Original subtitles

LEONETTI: When you join the La Cosa Nostra,

you're in it for life.

You have to have honor and respect.

But when somebody does something wrong, I mean, you know,

they're gonna get killed.

Louis DeMarco was a junkie who was sticking up a made member of

the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra.

So Angelo Bruno told us, find him and kill him.

Me and Vincent Falcone hid in one of the rooms in the hotel.

And we waited for Louis De Marco to walk to his car.

When he came out...

I ran out first...

and I shot him in the back of the head.

The power of the blast of the bullet pushed him

so much forward it looked like he was running away.

After he fell down I ran over to him and I emptied

my gun into him.

After we shot him

me and Vincent Falcone ran through the alleyway,

and when we hit this certain spot,

we threw both guns up onto this roof.

And we continued running to my uncle

where he picked us up in the car.

When I committed my first murder,

I felt like I was doing a good deed for our family.

I was killing a bad man.

NEWS REPORTER: Mob warfare is on the rise all across the nation.

It's just the latest sign of organized crime in America

becoming more and more disorganized.

NARRATOR: IT'S 1980, AND THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IS

LOCKED IN A BATTLE TO THE DEATH WITH NEW YORK'S FIVE MAJOR MOB

FAMILIES

YOUNG CHERTOFF: And that sends the message to these people that

they cannot be above the law, and that they will be brought

to justice, and they will be convicted.

NARRATOR: BUT THE SECRET SOCIETY KNOWN AS COSA NOSTRA STILL

REMAINS IMMENSELY POWERFUL THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY...

...A FORCE FOR CORRUPTION AND EXTREME VIOLENCE...

ESPECIALLY IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA...

NEWSMAN: Police say that Calabrese was ambushed by

two gunmen in ski masks as he walked to his car...

NARRATOR: ...HOME TO THE MOST VIOLENT CRIME FAMILY

IN THE HISTORY OF THE MOB.

DIRECTOR: Take three. Watch your head when you sit down.

NARRATOR: THESE MEN ARE WITNESSES TO THAT SECRET

HISTORY, STEPPING OUT OF THE SHADOWS NOW TO TELL THEIR STORY

FIRST HAND.

A FEW REMAIN IN SHADOWS, FEARING FOR THEIR PERSONAL SAFETY,

AFRAID OF AN ORGANIZATION WITH BRANCHES ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.

LIKE PHILADELPHIA.

WHAT HAPPENS HERE IN THE 1980S WILL HAVE A DIRECT IMPACT

ON THE HEART OF ORGANIZED CRIME IN NEW YORK...

...AS ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT FIGURES IN THE PHILLY MOB

DECIDES TO COOPERATE WITH THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.

THIS MAN, PHILIP LEONETTI, STILL WITH A BOUNTY ON HIS HEAD,

HAS COME OUT OF HIDING TO TELL HIS STORY.

TO PROTECT HIS IDENTITY, HIS FACE MUST BE BLURRED

AT ALL TIMES.

IN PHILADELPHIA HE'S KNOWN AS CRAZY PHIL.

LEONETTI: I got a nickname Crazy Phil, from a radio announcer.

And I told my uncle, I said, can I do something about this?

And he told me, no pun intended, he says, Are you crazy?

He said, Guys would pay money to have a nickname like that.

JOHN MARKS: Your Uncle Nick told you that you need two things

in life. What were they?

LEONETTI: My uncle Nick Scarfo always told me,

you always have to use your brains in this thing,

and you always have to use the gun.

NARRATOR: LEONETTI'S UNCLE, NICKY SCARFO,

IS A CAPTAIN IN THE PHILADELPHIA MOB.

BUT THE MOB'S RULE IN PHILADELPHIA ISN'T AUTONOMOUS.

THEY'RE OVERSEEN BY THE GOVERNING BODY KNOWN AS THE

COMMISSION, RUN BY THE BOSSES OF THE FIVE FAMILIES IN NEW YORK.

COFFEY: The Commission was formed in 1931 in Atlantic City.

It was started by a guy named Lucky Luciano.

Luciano

decided that he was gonna organize this into a business.

GIULIANI: The New York Commission,

which truly governed the Five Families in New York City

and had very specific powers.

