Giovanni Stanfa

Giovanni "John" Domenico Stanfa (born December 7, 1940 ) is an Italian-American mobster of the American Cosa Nostra and in the 1990s was the official head of the Bruno family , also known as the Philly Mob or Philadelphia-South Jersey Mafia. He is the uncle of Nicasio "Nico" Zagone - a mobster who was shot in the head in a shopping mall and died three days later on January 19, 1994.

Convicted on several counts, Stanfa has been in custody since 1995, after which he was sentenced to five life imprisonment terms.

Life

From Sicily to the States

Born in Caccamo ( Sicily ), Giovanni Stanfa was the youngest of four children, two of whom had to do with the original Cosa Nostra there. After the Ciaculli massacre in 1963, Stanfa, now married, emigrated to the United States . There he settled in Philadelphia and took part in criminal activities; especially by the New York Gambino boss, Carlo Gambino , who was an old friend of Stanfa and was also born in Caccamo.

Bruno's murder and the aftermath

Angelo "The Gentle Don" Bruno , the boss of the Italian mafia Philly, took Stanfa under his wing. Several subgroups of the family later began to rebel against the aging Bruno, which eventually led to Bruno's murder in 1980. Bruno was shot in the back of the head with a shotgun and killed while he was sitting in his car. According to US law enforcement, Stanfa was Bruno's driver behind the wheel but managed to escape.

It has not been established whether Stanfa was involved in the conspiracy carried out by Bruno's consigliere , Antonio "Tony Bananas" Caponigro and killed three weeks later, allegedly on the orders of the so-called Mafia Commission , and later in the trunk of a car in New York was found. After he refused to deny his involvement in the murder before a grand jury , he was charged with perjury . Stanfa went into hiding and was arrested on April 21, 1981, after almost a year on the run, and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Bruno's underboss named Philip Testa became Bruno's logical successor; was murdered by a nail bomb on March 15, 1981 and Testas Consigliere, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo , was appointed by the commission as the new boss. His bloody tenure during the 1980s resulted in the murder of more than 20 of his own men. The sharp rise in violence has drawn increased attention from the FBI , the Pennsylvania State Police and the New Jersey State Police. The increased violence and prosecution also convinced some gangsters (including Scarfo's own nephew) to cooperate with the government in order to escape death or prison. In November 1988, Scarfo and 16 of his men were convicted in a RICO trial. Scarfo himself received a life sentence.

Stanfa's war

To avoid a total power vacuum in the Philadelphia Mafia, Stanfa was appointed the new boss by the commission in 1991. However, a splinter group of younger bullies emerged around Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino , who refused to recognize the regime of the new leadership.

• On March 2, 1993, Stanfa's underboss, Joseph "Joey Chang" Ciancaglini, Jr. was seriously injured in an assassination attempt by Merlino's men and remained partially paralyzed.
• On August 5, 1993, his enemy brother Michael "Mikey Chang" Ciancaglini was killed by the Stanfa commissioned Capo named John Veasey and his partner Phil Colletti by several shots and Merlino was injured.
• However, Joey wasn't about to accept his friend's death and hit back that month. When Stanfa, his son and his driver were driving on the highway, they were caught by continuous fire from a van and Stanfa's son, Joseph , was injured. Stanfa's driver managed to get the car off the road and drove to the hospital to receive treatment for Joseph Stanfa's injuries.

Stanfa's trial

In November 1993, Merlino was arrested by the FBI for violating his parole and sent to prison. Stanfa and 23 of his supporters were also charged on March 17, 1994 with union corruption, extortion, usury of credit, murder, and conspiracy to murder, and Stanfa was found guilty of treason by his closest allies on all counts in November 1995 and sentenced to five life imprisonment .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ myfoxphilly - Joey Merlino Still Runs Philly Mob
2. ^ Mob chef Angelo Lutz hopes for a hit with New Jersey restaurant The Kitchen Consigliere , NY Daily News. October 31, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 
3. ↑ Tracing Ties Between Mob And Mayor Investigators Say A Friend Of Boss-turned-informant Ralph Natale's Funneled Cash And Gifts To Milton Milan. . March 31, 2000. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 
4. ^ Informant Is Mob Target, Officials Say . November 4, 1990. Retrieved March 25, 2015. 
5. ↑ AmericanMafia.com - this just in
6. ^ Federal Bureau of Prisons . Bop.gov. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
7. ↑ NationalCrimeSyndicate - On This Day in 1940 John Stanfa was Born
8. ↑ George Anastasia. Behind Bruno's Slaying: Tale of a Triple-Cross . From: articles.philly.com on March 12, 1989, accessed February 16, 2016
9. ↑ Les Ledbetter: Reputed Leader In Mob Is Killed In Philadelphia; Angelo Bruno Shot Dead in Auto Outside Home. In: The New York Times . March 22, 1980, accessed January 14, 2017 . 
10. ^ Find a Grave - Antonio "Tony Bananas" Caponigro
11. ^ What happened to the Scarfo crime family? . Donna Weaver & Brian Ianieri. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
12. ^ Pennsylvania Crime Commission: 1984 Report . DIANE Publishing Company ISBN 978-0-7881-4562-9
13. ^ Scarfo Guilty of Rouse Extortion . Jim Smith. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
14. ↑ CRIME CHIEF GUILTY IN EXTORTION PLOT , NY Times. May 7, 1987. Retrieved March 10, 2016. 
15. ↑ NICODEMO SCARFO . USA Gov. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
16. ↑ Always A Joker, Never A Rat. In Mobster's Obituary, Unexpected Family . George Anastasia. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
17. ↑ About the Mafia - John “Johnny Chang” Ciancaglini
18. ↑ Dailymail - Mob hit man who also led Boy Scout troop now reformed
19. ^ NY Times - Philadelphia Braces for Increase in Mob Violence
20. ↑ Global Mafia News - The Life and Crimes of Joey Merlino
21. ^ NY Times - FBI Arrests Reputed Leader of Philadelphia Mob and 23 Others