We really dont discuss john stanfa that much. Example, it is speculated that stanfa and piccolo ran philly for scarfo while he was in jail. Stanfa was then chosen as the new boss.
What was stanfa’s relationship with scarfo? What were stanfa’s rackets during the 80’s? What crew was stanfa in?
Lots of unanswered questions about him. One thing is certain, he is one hell of a stand up guy !! No doubt.

I like Joey Merlino better .... John Stanfa reminds me of the Zip that Joey Marcucci goes up against in the movie 10th&Wolf.

When he says to the guys nephew "hey zippy, tell your uncle I see him, I put a knife in his kidney".

Stanfa was in jail almost the entire decade.

I don’t think stanfa had much of a relationship with Scarfo, he went into hiding after Tony C got whacked then when he re-emerged, the Gambino’s stepped in to save him supposedly. Afterwards he went jail for refusing to answer questions at a Grand Jury concerning Bruno’s whacking

Scarfo has to spare him out of respect for the Gambinos but never fully trusted him seeing he was close with Sindone when he was alive

When he arrived in New York he had introductions to the Gambino crime family from his two brothers and a brother-in-law who were inducted members of the Sicilian Mafia.

http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-john-stanfa

John Stanfa was going to be the guy who would bring the Philadelphia Crime Family back to the top. After the Scarfo years which crippled the Philadelphia Crime Family law enforcement and mobsters all agreed, John Stanfa was gonna get the Family back on it's feet. Stanfa was Sicilian, low key and knew the game. Things ofcourse would turn out very different.

John Stanfa was born on December 7, 1940 in the tiny mountain village of Caccamo, about 30 miles southeast of Palermo, in a region of western sicily long dominated by the Mafia. Stanfa was the youngest of 4 children. He had 2 older brothers and 1 brother in law who were members of the Sicilian Mafia. He came to the U.S. with his wife Nicolena Congialdi and they moved to Philadelphia. In 1967 their first child Sara would be born followed by Joseph 4 years later and Maria in 1976. Stanfa went by unnoticed in his early years. The F.B.I. had seen him hanging around the wiseguy spots but didn't even consider him a big associate. He was registerd as a stonemason and bricklayer by trade. He was set up by his friend Carlo Gambino, the New York Mafia Boss. Gambino was a friend of Philadelphia Mafia Boss Angelo Bruno. Gambino helped Stanfa as a favor for his Sicilian friends. When Bruno was whacked Stanfa was in the seat next to him, it is said STanfa was in on the plot, he didn't say anything however. When questioned he didn't say anything and on May 14, 1980 he was indicted on perjury charges. Stanfa took off and went underground. With the help of his Gambino contacts he set himself up with a nice girlfriend leaving his wife and 3 kids alone letting them survive on foodstamps. After 8 months of hiding Stanfa came out of hiding and on April 21, 1981 he was sentenced to 8 years in prison for lying to the grand jury. In the meantime another Boss got whacked, Testa, and a new Boss took over: Nicodemo Scarfo. At the end of Scarfo's reign, around 1987, the Family was in big trouble. Scarfo brought enormous heat from law enforcement and eventually his underlings began to flip to the other side resulting in lengthy prison sentences for Scarfo and associates.

In 1987 Stanfa got out of prison and for the next several years kept a low profile. He spent some time in Sicily and New York before returing to Philadelphia in late 1989 or early 1990. At that point Anthony Piccolo was acting boss and didn't like his job, he wanted to step down. With Piccolo's, Gambino Family and Genovese Family backing Stanfa became the new boss. Piccolo would become his consigliere and eventually 33 year old Joseph "Joey Chang" Ciancaglini jr (son of a jailed Scarfo Capo.) would become Underboss. As a boss Stanfa always talked about the flaws of Scarfo yet in a lot of ways he did the same thing. Stanfa put in place the street tax again, every criminal had to pay a tax on his activities, this created tension and threats of violence on the streets of Philadelphia, right away Stanfa put in place an atmosphere that wouldn't be good for business. Stanfa sent out Felix Bocchino to collect the street tax, things were running OK for Stanfa, the street tax was easy money. Then Felix Bocchino got whacked.....The media went crazy, they called it the first mob hit since 7 years. At first both Stanfa and the F.B.I. had no clue as to who was behind the murder but pretty soon things became clear.

