12 Years for Skinny Teddy in Scopo Slay
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| Skinny Teddy |
The hit carried out by the boyish hitman, John Pappa, was among the final casualties of a mob war that pitted Carmine Persico and Colombo family loyalists against then-acting boss Vittorio "Little Vic" Orena and a Colombo faction backing him up.
Specifically, Colombo capo Theodore "Teddy Boy" Persico, Jr., was sentenced to 12 years in prison for ordering underlings to whack Scopo, a key player for the Orena faction. In the summer of 1993, Persico managed to pass on the orders while attending his grandmother’s wake at Scarpaci Funeral Home in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, on leave from a previous prison sentence and accompanied by prison guards. (Teddy, incidentally, is Alicia DiMichele's ex-husband / husband(?) Eddie "Tall Guy" Garofalo's capo. DiMichele is due in court tomorrow.)
According to the New York Daily News, "After saying a prayer in front of his grandmother’s coffin, Persico Jr. sat down in the chapel with three associates and delivered Scopo’s death warrant, according to testimony by mob rat Anthony Russo."
Teddy, 50, is Colombo boss Carmine "The Snake" Persico's nephew. The Snake is serving a life sentence for racketeering and murder.
According to the same Daily News report, "sources say Teddy is on the short-list of candidates to assume leadership of the crime family when the position becomes vacant upon his uncle’s death."
Still he pledged to Brooklyn Federal Judge Sandra Townes at his sentencing: “I assure you I’ll do my best not to be here again."
Right on, Teddy!
Persico Jr. pleaded guilty to a murder conspiracy charge in connection with the hit on Scopo, a high-ranking member of the Orena faction. We wrote extensively about Teddy passing on the order at Scarpaci's, as well as the Scopo hit carried out by triggerman Pappa, one of the youngest gunmen ever to pull a trigger for the mob.
Teddy, also known as "Skinny" -- who has spent over 20 of the past 25 years in prison and now has 12 more to do -- would win our vote for most colorful-talking gangster ever caught on tape. This is what he said to one guy wired for sound:
Persico Jr. pleaded guilty to a murder conspiracy charge in connection with the hit on Scopo, a high-ranking member of the Orena faction. We wrote extensively about Teddy passing on the order at Scarpaci's, as well as the Scopo hit carried out by triggerman Pappa, one of the youngest gunmen ever to pull a trigger for the mob.
Teddy, also known as "Skinny" -- who has spent over 20 of the past 25 years in prison and now has 12 more to do -- would win our vote for most colorful-talking gangster ever caught on tape. This is what he said to one guy wired for sound:
"You're not me. If it was up to me, I'd go get a gun and shoot them, or stab them, or beat them up when I seen 'em... I got nothing. They can't fuck with me because I got nothing to lose and they got everything to lose. You can't fuck with them because you've got everything to lose and nothing to gain by getting physical. I can get physical all day long.
"I got nothing to lose, I can get crazy. I don't give a fuck; what are you going to do, put me in jail? What am I going to lose? My wife, my kids, my house that I own, my $2 million house that I own, or my car? I don't own nothing. I got no wife, I got no kids. I can act like a fool. I'm telling you what I can do, I know you can't do that, I know you don't want to do that."