BREAKING NEWS: Philly Mob Don Merlino’s Cheesesteak Spot Was On Fire……For Real – Two Separate Arson Attacks In Past Ten Days

A future restaurant belonging to Philadelphia mob boss and budding social-media star Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino was the target of two attempted arson attacks in the past two weeks, per FoxPhilly29 ‘s Dave Schratwieser (Mob Talk Sitdown). Merlino’s soon-to-be-opened Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks on South Broad Street near the city’s Sports Complex had a fire break out at 2:00 a.m. Thursday morning and last week a pair of incendiary devices were found on the premises that went unreported at the time of discovery. Earlier this year, Merlino and backers purchased the property which was formerly home to the Talk of The Town and the Ace of Steaks cheesesteak joints, as part of his new social-media brand and persona that has flipped the script on the definition of the traditional gangland anti-hero.

Besides the FBI, ATF, federal arson investigators and Philadelphia Police Department detectives on the scene, so was Philly mob associate and reputed sports-gambling bigwig Raymond (Ray Wags) Wagner, Merlino’s best pal and driver. Wagner, 59, has a piece of the business, per sources.

Schratwieser broke the news and the details on the situation today on his social media accounts. He cites sources in the investigation disclosing interesting in a number of possible motives, including at least one being described as “mob related.”

The Talk of The Town cheesesteak shoppe was owned by former Philly mob associate turned Gambino crime family associate Daniel (Danny D) D’Ambrosio, who was part of an unsuccessful plot to kill members of Merlino’s crew in the early months of the year 2000 and seize power in the historically unstable Bruno-Scarfo borgata. At that point in time. Skinny Joey was behind bars as a guest of the federal government awaiting trial on narcotics and eventually RICO charges.

Last August, Merlino, 62, launched The Skinny podcast and social-media platform (YouTube, Patreon, TikTok, etc.), claiming, as he long has, that he’s turned over a new leaf and is completely legitimate after a half-century of legal problems. The much talked-about and quite unconventional endeavor into the podcasting and influencer game has gained him a rabid niche fan base, but has allegedly ruffled feather in the Five Families in New York and some of his own people on the home front. Skinny Joey makes it crystal-clear, he doesn’t care what anyone on either side of the law thinks of his fresh and flourishing legit business endeavor

Following his release from a 12-year federal prison stretch for racketeering, Merlino relocated from South Philly to South Florida, where he has kept residence since 2011. The feds insist he remains the Godfather of the Bruno-Scarfo crime family, ruling his Philadelphia mafia kingdom from a safe distance using buffers, street bosses and his since-childhood inner-circle to run the day-to-day operations of the organization.

As of Thursday afternoon, Merlino himself was reportedly telling people the culprits were “junkie vandals and low-lifes trying to make a name for themselves” according to multiple people who communicated with him throughout the day. People on the scene of Thursday’s incident at Merlino’s future cheesesteak venture in the heart of the City of Brotherly Love, say there were rocks thrown through a sign and the side glass windows of the building.

Gene Borrello working overtime, I see!

First thing that came to mind when I read this, and I was about to say the same thing!

I would credit Borrello with being dumb enough to pull this over LCN pulling an arson because of Joey's podcast. All they would be doing is bringing more attention to themselves while in the larger scope not accomplishing anything.

I give it a 5% chance Joey masterminded this himself to create buzz around the place in anticipation of it opening in the future.

I'll think there's gonna be an article on gangsterreport.com next week about how Joey Merlino is ducking numerous firebombings in Florida at the moment of writing

Fire at convicted mob boss Joey Merlino's cheesesteak shop investigated as arson
By Joe Holden, Joe Brandt

May 24, 2024 / 2:35 PM EDT / CBS Philadelphia

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/joey-merlino-cheesesteak-shop-philadelphia-fire-arson/

New police investigations are never good, don't know if Cosa Nostra is involved but time will tell.

It will turn out to be kooks who saw his show and decided to do this, or a jealous person hiring junkies to do it. No way New York is interested in what he does, or that they would send guys there to toss bricks through his windows then later firebomb the place.


