By who Steve Mazzone?

UB in Philly

Care to elaborate?

Not for nothing, but shylocking and enforcing shylock payments used to be small on the federal level
Not for nothing, but shylocking and enforcing shylock payments used to be considered small time on the federal level in every city and not worth their time ...Now it looks like they're just looking easy busts and meeting quotas

Yes and no
In the past unless it was a case built on it $500,000 in "JUICE LOANS" or a pretty big book.

For a RICO indictment the feds need two "PREDICATE ACTS" loan sharking, gambling alot of times were used for that 2nd act.

In today's world its used quite often with Gambling on a small level, just to get guys off the street for a few years.

That's what it seems the feds strategy is these days.

They are content with these small cases to show they are doing something.

In the past cases were built over years and years and included big money items or dead bodies.

If a gambler doesn't pay and you start charging VIG on his losses you are now a loan shark.
And if that guy gets scared and he runs to the feds your in trouble.

Just to give you an example how things have changed when bookie joints used to get raided one guy would step forward and say it was his place and he would get charged with a felony that had no jail time attached to it, everyone else working the bookie joint would get a misdemeanor charge.

Point being it was bullshit.

Now they headline RICO cases with it.

Again unless it is a BIG SPORTS BOOK, then as they say they can make a federal case out of it.

Seems they are just bothering these guys (not Dom) to get them in prison and maybe one of them will spill the beans on the unsolved murders, aside from beating someone up over borrowed money; every single one of these things is available in south philly and AC, from gambling to the payday loans. I do understand that you can get a gambling account from a street guy easier with a basic loan or credit rather than at Live casino or The ol sugarhouse one. Dom dealing in heavy drugs is bad and he is lucky he isnt doing a long stretch

These "YOUNG TURKS" took over LCN, in P.A. that just goes to show that it is possible.

It starts with one guy that has that "WHATEVER IT IS" that inspires a loyal following and BAM, just like that you have a crew and then you have a few crews and than you have a small BORGATA.

I read somewhere that Joey might not of ever been made when he took over as boss of the family.
He ended up having Stanfa or someone "PINCH HIS FINGER" just for appearances,I think it was in jail.

So when we talk about these defunct families across the U.S. it is not totally impossible that someone with that type of "WHATEVER IT IS" inspires a resurrection on some level.

Not common, Not easy, Very Rare however, NOT impossible.

The point being YES, one of these families can be resurrected from their lowly "CRUMBS"

At this point it should be called the MERLINO FAMILY...

They did this with:

1) No Money.
2) No backing from N.Y.
3) No real Cash Cow rackets. (from what I read)
4) No HUGE shy book.
5) No HUGE sports book.
6) N.Y. was trying to KILL Merlino.
7) A terrible Civil War broke out. (Brother's Killing Brothers).
8) The Feds have MORE of a "HARD ON" for Merlino than I think any other LCN, member today.

The Ciancaglini-Merlino faction were being backed by the Genovese Family. In 1994, the Genoveses approved Natale becoming the Boss and required him to run any major decisions by him. Natale and Merlino would send messages back and forth to the Genovese Family through Peter Caprio. The Gambino Family also approved Natale and Merlino taking over.

Ok and I am more asking then telling.

When Merlino went against Natale didn’t he lose all his backing?
And it was just him and his crew of childhood friends that shot their way to the top?

Didn’t the Genovese try to take Merlino out a bunch of time?
And the Gambino’s signed off on it?

Also at about that time or a little after we’re the Luke’s trying to take back the family with Scarfo Jr?

In early 1998, Nicky Scarfo first tried to regain control of the Philadelphia Family through his son as a proxy. Ralph Natale at one point offered through a Lucchese contact to take Scarfo Jr in, straighten him out, and make him a Captain in Atlantic City, but the Scarfos declined. Through Vic Amuso, Scarfo put out contracts on Natale, Joseph Merlino, and Ronald Previte and there was word of Lucchese hit teams being sent to the Jersey shore to kill Merlino. On March 10, 1998, Previte recorded Natale talking about the contracts. Previte brought up a news report that indicated the New York Families were backing Scarfo's play, to which Natale responded: "There is no sitting Commission right now. There is nobody reaching out and the biggest Family in New York... Is the Chin's Family... The kid who runs it now [Bellomo] told [Scarfo] there's only one Boss in Philadelphia, and that's Ralph Natale. And that's where the fuck it's at."