NARRATOR: REGIONAL BOSSES SIT ON THE COMMISSION TOO,

AND SOME OF THEM ARE INDEPENDENT OUTFITS,

NOT UNDER NEW YORK'S INFLUENCE.

BUT OTHERS ARE DIRECTLY UNDER NEW YORK'S CONTROL,

AND PHILADELPHIA IS ONE OF THESE.

IT'S BEEN OVERSEEN BY THE GAMBINO FAMILY FOR DECADES,

THANKS TO THE INFLUENCE OF LEGENDARY OLD TIME GANGSTER

CARLO GAMBINO.

ANASTASIA: There's always been this strong connection between

New York and Philadelphia it's only ninety miles away.

And Philadelphia's always been in the shadow of New York.

If you look at

organized crime and the Mafia Cosa Nostra is,

New York is in the major leagues,

Philadelphia is a Triple-A franchise.

NARRATOR: THE GAMBINO-PHILLY CONNECTION GOES BACK TO 1959

WHEN CARLO GAMBINO PERSONALLY BACKS ANGELO BRUNO AS THE BOSS

OF PHILADELPHIA.

LEONETTI: Their relationship goes back to when they were

young guys, they were bootleggers together.

And all Ang's power as boss, was because of Carlo Gambino.

ANASTASIA: Bruno sat on The Commission and Carlo Gambino had

Bruno's proxy vote whenever Bruno couldn't be there.

NARRATOR: BRUNO IS KNOWN IN PHILADELPHIA AS THE DOCILE DON.

PICHINI: He liked to keep a very low profile.

LEONETTI: He was more like a CEO of a company.

He wasn't too much of a gangster-- I mean he ordered

murders and all that, but he wanted everything done quietly,

he wanted everybody buried, he didn't want to leave anybody

in the street.

ANASTASIA: This was almost an era of relative stability

and peace in the underworld.

JOHN MARKS: Now did you ever actually meet Angelo Bruno?

LEONETTI: I did.

There was a time when my great grandmother died

And we went to the wake.

And Angelo Bruno came in to pay his respects.

And I said, Who's that guy?

Because when he was walking in he had all kinds of,

looked like security around him.

My uncle told me, that's Angelo Bruno.

He's the boss of our family.

So from a very young age, I realized that he was the boss.

NARRATOR: BUT THEN CARLO GAMBINO DIES IN NEW YORK IN 1976,

AND THE TWO CITIES' RELATIONSHIP CHANGES.

LEONETTI: When Carlo Gambino died, Ang lost a lot of power.

NARRATOR: WITHOUT THE PERSONAL BACKING OF CARLO GAMBINO,

PHILLY BOSS BRUNO IS VULNERABLE.

AND HIS LONG AND RELATIVELY STABLE REIGN ENDS IN 1980,

ON A NIGHT THAT SENDS SHOCKWAVES AROUND THE CITY.

ANASTASIA: He had gone to a restaurant in South Philadelphia

for dinner that night, was driven home.

He's parked in front of his house,

his driver is sitting next to him.

Bruno's smoking a cigarette, the driver pushes the remote

control, the windows go down.

And then out of the shadows comes this guy in a raincoat

Pulls a shotgun out, shoots Bruno in the back of the head.

Law enforcement left the body in the car for about two and a half

hours on a Friday night.

All the neighborhood comes out, all the media comes out.

And there's just Bruno, leaning back

his mouth wide open, you know, in a kind of a death scream.

LEONETTI: The murder of Bruno changed the game.

Everybody in New York was going crazy.

Like here's a boss of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra

family getting killed. What's going on?

NARRATOR: TALK IN THE STREET IS THAT ONE OF NEW YORK'S OTHER

FIVE FAMILIES, THE GENOVESE, IS THE FORCE BEHIND THE BRUNO HIT.

ANASTASIA: No one's ever been prosecuted for the Bruno murder

because they've all turned up dead.

But the underworld and law enforcement theory is

a convoluted tale of double cross or triple cross.

Bruno didn't want his guys dealing drugs.

And a couple guys, including his consigliere,

Tony Bananas Caponigro was dealing heroin on the side.

He had to do it on the sneak.

Caponigro's upset

about Bruno, and he's grousing up there in Newark about this

he won't let us do this, he won't let us do that.

