Mob War: Philadelphia vs. The Mafia takes us back to the turbulent early 1990s, a time when the streets of Philadelphia ran red with blood. It was an era when mafia bosses had a stranglehold on the city, crime ruled every corner of town, and gang wars were a grim part of daily life. I believe that if the mafia dons had exercised restraint, that is, limited their operations, avoided unnecessary bloodshed, and handled disputes rationally, things might never have taken such a dark and violent turn. But ego and power struggles consumed them, and Philadelphia soon became the battleground for one of the most brutal mob wars in American history. At the center of this conflict stood John Stanfa, the newly crowned mafia boss, who was a man of old-school traditions, and Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, a fiery young man determined to build his own empire. It was a war between two generations, two ideologies. Law enforcement officials believed that taking Stanfa down would be enough to restore peace to the city. But little did they know that Merlino, with his charm, ruthlessness, and hunger for power, would prove to be far more dangerous and unpredictable than anyone could have imagined. So let’s find out what happened in Philadelphia in the early nineties, and where these mafia bosses are now.
How did John Stanfa end up in prison?
After the nefarious and dreaded Philadelphia crime boss Nicky Scarfo was put behind bars, John Stanfa rose to power and became the new head of the underworld. Unlike Scarfo, Stanfa was far more subtle in his approach. While Scarfo was a reckless barbarian, infamous for killing a man with a butter knife. Stanfa ensured his actions stayed out of the limelight, making all the money he could without drawing unnecessary attention. A traditional man, Stanfa preferred to operate using old-school methods. With the blessings of the Five Families of New York, it seemed that, given his sensibility and discretion, he was built for the long run. Stanfa used the office of lawyer Salvatore Avena as his base of operations, conducting all his business from there. The investigating officers, tasked with cleaning up the streets of Philadelphia and freeing them from the grip of organized crime, knew they needed to get a wire in Avena’s office. However, since Avena was a lawyer, it was one of the most challenging tasks to accomplish. They somehow managed to pull it off, though there was a moment during the operation when they feared being caught. Avena was the kind of man who would not have hesitated to drag them to court and accuse them of trespassing into his private space.
On December 3, 1991, law enforcement agencies obtained their first solid piece of evidence when Stanfa mentioned Cosa Nostra—something that, until then, most mafia bosses had vehemently denied even existed. Apart from the evidence gathered from Avena’s office, I believe Stanfa’s rivalry with Joey Merlino also cost him dearly. While Stanfa had the backing of the Five Families and saw himself as the rightful heir to Philadelphia’s criminal throne, Merlino couldn’t care less about who officially sat on it. He simply went about his business.
Merlino was young blood who disregarded the age-old Italian traditions of the mafia world, which made him all the more dangerous. The world was changing, and Stanfa soon realized that words like “honor” and “loyalty” meant nothing to people like Merlino. The young man, barely in his late twenties at the time, feared no one and was determined to shake up the fragile order of Philadelphia’s underworld and seize power, by hook or by crook. I believe that the killing of old-time mobster Felix Bocchino kickstarted a chain of events that ended with Stanfa being sentenced for life in the year 1994. Stanfa had given the order to kill Joey and each one of his gang members. A hitman named John Veasey was hired to carry out an attack on Merlino and his right-hand man, Michael Ciancaglini (whose brother, Joey Ciancaglini, was a part of Stanfa’s gang). Michael was killed in the attack, but Merlino somehow survived. The entire shootout was planned very badly, and nobody expected that kind of sloppy job from a professional. The FBI was able to gather enough evidence to initiate legal proceedings against Stanfa. John Veasey decided to turn state witness after his brother told him that Stanfa might be planning to eliminate him, as he considered him a loose link. Just before John Veasey was about to take the witness stand, he got the news that his brother had been shot dead. Everybody presumed that Stanfa was behind the attack, and to make matters worse for him, John Veasey didn’t back out. In fact, the moment he got to know that his brother had been killed, Veasey felt that he had nothing more to lose. He decided to go all in and tell whatever the prosecution needed to know. Stanfa was found guilty on 33 out of 35 charges and sentenced to life in prison.
Was Joey Merlino found guilty by the court?
The events that took place in Philadelphia in the early nineties were so dramatic that they would make a mainstream mafia film look dull. Before Stanfa had been put behind bars, an attack was carried out on him and his son by none other than Merlino. Merlino, I felt, was the smartest of them all. He knew when to strike and how to make sure that even if the law enforcement authorities had complete knowledge about his involvement in a particular crime, they wouldn’t be able to prove anything. After Stanfa, Ralph Natale became the new mafia boss of the Philadelphia crime world, but in reality it was Merlino who was pulling the strings. The law enforcement authorities came to know that William Veasey’s murder wasn’t carried out by Stanfa, it was Merlino who had ordered the hit. The investigating officers were on the lookout for another cooperating witness, who this time could testify against Natale and Merlino and help build a case against them. Ron Previte, a criminal who had contacts in the mafia world, agreed to help the investigative officer collect evidence against Natale, Merlino, and others. Together with him, the law enforcement agencies had planted a mole, Mike McGowan, and he was in charge of carrying out a drug deal with the Boston Capo, Bobby Luise, who shared a good and long-standing working relationship with Merlino. I believe, apart from the evidence collected by Mike, Ron Previte, and others, Ralph Natale’s testimony was what became the turning point in the entire game. It was the first time a designated mafia boss, who had the blessing of the five crime families of New York, had decided to turn state witness. In the terms of the Philadelphia mafia, Ralph was a rat, and they felt the man had the capability to betray his own country too, if it came to that. But the most surprising thing was that even after so much evidence was presented against Merlino, he was only found guilty of racketeering, as the jury did not feel that there was conclusive evidence to charge him for murder. The man who had orchestrated a shootout, in broad daylight, against Stanfa and his son, the man who had murdered many old-time mafiosi, was not found guilty on even one count of murder.
Where Are Joey Merlino And John Stanfa Now?
While John Stanfa continues to serve his life sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Ayer, Massachusetts, Ralph Natale passed away in January 2022 while still in prison. As for Joey Merlino, after his release, he relocated to Florida and has since reinvented himself as a social media celebrity, amassing quite a following, especially on Instagram (with around 137k followers). He claims to have no ties to the mafia world anymore. Merlino recently launched a restaurant called Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks, which appears to be doing quite well on the business front. It’s unclear whether he still resides in Boca Raton or has moved back to Philadelphia, given that his restaurant operates there. Joey made headlines when a picture of him alongside Donald Trump surfaced online. The podcasting world also seems fascinated by him, thanks to his notorious past, and he continues to make regular appearances on various shows.
