Interesting that he really is that short. Lots of bosses were short: caro gambino, casso. Tony ducks, salerno, scarfo , and alot of others. Amazing how a guy 5 ft -06 can have a 6 ft -02 guy who weights 275 pounds in the palm of his hand.
As far as the bulk, he is probably heavily into fitness, jail can do that. He may even be getting hormone replacement therapy.

@NNY78

Check your pm.

Very true Serp . If you asked me 10 years ago how happy I would be $ wise with my current income and very quickly I would of said Very , my lord would I have answered that question wrong , it's amazing how much it costs to live today, $100k isn't even middle class anymore , it's crazy .

anyway how large can those envelopes really be today, especially if he has to share it with uncle L, his acting by all accounts . What is really left in Philly outside of gambling and sharking , which I'm sure was a lot when they the city plus AC and not too mention some real $ being made in north jersey, they really were players in the sports biz but from what I have heard ( which could be totally wrong lol ) , their market share has been eroded. South jersey really is big $, a lot of betting, not much law enforcement, but the word got out I guess and others moved in I believe . I get the feeling Joey is living off some rich guys just wanting the connection , but who knows I could be very wrong. I do think you are spot on with the pecking order , and maybe now that he has some breathing room there could be some tension from the top that there needs to be more, when in reality there probably isn't .

The reason all the bosses are short is because there good at ducking the law

Galante, Amuso, D'Arco, Persico, Orena....

Castellano, Gotti and Gigante must have felt like they were in China, and they weren't even that big!

Psychopaths like De Meo, Pitera, Rosenberg and Spilotro are further proof that bigger isn't necessarily tougher.

Hey carmela what about chris paciello do u think he was good looking back when he was hanging with jlo and madonna?

The New Jersey law enforcement is the absolute worst. Especially when you come from Philly. Philly guys grew up hating jersey drivers and jersey cops. They are both the worst. Lol

Good looking mobsters in no particular order

Anthony Senter (Prettyboy)
Joey Testa (That shit eating grin)
Phil Leonetti (Needs to shave his chest though)
Joe Butch Corrao (Got that James Bond thing going)
Louis Daidone (Got that Bruce Springsteen thing going)
Allie Boy Persico (Looks like an upper middle class jock)
Nino Gaggi (Aged very well)
Dominick Montiglio (Aged very badly)
Sammy Gravano (Kinda good looking)
Frank LoCascio (Great teeth)
Lucky Luciano (Smouldering)

Agree or disagree, Carmela and other ladies of the forum?

Maybe he was/is good looking to other women, but again, he does nothing for me.

Out of Moe's list there, the only one I like is a young Phil Leonetti. He's pretty nice looking in that one black/white photo that always gets thrown up. I like him in that pic a lot.

I love how everyone speculates where he gets money from. He was the boss of a family and probably still is. What do you think when he went to prison he just gets nothing anymore. Also it's clear as day he is still boss.

Gambling is so big out here in south Jersey and Philly it's insane. There is plenty to go around.

Also south Jersey is wide open out here as far as law enforcement. There is soo much going on that if your not a drug dealer you can do whatever you want. Obviously people are gonna tell though so you're never really safe anywhere. South Jersey is a gambling mecca though there is probably more books operating out here then anywhere besides NY and north.Jers

DB: I do not know what there financial structure is but i would guess to think that most would come from sports book and drugs ,poker machines,high end card games,shy,

Now the most coming from drugs even if you don't count the millions in cocaine ,heroin ,ecstasy ,
You still have millions in marijuana,i know guys back in the 80s that were grossing millions in marijuana per year.
And if he just has a few big fish moving the high grade they would be dealing with a sure bet .
The clientele are very reliable,educated,stable income ,that's the kind of bizz that you can count on to make money to stand the test of time.and the money is great ,if he had 3 people good at there jobs, two thousand a week from each is easy.
And no shit heads to deal with,usually hard working 20 to 60 year old's as customers.And those figures were 30, 40 years ago, I hear now the shit is like GOLD....

But nobody does that, that is illegal (that would support a life in Boca driving Rovers ect.)

Just curious how you say its clear as day. If its clear as day to you then he is doing somehting wrong.

Forgettaboutit guys from jersey hate them to

Haha good to hear dellacroce lol

The chubby Merlino, not Joe, prob does very well if they still have the new jersey gambling licenses. I was pissed when the online card sites went down.

Does chubby joey know how to do the "Dougie?"

FBI surveillance tape with ligambi introduced as "acting boss" and saying himself that joey can make someone himself. If that's not clear as day I dunno what is. Honestly it seems like you are trolling I'm not sure

The only way Joey Merlino isn't boss is if he has a bunch of D*ck riding sugar daddy's paying for his house, car, bills, wife/kids, and his expensive lifestyle. Merlino and Mazzone might be really tight, but I know I wouldn't be sending him a damn thing if he was just my good friend that was boss while I was the underboss. Maybe help him out when he came home or help him out in a jam but that's about it.

The rules says a boss is a boss until he's not a boss, that means merino gets paid, show proof that he's not involved anymore, remember he was in pills for a good while when his father died, their was barely any electricity and most of the lights was out, he could have held meetings, made guys etc

The evidence that merlino is official boss is vastly overrated.

1. He could easily be living his current lifestyle through money saved during his tenure whilst on the street or through wealthy mafia groupies for numerous reasons.

2. Ligambi being introduced as acting at the Gambino meet indicated nothing. The Genovese family haven't had an official since chin. But they've had several acting eg Daniel Leo.
Just because Ligambi was acting doesn't make Merlino official.

3. That guys on the street in Philly would be working the grind day to day risking the can just to send Merlino who's sunning himself in Florida a fat envelope every month is reaching at best. Would you?

4. The guy would have to be clinically insane to think he has a chance in hell of not getting put away again if he resumed his position. He's already done a 10 stretch. He's not stupid enough to not know it's over for him if he returns.
And this crap about he's OG through and through? Living large in Miami beats the shit out of being an OG in a box in supermax Colorado. And joey knows this.

The only reason i question if merlino is still in the game is due to him offering to sell his life story for a book or movie. If you were on the streets, would you be sending a lathe chunk of change to a guy that was thinking about writing a tell all about his life?
He probably did get " back pay' for going in the can as a boss and standing tall. He probably did get a lot of money.

Belmont, Can you post the article about the book, I would like to read that thanks.

Some of you make some legit points but when you have he acting boss saying clear as day on tape to "let joey make them when he gets out" I think it's pretty clear. What other reason or circumstance would the acting boss of a family ever say that?

this

I do remember reading it. George anastasia also talked about it. You can google it, should be easy to find. I will search as well for you.

If I was him I'd stay in Florida, as most people said above, lot more oppurtunities there. Thus now FBI is more on the Russians asses there in Florida, so he can operate pretty well his rackets.

Sonny is completely right. The feds have a hard on for him and he would be a lunatic to taking the official role again. Whether he is still involved, semi-retired or officially retired might not be something we know for a few more years. The whole selling his story thing and trying to do TV was something that made me think he was retired, but who knows.

Well put, Nicky. I don't follow Philly too closely. But it's safe to say that if he's still involved, he's going back to jail. For a long time. You can't be under the microscope that he's under and stay out of trouble for very long (if you're still committing felonies).