In South Philadelphia there were a group of young thugs. Sons, brothers, nephews of Philadelphia mobsters, who didn't feel connected to the new administration. The youngsters were led by Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino (picture on the left), a young flashy good looking thug who gave great christmas parties. Merlino was the son of former Scarfo Underboss Salvatore Merlino. Other youngsters in Merlino's group were: Steven Mazzone, Marty Angelina, George Borgesi (whose father was an imprisoned Scarfo hitman), Gaetano "Tommy Horsehead" Scafidi and Vince Iannece (whose father was a jailed Scarfo soldier). Merlino and his friends were already running things and were doing pretty good, they already had the street tax in place and so when Bocchino came around collecting what they felt was their money, he had to go. The Bocchino hit would be the first casualty in the war between the young mobsters and the old school Cosa Nostra gangsters. Pretty soon Stanfa found out about the young turks, as they would later be called by the media, and took action. There was a botched hit on Merlino's second in command Michael Ciancaglini. Michael was 29, he was the son of a jailed Scarfo Capo, his brother was doing 7 years for extortion. When asked about the murder attempt Michael said he didn't know nothin' and didn't seen nothin'. At the time of this botched hit Merlino was in jail.

In the meantime Stanfa decided he could use some new blood and got himself some Sicilian soldiers. 2 young guys named Biagio Adornetto and Rosario Bellochi. By the fall of 1992 Stanfa began to plot the demise of the Merlino faction (as it was now called). Stanfa operated by the saying: "Keep your friends close but your enemies even closer" and so he and Merlino would be seen together on social occasions and mob meetings. In September Stanfa held a secret ceremony in which Merlino, Michael Ciancaglini and Adornetto were inducted into the Philadelphia Family as made members. People around Stanfa warned him that these youngsters were no good and that they would bring the whole thing down but Stanfa said he knew and would take care of it. With all these murder plots you'd almost forget the love that was in the air. The 2 Sicilian mobsters that Stanfa had inducted into his Family started making moves for his daughter Sara. One was rejected by her and this would set the stage for another botched hit. The one who was turned down was Adornetto and ever since then he was bad mouthing the administration and Bellocchi, something had to be done. And so Bellocchi went to see his friend with a shotgun, the shotgun wouldn't fire any shots and Adornetto escaped.

Pretty soon Stanfa decided it was time to get rid of that young turk Merlino. Merlino had irritated Stanfa once again, Merlino liked to bet....but when he lost he wouldn't pay the bookmaker. Stanfa didn't understand the guy, going to war with him was the easiest thing. But Merlino was way ahead of Stanfa. On March 2 1992 Stanfa's Underboss Joey Chang (picture on the left) was hit in his social club. He was shot in the head, neck and chest.....but survived, however he was too wounded to ever again become an active Mafia member, at the age of 35 he retired. Stanfa went crazy, where did this young punk get the nerves? Soon he found out. It turned out that Merlino got advice from Joe Ciancaglini sr (Joey Chang's father) and his father Salvatore Merlino. Merlino also made some contacts in prison, his cell mate was Ralph Natale (picture on the right), a 64 year old Bruno Family member doing time for arson and drug trafficking. Natale would be out on parole in 2 years and would be a serious rival to Stanfa. Even more troubling was the fact that Natale had ties to New York, New York ties that would like to see Stanfa go. Merlino was backed by the Genovese Family.

Stanfa moved fast and ordered the hit on Merlino and his 2 top associates. But by the summer of 1993 Merlino and friends were still alive and kicking. They came close to death....but the bombs didn't explode when they were supposed to. Stanfa had to wait untill August 5 1993. In a drive by shooting Merlino and second in command Michael Ciancaglini were shot down, Ciancaglini was dead but Merlino was lucky....he was shot in the ass and would survive. Eventhough Merlino survived Stanfa was a happy man, he felt at ease and on top of things, he was sure that this Merlino kid would fall very soon.....he was wrong.

