Nicky Scarfo, 87, Will Walk Out of Prison, Retired Prison Guard Quips

Steve Bouye recently retired from his post as a decorated corrections officer who worked at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. The father of Houston Texans cornerback A.J. Bouye served in that role for 25 years.

Scarfo, 87 years, who is serving a prison sentence not slated to end until 2033, never presented a problem,
Nicky Scarfo walks out of El Paso, Texas prison in 1984.


In a recent interview with The Chronicle, he noted that he'd guarded, as well as transported, two mob bosses: Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and John A. "Junior" Gotti, among a host of high-profile celebrity criminals, including former Alabama governor Don Siegelman and former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.

"I've seen a lot of things working at the prison, a lot of guys who went down the wrong path," Steve Bouye told the Chronicle. "There wasn't too much room for people like John Gotti to get into more trouble. It was a tough job that I worked hard at and always did my best."

Scarfo, 87, who is serving a prison sentence not slated to end until 2033, never presented a problem, the former guard said. The diminutive ex-mob boss is known for his murderous regime that lorded over the Philadelphia underworld.

Furthermore, "that little old man is in good shape," Bouye said. "If I had to bet, I'd say he'll last until his sentence is over and walk out of there. That old man was one of our best inmates. Yes, he still has power and respect. That didn't stop."

READ Philly, Bloody, Philly: from Docile Don Bruno to Little Nicky Scarfo

By the time his sentence ends, Scarfo will be 103, assuming he lives that long.

Nicky Scarfo beside turncoat "Crazy Phil" Leonetti, for whom the former Philly
mob boss is allegedly seeking to survive prison. Lawrence Merlino, left,
also flipped -- and died in 2001 in witness protection.


Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the former head of the Philadelphia-South Jersey Mafia, is serving a life sentence in federal prison in Atlanta for murder and racketeering.

Scarfo’s underboss and nephew, “Crazy” Phil Leonetti, turned informant after receiving a 45-year prison sentence in 1989; he was awarded with a reduced sentence.

Little Nicky had three sons

The youngest, Mark Scarfo, was known for wearing pastel and white clothes and slicked-back hair; he strutted around with a pair of sunglasses perched on his nose.

In 1988, at the age of 17, Mark hung himself. He survived in a vegetative state until 2014.

Chris Scarfo, the eldest of Little Nicky's sons, distanced himself from his mobbed-up family as much as possible.

Nicodemo S. Scarfo, aka Nicky Scarfo Jr., the youngest (and supposedly quietest), survived an infamous assassination attempt that occurred on Halloween in 1989. He'd been eating at a South Philadelphia Italian restaurant when a masked shooter walked up to Scarfo Jr.'s table and blasted away. The gun was later found out front.

Some believe Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, rounded up last week, was the shooter -- and that he purposefully dropped the murder weapon on the street in a secret homage to a famous scene in the Godfather film.

Subsequently, Scarfo Jr. became a member of New York's Luchese crime family (not the Philly Cosa Nostra family). His father was sharing a cell with Luchese boss Vittorio "Little Vic" Amuso when this transition happened.

Scarfo Jr. was sentenced to 30 years in prison for participating in a racketeering conspiracy case over the looting of First Plus Financial Group, an Irving, Texas-based, mortgage company.

Amuso and "Little Nicky" were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the First Plus case.

"Scarfo Jr. wasn't a dumb guy. He could have done other stuff. He was very computer oriented — he could have done that," noted Philadelphia crime writer George Anastasia. "But he was in his father's shadow."

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