Cosa Nostra News

Judgement Day is coming -- and such an inconsequential one, reputed sitting Cosa Nostra boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino probably never saw it coming. Still you never know what's waiting round the corner... Merlino, husband and wife, at January trial in Manhattan. He will be sentenced on October 17 for his role in the East Coast LCN Enterprise case. The guidelines call for a one- to two-year stretch in the can -- a skidbid for Merlino. (" You don't even take your socks off  "  for them, as Gambino capo Michael DiLeonardo once told Intelligent Talk radio show host Ralph W. McElvenny on City World Radio). The alleged sitting boss of the Philadelphia Mafia has faced life sentences. Last Friday, Merlino’s defense attorney asked US District Court Judge Richard J. Sullivan to seal two letters from Merlino's Boca Raton, Florida, cardiologist. Defense attorney Edwin J. Jacobs Jr. of Atlantic City noted that the letter from the cardiologist contains “p...

Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino, the alleged Boca Raton-based boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra, has inked a plea deal weeks after his racketeering trial ended with a hung jury. Merlino has made refusing plea deals a badge of honor. In a filing this week, the judge who presided over the case said the government and lawyers for Merlino had reached a plea deal, the Associated Press reported. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Merlino’s hearing on the plea is scheduled for April 27. This case would be the first time Merlino has plead guilty to a crime. Merlino has made going to trial and refusing plea deals a badge of honor. Merlino, 55, moved to Boca Raton when he was released from federal prison in 2011 after serving most of a 14-year sentence for racketeering, extortion and illegal gambling. He's insisted he'd retired from any illegal activity he may have been involved in. He opened a Boca restaurant that bore his name and hung around th...

EXPANDED: Ralph Natale, former Philadelphia mob boss turned government witness, offered to help the Fed's once again, only this time he wants to do more than testify. Natale wants to fight terrorists. At least that is what the 82-year-old said on F ox News Insider . Natale appeared on the show to hawk his book, Last Don Standing, this past weekend. During his appearance, he informed host Eric Shawn that "we're pussycats on terrorism" and that he, Natale,"would kill them all."

Nick Christophers wrote this as an advocate of "Nicky Slick." After researching the case, he wants to expose the truth. Nicky Slick, far left, Johnny Gabs, far right. The Philadelphia mob was in upheaval for many years following the murder of then-boss Angelo Bruno. Before a shotgun ended Bruno, he ran the city's underworld in relative calm for over 20 years. Bruno resorted to violence, or its threat, if absolutely necessary. But he tried to avoid the attention of the authorities at all costs. One of his famous sayings was "make money not headlines!"  Nicknamed the "Docile Don" due to his emphasis on negotiating versus bloodshed, Angelo Bruno also sat on the powerful Mafia Commission and was tight with New York's most powerful boss, Carlo Gambino. Everything came crashing down for Angelo in part due to his ban on drug dealing. Many of the young turks saw the immense profits in drugs, even Bruno's own underboss, Phil...

Called When Mobsters Refuse to Retire , George Anastasia's story,  which I read in the AARP magazine (don't ask how I got a copy), is online, I noticed . Amusingly enough, the publication placed it in the Work Life Balance section.  Here's a teaser to whet your appetite if you haven't already read it.... From AARP's online page They shared a long lunch of filet mignon, yellowfin tuna, and chicken with broccoli rabe, washing it down with four bottles of expensive Tuscan red. Ten wiseguys sat at an Italian restaurant in New Jersey, laughing and joking and talking. It could have been a scene from TV's The Sopranos . The men, from New York, Philadelphia and Newark, dressed the part — open-collared shirts, pinkie rings and Rolexes. Outside on that May afternoon in 2010, the FBI had set up surveillance cameras. Inside, at the table, a federal informant wore a body wire.