Danny D'Ambrosia has had the largest book in South Philly since the mid 90s. One of the prominent books that Joey would never pay back when he lost.
He's not made and probably by his own choice but he's the closest thing in present South Philly to Frankie Flowers was in the 80s. Not sure that I buy into that he was part of the takeover unless the money he was kicking back to Ligambi was extraordinary.
Also this article
Gambler gets 30 months as racketeer
By KITTY CAPARELLA
caparek@phillynews.com
Daniel D'Ambrosia, a major South Philadelphia gambling figure and onetime confidant to ex-mob boss Ralph Natale, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for running an international sports betting operation here, in Newark, N.J., and in Costa Rica.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Kaplan said D'Ambrosia, 37, was the first of nine co-defendants to be sentenced in a federal racketeering case before U.S. District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise on Wednesday in Newark.
He was fined $6,000 and ordered to surrender to federal prison on Aug. 5.
D'Ambrosia, who is under house arrest at his parents' home in South Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to aid to racketeering, which included loan-sharking and operating an illegal gambling operation.
Yesterday, co-defendant Eugene Wilson pleaded guilty to gambling and conducting an illegal gambling operation. He'll be sentenced Oct. 28.
D'Ambrosia and Wilson are among four co-defendants to plead guilty. Five others, including jailed mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, are awaiting trial.
D'Ambrosia, who took in hundreds of thousands of dollars in sports gambling receipts, acted as a go-between for Natale, even after Natale was in federal custody.
Natale testified he assigned D'Ambrosia to work with Peter "Pete the Crumb" Caprio to help the aging mobster make money in Newark.
After Natale was jailed in 1998 for parole violation, Natale testified that D'Ambrosia helped to financially support his family. Recently, mob turncoat Roger Vella told authorities D'Ambrosia paid his legal bills.
Caprio testified that he and D'Ambrosia, among others, planned to kill then-acting mob boss Joseph Ligambi, underboss Steve Mazzone and consigliere George Borgesi in 1999 in a plot to take over the mob.
Since then, law enforcement sources said, Ligambi allegedly took over a portion of D'Ambrosia's gambling operation. The late mobster Raymond "Long John" Martorano talked of going into the gambling business with him a year before Martorano was killed in January, sources said.
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