The situation with the Genovese Family started to sour after Natale was arrested for violating parole in 1998. Merlino passed a message to the Genovese Family through Peter Caprio asking permission to induct members from Boston. On any major decisions, Natale and Merlino needed the Genovese Family's okay, and they would use Caprio as a messenger. Caprio would in turn contact Genovese members Vito Alberti and Lawrence Ricci (who was a cousin of Philadelphia member Vincent Centorino). The Genovese Family said no, but Merlino made them anyway. In addition, the Genovese Family was upset with Merlino for failing to send money Natale's way after he got arrested. Things came to a peak a year later when Merlino himself was indicted and Natale flipped. The Genovese Family was embarrassed by Natale flipping because they put him in the position as Boss, so because of this they were refusing to recognise Joseph Ligambi as Acting Boss.

At that point, the Genovese Family were setting up a joint video-poker business in Philadelphia between Vito Alberti and Daniel D'Ambrosia, who was on record with Caprio. However, because they were refusing to recognise Ligambi they did not want to cut him in on any of the proceeds. Caprio knew if they did this, Ligambi would have D'Ambrosia killed. To prevent this from happening, Caprio got the backing of the Genovese and Gambino Families to kill Ligambi and step up as Boss of Philadelphia. It was also decided that if Ligambi was going to be killed, they would have to take out Steven Mazzone and George Borgesi as well. On the Genovese side, Caprio was dealing with Alberti and Ricci, and from the Gambinos, Caprio was communicating with Anthony Proto.

After stepping up to run the Family, Ligambi had reached out to Caprio to set up meetings in New York so he could be introduced as the new Acting Boss. The plan therefore was to lure Ligambi, Mazzone, and Borgesi up to North Jersey under the pretence of meeting representatives of the New York Families. They would be taken to a warehouse where Caprio and D'Ambrosia would shoot them to death. The bodies would be taken to another warehouse or construction site and burried. Alberti, Proto, Vincent Centorino, and Raymond LePore were also involved in the conspiracy. Caprio also wanted to kill associate Philip Casale for unrelated reasons and bury him in the same hole. When this was done, Caprio would be made the Boss. He would straighten out D'Ambrosia and LePore and make D'Ambrosia his Underboss. Martin Angelina would have been made Consigliere. However, Caprio was arrested and flipped before this could take place and the plan fell apart.

A couple of years later, an associate linked to the Lawrence Dentico crew was observed delivering tribute from a gambling operation to a "high-ranking" Philadelphia member, so it appears relations normalised quite quickly. Interestingly, when Larry Ricci disappeared in 2005, an investigator mentioned in a press statement that one possible motive for the murder was that Ricci had approved Caprio's plan to take over without getting the okay from the Family leadership. It's unclear if Ricci was setting Caprio up for a Tony Caponigro situation or if the Genovese Family were just lying about their involvement after the plan failed.

Either way, Merlino does not seem to have had any major problems with the Genovese Family since his release from prison. He has been observed meeting with Genovese Captains including Pasquale Parrello, Daniel Pagano, and Eugene Onofrio. Parrello has also been observed in Philadelphia meeting with George Borgesi. During Merlino's last trial, an FBI agent testified that their information suggested the Philadelphia Family was once again answering to the Genovese Family as they had done at the beginning of Natale and Merlino's reign. This would seem to be the same arrangement as the DeCavalcante Family being subservient to the Gambino Family.

Thank you CHIN...

I thought Scarfo Jr. was being persistent with his recruiting efforts
To the point where Merlino eventually sent a message saying that he was going to send Luke's back to N.Y. in Body-Bags

??

That was in 1998 when there was word of Lucchese hit teams being sent to the Jersey shore. Obviously nothing materialised on either side.

The Scarfos were trying to recruit Philly guys again in the mid-late 2000s but it ultimately came to nothing and as far as I'm aware there were no threats of violence.

Didn’t they try to recruit Joseph ciancaglini? Love to hear the story behind that.

They tried to recruit Joseph Ciancaglini, Jr., Joseph Grande, Louis Fazzini, and probably others. In Fazzini's case, they approached his brother while he was in prison and told him to come see them when he got out. They offered to make Grande a Captian under Scarfo, Sr. Grande however came around to Ligambi and Merlino. Joseph Pungitore tried to get Grande killed over it but Joseph Licata intervened on Grande's behalf