Stanfa was still high on the succes of the drive by shooting and got careless. And so it was that on August 31 1993 while he was driving to work with his son Joe and driver he drove into an ambush. While getting stuck in trafic a van pulled up besides them, the side doors opened and bullets came blazing through Stanfa's car. Stanfa's son was hit in the face. Stanfa's driver got the car away from the van and managed to escape with Stanfa and his wounded son. Joe would survive but for Stanfa this meant war. The F.B.I. agreed, mobhits in shady back ally's was one thing but mobhits on a busy highway was another and so they turned on the heat on the Philadelphia mobsters. Stanfa wanted the entire Merlino faction wiped out. For several weeks hit teams from both factions were on the look out for targets. 2 Merlino associates were whacked and Merlino and his top associates went underground. 1 even changed sides: Tommy "Horsehead" Scafidi, stepped over with info to Stanfa.

On November 15 Merlino was arrested by the F.B.I. and charged with violating his parole. On November 23 he went back to jail. Stanfa had some more problems of his own at this time: he discovered he had an informer, a rat among his Family. When he ordered the hit.....it failed, the guy escaped with 2 bullets in his head. Stanfa knew he was in trouble now. On March 17 1994 Stanfa and 23 top associates were indicted on racketeering charges that included murder, murder conspiracy, extortion, arson, kidnapping and obstruction of justice. Stanfa knew he had rats but where did the Feds get the proof for all these things? Well, turns out the F.B.I. had Stanfa bugged from the early weeks of his reign as boss. The entire war and mob business were caught on tape by the F.B.I., the Joey Chang hit was videotaped.....this along with the informers and future informers (Bellocchi would flip later on, as would others after sentencing.) would bring the entire Family down. Stanfa knew his time was up and took it like a man. In November of 1995 John Stanfa was sentenced to 5 consecutive life sentences.

Interesting, thanks buddy.
Still dont know why gambino chose stanfa. They say he spent time in new york. Where and with who?

They was sicilians,only for this.However Stanfa has softened in America, in Sicily Merlino would have been killed during the making ceremony.

Furio, in your opinion, what is the difference betwen sicilians and campanians? Thanks

The campanians are less organized and most prone to violence for example the clan called the talibans because was made by boys from 16 to 18 y that born and died quickly while the sicilians are more organized and after the Riina reign of terrorismo, prefer to made money that use violence.

Who made Stanfa and when and with whom else got made at same time ???

http://theblackhand.club/forum/view...=614&hilit=john+stanfa+ceremony#p614

This is from a Pogo the Clown chart.

1976:
Joseph “Chickie” Ciancaglini Sr.
Gennaro “Joseph Costello” Boccia
John Stanfa

I knew his brother or cousin with same sir name he had a home in Ventnor and a pretty good business and let me tell you he had 8-10 guys right off the boat around him .

This was 70-72 maybe, getting old is catching up they mostly always spoke Italian and did not let anyone around that was not close.

furio_from_naples...

You mentioned, "On March 17 1994 Stanfa and 23 top associates were indicted on racketeering charges that included murder, murder conspiracy, extortion, arson, kidnapping and obstruction of justice. Stanfa knew he had rats but where did the Feds get the proof for all these things? Well, turns out the F.B.I. had Stanfa bugged from the early weeks of his reign as boss. The entire war and mob business were caught on tape by the F.B.I., the Joey Chang hit was videotaped.....this along with the informers and future informers (Bellocchi would flip later on, as would others after sentencing.) would bring the entire Family down. Stanfa knew his time was up and took it like a man. In November of 1995 John Stanfa was sentenced to 5 consecutive life sentences."


Do you know the names of the 23 associates who were indicted with John Stanfa? If not, their names must be public record, but I don't know how to go about finding them. Can you help? I have done basic Google searches with no luck.

Sergio Battaglia, John Casasanto, Salvatore Avena, Gaeton Lucibello, Giuseppe Gallara, Salvatore Brunetti, Luigi Tripodi, Gary Tavella, Anthony Piccolo, Frank Martines, Salvatore Sparacio, Vincent Pagano, Raymond Esposito, John Veasey, Phil Colletti, Rosario Bellocchi, Vincent Filipelli, Ron Mazzone, Thomas Morrone, and Jack Manfredi.

