Reputed Philly mob underboss pleads guilty to racketeering and extortion and will do time in federal prison
Alleged mobster Steven Mazzone faces up to five years in prison. He was the most senior organized crime leader named in a sweeping racketeering indictment.



Craig R. McCoy THE INQUIRER June 30, 2022

The reputed underboss of Philadelphia’s mob family faces up to five years in federal prison after federal prosecutors and the FBI notched another conviction Thursday in their latest — and perhaps last — major salvo against the remnants of the once-fearsome criminal enterprise.

Steven Mazzone, 58, pleaded guilty to racketeering, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and conspiracy to commit extortion. He was the most recent senior mob figure to fall after the convictions over the decades of Nicky Scarfo, John Stanfa, Ralph Natale, and Joseph Merlino.

Mazzone was among 15 defendants in a sweeping case made public in 2020 that targeted numerous members and associates of the Philadelphia mob, including his younger brother, Salvatore. Of the 15 defendants, 11 men, including the Mazzone brothers, have pleaded guilty or agreed to do so. Three others are awaiting trial. One has died.

“These are guys who have been major players for decades. This is a major accomplishment.”—Retired federal prosecutor David Fritcheynone

Prosecutors Jonathan Ortiz, Justin Ashenfelter, and Alexander Gottfried reached an agreement with Mazzone under which the judge in the case will be asked to consider a prison term of at least 45 months or as many as 60 months. U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick is free to abide by the deal or not at sentencing Oct. 26.

After the brief hearing, Mazzone’s lawyer, Louis Busico, said: “Steven Mazzone always lived his life as a man’s man and today he made a decision that’s in the best interests of his family and loved ones.”

Busico unsuccessfully asked the judge to lift an 11 p.m. curfew imposed on Mazzone as he awaits sentencing. The lawyer said this would make it easier for Mazzone to see and console his two grown daughters, who are coping with the death of their mother last December. Busico provided few details.

In an interview Thursday, retired federal prosecutor David Fritchey, a former chief of the Organized Crime Strike Force of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, said Mazzone and his codefendants included veteran mobsters, not just “low-level strong-arm guys or bookies.”

“These are guys who have been major players for decades,” he said in an interview. “This is a major accomplishment.”

Federal prosecutors said they built their case on evidence obtained by informants who wore wires, along with electronic bugs, undercover drug buys, camera surveillance, and law enforcement and civilian witnesses.

In the most unusual part of the indictment, prosecutors say Mazzone was caught on tape participating in a 2015 mob initiation ceremony in South Philadelphia in which his brother and four others became made members of the crime family. In the secret session, the initiates were captured pledging to “burn in hell forever if I betray my friends.”

Mazzone explained during the ceremony how the members had to “kick up” money from their criminal activity.

“None of youse are owed anything,” prosecutors quoted him as saying. “It’s what you’re going to bring here. ... This is the family, this is where you bring it to. It’s not for you.”

At a celebratory dinner afterward, Mazzone said the mob had to make sure it got its share of the action in Atlantic City.

“We’re gangsters,” he was recorded saying. “I mean, you know, I’m not gonna let no sucker take that.”

Prosecutors said the “acting boss” of the family also took part in the ceremony, identifying him in court papers only as “M.L.” That man would be the seventh or so leader of the Philadelphia mob since Angelo Bruno was shot to death in 1980, according to court documents and news accounts. A year after Bruno’s murder, his successor, Philip Testa, was killed by a bomb on his South Philly doorstep and, in the decades that followed, four other bosses were sidelined by long prison terms in a string of cases brought by federal prosecutors.

In the so-called mob wars that flared for years after Bruno’s death, prosecutors said informants variously named Mazzone as both the pursued and the pursuer in a series of violent encounters. Among other allegations, authorities said, Mazzone shot to death a rival mob member and played a role in two other gun assaults that left targets wounded, all in 1993. That same year, authorities have said, Mazzone’s enemies plotted to kill him, but the planned hit failed after he failed to show up at a South Philadelphia bar as expected.

In 2001, a jury acquitted Mazzone of allegations related to this violence but convicted him on racketeering, extortion, and gambling charges. At sentencing, a prosecutor called him “vicious, lazy, shameless, selfish, and devoid of any sense of conventional morality.” His defense lawyer called him “quiet, kind, and gentle.”

He then served his first stint in federal prison, until his release in 2009. When Mazzone was arrested again in 2020, his defense lawyers said he was working at a South Philadelphia gym and a Bucks County store that sells lawn furniture.

In an interview Thursday, Stephen LaPenta, a retired Philadelphia police lieutenant and onetime organized crime investigator for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, called the convictions of Mazzone and his codefendants “a marvelous achievement.”

Attorney Joel M. Friedman, who was a leader of the Organized Crime Strike Force in the years before Fritchey, said the mob in the city was far weaker now compared with “how strong they were in the earlier years.” He added: “The strike force and the federal investigative agencies made a major impact upon organized crime.”

Haha this guy always looks the part. He should come to Hollywood

Makes me sick! You don't ever admit the existence of this thing!

I wish I was at the courthouse so I could throw acid in his face.

