Just read in Mouthpiece- Ang's lawyer Bobby Simone saying Ang was very well
loved and respected- hundreds and hundreds came
to pay their respects including many prominent judges

So he still had a lot of power and connections but I'm guessing he didn't have many real
loyalists on the streets that were willing to go to bat for him?

ie you whack Chicken man Testa, u would have his son Salvi, Scarfo to deal with

Whack Scarfo, u have the Merlino brothers and Leonetti to worry about.... Maybe Nick the blade too and Scarfo's blood relatives Picolo's etc

Simone says Ang was always surrounded by Long John Mortorana, Chickie Narduci & Frank Sindone. According to Nicky Crow, Long John was crapping it after the murder as opposed to getting even. Sindone had some role in it since he was close to Tony Bananas. Testa his underboss according to Leonetti was feuding with Bruno around that time

So just like Castellano, Bruno didn't have many loyal guys around him which made him an easy target seeing the killing part is easy, getting away with it is another (yes the Genovese acted but we all know they had their motives)

Bruno's protector was Carlo Gambino. The Genovese would have never made that move.

The gambinos and genoveses wanted that Atlantic City as an open city after the casinos become legal.
Even if Don Carlo would be alive Bruno would die because the money go first the friendship.

No furio, I believe that if carlo remained alive ,he would have guided bruno into a more open minded way of thinking,,that (MY BROTHER ANGELO..THERE IS PLENTY OF WATER FOR OUR OTHER FRIENDS TO WET OUR BEAKS..WON'T YOU PLEASE SEE IT OUR WAY SO WE WON'T ALL STARVE.& THERE IS PLENTY OF LIQUID FOR U TO HAVE A SENIORITY INGROUND POOL..WE GO BACK A LONG WAYS MY CUMPARE..LET'S SPARE US THE TROUBLE OF EMBARRASSMENT & ALL REMAIN "FRIENDS".....

Bruno was killed because of Tieri and that had nothing to do with Bruno. If any of the other families wanted Bruno dead, Tieri wouldn't of had to trick Caponigro into thinking he had the Commission's backing.

@Ted

True, but one could also argue that the only reason Tieri was successful was Bruno didn't keep the guys in his family happy enough, giving Tieri the opening..

THAT was Bruno's fault....


@ Furio


I think hoodlum is right, if Carlo was alive, the Gambinos woulda got all of AC, giving up a taste to BRUNO SPECIFICALLY' probably at the expense of the other soldiers, kinda like the Cherry Hill Gambino deal.
If a family like the Genovese woulda made a stink, it goes to the table and basically goes like this; Bruno says' "It's my territory, I gave Carlo permission to operate", the Genovese object, they say okay let's vote. The other bosses back Carlo, thus they back Bruno. The Genovese ( probably Tieri) are seething silently, plotting, lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acVXAhOSIHo

Nicodemo Scarfo testifies with attorney Bobby Simone 6/22/82. What's everyone's opinion on declining to answer questions by the subcommittee?

" I decline to answer DA question on DA grounds that it may incriminate me"..same answer sir..same answer sir...same..

Jail time is my opinion!

Old school cosa nostra wiseguy he didnt talk at all, a real wiseguy but crazy ass hell

A real cosa nostra freak if there ever was one...would die on the cross for this this thing of thiers..fuckin' nutball.

U really are a funny guy, hehehehe either would of went to war over it, did he let them wet there beak i wonder

Bruno was loved by the masses and Philly but held his boys back for the good of the family and his pocket.Bruno was concerned about the attention that the casinos would have on crime. He was happy not having to deal with all that .(other then union)

The state was all over Philly mob by this point so you had the state offices and the Casino Control Commission, then you had the Feds, and the internal revenue service all with there hand out Bruno knew this and was fine with other families with there hand in the pot that would drawl attention from his family.

He wanted local 54 all to himself and all those little things like that stopped his guys from becoming rich or earning .

The ones that were rich in the family were already rich or had a monopoly on his racket and Bruno was at the top of that also.

No doubt with his close confidant Gambino out he was done !!!!

The best thing he could've done was retire at the end of the 70's and have a peaceful transition of power to Phil Testa, don't you agree Serp?

He had all the money in the world and he should have seen the many writings on the wall, like you said the FBI were starting to get all over LCN and his protector Gambino was dead and rank and file were unhappy. Plus he had the right age to take a step back and enjoy his grandchildren and stuff..

Carlo dies in what 76 ? He was very tight with Big Paul, I read somewhere that they dined together a lot and that Philly would proxy their commission votes through the Gambino's so Paul had two votes to start every meeting.

True, that is why the Genovese family started all those intrigues. They wanted that Philly proxy vote so they would have the upper hand in the Commission. We have to remember that all this was quite some time before 1985, when the Commission still had tremendous power.

Also ironic is how towards the end of Bruno's tenure,P.Testa & Nicky Sr. started siding more & more w/ Bobby Manna even though scarfo was since way back..they were both having discretions w/ Bruno ,even provoking Bruno to ask Nicky 2 side w/him..I'm certain they knew the hammer was dropping & from where, maybe not Phil ,but surely nicky..IMO.

Yeah Billy that would of been the best thing for Bruno to do.

