What Joey Merlino's Hung Jury Verdict Means For Philly's Mob Scene

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Feds Hope Wiseguy-Wannabe Ronald Galati Is Ready To Turn

Jeremy Roebuck at the Philadelphia Inquirer offers a piece on organized crime in South Philadelphia.

Andrew Tuono's new girlfriend came with a warning.

Dating Tiffany Galati, daughter of an auto mechanic with long-held ties to the Philadelphia mob, would one day get him killed, friends advised.

That prediction nearly proved prescient last year, with an attack that left Tuono alive, but with three bullets in his gut - and his girlfriend's father accused of ordering the hit.

Now, the details of that attempt on Tuono's life, sketched in government court filings this month, offer the latest account of one facet of Ronald Galati's deepening legal morass. As additional allegations ranging from witness intimidation to insurance fraud have piled up against him, a portrait of the 63-year-old auto-shop owner has emerged.

Friends and law enforcement sources describe Galati as a mob hanger-on, eager to cozy up to Mafia dons and trade quips from Goodfellas, his favorite film.

... And though no "made man" himself, Galati's recent legal problems have authorities salivating. Longtime friendships with current and former Philadelphia mob bosses like Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino and Joseph Ligambi make Galati a valuable target to turn.

Now that he faces three separate cases - the Tuono charges in Camden and counts related to insurance fraud and witness intimidation in Philadelphia - officials wonder whether Galati finally has incentive to cooperate.

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

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140824_Feds_hope_wiseguy-wannabe_Ronald_Galati_is_ready_to_turn.html 

Philly Mob Scene: Mob Informant 'Nicky Skins' Settles Debt, Kills Self

George Anastasia, the Philadelphia Inquirer's veteran organized crime reporter, offers a closer look at Nicholas "Nicky Skins" Stefanelli, the mob informant who killed himself, and how his death may impact the federal case against the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime family and other criminal organizations.

You can watch the Mob Scene video via the below link:

 http://www.philly.com/philly/video/142489495.html

You can also read an earlier account of the mob informant via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2012/03/potential-witness-in-reputed-philly-mob.html 

Potential Witness In Reputed Philly Mob Boss Joseph Ligambi Trial An Apparent Suicide

George Anastasia, the veteran organized crime reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, reports on the strange case of the apparent suicide of an organized crime figure scheduled to testify against reputed Philadelphia mob boss Joseph Ligambi and other organized crime members.

North Jersey organized crime figure who was a potential government witness in the pending racketeering trial of Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi won't be able to make it to the witness stand.

Nicholas "Nicky Skins" Stefanelli committed suicide two weeks ago after allegedly killing an Essex County video poker machine operator in a brazen midafternoon gangland-style hit, according to law enforcement sources.

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

http://articles.philly.com/2012-03-08/news/31136091_1_video-poker-illegal-machines-illegal-gambling 

Organized Crime Moving From The Back Alleys To The Boardroom: Nicodemo S. Scarfo, Son of Jailed Philadelphia Mob Boss, Arrested In Boardroom Fraud

 

As noted in a previous post, Nicodemo S. Scarfo, the son of Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the jailed former boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime family, was arrested along with a dozen others in a scheme to take over a business firm.

George Anastasia, the veteran organized crime reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and author of  true crime books on organized crime such as Blood & Honor and The Last Gangster, covered the arrests for the Inquirer.

"This case gives new meaning to the term 'corporate takeover,' " Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, said at a news conference where the charges were announced.

"This was organized crime moving from the back alley to the boardroom," added Michael Ward, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark office.

You can read the rest of George Anastasia's newspaper story and watch his Mob Scene video via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/133048563.html

You can read my previous post on the arrest of Scarfo and others via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/11/demise-of-organized-crime-has-been.html

A Look Back At The Philly Mob Story

Thanks to youtube.com you can watch the National Geographic Channel's program on the the South Philly/South Jersey Cosa Nostra crime family.

You can watch the program via the below links:

Part 1 of 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL931EBOw30&feature=related

Part 2 of 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGZsM6weu4s

Part 3 of 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usnS9n7fjOs

Part 4 of 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpkjkXSSmVQ&feature=related

Part 5 of 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RP_djORYwU&NR=1

You can also read my Philadelphia Inquirer review of George Anastasia's true crime book on the Philly mob, The Last Gangster, via the below links:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/LastGangsterReview1JPG.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/LastGangsterReview2JPG.jpg

Shark Money: Philadelphia Mob Case Focuses On Core Businesses Of Loan-Sharking And Gambling

 

George Anastasia, the Philadelphia Inquirer's veteran organized crime reporter, wrote an interesting story for the newspaper that explains how gambling and loan-sharking are the Philadelphia-South Jersey crime family's core businesses.

You can read the story via the below link:

http://articles.philly.com/2011-06-27/news/29708019_1_joseph-uncle-joe-ligambi-mob-leader-mob-organization

Philly Mob Takedown: Reputed Mob Boss Joseph Ligambi And 12 Others Charged With Racketeering, Gambling And Other Crimes

George Anastasia, The Philadelphia Inquirer's veteran crime reporter, offers a piece on the federal government's arrest of reputed Cosa Nostra organized crime boss Joseph Ligambi and ten others. Two others, already incarcerated, were also charged.

You can read Anastasia's piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110523_Phila__mob_boss_Ligambi_arrested.html?cmpid=41144277

You can also read the indictment via the below link:

http://media.philly.com/documents/20110523Indictment.pdf

Lastly, you can read George Anastasia's piece on Philadelphia mob bosses from the past 30 years via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110523_Ligambi_was_6th_boss_to_follow_Bruno.html