To think that piece of shit was my friend once!

This was the glorious old days. Now every mobsters with a little of intelligence take a plea and does the bare minimum of years in prison.

I find how the prosecutor and how his lawyer describe him as absolutely hilarious.

At sentencing, a prosecutor called him “vicious, lazy, shameless, selfish, and devoid of any sense of conventional morality.” His defense lawyer called him “quiet, kind, and gentle.”

Let’s face it, what’s the point pretending it doesn’t exist? Every adult in the country knows it exists, so why continue to play dumb? For what? To spend your next 50 years in the can?
Take the plea, get a short stint, then get back in the streets making money.
No point in pretending it doesn’t exist anymore just to wind up getting 60 year sentences, that’s exactly what the government hopes they’ll do. They’re praying these guys go to trial so they can lock them up forever.
I’m all for them taking pleas and short sentences.

Easy for you to say -- I did 20 fuckin' years!

[quote=eastsideofvan]Easy for you to say -- I did 20 fuckin' years!

Eating grilled cheese off a radiator when you wanted manicotti.

Thats called a ... COMPRoMISE

Talk to Gene Gotti about plea deals.

The guy did a 50 year bid when he could have pleaded out to what 12 or something like that.

While Gotti's kids were all living in Mansions

[quote=eastsideofvan]Easy for you to say -- I did 20 fuckin' years!

Really??? And for what? Murder,drug traffick?

I invented point shaving.

I don't believe you.

You don't?!?

Just ask Bobby Bacala!

Furio is slow to catch on, or playing dumb.

The second answer.

He should have taken the 12

Lucky he wasn't doing anything that is not legal in the 5 casinos in Philly; Dom is messing ppl up in the community he needs to get 8-10, he was a drug dealer, he should be like Georgie and do housing

illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and conspiracy to commit extortion....Those are Philly's top rackets lol....They used to be ignored and considered petty crap in NY

Five Families consider petty crap all the families out NY.

They call him "good looking Steve" for a reason.

he can do the 5 years standing on his head

In it’s hey day what did it have going on?
Not much more

Unions I don’t think they were that tied in to the unions.

Had some hooks in them.

Other than that

1) Extortion
2) Gambling
3) Loan Sharking
4) Drug Dealing

That’s what they have going on today.

your are so right. dom was only a drug dealer and messing people up in the neighborhood . he probably never held a real job in his life . some unknown guys smashed his windows in, on the front of his house and he never did a thing, he probably knows who did it.. this guy is way over rated. just a small medium time drug dealer . an gives the money to his masters! and mazzone listen to the way he talks.. he talks like he is in the movies. north philly brothers dont talk that much shit.. he is a complete fake.. he acts like he can fight and some dangerous special dude.. you got to b kidding me i am thinking.. why are these guys like this.. i know why. it is because if they really had any kind of money and were worry free.. they would not talk that talk and stare people down the way that they do.. they would walk around with a smile.. and only one guy emits that and it is joey and maybe that old man ligambi... that is it... maybe the 2 masters have all the money... they both sent thier kids to villanova.. that is 45K a year i believe..

that pretty boy will get his ass pillaged .. an my question to you is ? will he still have that look on his face..?? And now will they call him stephanie?

You sound alike a complete A-Hole. Also what's with the spaces breaking up every sentence? Your last post shows you are not serious, just here for attention.

BS pal the guy is a complete jerk. someone else said it earlier look how he treats people.. like i said early some walk around with a smile, some of them act real bad.. he should have his teeth knocked out.. and listen to him talk , plant this flag here in ac, nothing is yours it is mine ... yea right.. i would of punched him in the face right then and there after saying that, but i dont deal with these type of people in that way.. and happen to know some.. oh i dont post very much, i am not looking for attention. if i was i would be in a club or sports bar dancing.. not bragging about planting the mob flag in ac.. im shure you agree some of these guys should put thier heads down and keep walking dont always try and act like hanibal lector.. joey dont act like that he is all smiles. i mean please steve please.. he put his own dumb ass in jail by getting caught on tape trying to be pablo escovar and trying to be a bad ass, touting the mob he is in.. basically..

you are probably good nice guy i am not getting on you. i was not starting nothing. i dont like steve or that type of guy. but if he was so tough. what ever happned to bent finger? he is right there in ventnor or margate i believe. how come that gut walks around scott free after he testified against you. and even said in front of the judge, he had a karate kick that would chop them up to steve joe and ligambi i believe.. and they never did a dammm thing.. steve looks like the perfect guy for that job? well whats was up steve plant your flag?

Guys Mazzone are childhood friend of Merlino. He and the others gained a sure carrer in the mob after helped Joey to win the war against Stanfa. Doesnt matter what Mazzone is,he's a friend of the boss.

I sort of doubt you would have punched him in the face. It's way too easy to talk tough on the internet. Steve Mazzone is a very serious guy. You can make fun of him all you want, but most people in that life get caught on tape sooner or later. It's not a big deal. He'll be home in about 4 years.

If Im not misaken that guy “bent finger Lou “ got the shit kicked out of him.