Fugitives at the time were Herbert Keller, Thomas Rebbie, and Joseph Altimari.

John Veasey was already cooperating since January 1994

Biagio Adornetto is one of five more members that were connected to the charges later on bringing it to 29 members of the organization, decided to turn on John Stanfa.

Guys made by Stanfa:

Nov 1991 ceremony [3 to 5 inducted - 3 is more likely]:
Joseph F Ciancaglini
Luigi Tripodi (very likely made at this ceremony)
Ronald Turchi (also likely made at this ceremony)

Sep 1992 ceremony [5 inducted]:
Biagio Adornetto
Michael Ciancaglini
Joseph Merlino
Gaeton Lucibello (probable)
Joseph Massimino (probable)

May 1993 ceremony [3 inducted]:
Sergio Battaglia
Raymond Esposito
Frank Martines

Sep 1993 ceremony [at least 2 inducted]:
Vincent Filipelli
John Veasey

Nov 1993 ceremony [at least 1 inducted]:
Gaetano Scafidi

Made by Dec 1993:
Giuseppe Gallara (made 'a few weeks' after the Frank Baldino murder, likely with Scafidi)
Vincent Pagano (made Sep/ Nov 1993, likely with Scafidi)
Joseph Stanfa (made by Dec 1993, possibly in a separate Dec ceremony or with Scafidi)

Informal 1993 initiation:
Ronald Previte

Guys who wanted to be made but weren't:

Rosario Bellocchi (wanted made for the Francesco DiGiacomo murder)
Salvatore Brunetti (wanted made for disposing of the gun used in the Michael Ciancaglini murder)
Philip Colletti (wanted made for the Michael Ciancaglini murder)

Guys who were inducted by Stanfa and promoted to hierarchy positions by him:

Joseph F Ciancaglini (made Nov 1991 and promoted to underboss within 6 months prior to his shooting; possibly promoted at the Sep 1992 making ceremony)
Luigi Tripodi (likely made Nov 1991; indicted 1994 as a soldier and 1995 as a capo; incorrectly reported as consigliere 1993; likely promoted to capo c.1992; Stanfa considered making him underboss)
Frank Martines (made and likely immediately promoted to acting underboss May 1993)
John Veasey (made Sep 1993 and promoted to capo a few weeks later)
Vincent Pagano (made Sep/ Nov 1993 and likely immediately promoted to capo)

Older members serving in hierarchy positions in the Stanfa administration:

Anthony Piccolo (made by Joseph Ida 1954/ 1955; promoted to acting consigliere by Nicodemo Scarfo 1986 and acting boss 1987; Stanfa retained him as consigliere after taking over in early 1991)
Salvatore Sparacio (made by Scarfo 1981; served as Stanfa's capo in South Jersey; likely promoted to capo 1991)
Joseph Licata (made by Scarfo 1986 and promoted to acting capo 1988; likely made official capo 1990 after the death of Pasquale Martirano and the reveal that George Fresolone was an informant; jailed from early 1994 to 1997)
Ralph Napoli (made by Angelo Bruno 1962 and promoted to capo by Scarfo 1981; demoted 1984 but had been promoted to capo again by 1991, likely promoted at the very end of the Scarfo regime or the start of Stanfa's; 2 crews were therefore likely operating in Newark at that time; demoted by Stanfa c. Dec 1991 due to his old age after Licata and Joseph Sodano complained about him)
Joseph Sodano (made by Scarfo 1982; likely promoted to capo following Napoli's c.1991 demotion; jailed mid-1992 for 2 years)

[Fearing indictments, Stanfa had designated Martines and Pagano, likely as acting boss and acting underboss respectively, to run the family in his absence; Martines and Pagano were arrested and held without bail for the attempted murder of John Veasey however so could not fill these roles. Following their arrests, Stanfa designated Salvatore Sparacio to run the family in his absence but Sparacio was arrested at the same time as Stanfa]

[Stanfa also considered promoting Michael Ciancaglini and Joseph Merlino to hierarchy positions 1993 to keep them in a false sense of security but never did so]

Thanks so much!! Giacomo_Vacari and chin_gigante!!!! Great info! I used to work for one of them back in the day after he served and couldn't remember his name. Just out of curiosity...

