Originally Posted By: Serpiente
Philly dysfunctional to a degree . If they were that bad you would know who is in each crew.

You would know who the skipper of those crews are and what that crew and skippers rackets are .

You would have wire taps like crazy with the world of Technology that we live in cos you bet theses guys are using the technology that would put them away if they were so dysfunctional.

The fact that they have so many young guys . I been hearing five guys were made a few years back and at least five guys have been made just recently .

So maybe just maybe they do have there shit together above the dysfunctional level.
It looking like they have a good system to keep the info that needs to be herd passed around well.

And they are not getting week and using phones and talking in places that can be bugged.

The Technology the Feds and LE have I am stunned that the guys are doing the right thing. The made guys and the associates are sticking to the rules that have been told to them.

Because if they were slipping just a little there would be indictments coming every six months.

I for one am very surprised at the way they have been able to do business in the open and keeping all else not on tape!!!

There a possibility that there are 58 - 61 made guys in that family .




true anatasia said in his latest article 5 guys got made recently


Unsolved Murders Still On The Feds' Philadelphia Agenda

It's a Yogi Berra moment in South Philadelphia.

Déjàvu all over again.

Members of both the Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo and Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino factions of the dysfunctional Philadelphia crime family are back on the streets after spending most of the past two decades in jail for racketeering.

The Scarfo crew includes guys like Phil Narducci and Joe Pungitore, shooters from the 1980s who have returned home over the past three years. The Merlino faction is headed by George Borgesi, Stevie Mazzone and John Ciancaglini, all of whom were convicted with Merlino in 2001, the last big mob trial in Philadelphia to end with convictions and substantial prison terms for many wiseguys.

Acting boss Joseph (Uncle Joe) Ligambi's got a foot in each camp. He was a shooter for the Scarfo group, but returned home before most of the other members of that organization when his conviction for the 1985 murder of Frank (Frankie Flowers) D'Alfonso was overturned and his retrial led to his acquittal. Ligambi fell in with the Merlino group in 1999 and took over as boss when Skinny Joey and his top associates were jailed a year later.

Now, everybody's back in town.

As reported by Dave Schratwieser on Fox 29 in Philadelphia last month, federal and state investigators are tracking the activities of the key players. Borgesi and Ligambi appear to be operating out of a new clubhouse across from the Epiphany Roman Catholic Church at 11th and Jackson Streets in the heart of South Philadelphia.

"Makes it easier to get to confession," quipped one longtime underworld observer.

But there really isn't much new to confess.

"They're strictly legit," said one friend of the family.

Borgesi and company are making inroads into the home rehab and mortgage refi businesses. Pungitore is also in the construction business which is booming in certain neighborhoods where gentrification has taken hold.

David Fritchey, the former federal prosecutor who headed the Organized Crime Strike Force in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia for many years, said old habits die hard.

It doesn't speak well for their rehabilitation, he said, if wiseguys are back hanging around with former co-defendants. That, said the ex-prosecutor who retired back in July, is a formula for "recidivism."

But defense attorney Edwin Jacobs, who has represented both Merlino and Ligambi, told Fox 29 that there is nothing unusual about friends getting together. As he has argued to juries in the past, Jacobs said authorities are overplaying the associations.

"It's good to have a wide circle of friends," Jacobs said as the TV cameras rolled. "Federal law enforcement authorities look at The Godfather, one and two, as a text book. It's not a text book. It's a screen play."

Some might argue that the movies are actually training films for the next generation of wiseguys, the 20- and 30-something sycophants who now congregate at the new clubhouse. Two or three generations removed from the immigrant experience, these Americanized wannabe mobsters have to have someone show them how to act.

While Jacobs argues that the local mob is a shell of what it once was, federal and state authorities are now focusing on what they believe is the resurgence of the crime family.

"You have to admire their resilience," said one investigator familiar with the history of wanton violence, turncoat testimony and racketeering prosecutions that since the Scarfo era have left more than 30 members dead and that led to significant jail time for at least 30 others.

"They have a long and successful business model" that involves "violence and intimidation," said Fritchey who dismisses the argument that the one-time convicts have paid their debt to society and ought to be left alone. "If they're not doing anything wrong, then they shouldn't be worried about who's watching them."

It may not be the present, but rather the past, that gives Merlino, Ligambi and some of their top associates the most concern.

While investigators are tracking the new business ventures, they also have begun to revisit the cold case files involving the murders of mobsters Ron Turchi in 1999, Raymond (Long John) Martorano in 2002 and John (Johnny Gongs) Casasanto in 2003.

Authorities are also aware that at least five new members were formally initiated into the crime family in October, a move that would appear to run counter to defense attorney arguments at the racketeering trials of Ligambi and Borgesi two years ago. (Both Ligambi and Borgesi beat the charges, but four others were convicted). Among other things, the defense contended that while the defendants might be members of Cosa Nostra, the organization was no longer relevant.

'If that were the case," asked Fritchey, the retired federal prosecutor, "then why are people interested in getting made? You don't see anyone lining up to join the Knights Templar

Not connected with scott or anyone at gangsterreport

Sorry for the confusion