And he talks to some people in the Genovese family about

his concerns.

They imply that it's okay.

Do what you gotta do.

He thinks he's got the Commission approval

to whack Bruno.

Cause you can't whack a mob boss without Commission approval.

So Caponigro carries it out.

Then he goes up for what he thinks is gonna be a meeting

where he's gonna be crowned the new boss of Philadelphia,

CAPONIGRO: Ahh! Ah! Choking.

ANASTASIA: And he gets garroted, stabbed, and brutally killed.

And they stick twenty-dollar bills in his mouth

and in his anus to show that he had been greedy,

and they leave his body in the South Bronx.

And then three other guys that were connected to him at that

point also turn up dead in similar fashion.

NARRATOR: THE GENOVESE FAMILY IS MOVING BEHIND THE SCENES TO TAKE

CONTROL OF PHILLY.

THEY'RE THE MOST SECRETIVE AND SLIPPERY OF ALL THE FIVE

MAFIA FAMILIES.

NOT EVEN THE OTHER BOSSES KNOW WHO'S REALLY IN CHARGE.

FAT SAL: They're considered

the Ivy League of organized crime in New York City.

They're smart because they're very shrewd.

They're quiet.

ANASTASIA: They are very intelligent, very sophisticated.

COFFEY: They're the smartest, the most crafty,

they knew what they were doing.

They don't like to get their hands dirty.

NARRATOR: THE GENOVESE HAVE THEIR REASONS FOR MAKING SUCH

A BOLD MOVE:

ATLANTIC CITY.

FOR MOST OF THE TWO DECADES THE GAMBINO'S RULED THE PHILADELPHIA

TERRITORY, ATLANTIC CITY IS A QUIET COASTAL RESORT TOWN

IN DECLINE.

BUT IN 1976, EVERYTHING CHANGES, AND ATLANTIC CITY BECOMES A

CROWN JEWEL OF ORGANIZED CRIME.

ANASTASIA: In 1976 there's a casino gambling referendum.

Legalization of casinos in Atlantic City.

All of a sudden that's the boomtown now.

Money to be made: construction, unions, legal gambling,

illegal gambling.

And so who's our guy down there?

Our guy down there is Nicky Scarfo.

NARRATOR: NICODEMO "LITTLE NICKY SCARFO,

A CAPTAIN IN THE PHILLY MOB WITH A FEROCIOUS REPUTATION.

PICHINI: Scarfo's not a large man but he's a very violent man,

he's a very vicious man, so I guess he makes up for whatever

there may be lacking in height with respect to violence.

LEONETTI: You know, it turns out the Genovese Family wanted

my uncle Nick Scarfo to be the Boss of the Family.

And with that they knew that they would have the Philadelphia

Family on their side with any votes on the commission.

So my uncle said, well wait a minute.

You know, Phil Testa is the Underboss and he is my friend,

so I don't think it would be right, you know,

for me just to step in as Boss.

NARRATOR: WITH BRUNO OUT, PHIL TESTA BECOMES THE NEW BOSS

OF PHILADELPHIA.

LEONETTI: With my Uncle and Phil Testa, they grew up together.

They knew each other for a long time.

That was his best friend, who referred to him as 'Lefty'

because he would always

throw zingers at you to see how you would we react.

And you always had to be careful.

NARRATOR: THE BRUNO HIT PAVES THE WAY FOR THE RISE OF SCARFO

AND HIS OWN GANG.

LEONETTI: When Angelo Bruno was killed, we were really happy

about it. Cause Angelo Bruno wasn't doing anything for us.

We were like stuck in limbo.

He wasn't gonna make us, he wasn't gonna send any work

our way or give us an opportunity to make money.

NARRATOR: FOR SCARFO AND LEONETTI,

BRUNO'S DEATH IS THE BREAK THEY'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

THEIR NEW BOSS, PHIL TESTA, IS A FRIEND,

BY THE 1980s, ATLANTIC CITY IS A BOOM TOWN,

THANKS TO LEGALIZED GAMBLING.

AND THE FORTUNES OF THE PHILADELPHIA MOB AND ITS BOSS,

PHIL TESTA, ARE TAKING OFF WITH IT.

PICHINI: There were opportunities for the mob

that didn't exist before.

