The Bruno-Scarfo Mafia Crime Family: The Complete and Fascinating History of a Philadelphia Criminal Organization by Mafia Library

Author:Mafia Library [Library, Mafia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-10T22:00:00+00:00

Scarfo’s Downfall

The fact that Scarfo was ordering the murders of his own loyal family members did not go unnoticed. However, it was the 1984 killing of Salvatore Testa that truly saw the grip Scarfo had on the Philly Mob begin to loosen. The son of former Boss Philip Testa, Salvatore Testa had proven himself “an extraordinarily efficient and loyal captain” under Scarfo (Patmore, 2022). Scarfo had allowed Testa to avenge his father’s murder, with Testa personally seeing to the killing of many of the conspirators in his father’s murder. However, the paranoid and obsessive Scarfo began to worry about the young hitman, believing him to be “rising too fast” and becoming popular enough within the Philly Mob that Scarfo thought he would eventually make a move against him. Salvatore Merlino, Scarfo’s underboss, had a daughter that was engaged to be married to Testa. In 1984, the year of his murder, Testa broke off the engagement, angering Merlino. Caramandi, who eventually helped in the killing of Testa, stated this regarding the event: “Salvie [Testa] figured that by marrying the daughter of the underboss, he’d be right at the top. But she was a spoiled brat, and a couple of months before the wedding, he backed out. When Salvie backed out, he signed his own death warrant. It was a blow to the underboss. This was the ultimate insult. That night, it’s time to leave, and [Merlino] grabs Salvie by the neck and kisses him on the lips. That was the kiss of death” (Behar & Caramandi, 1991). Using this as his reason, Scarfo jumped at the opportunity to get rid of Testa, permitting Merlino to murder him. On September 14th, 1984, Testa’s body was found by law enforcement “bound by rope and wrapped in a blanket” at the side of a road in New Jersey (Patmore, 2022). While it is reasonable to assume that Scarfo was more than happy with the death of Salvatore Testa, it solidified his reputation to other members of the Philly Mob, and indeed all other criminal organizations in the United States, as a disloyal, paranoid, untrustworthy, and dangerous individual. Caramandi, while being directly involved in the killing, encapsulates the wider feeling of Philly Mob members on the death of Testa when he stated, “It was just awful. We killed him in a candy store. I really liked him. There was no reason for it” (Behar & Caramandi, 1991).

Even with his reputation rapidly decaying, Scarfo continued to crack down on his own organization. After underboss Merlino’s drinking problem became too much of a liability, Scarfo demoted him to the rank of soldier and appointed Philip Leonetti to the position. However, even Leonetti was beginning to turn against his uncle, “being disgusted” at Scarfo’s actions regarding Testa (Patmore, 2022). In 1985, Scarfo sent Caramandi, along with a few other associates, to extort $1 million from real estate developer Willard Rouse. Rouse immediately contacted the FBI, who began an operation to take down Scarfo once and for all. During

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