Cosa Nostra News

Reputed South Philadelphia Cosa Nostra underboss Steven (Stevie) Mazzone, 58, last month pleaded guilty to racketeering, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and conspiracy to commit extortion. Reputed underboss Steve Mazzone, left. Mazzone and his brother Salvatore were among 15 members and associates of the Philly crime family rounded up in November 2020.   As per Mazzone's agreement, the judge in the case is to consider a prison term of no more than five years for the Philly mob's reputed number two. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick can follow the deal or ignore it. Mazzone's sentencing has been slated for Oct. 26.  The  Philadelphia Inquirer  report also noted that, of the 15 defendants, 11, including the Mazzone brothers, have pleaded guilty or agreed to do so. Three others are awaiting trial. One has died. The superseding indictment was unsealed November 23, 2020. The charges—announced by William M. McSwain, the U...

Photo is of Nicky Slick, on left, and Bonanno wiseguy Tommy Karate Pitera....  By Nick Christophers In a time where almost anything goes, wrongly incarcerated wiseguy Nicky (Nicky Slick) DiPietro may have a small chance of getting sprung after spending 18 years in prison for a crime some believe he did not do. LIFERS: Nicky Slick, left, Tommy Karate Pitera In 2000, Nicky and three other men were club hopping in South Philly. It was a night that would alter his life. One of the men with Nicky Slick that night we refer to as Blondie. They arrived at the venue Club Deco and were about to enter. The front door had a metal detector, but the back entrance did not. Nicky and one of the men entered through the front and “Blondie” and the other man went the back way. Once they were inside and mingled for a while a dispute arose near the dance floor. The dispute involved Blondie and another man, later known as Tad Green. Tad Green was a local drug dealer. Green supposedly owed Blondie money...

A superseding indictment unsealed today (November 23) charges 15 alleged members and associates of the South Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey-based  La Cosa Nostra (LCN) family with multiple crimes (but no murders). Clockwise from l: Johnny Chang, Stevie Mazzone, Phil Narducci.  The charges—announced by William M. McSwain, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania—include mob mainstays such as illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, and drug trafficking. The superseding indictment identifies  Stevie Mazzone  as the Philadelphia crime family's underboss and Dom Grande as a capo, and notes that in October 2015, while holding these positions, Mazzone and Grande, among others, participated in a Mafia induction ceremony in a South Philadelphia residence during which "several" associates became made members of the Philadelphia crime family. The defendants charged in the seven-count superseding indictment are: Steven Mazzone, aka “Stevie,” ag...

UPDATED South Jersey resident Joseph (Joey Electric) Servidio, 60, a reputed soldier in the Philadelphia crime family, was sentenced last Thursday to 15 years in Federal prison for pushing crystal methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl-laced pills. Joseph (Joey Electric) Servidio. He was arrested in March 2018 with two South Jersey associates of the Philadelphia mob family: Carl Chianese and Michael Gallicchio.  In June 2019, in Camden, NJ, Federal court, Servidio copped to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, including more than 200 grams of fentanyl and heroin, and about 300 grams of crystal meth. The FBI described this case as the  dismantling of a drug pipeline running nearly the length of the Garden State Parkway. Initially the FBI indicated that elements of the Boston Mafia also were involved in this case. Among the charges outlined in the indictment: Servidio and Chianese plotted the revenge killing of a drug-dealing associate because the associate, identifie...

The current relationship between the American Mafia and the Pagan's is not the only thing about the 1%ers that has evolved since the 1980s, when the outlaw motorcycle club balked at paying the street tax imposed by then Philadelphia boss Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo. The Pagan's balked at the street tax imposed by Little Nicky. As of September 2020, the Pagan's, one of the "big four" largest outlaw motorcycle clubs in the US, are undergoing a violent "resurgence," according to a recently published report by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation (SCI) .  The MC, which uses drones and encrypted communications to avoid detection, has seen an unprecedented surge in membership, nearly doubling in size over the past few years. The Pagan's also are significantly more violent , with experts noting that there have been more violent incidents committed by the Pagan's during a recent 18-month period than during the prior 10 years combined. (Be...

Valuetainment, which spoke with former Gambino underboss Salvatore (Sammy The Bull) Gravano last October, has now posted a new interview with another former Mafia underboss : Crazy Phil Leonetti, formerly of the Philadelphia Crime Family. ( See full interview below in this story. ) Crazy Phil and uncle Little Nicky Scarfo. Crazy Phil was a highly effective government witness who testified at several trials up and down the East Coast, having his 45-year prison sentence reduced to five years, five months, and five days as a result of his cooperation in helping crush the Philadelphia Mafia family, including his uncle Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo, one of most vicious Cosa Nostra bosses ever. Crazy Phil rose to underboss under Scarfo before becoming a government informant in 1989. At that time, he was the highest-ranking member of the American Mafia to break his blood oath. Leonetti once said, "I never did nothing ruthless besides, well, I would kill people. But that...

A Philadelphia Mafia member who is based in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was sentenced on Thursday to 12.5 years in prison for selling around half a pound of crystal methamphetamine. He also had staged a fake robbery of a New Jersey pawnshop to perpetrate an insurance fraud, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Salvatore (Sam) Piccolo, 68, of Atlantic City, a member of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra organized crime family, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler earlier this year to distributing methamphetamine and one count of wire fraud. Judge Kugler imposed the sentence in Camden federal court. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: Piccolo distributed quantities of crystal methamphetamine to FBI undercover agents on three separate occasions between June 2017 and September 2017. On one occasion, he sold the undercover agent approximately four ounces of crystal methamphetamine in a restaurant parking lot in Sicklervill...

Joseph (Joey Electric) Servidio, 59, a reputed made member of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra family , last week copped to drug charges.  Philly wiseguys circa 1980s: Servidio near right. Servidio pleaded guilty on June 17 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin laced with fentanyl, along with other drugs. He faces about 12-plus years in prison and his sentencing is slated for Sept. 24. He was arrested in March 2018 with two other South-Jersey wiseguys - - Carl Chianese and Michael Gallichio, both associates -- for “conspiring to possess” drugs with intent to sell. The FBI described the case as a dismantling of a drug pipeline running nearly the length of the Garden State Parkway.  Initially the FBI indicated that elements of the Boston Mafia also were involved in this case. The arrests followed a two-year FBI probe . The indictment relied heavily on audio recordings of Servidio discuss...

Salvatore (Sam) Piccolo, 67, of Atlantic City, a member of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court yesterday. He admitted to staging a fake robbery of a Union County, New Jersey, pawnshop for the purpose of perpetrating an insurance fraud and to distributing illegal drugs, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. He had been charged with distribution of 216 grams of methamphetamine and one count of wire fraud. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court: Piccolo admitted that on April 19, 2014, he and an accomplice entered a pawnshop in Union County, purportedly to sell some silver items. Once inside the shop, the accomplice displayed a hand gun while Piccolo, wearing a nylon mask, chained the front doors closed to prevent anyone from entering. The owner was bound, as a pretense, while Piccolo and his accomplice looted the safe of what the owner told police was ap...