No More Little Nicky

The old school Mafia guys are starting to drop fast in 2017.  Nicodemo Scarfo Sr. aka “Little Nicky,” the ruthless boss of the Philadelphia family, has died and it may have been on Friday the 13 or early on the 14th.  It would seem more fitting for Little Nicky to die on Friday the 13th.

Born in 1929 in Brooklyn New York, his family moved to New Jersey where he would grow up.  He was always trouble and soon followed his uncle Nicholas Piccolo, a made member of the Philadelphia family, into organized crime. Piccolo aka “Nicky Buck” became a capo under long time boss Angelo Bruno.  Little Nicky proved himself capable after a stint as a boxer and a part time gig tending bar.  He went out on hits for the family and was soon proposed for membership in 1954 and was inducted into the family along with two of his uncles.

Little Nicky was always a hot head.  In 1963 he stabbed a man to death outside a restaurant in Philadelphia.  The boss Angelo Bruno did not like what he had done and contemplated killing him but instead he banished Little Nicky to Atlantic City.  Atlantic City at the time was a former resort town that had become nothing but a shell.

Fortune seemed to smile on Little Nicky in 1976, when the state of New Jersey legalized gambling in Atlantic City.  He had struggled to make ends meet with a small bookmaking and loansharking operation.  In 1976 that all changed and he changed his direction. He went into the cement business with his Nephew Philip Leonetti aka “Crazy Phil.”  

They infiltrated unions and other crime family members had a rebar company.  When the building boom started, the cash flowed in and the cement company, Scarf Inc., was able to cash in on it.

In 1979 an Atlantic City contractor named Vincent Falcone insulted Little Nicky.  As a result, he was lured to a house where Crazy Phil shot him while the others watched. A plumber named Joseph Salerno Jr. was also present during the murder, but afterwards he went to the FBI.  They arrested Little Nicky and the others but they were all later acquitted by a jury.  They did find a gun in Little Nicky's home so he was sentenced to two years in prison.

In 1980 Angelo Bruno, the boss, was shotgunned to death in front of his home. The next boss, Philip Testa, aka “Chicken Man” lasted a year before he was blown up by a bomb planted on his front porch.  It was then that Little Nicky stepped up and took power in Philadelphia.

He immediately started ordering murders, including Salvatore Testa’s - the son of the former boss.

He was able to consolidate power in the city, and he started imposing a street tax on illegal activity.  He had many people murdered and he would leave them in public to instill fear.

The money began to pour into the family and he became the New Jersey version of John Gotti or Al Capone.  He had a nice house in Fort Lauderdale, Florida along with a boat named CASABLANCA The Usual Suspects.

In 1987 the Feds started catching up to the family and Little Nicky was convicted in the extortion of a builder.  He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.  In 1988 a massive RICO case was brought against him and 16 others.  He was found guilty on 33 counts, which included 8 murders, and he was given another 55 years in prison.  

Little Nicky was convicted the next year of another murder and given a life sentence, which meant he would die in prison.  He did manage to get acquitted in a retrial for that murder, but he still had to do the other sentences.

He tried to run the family from prison but it fell into civil war and even his son Nicky Jr. was shot.  Nicky Jr. would be inducted into the Lucchese family where he would become a capo.  Nicky Jr. is currently serving a 33 year sentence for various crimes. Crazy Phil, his nephew and former underboss, would flip and tell the FBI everything.

So the violent little man Scarfo is now gone. I am sure somebody will miss him, but Philadelphia and all of his victim’s families can breath a sigh of relief.

Garbage Men

The mafia has long controlled carting, also known as waste removal, or whatever you want to call it.  I have personally watched trucks from New York roll into a private waste disposal and dump asphalt that was supposed to be recycled.  It is not surprising that the mafia used everyone’s “Go Green” attitude to put a new twist on an old business.

Last week I wrote about Joey Merlino and the others who were taken down by the Feds in a massive bust.  One of the crimes which was not mentioned happened in Palmyra, New Jersey.

Brad Sirkin, who was arrested with Merlino in the Florida case, leased a 104 acre parcel of land to be used for a recycling and mulch operation.

Sirkin was operating Jersey Recycling, a company that was licensed to process landscape waste.  Grass, plants, branches, etc. that would be turned into mulch and re-sold.  They were permitted to bring in 20,000 cubic yards of this waste.

What they did instead was bring in 380,000 cubic yards of construction waste and other hazardous materials.  They had hundreds of trucks stacked up waiting to get into the landfill, which caused authorities to take notice.

Jersey Recycling used the cover story of going green to secretly cause a disaster that will cost taxpayers up to 10 million dollars to clean up.  

The reason Sirkin applied for a green recycling permit is because it was much easier to get than a landfill permit.  Sirkin has documented ties to organized crime and he was one of the guys who got Merlino violated for associating with felons.  

This landfill operation was a multi mafia family operation and the FBI believes that a Bonanno capo had a hidden interest in the landfill.

Sirkin met Merlino when they were finishing up some Federal time in a halfway house in Florida in 2011.  

Sirkin was originally from Staten Island but relocated to Boca Raton after his release.  He would drive Merlino all over and they would frequent cigar bars.

Sirkin was a prime mover in the insurance fraud case that defrauded insurance companies and Medicare out of 157 million dollars for high priced compound pain cream.

Sirkin was a manager of Premier Biotech one of a dozen companies that helped perpetuate the fraud.

