In "mafia prince", Phil Leonetti speaks about how after Bruno was murdered, Genoveses toyed with the idea of making Scarfo the boss of the borgata. Phil says that Nicky turned it down, stating that Chicken Man deserved it more. Now based on public understanding of Nicky Scarfo, the guy wasn't happy til he was boss. Do you guys think he could really have been content to be Testas consigliere, or was he saying "no" to the top job after Bruno's murder just a way to deflect and/or "bide his time" until such a date when he could whack out Testa and take over?

That's what people say about Nick but his actions were all patients and went by the rules.

You have to remember Phil is trying to make his uncle look like a monster and for him to look like the kid that was forced into the life .

We will never know the real truth unless Nicky jr flips and writes a tell all.

I agree with Serp. For all of Scarfo's faults, it seems he cared about the rules and traditions. Plus, Testa was his friend, wasn't he?

In Mafia Prince Leonetti also says that Scarfo was expecting to be named underboss by Testa and even though he didn't say anything about it, Leonetti says he could tell that he was pretty disappointed that Testa named Casella, a known drug dealer as his UB..

If I recall wasn't Casella given a pass for killing Testa? Why was that?

I wouldnt give Scarfo too much credit. I mean he broke just as many "rules" as he obeyed in the mob. Sure Phil Testa was his friend BUT Nicky obviously forgot about that when he murdered his son for no good reason

Casella was real tight with a Genovese Capo with whom he served Fed time with in the years prior. This same Capo stood up and pleaded for Peter Casella before Scarfo went in to meet with the Chin the same night. The Genovese Capo got Casella the pass, but Chin made him go straight to FL and put on the shelf/told him to retire.

In Mafia Prince Leonetti says that there was a powerful Genovese captain, who isn't named in the book, who Casella met when he was doing time on the drug trafficking charges, who spoke on his behalf and this eventually saved his life..

One of the best parts of the book is when Scarfo and Casella are meeting with Chin, Fat Tony and Bobby Manna at the Triangle social club to discuss the death of Phil Testa. I'll type a little excerpt of it:

..According to Scarfo, who later told Leonetti what happened inside the meeting, Gigante wasted no time with pleasantries and started the meeting by speaking directly to Casella in his rapid-fire New York cadence.
''Listen, we know what happened. Don't lie to us. If you lie to us, we can't help you. Tell us the names of everyone who was involved in this plot.'' Scarfo told Leonetti that Casella answered the question directly.
''It was me. It was my idea. Me, Chickie Narducci, and Rocco Marinucci, and a kid Rocco knows.''
Scarfo said Fat Tony took the cigar out of his mouth and barked, ''This motherless fuck, the kid, does he have a name?'' and Casella responded,''I don't know his name,'' and then hung his head in shame.
Gigante smacked the table, and Casella looked up at him, and then the don spoke, ''You're finished. You are to retire immediately to Florida. You are forbidden from ever returning to Philadelpia. When you leave here, you get on a plane and you go. If you breathe a word of this to anyone, we will kill you, your brother, and your brother-in-law. Do you understand?''
Casella nodded his head and Gigante gestured for one of the Genovese soldiers to escort him out of the club. As Casella attempted to shake Gigante's hand, Gigante stared at him with disgust and spit on the floor in his direction, and Casella was whisked away.
With Casella gone, it was just Little Nicky and the three Genovese leaders. Again Gigante got right to the point.
''Well, Nick, I don't see no one else here, so I guess that makes you the new boss,'' at which point Gigante stood and Scarfo approached the table and kissed Gigante on each cheeck, as Manna and Salerno clapped their hands...

^^Great story Billy! Thank you for answering my question in detail Billy. and thank you too Phl_ Mob. I really appreciate it.

True, but at that point, he was the boss. He could kill his guys, however fucked it might be.

Can anyone tell me whu Casella killed Testa? I mean they were friends and Testa made him underboss? Anyone know the story?

The guys that that think Nick sr killed Salvie for no reason think for one minute that if the Chin's under boss had this done to him and his daughter in front of all New York do you think the result would have been different.. Not !!!

Let alone how much Nick pressed these guys about no dope !!! And Salvie kept doing it !!! That alone has gotten many guys killed .

Salvie should have known every move he made the others would run back and tell Phil or Nick cos they wanted his spot and Sal knew this and still was living on the edge to the point he had a whole other set of people he hung with .

It was so obvious to them knowing Salvie all his life too all of a sudden start hanging with people that he never did or would of before.

This is why everyone says how did Salvie not know he did know and he was rubbing in there face . Theses guys knew all Salvies friends and all of a sudden a year down the road he has a whole new set of friends .
Not street friends ,money friends the kind of people that finance big deals ...

Fear can be a good tactic to keep dissention in the ranks at bay. But when it's the only tool in the shed, 70 years and 1 day is the sentence that a judge will hand down.

Cc: Vic Amuso, Tony Casso, Vinny Basciano, et al.

Salvie a actually sold and did drugs? I thought scarfo made that up as an excuse.

Not sure if it was ever confirmed that he "did" drugs but it was the 80s and not to make a generalization, but most people with money in their 20s/early 30s were doing coke. Salvie also was a major financier for drug gangs in West Philly at the time. One of the Scarfo-backed excuses was that he was going to "organize his own gang."

