The jailed leader of the Young Turks in Philly, Joey Merlino, is having his hands full with his wife. It's been allegged by Billy Rinnick, a mob low-level nothing who *might* get hte death penalty, that she had an affair with a NY Giant football player and she had to have an abortion.

Is this a desperate attempt to mess up the Philly contingent even further, or is he telling the truth?

I guess it's possible that this is true, especially considering the Feds found a guy hiding under her bed when they came to search the place after Joe was locked up. So, we know adultery is nothing new to Mrs. Merlino. However, I doubt that Rinnick was trying to "mess up" the Philly Family by saying this, because the former boss' wife's alleged affairs and abortions probably don't have much to do with the day to day business of Ligambi's crew.

Well, the guy under the bed was Rinnick himself.

I thought it was him, but wasn't sure if I was getting my stories mixed up. Also, I saw that Rinick got life in prison instead of the death penalty for the murder (on top of 30 years for drug trafficking). Looks like his days of hiding under beds are over.

Here's the link to the story on the sentencing from the Daily News:

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/7156256.htm

Reading that article made me sad. Rinick and Adam Finelli should be ashamed of themselves for doing that to that woman. I am sorry for her loss, and sorry that he died, but he(Adam) should not have associated with a guy like Rinick. NO good can come of it.

I totally agree Frankie, I think you hit the nail right on the head there.

Skinny joeys wife is a whore,but on the other
side I would not expect her to be
"sex free" for 12 years,thats a little
to unrealistic to say the least,joey
who has my ut-most respect as phillys
underboss will probobly never see
the light of day again,as soon as he cops
to the murder of joe sadano in jersey its
lights out for skinny joe.

is this the current news in philly? or is this from a long time ago? im not really following the history of the mob in philly.

November 23,
PHILADELPHIA -- A Philadelphia crime figure who spent nearly seven years in prison for racketeering died Sunday after he was shot in the head and found inside his row house.

Relatives found John Casasanto slumped in his kitchen Saturday afternoon. He was pronounced dead at the hospital early Sunday, police Sgt. Roland Lee said.

Casasanto, 35, had been released from prison about three years earlier. He had been arrested in 1994 in a sweeping racketeering indictment against members of the John Stanfa organized crime family and pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy. Authorities had accused him of taking part in unsuccessful schemes to murder Stanfa organization foes,they also believe Joe"skinny Joey"Merlino was also involved in extorting money from bookies and businesses.

More recently, Casasanto had been charged with assault in the Oct. 23 stabbing of dance-band singer Jonathan "Chico" DeBarge, who had minor injuries after a 3 a.m. altercation outside a Philadelphia nightclub.

Casasanto was to have appeared in court in December on the assault charge.

Philadelphia Police Inspector William Colarulo said the department's organized crime unit was assisting in the investigation of Casasanto's shooting.
Colarulo was also a reputed original young turk
with the Philly underworld,run by underboss
Merlino.