Leaked Documents Claim Reputed former Philadelphia Mob Boss Joey Merlino's Back In the Game

 

Howard Altman and William Bender at the Philadelphia Daily News report on the release of an FBI memo that warns law enforcement officals that the reputed former boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime family may be getting back into organized crime.

Even as Joey Merlino was settling into a South Florida halfway house last summer after 12 years in prison, the FBI issued a confidential alert warning law-enforcement officials that the former Philadelphia mob boss might try to set up shop in the Miami area with some of his old associates. 

The memo was contained in the first batch of some five million emails being released by the anti-secrecy group Wikileaks - including several FBI alerts obtained by a Texas-based private-intelligence firm on topics ranging from biker gangs to al Qaeda's English-language website.

"As of March 2011, former Philadelphia (La Cosa Nostra) crime family boss, Joseph 'Skinny Joe' Merlino, appears to be restoring and developing significant relationships for a potential South Florida crew," read the Situational Information Report put out by the FBI's Miami office last June. "Reportedly, he may become involved in illicit gambling/bookmaking activities again."

You can read the rest of the story via the below ink to Philly.com:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120229_FLA_-SH_MOB__Leaked_docs_claim_Joey_Merlino_s_back_in_the_game_.html