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By Ed Scarpo






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If Uncle Joe Retires What Happens in Philadelphia?

By Ed Scarpo
Joseph (Uncle Joe) Ligambi, who recently got out of prison following two mistrials for what primarily amounted to gambling-related charges, says that he is done, finito, with Cosa Nostra. He wants to drop the harness and relax, to summer in Longport and winter in Florida. In 1980, violence on the streets of Philadelphia rose sharply following boss Angelo Bruno's murder. Does Ligambi mean it? If he’s being sincere, then who will step in and take over?  Too many wiseguys, if history is our guide. The volatility for which the Philadelphia crime family was once well-known can return as swiftly as the time it takes to pull a trigger. Two generations historically at odds with each other have been working together (the old Scarfo gang and the Merlino young turks). The ability to rivet these two enclaves together is among the skills "Uncle Joe" is credited for having. But with or without him, shifts in power are inevitable as the family's composition changes (...
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Bonanno Boss's Prison Letters Kick Off Second Dominick Cicale Forum

By Ed Scarpo
"Mikey Nose" (Commenced 11am, Saturday, Jan. 10)... We can thank Michael "Mikey Nose" Mancuso for our starting point.... I don't think any other blog or news organization on the planet has ever gotten such direct insight from the man widely considered to be the official boss of the Bonanno family . The Nose is from the Bronx, where Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, either former acting boss or current official boss, hailed from.
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Kitchen Nightmares Gangster Back In Business (Mob Business, That Is)

By Ed Scarpo
“Nobody is gonna go against them. They’d go head to head with anybody.” Source on Michael (Mikey Nose) Mancuso and his Administration in the Bonanno crime family. Bonanno mobster Peter (Peter Pasta) Pellegrino, a name you are familiar with if you have been watching Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and reading Cosa Nostra News , is back in business—the gambling and shylocking business, though, not the restaurant business. Peter Pasta Pellegrino. (From Facebook.) In fact, Peter Pasta was among the Bonannos who benefitted from Michael (Mikey Nose) Mancuso 's reorganization of the crime family last Christmas, we've learned. Pellegrino was bumped from acting capo to official capo. He’s now overseeing a Bonanno crew in Florida and one allied with Albanians in Ridgewood, Queens. Also part of the Nose's Christmastime shakeup, Anthony (Bruno) Indelicato , the longtime Bonanno wiseguy who was a direct participant—he was one of the shooters—in the 1979 Carmine Galante murders, w...
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Philadelphia Cosa Nostra Family Has New Boss

By Ed Scarpo
Skinny Joey Merlino EXCLUSIVE:  Phil Narducci has been named boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra Family, according to several sources who requested anonymity. What is not known is whether he is the official boss or acting boss for Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino , who is serving a short stint down in Florida. Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and Joseph "Chickie" Ciancaglini, Sr. are sharing the position of consiglieri. The underboss position is officially unfilled, though it is believed that South Philadelphia-based capos Stevie Mazzone and John "Johnny Chang" Ciancaglini may fill the void by serving as street bosses for the often-troubled Philly crime family .
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About The Sitdown With Jeff Nadu

By Ed Scarpo
We changed the headline. The following is about podcasting feuds between former members of organized crime and how these feuds sometimes create unlikely alliances because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We received emails from a couple of sources alerting us to the existence of Jeff Nadu last year. Who the fck is Jeff Nadu? Jeff Nadu, host of The Sitdown with Jeff Nadu. (Source: Vendetta Sports Media .) He launched The Sitdown with Jeff Nadu podcast a couple of years ago. Another guy doing another mob podcast. There's a million of them, and many of them are done by former wiseguys and associates. Nadu is neither but seems to be holding his own. His podcasts are generating tens of thousands of hits, with some getting views in the hundreds of thousands.  We've listened to a handful and liked them, and we emailed Jeff and told him so. His "about" section offers the following: Jeff Nadu is an American Mafia and organized crime researcher, podcaster and content creator...
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Alite: "Once Junior Went In, I Couldn't Flip Fast Enough"

By Ed Scarpo
EXCLUSIVE We assume it's in the book, what John "Junior" Gotti revealed today. You may have read the story,  EXCLUSIVE: John (Junior) Gotti brags he lied to feds - NY Daily News : "When the mob scion sat down with federal prosecutors in 2005 to discuss crimes of fellow mobsters, he planned to give them bad information and useless leads, Gotti and his lawyer revealed in an interview with the Daily News. 'No one suffered but me,' he said of the decision." John A. "Junior" Gotti Joe "The German" Watts and Danny Marino might disagree. And some other guys who brawled in a Queens bar one evening in the 1980s may also disagree.
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