In his most recent Gangland piece, Capeci reports that Joey Merlino has been shelved, and George Borgesi has assumed full control of the Philadelphia crime family. This hardly surprises anyone, as it’s been speculated for quite a while.

Damn, thats Borgesi right?! I havent seen his face for quite some time (i rarely follow Philly) and he looks different to me. Also I have the same or similar leather jacket from Massimo Dutti lol

No surprise, when you have New York, and New Jersey mad at Merlino.

Saying Merlino is shelved is kind of ridiculous. When he decided to do his podcast he walked away and told whomever is left in Philly to " have fun and enjoy the crime family".

Exactly.

He should be lucky its 2024 and not 1974. He would have become Trunk Music if times were different.

Enjoy your retirement and podcasts.

Yeah, Borgesi has put on some weight lol. His fashion choice is alright. I can't figure out the brand though. I have a similar one as well, but I have more love for the bombers. A shell bomber from Saint Laurent, Balmain or Versace should do it

I must say that Philly knows how to dress well for the most part.

100% approval from me except for that fucking fat kid who was working for Joey. Fucking slob hopefully they shelved his ass also.

If it was 1974, he wouldn't be doing a podcast. If it was 1974, he would never would of been a boss.

Shelved from what? Years back they said all that Philly had left was gambling, now everybody and their mother can place a bet on their phone..

I agree with you. IMO, thats exactly right. On both counts, for a variety of reasons.

Skinny Joey isn't giving anything away. If he walked away from "the life" its because he knows there is nothing left to hang around for.

Why do you really think he's trying to earn a few dollars with a podcast?

THIS answer, is one of the best and most intelligent answers provided here on this subject. What, exactly, is Merlino allegedly "shelved" from? There is nothing left.

Like you so eloquently stated, gambling, speficially sports-betting, was largely the only decent racket left to operate and now its 100% legalized.

Thanks for identifying Borgesi. Otherwise I'd be wondering why they called him Skinny Joey.

LOL...no doubt.

My guess is that Merlino retired himself from the Boss position and from any active role in the Philly Family.

However, he was probably asked by a lot of street people to intervene on their behalf for any beef they had. So shelving him means he can no longer attends sit downs or send messages through the mob channel.

Yes, I understand that. But, in my opinion, (it might be wrong) but IMO, Joey had done so much for those Philly guys over the decades (I'm talking about all his friends and same-age contemporaries) that I just don't see him losing the all-encompassing devotion and respect they had for him.

He may have voluntarily stepped down (which is what I strongly believed did happen,) but he is still widely liked and respected by all.

.....It's my belief that just nowadays, pretty much everybody still in the life, in Philly at least, knows the ship is completely dead in the water. So who could blame him?

Haha just make up whatever bullshit in your head

For me Merlino was a front boss.

All this talk about legalized gambling putting the mob out of business, yet we're still seeing large-scale illegal gambling busts worth tens of millions of dollars. Sure, it will never be as profitable as it was when it was completely illegal, but come on. Gambling and loansharking are 2 rackets that I don't see ever really going away. You realize how many people out there who can't even get a legitimate loan or don't want to go through the mountain of paperwork?

Does anyone ever listen to the podcast on Patreon? I would check it out when its on youtube, and I'll occasionally watch clips that I see from it on twitter but I don't think I can stomach paying 14-15 bucks a month. The cohost is tough to listen to. Plus, I can make bad gambling picks on my own.

Speaking of loansharking, I wonder how many more businesses like Par Funding are out there? Supposedly legitimate loan institutions engaging in loansharking.

Just because Capeci says it does not make it true. He just added on to what Uncle Fester,(As Merlino calls Scott) had to say. It's still probably untrue. Just as when they said Merlino's place was firebombed by the mob, and it turned out that there was no firebomb, it was small fire that did no damage, and was caused by kids or homeless people. Merlino's podcast is not even about the Mafia anymore, in fact it never really was. It was about him and his court cases. Lately it is a sports/gambling site. It also became boring to me, I wanted to see him show more of the court records he promised to reveal.

I think there are lots of things he doesn't want to talk about because it will lead to mob questions. I think it would be funny if he referred to all surveillance photos of him and his friends as just that, just friends from the neighborhood, but the press put their own spin on it.

His podcast is entertaining and his side kick fits in well. He seems like a nice kid and actually does a decent job interviewing guests.