ANASTASIA: I mean, all of the sudden the state of New Jersey

has legalized a vice.

LEONETTI: Casinos made a ton of money after they're built,

but to get them built

it cost them at that time I think like 500,000 a day.

We laid the foundation for what we wanted to do.

We started with the unions and got all of them under

our control.

We were in a position to make big, big money.

GIULIANI: The Mafia became more powerful than any organized

crime group had ever become.

Because they had morphed into an organization that had

economic power, political power, control of the industries.

NARRATOR: THE PHILADELPHIA MOB STARTS A COMPANY TO TAKE

ADVANTAGE OF THE CONSTRUCTION BOOM,

NAMING IT AFTER THE MAN IN CHARGE,

TESTA'S TRUSTED CONSIGLIERE, NICKY SCARFO

LEONETTI: I formed Scarf Inc., which was a concrete company,

I was doing all union jobs but I was a non-union contractor.

Nobody bothered me because naturally they knew who I was.

ANASTASIA: If you don't want labor problems and delays

then your general contractor better hire Scarf Inc as the sub

who's gonna pour the cement.

And that's the way they legitimatized some of what

they were doing.

GIULIANI: No criminal organization in the history

of our country, has ever infiltrated legitimate

institutions of society, the way the mafia was able to do.

NARRATOR: AND THERE'S ANOTHER MOB GROWTH INDUSTRY IN THIS NEW

GAMBLING MECCA: LOANSHARKING.

LEONETTI: We started lending people money,

for so many points.

Like on $10,000, if you charged them five points,

you'd be making 500 a week,

Just in interest until they paid the $10,000 back.

You already have a reputation for violence.

So for someone to come

to borrow money from us, they got to be really desperate.

NARRATOR: IT'S SCARFO'S JOB TO COLLECT,

AND PHIL LEONETTI IS HIS INDISPENSABLE MAN,

BORN AND BRED TO BE HIS UNCLE'S SOLDIER.

ANASTASIA: Phil Leonetti was a fairly intelligent kid.

He played basketball for Holy Spirit High School,

was a point guard, and at one point wanted to go to pharmacy

school. But his uncle

he said pharmacists are sissies, you don't want to be

a pharmacist.

NARRATOR: HIS UNCLE HAS GROOMED HIM SINCE CHILDHOOD TO BE

A SOLDIER IN HIS MOB.

LEONETTI: When I was about eight years old,

my uncle Nick Scarfo came to me and said Philip,

I want you to take a ride with me.

While we were in this pickup truck he was telling me

the story of this guy, this bad guy, Reds Caruso,

who he just killed.

And he said he was a very bad man

and we used the truck to dump his body.

Now what we're gonna do is bring the truck to Philadelphia

to get it chopped up, to get rid of it.

And he says I'm bringing you with me so it doesn't look

too suspicious.

I don't want to be stopped by the police or anything.

You know, it made me feel

big because he was actually telling me.

I was an eight-year-old kid.

He was making me feel like an adult.

My mother hated him and my mother always told me,

what are you doing hanging around with this man?

Stay away from him, he's crazy.

My mother always referred to him as Hitler.

NARRATOR: LEONETTI SEES FIRST-HAND HOW PEOPLE REGARD

HIS UNCLE ON THE BOARDWALK: AS A CELEBRITY.

LEONETTI: My uncle would take me to the beach in the summertime.

And this one time, we were walking down from the boardwalk

onto the beach

and there was fellas there, these really big guys with

tattoos all over the place which scared me half to death

cause I was about 10 years old.

But as we got closer, when they seen my uncle they went

absolutely crazy.

They called him, said, Nick! How ya doin?

They did everything but kiss his feet.

I mean they showed him all kinds of respect, and I said, wow!

They made a big impression on me, that, you know,

in my mind that's the type of person I wanted to be.

NARRATOR: A BIG PART OF SCARFO'S AURA IS HIS REPUTATION

AS A STONE-COLD KILLER...

A REP THAT GOES BACK DECADES TO A NOTORIOUS INCIDENT IN A DINER.

LEONETTI: My Uncle Nick Scarfo is in and diner and he got in

a fight with a real big fella.

SCARFO: Ahh!

LEONETTI: This man was choking my uncle Nick.

