Cosa Nostra News

Three days prior to the Department of Justice's October 8, 2015, announcement that 6,000 federal inmates would be released “to reduce overcrowding and provide relief to drug offenders who received harsh sentences over the past three decades,” a man who pleaded guilty to running an alleged $75 million-a-year drug dealing operation for the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra was released from federal prison. Former dealer George Martorano, son of Long John. George Martorano — the son of late Philly mobster Raymond “Long John” Martorano —served 31 years in a series of “supermax” prisons and prior to his October 5, 2015, release from Florida’s Coleman Prison was described as the longest incarcerated non-violent offender in the federal prison system. “I was told the only way I’d get out was in a body bag,” Martorano said recently. “I proved them wrong.” George Martorano has used his years of freedom to set himself up in a business that’s not altogether dissimilar to the one he was ...

The Philadelphia Cosa Nostra, at its zenith under Angelo Bruno, was a massive criminal empire in every sense of the word . Skinny Joey awaits word about possible retrial in Manhattan federal court. The crime family stretched far beyond the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's largest city, the sixth-most populous in the United States. Philadelphia, the economic (and cultural) heart of the Delaware Valley, is located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within both the Mid-Atlantic region and the Northeast megalopolis. The "Bruno family" dominated the underworld throughout and beyond, for a time spilling into New Jersey and Boston, and as far away as Las Vegas to the west, Florida to the south, and overseas, in England. The crime family wielded immense influence over (at least) four labor unions in the Delaware Valley alone. It ran the city’s largest illegal gambling operations and was a de-facto "bank" that lent money to smaller gambling s...

Even an outlawed, unnamed secret society must observe certain formalities. It must perpetuate itself, and its members must know one another in order to create an infrastructure to assist them as they embark on their life of crime. "Jack Falcone" aka Joaquin Garcia (Big Jack to his friends.) Mobsters don't operate in a vacuum, and the Mafia, in addition to being a criminal brotherhood, also provides a milieu where members can share one another's company. If you can't break bread with another man who understands the world you live in, you will probably go insane. Mob guys tend to want to operate and prosper.

The following, based on information gathered by New Jersey's State Commission of Investigation, is part of an ongoing series about Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo, former Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss notorious for his violence. Scarfo died last Friday.   Phil Testa, left, Angelo Bruno After the Philadelphia crime family's longtime boss, Angelo Bruno, was killed on March 21, 1980, in a grisly gangland hit, the Commission wanted answers. A boss had been killed "illegally." Whoever was behind it was going to die. Examples needed to be made to send a loud and clear message about what happened when members defied the Commission. But before anything, the Commission needed to learn the identities of the assassins.

The following is based on information gathered by New Jersey's State Commission of Investigation. Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo was formally inducted into the New Jersey Cosa Nostra crime family during the reign of Angelo Bruno's predecessor, Joseph Ida. The event took place in the mid-1950s. Several men were "made" during the same ceremony, which occurred in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, at the Sans Souci restaurant and cocktail lounge. Bruno was crafty when he killed.... So Scarfo told Leonetti, according to Leonetti, who later flipped and recounted the story. Inducted with Little Nicky were Scarfo’s cousin, Anthony (Tony Buck) Piccolo, and two uncles, Michael (Mike Buck) Piccolo and Joseph (Joe Buck) Piccolo. Another uncle, Nicholas (Nicky Buck) Piccolo, was inducted some five years earlier. Nicholas, Joseph and Michael Piccolo are brothers. The Piccolo brothers are Leonetti’s great uncles; Anthony Piccolo and Leonetti are second cousins. Felix ...

Looks like Nicodemo D. “Little Nicky” Scarfo, known for his reign of violence over the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra in the 1980s, won't walk out of prison one day, as a source had previously surmised . Scarfo died in a federal prison medical facility in Butner, NC, underworld sources have revealed, as  reported by George Anastasia on Big Trial. Little Nicky, right, Phil Leonetti, and Lawrence Merlino; Leonetti and Merlino both flipped. Merlino died in 2001. Anastasia noted in the story, posted around three hours earlier tonight that: "Prison officials could not be reached to confirm the report which began circulating in South Philadelphia this morning. Scarfo had been an inmate at the medical facility for more than a year. Cause of death, which reportedly occurred on Friday, could not be determined, but sources said he had been plagued with several medical problems." Scarfo was 87 and allegedly was doing his best to make it out of prison alive after c...

REVISED JULY 2018 Follow-up to  recent  story on history of Philadelphia Mafia... The volatility for which the Philadelphia Mafia is historically so well-known didn't begin with Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo. Little Nicky Scarfo, violent former mob boss of Philly Cosa Nostra It certainly reached a crescendo of sorts during Scarfo's blood-soaked reign--and the violence continued when a street war erupted between factions after Scarfo went away. The greatest irony here is that the crime family known for its violence  was once run by a notoriously peaceful boss, who preferred making deals to ordering murders. "The Gentle Don," Angelo Bruno (born Angelo Annaloro) ran the Philly mob during what's called its "golden age," from 1959 until his 1980 murder, which may have resulted from the ruthless duplicity of the Genovese crime family's then-street boss "Funzi" Tieri, who allegedly was quite sore over losing a North-Je...

This trailer packs a wallop... Tigre Hill's new documentary on organized crime features real-life South Philly wiseguys, including Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi, Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino and Angelo Bruno. On Feb. 2, the "Shame of a City" and "Barrel of a Gun" director released the trailer for "The Corrupt and The Dead," his latest film. Hill described the forthcoming documentary as focusing on the detrimental effect of organized crime on society, as well as its impact on the economies of its host cities. The film covers the mob's influence in cities across the country, but tightens its focus specifically on the mob's impact on Hill's native city of Philadelphia, Philly.com noted .

"Chickie" Ciancaglini Former Philadelphia Mafia capo Joseph "Chickie" Ciancaglini , Sr. is back in Philadelphia for the first time in about 30 years. He's not exactly free yet, but the 80-year-old has to wait about six months. As TheGangsterReport.com noted in a recent story, Chickie was "recently placed in a Philly halfway house to serve out the rest of his murder and federal racketeering conviction (he was given a 45-year sentence in 1988)... Ciancaglini will be set free for good in early 2015." We confirmed this on the BOP site , which reports JOSEPH CIANCAGLINI Register Number: 31458-066 Age: 80 Located at: Philadelphia RRM Release Date: 05/04/2015

Nick Christophers , a top editor at  Mob Candy , writes about the Greek Mafia for us. And, this is only the first of several articles.  Thanks, Nick! The American Mafia, among its various other roles, is the gatekeeper to the much coveted and very lucrative American underworld. Guest columnist Nick Christophers Other ethnic crime groups have sought to carve out their own piece of the action. Many of these groups often find that it's easier and more profitable in the long term to partner with America’s Cosa Nostra.