Feds Want to Flip Galati To Nail Philly Mob Bosses

Galati's garage was a mob hangout, it is alleged.
"I will kill him myself. I will strangle him. I will poke his eyes out. I am going to stab him right in the forehead with this thing." 
 -- Ron Galati quoted in recent court filings talking to one of his employees while waving an ice pick.


Andrew Tuono was dating a raven-haired beauty named Tiffany, 33, when he was shot three times in the belly last year.

He'd been warned by acquaintances that the lovely young lady was connected, and that he very well could find himself on the receiving end of an aimed pistol. But, hey -- love is blind.



Her father is Ronald Galati, an associate of the Philadelphia Mafia who is in such deep trouble that the Feds consider him ripe for flipping. The Feds are supposedly looking for some assistance to help them, once and for all, nail the power base in Philly: Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino.

Galati, arrested shortly before last Christmas, has already proved he is a stand-up guy; he served a term that began in the mid-1990s. The Feds tried to flip him then, as well.
The Feds think Ron Galati is ripe to flip.
But the Philly mob associate
has already proven his mettle.

Perhaps Anthony Nicodemo, who was on trial for murder this past May when the proceedings ended abruptly in a mistrial, hasn't flipped....

What may turn up the heat on Galati this time, though, is the number of people who have betrayed him so far, a list that includes the three hit men Galati himself hired -- as well as his daughter Tiffany.

Galati also is accused of threatening people during a grand jury investigation on organized crime and insurance fraud, according to SFGate.

As Philly.com reported:

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 fromGoodfellas, his favorite film. 
Court documents suggest that visitors to his South Philadelphia garage were as likely to find him welcoming mobsters back from prison with jobs as they were to discover him staging bogus car-wreck scenes to defraud insurance companies - complete with deer, duck, and dog carcasses he kept stored in a back room. 
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.

Three separate cases -- the attempted whacking of Tuono in Camden, plus counts related to insurance fraud and witness intimidation in Philadelphia -- are piled on Galati's lap, and "officials wonder whether Galati finally has incentive to cooperate."

The Mystery Hit on the Boyfriend

Galati denied involvement in the Nov. 30 hit on his daughter's boyfriend Tuono, 35, according to the report.

Galati's attorney, Anthony Voci, is expected to argue that Tuono was drowning in both gambling debts and drug addictions, which were the "real" causes of the attempt on his life.

Galati's American Collision & Auto Center, near 20th and McKean Streets caught the eye of law enforcement back in the 1990s. According to Philly.com, it was known to be "a way station for wiseguys looking for jobs on their way out of lockup."

Merlino briefly worked there after his release from prison in 1992.

As for Ligambi, the supposedly retired acting boss of Philadelphia, it seems his entire immediate family has worked there at one time or another: Ligambi's wife, son, and nephews were all employed by Galati, who reportedly even sent money to Ligambi's prison-commissary account. This was when Ligambi was locked up in 2011 for federal racketeering conspiracy charges.

When Ligambi was released after a mistrial this past January, American Collision was among his first stops, according to court filings.

Galati is known for having developed a lucrative scam, the newspaper report outlined. It is alleged that in the early 1990s, he ran his auto-body shop as the base of his own criminal enterprise. He ordered his employees to steal and vandalize cars to help generate more business and increase insurance claims. The vehicles of his own customers were not even safe.

In 1995, he was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison on federal racketeering and fraud charges.

Galati has deep roots in the Philly family.

The newspaper report noted:

Testifying at Ligambi's trial last year, mob turncoat Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello described work he and Ligambi's nephew, George Borgesi, did for Galati as kids. 
Galati would copy his customers' car keys and hand them off to Borgesi, so that he could later steal the cars off city streets and wreck them, Monacello said. 
"People would take their cars back to Ron," he testified. "Ron Galati would give [Borgesi] a cut in cash." 
Even back then, Galati withstood attempts by federal investigators to entice him to rat on his friends. 
Investigators have long believed that a van used in a 1993 rush-hour ambush of mob boss John Stanfa on the Schuylkill Expressway had been altered at Galati's shop prior to the attack. 
Police later found the vehicle abandoned with two makeshift portholes cut in its side, used by gunmen to strafe Stanfa's car. The attack came at the height of Stanfa's war with Merlino for control of the Philadelphia mob.

Back then, Galati kept his mouth shut, and no charges were ever levied for the ambush.

After his release, Galati seemed to go legit. He transferred the garage into his son's name. The shop earned a three-year contract with the city worth $1.2 million to repair police vehicles. The Galati's have since lost the contract.

Philadelphia prosecutors say Galati has returned to old habits.

In May, District Attorney Seth Williams unveiled a 69-count indictment accusing him and 40 others, including Ligambi's son, in a "staggering amount of insurance fraud" that cost the insurance companies about $2.3 million over the last four years. 
Prosecutors say Galati staged dozens of bogus car wrecks using all manner of props, including frozen deer, geese, and dog carcasses stored in American Collision's back offices, weeds pulled from the river banks at Penrose Avenue, and chunks of metal and concrete. Photos of the bloody tableaux he allegedly created were sent to at least three insurance firms to beef up his clients' claims. 
"I live my life to cheat insurance companies. My high every day is to cheat insurance companies," Galati would often say, according to one of the grand jury witnesses quoted in the presentment against him. 
It was through that scheme, federal investigators say, that Galati met Jerome Johnson, Alvin Matthews, and Ronald Walker and managed to turn a potential decade-or-less insurance-fraud sentence into the string of attempted-murder allegations he now faces.

Philadelphia police arrested Galati in December for allegedly hiring the trio to kill a rival auto-body shop owner named Joseph Rao Sr., as well as the owner's son, Joseph Jr.

Tiffany Galati, daughter of Ron. 
Junior is believed to be testifying against Galati.

As for the attempted hit last year, the assassins are cooperating, too. They told investigators that they'd been scoping out the Rao father-and-son team when Galati called off that intended hit in order to focus on a new target -- Tuono, who was dating Galati's daughter.

Two of the three hit men caught up with Tuono shortly after Thanksgiving, in an Atlantic City-based house.

Tiffany Galati was by his side, unharmed, while the three slugs were fired into his belly.

Tiffany is cooperating with the FBI, according to recent court filings. [ In today's Mob Wives world, she is certainly an excellent role model --Ed. note.]

The trial will take place in Camden later this year.

Comments

  1. Nice article thanks for the info Ed. Philly

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  2. wow she is sexy as hell. Most likely Mr.Nicodemo would flip since the evidence is stacked against him. With mr.galati's case, there seems to be alot of chances for plausible deniability.

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  3. U are correct Ronen she is one little hottie
    its a shame she has to testify against her father though. philly

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  4. Surprised Anastasia hasn't covered yet...

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  5. He might be vacationing now that he.s semi retired. Philly

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  6. Ok boys Galati is looking at 30 yrs is better for him to go to trial lose then talk or does he have more leverage if he talks now and we don.t know if he has anything on uncle Joe or not.

    Also same for Nicodemo who has a beautifull looking wife and kids he also is looking at 30 to life does he wait till he.s convicted or hold better leverage if he gives them gives them info now.

    Or both be stand up guys and die in jail curious to know your opinions on these scenerios. Philly

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  7. Also i understand a fathers love for his children especialy daughters but how can he give these guys orders to kill with his daughter in the line of fire just plain stupid philly

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