The landfill, which is close to the Delaware river and next to Palmyra Cove Nature park has to be cleaned up before it starts leeching hazardous materials, and this going to cost us all.

A Capo Conversion and an Unchanged Boss

It would seem like every week there is something new in the papers about the mafia.  This week Joey Merlino was back in the news because the guy who wore a wire on him was revealed.

It turns out that the main informant was John Rubeo, a Genovese family associate who was with Genovese capo Patsy Parrello.  Rubeo found himself in trouble and was facing major time, so he went to team USA. In the age where bosses, capos and soldiers are flipping on those below, why wait to get flipped on?  He was kept busy because the government has over 800 hours of taped conversations.  He may have even taped Parrello looking to seek revenge on an Albanian gangster he thinks murdered his son.  

One thing is for sure: he recorded Joey Merlino a lot because they were together often.  Rubeo was sent by Parrello to work with Merlino in the prescription fraud, sham pain cream business.

Once again Merlino is done in by his own greed. He once told another associate that he would like to move to Florida not to get out of the Mafia, but to run a crew there.

The man he said that to was a criminal just like he was at the time.  Bobby Luisi Jr. was a capo under Merlino.  So much has changed in the decade since.  The two men both did prison time and yet they are now on different paths.

Luisi was arrested in a sting for selling 3 kilos of cocaine to an undercover agent in Boston, where he was running the Philadelphia family crew.  The informant was sent to Luisi from Philly by Merlino.  Luisi was running a large enterprise of gambling, shylocking and drug dealing.  He was kicking back $10k a month to Merlino from his Boston crew.

Some time in 1998 Luisi felt the needed for change in his life, and he found God. At the time what could he do? Tell the guys in the family, “Hey, sorry, I’ve had a change of heart.”  That would have put him on the fast track to a shallow grave.  As he was trying to figure out how to straighten out his life, he was arrested for selling cocaine and ended up in prison with a 15 year sentence.

It was while in prison he studied and earned his theology diploma.  He started a Bible study for inmates.  Once released, Luisi was relocated to Memphis Tennessee where he worked as a plant foreman until he became a full time minister.  Today he uses his experience as a criminal gangster to help others find a personal relationship with God.   

On the other hand, when Merlino was released he moved to Florida where he was charged for violating his parole for associating with a made member of the Philly family.  Merlino is looking at another decade in prison or at least a few hundred grand in legal bills and another case.  

Take Down 46

Another week in the life, and this week the FBI took down 46 guys from a number of families for various racketeering charges.  The names you will recognize, because these guys just never seem to learn.  

Jimmy Caci, who was the street boss of the Los Angeles family, told me a few months before he passed away that the life was not what it was supposed to be. It had gotten out of control and there was no honor or loyalty anymore. This was after my first book Breakshot had come out.  

So here we were, sitting at a diner and he is speaking to me.  I felt sorry for him because he was a relic from the past and his time had passed.  Jimmy was originally from Buffalo, New York and he knew the long time boss Stephan Maggadino.  He was on good terms with all the guys in the family when it was at it’s peak.  Jimmy grew up in a different time.  A time when Italians were looked down upon. Boxers used Irish names to get fights, and most policemen were Irish.  The mafia served a purpose then, but now it may be one more thing, like Sears, we do not need.

You can read more about Jimmy in Breakshot, which has been re-released.

Joey Merlino was the one time boss of the Philadelphia family.  He may still be boss, but he is in custody again. Merlino has spent more than half his life locked up. He is the son of former underboss Sal Merlino and is also nephew to soldier Lawrence Merlino, both of whom are now dead.  

Merlino has gotten away with murder but he just cannot seem to go straight.  Some guys just never get it.  

In better times Joey Merlino was out in Los Angeles with Johnny Fratto getting chased by TMZ. Merlino was out to speak about selling his life rights to a well known movie producer.  Maybe this story will go into the new Johnny Fratto book that Randazzo is working on.

The new indictment charges many of the guys with bookmaking.  They again used offshore websites, but did business here in the US under the name Costa Rican International Sportsbook. One of those charged was Daniel Marino Jr., a friend of Colombo Craig Marino and son of a Gambino heavy weight.  Many years ago Daniel was hiding out at Joe Dente's home in Los Angeles.

This time the indictment has a couple of crimes we have not witnessed in an indictment in a few years.  Healthcare fraud: where they had doctors prescribing an expensive compound and charging insurance companies.  They were also smuggling untaxed cigarettes into the New York area, where they were worth three million dollars.

They had a casino style gambling spot in Yonkers where they hosted poker and other card games.

John Lembo, a name that was well known to those around back in the stock fraud days, was busted for setting up credit card skimmers.  Lembo was a friend of Eddie Garofalo and Craig Marino.  

The FBI had an undercover agent deep inside that worked with Genovese guys and Joey Merlino.  They also had a cooperator wired up the whole time.  How many more will flip is still to be seen.  The majority of those arrested face up to 20 years, but this indictment seems to be missing the normal murders and other violence.  They are charged with assaulting a homeless man who was bothering patrons of a restaurant on Arthur Ave.  They did threaten to choke a guy out, but it does not read as bad as the others I have read.  I bet everyone pleads out for a lot less time.

One guy arrested is Ralph Balsamo, a Genovese guy.  Why he does not just run his family's funeral homes I have no idea.  I bet Balsamo has some more problems that are going to come up soon.  Stay tuned.