He was ready to pass out at the counter,

But as he was being choked he reached back on the counter

and grabbed a butter knife...

SCARFO: Ahhh!!

LEONETTI: And stabbed this guy in the heart

And the guy died.

The way he stabbed him, it just happened to hit

the guy's heart and if it didn't pierce his heart,

I mean it would have been just a regular stab wound.

ANASTASIA: Now he's arrested and he ends up being convicted

of manslaughter.

His argument was it was in self-defense.

LEONETTI: But he made out pretty good because he got six

to eighteen months, he served like six months

and was released.

NARRATOR: AND THAT'S JUST THE BEGINNING OF ONE OF

THE BLOODIEST CAREERS IN THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MOB.

IN THE 1980s, NEW YORK'S FIVE MAFIA FAMILIES RULE ORGANIZED

CRIME IN AMERICA WITH AN IRON FIST,

EXERTING THEIR POWER THROUGH REGIONAL BOSSES,

LIKE PHIL TESTA AND HIS HENCHMAN, NICKY SCARFO,

IN PHILADELPHIA.

LEONETTI: If we have a problem with someone,

we don't call the police, we take care of it ourselves.

NARRATOR: AND SCARFO GROOMS HIS NEPHEW, PHIL LEONETTI,

FOR YEARS TOWARDS HIS ONE TRUE GOAL: BECOMING A MADE MAN

IN HIS CRIME FAMILY.

LEONETTI: My uncle Nick Scarfo always told me that

to get involved with the La Cosa Nostra you gotta commit

a murder.

And with him he wanted me to kill two people.

Cause he wanted me to have a reputation as a killer,

like he did.

JOHN MARKS: For a lot of people watching,

killing for them is the furthest thing from their experience,

maybe you can help us understand what's in your mind.

LEONETTI: I had no feelings one way or the other.

I didn't enjoy it, I didn't dislike it.

I just did my job, my duty.

We kill no legitimate people, no nice people...

All the guys I killed were guys like myself.

Everybody was a bad guy.

I mean, this was our life in La Cosa Nostra.

NARRATOR: BUT LEONETTI IS NICKY SCARFO'S NEPHEW,

WHICH MEANS THE BAR TO BECOMING A MADE MAN IS HIGHER

AND BLOODIER.

HE MUST KILL AGAIN.

AND THE TARGET THIS TIME IS VINCENT FALCONE,

HIS PARTNER ON THE FIRST MURDER.

LEONETTI: In the case of Vincent Falcone,

yeah, he deserved to get killed, the way he was talking about

my uncle

and saying crazy things about him.

And my uncle went completely berserk

and decided to kill him.

So we made believe we were going to have a party

at his house in Margate

He was getting a little suspicious,

so I tried to break the ice a little bit by telling him

go make some drinks

Get the scotch, you know, we'll have a few drinks and all...

Pulled the gun out that I had in my waist...

and shot him behind the head.

He fell down, and my uncle checked out Vincent's body,

listened to his heart, he says, give him another shot

Shoot him again in his heart.

PICHINI: Scarfo looks in to the face of the corpse

Of Vincent Falcone and says, I love this.

I absolutely love this.

LEONETTI: He loved murder.

He loved killing people.

He always says, you gotta kill and you gotta keep on

killing them.

My uncle just kept saying, I love this so much.

The big shot's dead.

And he drank so much scotch that he got drunk,

he was falling down drunk. That's how happy he was.

This is the first time and only time that he hugged me

and kissed me and told me he loved me.

And then he said this was big,

it's on record now that we did something for the family,

and I'm a proposed member so I'm on my way to be made.

ANASTASIA: Traditionally, to get involved in the mafia,

I mean you would be an associate at first.

Maybe you're picking up some money.

Taking money here to there.

If you get involved and you become an earner,

somebody who can be trusted, you become a higher associate.

Eventually you may be proposed for membership.

NARRATOR: BECOMING A MADE MAN IS THE PINNACLE IN THE AMERICAN

MOB, THE MOMENT WHEN A WANNABE GANGSTER BECOMES THE REAL THING.

PICHINI: It's called 'making your bones.

And these mob families in a making ceremony,

they pay allegiance not to the flag,

they pay allegiance to the gun and the knife.