Biaggio Adornetto is a barber in Boise, ID now

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.kt...-boises-underground-barber/277-123081916

Your missing Joseph Bongiovanni, Vincent Centorino, and Gaeton Lucibello was made with Joey Merlino and Michael Ciancaglini.

I listed Lucibello in the Sep 1992 ceremony with Adornetto, Ciancaglini, Merlino and Massimino.
I've yet to see credible evidence (i.e., an indictment, a LE press release, court documents, wire transcripts, an identification by George Anastasia...) backing up any forum chatter that Bongiovanni was a member.
I'm also yet to see supporting evidence that Centorino was re-made by Stanfa or that any of the 4 inducted with Fresolone were 're-made'. I doubt that the ceremony was actually ever invalidated in spite of Scoops Licata's causing problems over it. Centorino, Cifelli, Olivieri and Praino were indicted as a members after Fresolone flipped. Olivieri was again indicted as a member in 1997 and identified as a member on the 2009 Philadelphia PD chart. Praino was indicted again as a member around 1995 for a gambling ring in New York and he was discussed on tape as a member by Colombo guys in the 2000s, so his button seemed to be recognised by New York as well. Centorino obviously was indicted in the early 2000s as a member and then as acting capo after Caprio flipped. Lenehan said in an interview that Olivieri's membership wasn't recognised but didn't tie it to the ceremony being invalidated and he's far from a reliable source based on the blatant lies he's told. Everytime I've seen George Anastasia, Dave Schratwieser or even Kitty Caparella discuss Centorino's initiation I've never heard them mention him being 're-made'.
In Fresolone's book, he even mentions how if anyone had a problem with him being made (because a list of members to be inducted wasn't passed around the New York families) they couldn't 'unmake him' but would simply have to kill him. Fresolone describes it as Licata trying to cause trouble because Philadelphia wasn't required to pass a list of members to New York but would sometimes do so as a courtesy if the proposed members were highly active in New York. Since Martirano was near death the ceremony was held at the last minute and there wasn't time to pass a list along.
Philadelphia doesn't fall under the same control of New York like the DeCavalcantes do where it gets to the point that Gotti can order them to 're-make' members.

That's my bad, was skimming the post fast before heading out and did not see Lucibello, his name is there. Lucibello switching sides really pissed off John Stanfa, there is even a tape somewhere of John Stanfa and Sergio Battaglia discussing the ideal of hitting him.
Vincent Pagano was made with Vincent Filipelli and John Veasey in September 1993 according to John Veasey. September to December 1993, there was either two or three ceremonies.

Sep 1992 ceremony [5 inducted]:
Biagio Adornetto
Michael Ciancaglini
Joseph Merlino
Gaeton Lucibello (probable)
Joseph Massimino (probable)


Did Joseph Massimino jump over to the Merlino faction during the war? Or did he just fall in line and get close to Uncle Joe after the fact?

I've never understood why Stanfa would make then quickly promote guys to the administration. There wasn't anyone else that he some what trusted in the family? Pagano and Martines just seem like odd choices.

I haven't seen Veasey talking about being made with Pagano, do you have a source on that? From what I have there was the Filipelli and Veasey ceremony in September and the Scafidi ceremony in November. Then there's Veasey saying Gallara was made a few weeks after the Baldino murder and I also saw a news article saying Joe Stanfa was made in December, but it also incorrectly identified Veasey as being made at that ceremony so I've assumed that Stanfa was either made alone in December or with Scafidi in November. Due to Pagano returning to Philadelphia from Florida in mid-September and identifying himself on tape as third in command by Nov/ Dec, I assumed that he was probably made with Scafidi as I've seen Veasey talk quite extensively about his initiation but I've never come across mention of Pagano there.

Massimino was in prison from early-1993, before the war really started, to mid-1998 so he didn't have a chance to switch while he was on the street. However, he was observed meeting with Merlino in 1992 and it was decided that Lucibello and Turchi would take over a gambling operation of Massimino's when he went to prison so I think it's safe to assume that, had he been on the street, Massimino would have sided with Merlino like Lucibello and to a lesser extent Turchi.

Thanks chin, that makes sense.