The big question: What do the cameras show? Has anyone seen footage of the incidents? Cameras are everywhere around there ( I assume) and those who did it must be on film, even if wearing hoods and masks.

I bet Snuff did it on Joey's behalf

Who's Snuff?

If it was the mob the entire place would have been engulfed in flames. This was done by morons.

Has any video of the firebombers been released yet?

Whoever did this was an absolute amateur lol

They "hit the news" though lol. I dont think Joey loses any sleep over it.

In the hours after the attempted arson of his soon-to-open cheesesteak joint in Packer Park, Philadelphia mob boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino met with his two top guys and then got out of town.

Early last Wednesday morning, the future site of Merlino’s Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks on South Broad Street near the city’s Sports Complex was the target of an attempted arson attack, the second such attack in a week’s time, according to FoxPhilly29’s Dave Schratwieser’s on-scene reporting. Per Schratwieser’s updates on his social-media accounts, the FBI is probing five different motives for the attack, at least one of which is mafia-related.

That afternoon, Merlino, 62, visited the scene at the construction site and took meetings down the street from the site at a bakery cafe with his alleged acting boss George (Georgie Boy) Borgesi and reputed street boss Michael (Mikey Lance) Lancellotti in separate face-to-face get togethers, per sources in South Philly; Borgesi’s time with Merlino Wednesday was already scheduled prior to the attack, these sources report. The next morning, he was on a plane back to his main residence in Boca Raton, Florida. Merlino came into town for the city’s Italian festival the previous weekend. He spoke publicly on the events that transpired last week on Tuesday, saying “I have no idea what happened. I live in Florida. I ain’t ducking nobody. If you have a problem, come and see me.”

Merlino, per his own words on the pod, doesn’t own the property where the cheesesteak place will be; the former location of Talk of The Town & the Ace of Steaks. Skinny Joey’s best friend Raymond (Ray Wags) Wagner has his name on the lease, per sources and was the first person to arrive at the scene last week when a small fire broke out in the dining area. Wagner is Merlino’s adviser, driver and allegedly one of the biggest bookies on the East Coast. During his pod address Tuesday, Merlino told the audience he’s only been at the location of his future restaurant endeavor “2, 3 times.” The property is currently undergoing a renovation in preparation for opening around the kickoff of the 2024 NFL season.

Slick-as-ever Skinny Joey shocked the mob, the feds and the general public at large late last summer by launching a podcast and social-media influencer brand platform. The Skinny (YouTube, Patreon, TikTok) debuted last August and has been a smash-hit for a rabid niche fanbase, while slowly, but surely, gaining a more mainstream following (56K YouTube subs) with Merlino’s shoot-from-the-hip takes and a cavalcade of colorful guest-interviews, ball-busting side characters and gritty grassroots-remote broadcasts from major sporting events. His decision to go “on-line” and build a social-media persona for himself is alleged to have ruffled feathers with mob dons in New York City and even with some members of his own crime family, per multiple sources on both sides of the law. When he’s in town and recording the pod in Philly, Merlino films at Edward (Eddie Wags) Wagner’s social club. Eddie Wags is Ray Wags brother and his partner in their alleged bookmaking business.

Assuming the throne in the Philly mob in the 1990s by winning a shooting war for power in the Bruno-Scarfo crime family, since walking free from a 12-year federal prison term in March 2011, Merlino has resided in South Florida. He insists he’s no longer involved in mafia affairs. The feds disagree and believe he still controls the Philly mob from his digs in Boca Raton, using a series of buffers, intermediaries and street bosses.

GR sources claim Merlino has stepped back from his boss role and today retains the title in name only, acting in a pseudo consigliere role to Borgesi and Lancellotti, opposed to a final-say figure as he was doing before. Borgesi and Lancellotti fought on the frontlines for Merlino in his shooting war against Sicilian don John Stanfa which he declared victory in 30 years ago when Stanfa got locked up and after a string of bodies dropped in South Philly in the name of the then-new MTV-vibing Skinny Joey mob regime.