STAMBOULIDIS: Those who become inducted into it,

to pledge their allegiance to the criminal society,

and not to turn on or cooperate with law enforcement or reveal

the secrets of this criminal gang.

NARRATOR: LEONETTI'S ALLEGIANCE TO MOB BOSS PHIL TESTA

IS NOW SECURE.

LEONETTI: My Uncle told us that Phil was opening up the books

to La Cosa Nostra to make people.

There was a big circle formed, and I walked in the center of

the circle and who's sitting down at the head of the table,

is Philip Testa and my uncle, Nick Scarfo.

And the first question Philip Testa asks me is do you know

why you're here?

Naturally, I know why I'm there, but you're supposed to say no,

Nah, I don't know. laughs.

And when you say that everybody laughs because

everybody knows you know why you're there.

And then he says,

if I needed you and your mother was dying on her deathbed,

would you come to me or would you go to your mother?

I said, I would come to here first, Phil.

He says, I know you would.

He said, do you see this gun and this knife on the table?

I said yeah, he said, would you use that to protect

anybody here? I said yes, I would.

He says, okay what we're gonna do is I got a picture

of a saint here.

He says, your Uncle's gonna prick your finger

and then I'm gonna light the picture of the saint on fire

and put it in your palms.

He told me cup your hands and as the picture

of the saint is burning I want you to juggle it in your hands.

And as you're juggling it I want you to say 'May I burn like

this saint if I betray my friends.' And at that point

I was a fully initiated member.

And it meant more, actually, me being made, to my uncle,

than it did to me.

He felt like- he felt proud, it was like

I'm part of his world now.

NARRATOR: THEN OVERNIGHT THAT WORLD IS ROCKED

TO ITS FOUNDATIONS.

NEWS REPORTER: Philip 'Chicken Man' Testa,

Blown up by a bomb on his front doorstep.

ANASTASIA: Phil 'Chicken Man' Testa is probably the only

gangster celebrated in a Bruce Springsteen song.

And there's a line in the song, they blew up the Chicken Man

last night.

NARRATOR: TESTA WALKS THROUGH HIS FRONT DOOR AND A BOMB

DETONATES, BLOWING HIM TO PIECES...

...A NOISE SO LOUD THE NEIGHBORS THINK THE NEARBY GAS REFINERY

HAS EXPLODED.

IT'S THE DAWN OF A BLOODY NEW ERA IN PHILLY.

TESTA'S ASSASSINATION ALLOWS NICKY SCARFO TO RISE

TO THE THRONE OF BOSS.

THE STRUGGLE FOR PHILADELPHIA BETWEEN TWO OF NEW YORK'S

PROMINENT MAFIA FAMILIES, THE GAMBINOS AND THE GENOVESE,

NOW TIPS TOWARD THE GENOVESE.

THEY KNOW AND TRUST NICKY SCAFRO.

ANASTASIA: Scarfo has a line to New York with the Genovese

family.

The reason he has that line is he was jail with a couple

other wise guys from New Jersey including Louis Bobby Manna.

LEONETTI: So after they got out of prison,

They kept that relationship going.

NARRATOR: BUT THE QUESTION REMAINS: WHO KILLED PHIL TESTA?

STAMBOULIDIS: Vincent Gigante, was the boss of the Genovese

family and a ruling member of the commission,

was concerned about what happened in Philadelphia.

Namely, the unsanctioned, unapproved by the commission,

murders, hits of two mob bosses.

NARRATOR: FIRST ANGELO BRUNO IN 1980...

...AND NOW PHIL TESTA IN 1981.

STAMBOULIDIS: If that went unchecked, people in Cosa Nostra

would get the idea that you could kill a boss of a family

without commission approval, Without consequence.

NARRATOR: THE GENOVESE FAMILY NOW HAS ITS MAN AT THE TOP

IN PHILADELPHIA.

BUT THERE'S SOME UNFINISHED BUSINESS.

LEONETTI: They told my uncle, whoever was involved

kill them. And that's what we did.

NARRATOR: PHIL LEONETTI AND HIS FRIEND SALVIE TESTA CARRY OUT

THE DEATH SENTENCE.

ANASTASIA: Scarfo gets Testa's son, Salvie Testa,

to be one of his main shooters in all of this.