He was lucky Nick and Phil were stand up guys cos they would have gotten to him sooner.(Caponigro and company)

Even though Phil T and him were not seeing eye to eye Testa was still doing the right thing and still keeping his guys eating.

Bruno was on Georgia ave more in the late 70's like 78-80 then ever and he had a house on the island .

And just so you know all that bullshit about Nick being banished to Atlantic City was bullshit and from what I ever seen or herd Bruno knew Nick was stand up.

Now don't get me wrong he may have given Bruno a couple things to cover up but Bruno always did including doing all he could in the death of the longshoremen.

So when Anastasia says that he just says that shit all the time ,(Nicks son Chris goes crazy when he says that and the stuff about Chris divorcing his family ) he has these little tidbits to go with each guy that he said through the years .

And he grew up in Ducktown( Anastasia ) in the summers also just like Chuckie Merlino and Lawrence did for a short time there parents lived in AC full time with cousins and siblings but moved back to Philly later.

Up until the eighties, things were very stable for bosses. I mean, Galante obviously had it coming, but who would've thought back then that Bruno or Castellano could've been clipped? And by rivals within their own families at that?

As others have said, Bruno was in tight with the Gambinos, so who could've seen that Castellano couldn't have protected him? Bruno was obviously weak, but Castellano was super powerful and was respected by Gigante and Fat Tony.

It makes me wonder if Gigante approved of the hit on Bruno, if it was Funzi by himself plotting or all of the West Side was on board. If the whole West Side was behind it, maybe they didnt think Big Paul was smart enough to figure it out or strong enough to do anything about it. Anyway, just thinking out loud.

Stubbs: It's like these guys hold grudges forever and Funzi wanted that huge North Jersey book and as soon as Gambino died I am sure he started plotting and if the Chin was the boss then he let it happen if Funzi was the man then it was done.

All it takes is for someone to lose a sit down 15 years before and that guy remembers and comes after everything he can get when he moves up .

And you back in the day all they had to fear was each other!!!

New Bruno movie... His daughter Jean talks about it for a few minutes sort of interesting...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0oxKj2Iis

Hoodlum: I guess it was years and years of Testa covering for him and then when Bruno was putting the clamps on the guys earning for years.

Testa was truly a underboss he actually ran the family back in late 50's maybe early 60's while Bruno was down in the Caribbean setting up rackets with other families and you can bet that was not being shared. The Philly family was not very structured back then Bruno ran it lose and lose is not $$$ for the guys.

Many don't know Bruno wanted to be a skipper only and he wanted to be in south Florida, he was pushed to run Philly (I guess pushed not to hard cos he took it)and was a kinda of a outsider.

That's from the 1984 documentary "Crime Inc", the 1st episode. It's a little funny to hear though, when the narrator says "Perhaps Bruno was killed because he opposed drugs. Perhaps younger men simply wanted to take over". "YOUNGER"....Tieri was not only older than Bruno, he was in a worse health shape even, since he died only a year after the hit. And Caponigro was younger...By 2 years, really a HUGE difference A "generational conflict"!

They didn't know yet who killed him when the documentary was made though, but still, now when it's known, defining Tieri as a "younger man" compared to Bruno, when he even had to attend his RICO trial in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank....He barely made it in time to authorize the hit, but could never enjoy the profit he could get out of it...

Think chin was the boss or maybe the underboss for that guy benny squint. It was probaly a group effort. Tieri was under indictmemt and probaly on trial in 1980 fat tony just got out of jail for 6 months gambling. So i bet chin was the shot caller. He almost killed frank Costello his boss so he wasnt afraid. Bobby manna became consig rite about 1980 probalys chins call to.

I remember watching the crime inc docs on pbs in the early 90tys probaly 1992 ish i was about 10 them shits were fascinating to a young pup.

Fish cafaro said it was all chin and that guy johnny keys simone said to gravano it was all chin.

In tommy dels book he says frank sindone had the votes of the capos to become boss i think over testa or was it over scarfo. So he had to go. Tommy del also says sindone wanted to retire but bruno wouldnt let him he made so much cash. He had a horse farm out west. That guy frankie flowers had joint gambling rackets over in england he shared with the new england guys ive never found out who but frankie flowers was aspotted in boston n prov.

Would not doubt it came from Chin - Manna - Scarfo , who knows what Nick and Manna put together with endless hours in the joint.

I don't think Nick was in for killing Bruno because he was a rules guy but he may have let on about how unhappy all the soldiers and most of the skippers were with Bruno and stirring the pot is just as affective sometimes .

Was Testa getting boss all a ploy or was Nick truly loyal to the life . I think he spoke about how it could go down to Bobby and Bobby and Westside put it motion with Nick eventually becoming the one getting all the spoils .


Pmac: regardless if they had the capos , they all knew that taking out a sitting boss was punishable by death !!!! What in the hell were they thinking besides Manna and Westside twisting them to where they wanted them.

Very good post on this thread.Ol Bruno was just a dead man walking.Scarfo knew he was about to be taken out and was feuding with him as ya'll said over 54.Sindone had sided with Capinigro.He and Testa were feuding then on top of that this poor fucker had Gigante,Manna and Funzi with sights on him.I guess Narducci was loyal but Leonetti said he was just rich.No power.