bigtrial.net.



Read more at http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/10/scarfo-pelullo-maxwell-brothers-seek.html#EuIiUT8z6vPj4jq4.99

Undue prejudice my ass .

These assholes got convicted on mountains of evidence. They didn't have a prayer, regardless of whether of not this was labeled a "Mafia" trial.

Ya theyre grasping at straws, as the article above states they tried this motion to have the mafia angle barred from being mentioned before and during the trial and it was shot down both times, no reason that it wont be shot down now.

color me naive with this question, but what determines that? is there an actual textbook definition or is it a subjective thing? i mean, regardless of guilt & evidence, there's a bias dangling in the air which impacts the potential for credibility.

im not quite sure what your getting at, but for example in the nicodemo trial the defense was able to pass a motion to bar the prosecution from mentioning the mob because they didn't have any evidence that the crime had anything to do with OC, whereas in the firstplus trial there was evidence of mob involvement. but what it comes down to is the judges decision and your right majority of judges are far from unbiased .

And all I was trying to say was that the evidence was OVERWHELMING. They could have labeled them boy scouts instead of wiseguys and it wouldn't have made a bit of difference.

oh absolutely, the feds couldn't have had a more solid case.

i read the indictment, these guys had no shot (pellulo and scarfo). they had them tailed for years.

but

i get what they are doing. you have to try something. if youre going to hell why lay down on the way?

the lawyer that got off had a good argument. the tapes actually help him. he advised against lying on the mortgage and got off. maxwell maybe? i didnt follow to closely. not a philly guy. they remind me of caricatures. they got film crews in social clubs while guys are playing cards and NOT WORKING.

can you imagine a film crew going in the ravenite or the triangle or palma boys?

Of course. You have to exhaust your appeals. I'd do the exact same thing. But it won't make a difference.

Why didn't they just plead out if there was that much evidence? Both are relatively young, it's not like they are octogenarians fighting for what's left of their lives here.

Exactly.
I keep trying to tell people on here: 90% of people criminally charged in Federal Court end up with a plea deal or a guilty verdict. The US A's office doesn't waste time putting a case on someone unless they are confident they won't look like assholes at trial. That petty shit is for States' Attorneys Offices. Ligambi et. al. was a RARITY. And they still got a pound of flesh out of Massimino and Staino.

Well, if you noticed, a lot of people got all giddy when the Feds lost a few in a row. Jurors are tired of rats and blah blah blah. And that may very well be true. But the Feds have been batting over .900 at trial for two hundred years.

And that stat is not going to change in the long run. The Feds stack the deck in their favor, the law of averages will always favor them, and they'll always beat you nine out of ten times at trial.