LEONETTI: And Salvie was on him.

It was his father, and he wanted justice.

He wanted to kill everybody.

Salvie Testa was on Chickie Narducci every day.

Until finally one day, he caught him just right.

TESTA: Hey, Chickie!

LEONETTI: And Salvie told me, Philip,

I just gave him enough time to look at my face before

I shot him.

ANASTASIA: When Salvie Testa shot and killed Frank Narducci,

according to a couple wise guys I talked to, Salvie Testa said,

I wish he would come back to life so I could shoot him again.

NARRATOR: SALVIE TESTA'S ON THE WARPATH TO AVENGE HIS FATHER'S

MURDER AND NARDUCCI IS NOT THE ONLY ONE TO FEEL HIS WRATH.

ANASTASIA: The guy who planted the bomb was a mob associate

named Rocco Marinucci.

He's found dead, a year to the day of the Testa murder.

His body is in an abandoned lot in South Philadelphia,

and he's got three large firecrackers stuck in his mouth.

That was the vengeance he wanted because of the death

of his father.

NARRATOR: BUT THE SCARFO GANG'S WAVE OF VIOLENCE STARTS BRINGING

REAL LAW ENFORCEMENT HEAT, AND THEY SOON CHARGE SCARFO SOLDIER

PHIL LEONETTI FOR THE MURDER OF VINCENT FALCONE.

LEONETTI: They found Vincent Falcone's body a day later,

in the truck of his car in Margate, New Jersey.

And once they found his body, then, you know,

they're starting investigating the murder.

NARRATOR: THE COPS SQUEEZE A LOCAL PLUMBER NAMED JOE SALERNO

LEONETTI: And they went to go see Joe Salerno,

just as a fluke, cause they seen him around us.

They never suspected that he would be involved with a murder.

And he just spilled the beans and start telling them

everything and they were shocked They couldn't believe it.

NARRATOR: SALERNO WITNESSED THE FALCONE MURDER,

AND GIVES THEM ALL UP.

THE GOVERNMENT NOW HAS ITS STAR WITNESS,

AND ARRESTS THE RANKING LEADERS OF THE SCARFO GANG.

LEONETTI: We were facing life.

If we get convicted we're gonna go away from 25 years.

And we were ready for it. I mean we all accepted it.

NARRATOR: SALERNO DESCRIBES THE CRIME IN GRUESOME DETAIL.

PICHINI: He was one of the most compelling witnesses

that we had because

The way he described it, the emotion with which

he described it, he could not be making that up.

LEONETTI: But then on cross-examination,

there was too many statements that he made

that we used against him.

NEWS REPORTER: The state had hoped an eyewitness account of

the December murder would be enough to put the three behind

bars, but the defense managed to successfully discredit

the state's key witness, Joseph Salerno.

LEONETTI: As we were walking out of the courtroom,

after the verdict was read, a television guy came up

to him and says what do you got to say, Nick? He said

SCARFO: Thank god for the American jury system.

An honest jury.

LEONETTI: My uncle said that we got away with murder.

I mean, we beat this thing.

There's no way we should've beat this case

REPORTER: How does it feel to be home?

SCARFO: No comment.

NARRATOR: IT'S JUST ONE MORE EXAMPLE OF THE POWER

OF THE AMERICAN MOB.

EVEN IN THE 1980s, IT'S IMMUNE FROM PROSECUTION.

SCARFO IS BACK ON THE STREETS LOOKING UNTOUCHABLE,

THE NEW BOSS OF PHILADELPHIA.

LEONETTI: Once my uncle becomes the boss it was a great moment

for us and for our family, because now

we had all the unions in Atlantic City and we had all

the unions in Philadelphia, so we were in a position now

to make money.

Since my Uncle was the Boss

all the Captains have to start handing in whatever they make,

a piece of every illegitimate business out there.

And giving him his end.

ANASTASIA: And now he's got honey pot in Atlantic City,

wants everybody to pay tribute.

So now he's starting to collect street tax,

anybody who's making money has gotta give him money.

LEONETTI: We called that the elbow - us shaking down all

these illegal businesses, because it's strongarm.

and that's what it meant.

So we didn't have to say it; if we were out talking and

we were worried about getting picked up on surveillance

we just went like this.

