The Philadelphia mob seemed to mostly fade from existence during the last decade, with its former leaders — Joseph “Uncle Joe” Ligambi and Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino — out of the picture after high-profile federal prosecutions.
But reports of La Cosa Nostra’s presumed downfall may have been greatly exaggerated, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Monday by U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain.
In fact, the mafia added new soldiers to its ranks as recently as 2015 in ceremonies overseen by veterans of the old-guard regimes, prosecutors allege.
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Fifteen of those alleged mobsters were indicted this week on racketeering, extortion, gambling and drug trafficking charges, according to court records.
Chief among the accused is Steven Mazzone, 56, the reputed underboss of the organization who once served under Ligambi.
The indictment lists 14 other defendants, many of them previously indicted on organized crime charges in Philadelphia in the last two decades.
They are: Domenic Grande, 41; Joseph Servidio, 60; Salvatore Mazzone, 55; Joseph Malone, 70; Louis Barretta, 56; Victor DeLuca, 56; Kenneth Arabia, 67; Daniel Castelli, 67; Carl Chianese, 81; Anthony Gifoli, 73; John Romeo, 58; Daniel Malatesta, 75; Daniel Bucceroni, 66; and John Michael Payne, 34.
McSwain, who unsealed the indictment Monday, said the defendants wielded the reputation and influence of the mafia in developing and maintaining criminal enterprises that stretched from the city to the Jersey Shore.
The group ran illegal sports gambling, extorted victims through predatory loan-sharking and pushed heroin, cocaine and prescription opioid painkillers, the indictment alleges.
Prosecutors also accused the men of conspiring to kidnap and kill a Philly drug dealer after a botched attempt to buy 2 pounds of methamphetamine. The slaying was also meant to uphold the group’s street credibility, the indictment states.
Federal investigators began investigating the crew in October 2015, when Steven Mazzone, Salvatore Mazzone and Grande presided over a mob induction ceremony in South Philadelphia, where they opened the books for several new soldiers, according to the indictment.
During the next few months, Grande allegedly ordered the crew to spread the mob’s influence into Atlantic City by strong-arming local bookies and loan sharks.
From their favored meeting places, such as the now-defunct Broadway Theatrical Club in South Philadelphia, the group carried out those orders during the next three years, amid threats of violence, according to the indictment. In one instance, Malone commanded one of the soldiers to “go over there with a baseball bat and hit” an unidentified victim.
During that same span, the defendants expanded their illegal activities to include distribution of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, selling the narcotics to undercover federal agents on several occasions, the indictment said.
At one point, Servidio, DeLuca and Chianese sought to buy 2 pounds of methamphetamine from a drug dealer in Philadelphia, but the drugs he sold them were fake. The group then plotted to kidnap and kill him, but their plans were never carried out, the indictment said.
“Thanks to the dedicated and courageous efforts of federal law enforcement over the past several decades, the Philadelphia mob isn’t what it used to be, and thank God for that,” McSwain said in announcing the criminal charges. “But it is still a problem and is still allegedly committing serious federal crimes, which is why we at the Department of Justice are focused on stamping it out. We will not rest until the mob is nothing but a bad memory.”
This report was compiled and edited by ArLuther Lee for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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