Inside The American Mob: A Look Back At Scarfo's Brutal Mob Reign In Philadelphia

This Sunday on the National Geographic Channel's Inside the American Mob offers an installment that covers the bloody career of Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the Cosa Nostra organized crime boss of Philadelphia and South Jersey.

You can watch a video clip previewing the program via the below link:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/inside-the-american-mob/episodes/new-york-philly-war/

You can also also read my interview with Philip Leonetti, Scarfo's nephew and the former Philadelphia/South Jersey Cosa Nostra underboss via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/01/crime-beat-column-mafia-prince-q-with.html

Note: The above photo of Nicodemo Scarfo in prison was provided by Philip Leonetti.

National Geographic Channel Tackles The American Mob

 

William Bender at the Philadelphia Daily News offers a piece on tonight's National Geographic special Inside the American Mob.

Sure, the South Philly mob ain't what it used to be, but that doesn't mean that there aren't still stories to be told about La Cosa Nostra.

And National Geographic has got the goods. Six hours' worth. "Inside the American Mob," a six-part series, premieres Sunday at 9 p.m.

"It's the small, personal stories on both sides of the coin, from the Mafia and the prosecutors that chased them," said Michael Welsh, the series' executive producer. "You're getting multiple points of view on the same events over the course of the mob history."

The series kicks off with two hourlong episodes covering the 1970s in New York City and the new generation of Italian-American agents that entered the FBI, including Joe Pistone, a/k/a Donnie Brasco.
 

Philadelphia mob watchers will want to tune in at 10 p.m. Aug. 4 for the episode on the New York-Philly war, which will cover Atlantic City and the Angelo Bruno assassination. Philip "Crazy Phil" Leonetti, the reformed hit man and nephew of ex-boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, is a major interview in that episode.
 
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://articles.philly.com/2013-07-26/news/40817244_1_mafia-la-cosa-nostra-philip-crazy-phil-leonetti

You can also read my interview with former Philadelphia underboss Philip Leonetti, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/01/crime-beat-column-mafia-prince-q-with.html

And you can also read my Crime Beat column on former FBI Special Agent Joe Pistone via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/01/look-back-at-joseph-pistone-aka-donnie.html

Note: The above photo of former Philadelphia mob boss Nicky Scarfo was provided by Philip Leonetti, the former underboss of the Philly mob. 

'Inside The American Mob': Familiar Story, Endlessly Fascinating

David Hiltbrand at the Philadelphia Inquirer reviews the upcoming National Geographic Channel's new series on American organized crime.

A gritty six-part series, Inside the American Mob chronicles the decline and fall of the Mafia from its apex of power and influence in the '70s to its virtual dismantlement two decades later.

As the rub-out begins (with back-to-back episodes), the New York-based Five Families - Gambino, Colombo, Genovese, Lucchese and Bonanno - have a vise-grip on their far-flung criminal enterprises.

They use an organizational template devised by Mob architect Lucky Luciano back in 1931. A strict tradition of ethnicity (all "made men" must be 100 percent Italian) and vicious intimidation has kept them impermeable to infiltration by law enforcement agents.

Inside the American Mob, which debuts 9 p.m. Sunday on National Geographic Channel, maintains that a variety of factors altered the blood-soaked playing field in the '70s, beginning with a generational shift on both sides of the fence.

... The Inquirer's veteran crime reporter George Anastasia assumes a primary presence in next week's episode, "New York-Philly War," detailing the reign of terror that subsumed the Philadelphia Mafia after the seismic assassination of the city's "Docile Don," Angelo Bruno, in 1980.

With rival factions eager to claim the corrupt boomtown that was Atlantic City, Nicodemo Scarfo ascended to Boss, unleashing a brutal string of murders (18 in four years). Scarfo's rule was so ruthless that two of his closest associates, including his nephew Crazy Phil Leonetti, flipped, becoming extremely productive witnesses for the government.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/television/20130725_Inside_American_Mob__Familiar_story__endlessly_fascinating.html