The drug thing was not made up . It was , I am sure brought to Nick's attention many more times and very often cos of course they all wanted what Salvie had and where he was going.

when all those guys tommy del faffy lawrence and chuckie all beefed on testa to scarfo they were saying he was dealing drugs they could have been lying all had personal to lie

he was involved in backing drug dealers by financing there operations and by all accounts he was making alot of money not sure if he was dealing drugs would not surprise me

Sal was just a kid, Serp. Kids do stupid shit.

no offense serp but your post isnt accurate. Salvie was the most loyal of everyone including phil leonetti and chuckie merlino. He NEVER sold drugs scarfo/chuckie made that up. Salvie was taught by his father so he knew la cosa nostra as well as anyone. By the way salvie asked scarfos permission to end the engagement and scarfo said no problem. So the reality was that scarfo was a paranoid psychopath Who killed salvie out of jealosy AND paranoia

No offense to you buddy, but you are way off on this. Some things you just can't read about.

And to Crash - Phil testa was killed because of Chickie Narducci. He wanted to be boss.

I knew this before reading any books. Narducci banged out my old neighbors father years ago. I heard all about it. And, for the record, I don't live near Serp and never met him. But, I heard a lot of the same shit from my old neighbors that he talks about.

what am i way off about?

Not that I don't believe you....but isnt it possible they were whispering lies in Scarfo's ear to get him out of the way?

I doubt Salvie was directly involved with selling drugs. But he definitely financed dealers, was involved in the shakedown/street tax of dealers and probably got in on the p2p deals occasionally like everyone at that time was doing. I'm sure they were whispering lies about him,

Tommy Del and Faffy supposedly whispered lies all the time to Chuckie. I think Chuckie/Faffy/Tommy Del had more incentive to kill Salvie than Scarfo. Chuckie was running Philly for Scarfo while him and Phil were in AC with Yogi. Coupled with Chuckie becoming a drunk, the thing with his daughter and Salvies rise ON THE STREET in South Philly and DelGourno and Faffy in his ear, that's how it probably all got started.

People put too much emphasis on it was just Scarfo being a psychopath and yeah he had final say but there was a lot more poison in that group than just him.

What happened to Riccobene crew after the war? Were they all dead or were some leftovers of the guys folded into Scarfo crew?

Pedulla and DeLuca both Riccobene guys both flipped. Two I can recall who werent dead or in prison.

Its said that a poor man won't become rich because will be greedy.
I think that Scarfo really respect Phil Testa and if testa wasn't killed, Scarfo will stay ed at his place without do anything. But after taste the favore of power and money he lost his mind and become greedy and paranoic.

There were a bunch of guys leftover from Riccobene's crew/faction after they surrendered. Pedulla and DeLuca seemed to be the two main hit men for the Riccobene's, but after they surrendered to Scarfo, all of the remaining rackets and associates of Riccobene that didn't die or go to jail were just folded into the Scarfo crews (Salvie and Santo Idone were two crews I remember Leonetti mentioning in his book).

There were left overs who simply continued going on about their business under the Scarfo regime. Frank Martines, Riccobene crew member later went on to become underboss during the Stanfa era.


And Salvie Testa was dealing drugs. Thats no lie, I don't believe it's ever been said that he was using them himself, but he was big in the drug game at that point and was funding dealers and reaping the benefits. What Tommy Del & Faffy and those guys were possibly lying about was Testa creating his own family. By all accounts he was too loyal to Scarfo and the Philly mob to do that. And of course guys wanted what he had, and I don't think the thing with Chuckie Merlino & his daughter is the reason Scarfo had Salvie killed. Because while he was in La Tuna, Salvie was explaining that whole situation to him through Bobby Simone & Leonetti, and Scarfo would say not to worry about it and he'll settle things when he gets home. Not to mention Merlino told Scarfo & Leonetti, that he didn't mind if Salvie lived, as long as he gave up everything and stepped down to the rank of soldier. And all the guys who were feeding negative info about Salvie to Scarfo, were under Chuckie Merlino. That shows you his murder was basically about jealousy and money. Leonetti funded the Meth dealers, Caramandi & Charlie White bought the P2P stuff needed to make Meth to the cooks and dealers and in return got the drug profits, they were essentially doing the same thing Salvie was doing before he was killed. And I think Scarfo finally decided to sign off on it because after hearing all those rumors and the article about Salvie being the fastest rising mobster in Philly, he became cautious, and had him killed before Salvie could possibly uproot and challenge Scarfo.


Not to mention Scarfo was reportedly happy when he heard Salvie calling off the wedding to Merlinos daughter, because he feared with marriage, the Merlinos and Testas would become a family within a family, and would be a major threat to his position.

Sinatra ^^^^^ good post ... Salvie was not a known user , don't know who ever herd that.

But right on the money with the backstabbing coming from Chucky's crew .
And yes the little guy loved the double edge sword to make things appear right.

But Serp,..no offense either..but Phil has said in an 60 min.interview that salvie was not dealing drugs..then right after, said (like he was talking 2 his uncle)"..what u wanna kill everybody?"....but u of all(most) posters would know any better or b more topic sensitive 2 this particular subject,& u never know what would b runnin thru those old scarfo guys minds,so i now don't know what 2 believe...