Cosa Nostra News

Does the Mafia learn from its mistakes? Whether it does or doesn't, it appears it is greed that wins in the end. New York's greed once destroyed the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra. But based on court testimony, the New York Mafia in fact was so greedy, it appeared willing to commit a very similar move against Philadelphia in the late 1990s by wiping out Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi, probably the best boss to arise in Philadelphia since Angelo Bruno. Nevertheless he was slated for death along with his underboss and consiglieri... Uncle Joe, who New York wanted dead.... The March 1980 murder of mob boss Angelo Bruno shattered what had been for two decades a peacefully run, highly profitable criminal syndicate based in South Philadelphia. The crime family had operations in the City of Brotherly Love's metropolitan areas, as well as in the Delaware Valley, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and in New Jersey, especially South Jersey. Bruno's consigliere, Antonio ...

"Uncle Joe" in cross-hairs? Cosa Nostra News Exclusive The FBI has tripled the size of its squad in Philadelphia and has brought in a well-seasoned supervisory agent from New York to oversee what appears to be the formation of a new Organized Crime Strike Force , reliable sources have told Cosa Nostra News . One of the operation's key goals is reportedly to nail Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and his top associates for  three unsolved gangland hits  in the city. Those murders were committed while Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino , reputed official boss, and former consiglieri/Ligambi nephew George Borgesi were in prison. The Fed's also are aggressively investigating a mobster considered Ligambi's chief shooter from back when "Uncle Joe" was tasked with holding together a badly battered and fractured Cosa Nostra family. That was the backdrop against which the three murders, now intensely being s...

  Uncle Joe and George Borgese.... Philadelphia is seeing a "resurgence of the local crime family," George Anastasia noted on BigTrial. Which may be why there's been talk about known members of New York's Gambino crime family showing up in Philly very recently. As we know from the dear departed Nicholas "Nicky Skins" Stefanelli , the Gambino crime family was known to break bread with the Philly guys. A soldier who flipped and was wired for sound by the FBI for two years, Stefanelli was 69 when he whacked himself in March 2012. Stefanelli — who operated in New Jersey but reported to jailed New York capo Nicholas "Little Nicky" Corozzo — secretly taped countless cronies after he and his son were nabbed in a drug-dealing operation. Nicky Skins decided to cooperate to get his kid off the hook. He made lots of tapes, however, and the recordings live on. (He even caught Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino in a conversation, thou...

George Anastasia writes a column for  JerseyMan Magazine  called appropriately enough  Mob Scene . Anthony Nicodemo could have an everlasting impact on the Cosa Nostra crews in Philadelphia. On Dec. 18, the Philadelphia crime journalist offered a kind of overview of key happenings using a sort of sports story format, only the game was the ongoing battle between the Philly mob and the feds.

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 .

Merlino violated parole, Feds charge. Philadelphia mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino is coming back to Philadelphia -- and may even find himself in prison; the irony is that his court-ordered supervision, which is scheduled to end this coming Thursday, will not -- assuming federal authorities have their way. This is according to a Philly.com report . The 52-year-old "former" Don violated the terms of his release in June with a night on the town with John "Johnny Chang" Ciancaglini, a captain convicted with Merlino back in 2001.

Tired of being a mob associate and kicking up most of your earnings? Tired of constantly lying to your superiors about how much you earn so you don't have to kick up as much? Face it -- you wanna be a made guy... Well, friends, now that dream can be yours! You can become a full member of the Philadelphia mob for only a one-time payment of $10,000! (Cash, of course.) Chances are, you won't read an ad like that in 5,000 years. But buying your way into the Mafia was a sellable concept that certain mobsters such as Joseph Skinny Joey Merlino sought to benefit, according to two government witnesses. "No, I said $100,000...." Joseph Merlino, right. Someone could join the Philly mob by making a cash payment to George Borgesi , who belonged to the administration of the family his uncle lorded over and brought back from extinction for Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino , who also was selling mob memberships. (Merlino, however, was getting $100,000 per button ...

Gorgeous George walks out of jail after 13 years. It wasn't a total waste of time as the hottie on his arm married him while he was in the clink. George Borgesi , 50, is trying to take the big seat, a source told Cosa Nostra News, but he is facing pressure from allies of Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino. Borgesi ain't no Joe Ligambi would be an understatement; the two (Uncle Joe really is Borgesi's uncle) don't like each other. Skinny Joey doesn't like Borgesi, either. And as the troubled, fracture Philly mob prepares to evolve (likely not for the better), other ethnic crime groups, including one considered a threat to national security, are vying for power. "Georgie Boy" has nevertheless been trying to assert himself -- and one person telling him to stop is Skinny Joey, through his viceroys on the street: Stevie Mazzone and John "Johnny Chang" Ciancaglini, both of whom are from the tough South Philadelphia faction.

From George Anastasia's  Big Trial Trial Blog : The Feds are not going to retry mob boss Joe Ligambi on conspiracy and gambling charges having failed to secure convictions following two separate trials in which both juries were deadlocked over these charges. In a motion filed yesterday afternoon, the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania asked Judge Eduardo Robreno to dismiss the three remaining counts pending against the 74-year-old mob leader. George Borgesi was released immediately after the second trial on Friday. Ligambi's attorney on Monday said he hoped to have Ligambi freed by today. Anastasia quoted him saying: "Hopefully, my client and I will be having dinner together tomorrow night." Jacobs said he would be buying.

Gorgeous George: Capo Borgesi, 50, leaves court Friday with his wife. He'd been imprisoned since 2000. In what crime writer George Anastasia called "a stunning rebuke of the government's case," the Ligambi jury acquitted Philly capo George Borgesi, 50, of racketeering conspiracy. The Philadelphia mob's former consigliere was released that same day, Friday, Jan. 24. Also acquitted, but only of one out of four charges, was mob boss Joe Ligambi , whom the jury found not guilty of witness tampering but remained deadlocked on the three other counts (all specific to Ligambi, leaving him open to possible retrial). One potential mitigating factor that may offset prosecutors' zeal for a third trial is the fact that the panel of 12 voted 10 to 2 to acquit Ligambi of the remaining three charges: a conspiracy charge and two gambling charges.

"Uncle Joe" Ligambi could be facing trial number three... The jury in the racketeering conspiracy retrial of old-school Philly mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and his nephew, George Borgesi, has reached a partial verdict, but it won't be made public until Tuesday (Monday is a holiday). Before recessing on Friday, the jury sent the judge a note saying it had reached a verdict on two of the five counts, but remained hung on the other three. The note highlighted that there was a "firm difference of opinion" over the remaining charges. Ligambi, 74, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, two counts of illegal gambling and one count of witness tampering. The case against him includes secretly recorded conversations, most of which involve other mobsters as well as cooperators. Borgesi, 50, faces a single count of racketeering conspiracy that is built primarily on informants' testimony; the consensus of court watchers says that ...

Jurors for round two of Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi vs. the Feds say they have reached an impasse--meaning they are unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case. From   Big Trial | Philadelphia Trial Blog : They've been here before. The jury in the racketeering conspiracy retrial of mob boss Joe Ligambi and his nephew George Borgesi told a judge today that it was at an 'impasse" and unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case. But Judge Eduardo Robreno told the panel of 11 women and one man to keep working. "It was a long trial," Robreno said in a brief comment to the panel after the jurors had been called back into the courtroom around 2 p.m. "Go back and continue working." The jury did just that, then recessed for the day at 4 p.m. Deliberations are to resume tomorrow at 9:30.