Who ever the high up person was; Must of had alot of clout. They told Casella to retire and go to Florida.

Casella knew the rules. He was a old man the time Testa got whacked and had been in the life a very long time. How he got saved is shocking.

How the commission accepted him to just go to Florida and retire is still beyond comprehensive.

You "Don't kill a sitting boss". Casella knew better. I think Narducci is the one that was encouraging him to take out Testa. Casella was a old man; He was in his 70's.

A little off topic; Is there more information about Frank Monte; He was Scarfo's Consigliere.

I disagree for a couple of reasons.

I think if Testa seriously considered Scarfo a threat rather than an ally we would know about it already through Leonetti (either in his book, interviews or in the information he provided to reports from the NJ SCI). We haven't seen any information to lead us to believe that Testa and Scarfo's relationship was strained at this point and in fact, the evidence we do have points to the contrary.

I.e., Scarfo pushing for Testa to become boss in the mid-late 1970s; Testa wanting Scarfo to replace Joe Rugnetta as consigliere; Scarfo siding with Testa in his dispute with Bruno; Scarfo promoting Testa to take over following Bruno's murder; their joint involvement in killing threats to their new leadership (John Simone, Frank Sindone).

Regarding the Sicilian and Calabrian factions, Leonetti's claim is supported. From 1959 to 1981 you have an uninterrupted pattern when it comes to the top administration positions. Angelo Bruno and Phil Testa were Sicilians and they chose fellow Sicilians as their underbosses (Ignazio Denaro and Testa for Bruno; Casella for Testa). The consigliere on the other hand was always Calabrian (Rugnetta, Caponigro, Scarfo). In the case of the Philadelphia family, the position of consigliere in the 1960s and 1970s was viewed as not simply the number three man in the hierarchy but as the head of the Calabrian faction. When Joe Rugnetta died in 1977, the only serious* contenders to replace him were all Calabrians (Testa wanted Scarfo, others speculated that Nicholas Piccolo would get it and, finally, the Calabrian faction chose Caponigro for the position). One could make the argument that, while the consigliere is often generalised as the number three role in the family, the consigliere can hold more influence than the underboss at any time (e.g., Philip Rastelli considered Stefano Cannone, his consigliere, as his number two). The general consensus appears to be that Scarfo, as consigliere, carried more weight in the family than Casella did as underboss.

Casella also didn't come out of nowhere. His appointment was a surprise and, ultimately, a very bad decision but it wasn't without reason. Casella was a long-time member who had done considerable prison time for the family and he had also set up a couple of meetings for Testa in New York after Bruno was killed.



*while not seriously considered for the role, the Sicilian Antonio Pollina made it known he wanted to be consigliere after Rugnetta and was politely turned down by Bruno

How the commission accepted him to just go to Florida and retire is still beyond comprehensive.

You "Don't kill a sitting boss". Casella knew better. I think Narducci is the one that was encouraging him to take out Testa. Casella was a old man; He was in his 70's.

A little off topic; Is there more information about Frank Monte; He was Scarfo's Consigliere.

Where does it come from that it was Catena who helped out Casella?

Barracuda. Yeah he meant to say retaliation for that hit ...

And I think the negative Joey Merlino comments are a mixture of ;

- Joeys treatment of scarfo junior
- jealousy of Joey who was a young kid with a shelved dad - who became longest serving boss, beat murder rap but served time, carries major respect and didn’t need to flip to Nebraska.. if you imagine Joey was a lil annoying kid when Merlino went away whilst Phil was the youngest UB around.

.

@Dob-Peppino

I know we're off topic but the Mangano murder is even stranger. Joe Profaci; and Joe Bonanno were close with Mangano. I mean those 3 were really really close. They all three went fishing together; and had picnics. For them to let Anastasia become boss without repercussions is strange. You're right; Killing Mangano put in everyone mind that you can kill a sitting boss without a price. I agree with you about Casella having Testa blown up in his own house; Cruel.... Casella must of definitely did a good deed for Catena back in their younger days..... He would have been. Dead.

@JCrusher

Yea; Narducci was behind the plot for sure. A 70 year old man wouldn't randomly just try to whack his boss and Casella was already in a administration position. All Frank Narducci for sure....Thanks for the Frank Monte info; Was he a captain at anytime?

And here is another thing ... Phil didn’t get a change in his appearance.... he got a face lift .... they say it was reconstructive....but it was a glorified face lift .

I hear guys are using all my info other places and saying stuff they should not know ..... but they are putting a little spin on it like they herd from a third cousin or some shit .

But yeah that face lift is and was done with a year later and now its just Phil and yeah like someone said he doesn’t want the neighbors to see him now and of course its been 30 years he looks older .... but trust me he is same.