That's from Jimmy DeGregorio. He became a witness in 1984 or 1985 and the incident with Merlino he's talking about happened in 1982. He also lied a lot about the Pagans so it's possible this is a lie too. But the Philly guys did back down from the Pagans a few other times too.

At the time the Pagans were not a "street gang" but an actual organized crime group with law enforcement and even political connections. They basically owned the town of Marcus Hook PA and it's mayor and cops. They also had juice in Philadelphia.

But that was a long time ago. They aren't a shadow of that now.