We were making millions of dollars every year

from the elbow.

We'd make scores sometimes with drug dealers for 200, 300,000

at a time.

NARRATOR: BUT UNLIKE FORMER BOSS ANGELO BRUNO,

MERE WEALTH MAY NOT BE ENOUGH FOR NICKY SCARFO.

ANASTASIA: Someone said you should never make a poor man

the boss because he gets greedy and he loses sight over

what it's about.

I mean Bruno saw himself, I think

as the caretaker of an institution.

And he made plenty of money, but the idea was to ensure

the continuation of the institution.

Scarfo was just about it's mine now, give me the money.

NARRATOR: BUT MONEY AND SUCCESS DON'T DAMPEN SCARFO'S APPETITE

FOR VIOLENCE.

IF ANYTHING, THEY INCREASE IT.

PICHINI: His reign becomes a reign of terror.

Scarfo was like a Molotov cocktail.

You never knew when it was going to explode and you never knew

when it was going to explode in your presence and you were going

to be a victim.

ANASTASIA: Bruno ruled with an iron fist covered with

a velvet glove, Scarfo saw no need for the glove.

And where Bruno, murder was a negotiating tool of last resort,

for Scarfo, murder was a calling card.

NARRATOR: SCARFO ENFORCES HIS STREET TAX WITHOUT MERCY

PICHINI: Every conflict was settled through the barrel

of the gun.

NEWS REPORTER: A mob war that has left 18 men dead

in the last four years.

PICHINI: This is what the Scarfo mob was about.

This captures the cold bloodedness

of the Scarfo mob.

NARRATOR: THE BODY COUNT KEEPS RISING AND THE FEAR ESCALATES,

PERMEATING THE STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA.

LEONETTI: We went to Bobby Stone's jewelry store,

but on our way to the store, Salvie says let's go see

this Enrico Riccobene,

Let's go shake him up.

NARRATOR: BUT ENRICO RICCOBENE IS NO GANGSTER.

HE'S A LEGITIMATE JEWELLER.

LEONETTI: So we go to his window in front of his store there

And we're banging on the window and Salvie's yelling open

the door, we want to talk to you!

NARRATOR: RICCOBENE IS TERRIFIED AND RETREATS TO THE BACK

OF THE STORE.

LEONETTI: So we didn't think nothing of it.

About ten, fifteen minutes went by.

All the cops surrounded us, picked us up, took us in.

I didn't know what was going on.

Come to find out later on the kid got so scared we were

banging on the window wanting to talk to him

he blew his brains out. People were scared of us.

Most of us were sons of made guys,

so people were scared to death of us.

Salvie said that we don't even have to kill these guys anymore,

he was telling me, they'll kill themselves.

NARRATOR: IN THE STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA IN THE 1980S,

MOB BOSS NICKY SCARFO GROWS ANGRY WITH THE POPULARITY

OF ONE OF HIS OWN CAPTAINS:

THIS MAN...SALVIE TESTA, THE SON OF THE FORMER BOSS, PHIL TESTA.

SCARFO AND HIS GANG ARE RAKING IN MILLIONS,

BUT MONEY DOESN'T STOP HIS PARANOIA ABOUT ONE

OF HIS OWN MEN.

PICHINI: Salvie Testa would be known as a real deal mobster.

He was someone who was very loyal to Scarfo.

Everyone else looked up to, they admired,

Somebody that they wanted to follow.

ANASTASIA: Leonetti and Salvie Testa were contemporaries.

Salvie Testa's father was Chicken Man Testa,

the underboss.

Leonetti's uncle father figure was Scarfo the consigliere.

They came from the same place in that respect.

LEONETTI: And Philip Testa was my uncle's best friend,

and Philip Testa even told my uncle- If anything ever happens

to me please take care of my son.

NARRATOR: BUT SALVIE'S HIGH PROFILE PUTS HIM SQUARELY

IN SCARFO'S CROSSHAIRS.

ANASTASIA: The Wall Street Journal does a front-page

article calling him the Mafia prince of Philadelphia.

And they call him this charismatic - and he was,

a handsome young guy- Stocky, well built, the girls loved him.

His father was the boss who had been killed.

He had the blood lines. Scarfo apparently went nuts.

This guy, you know, ultimately he's gonna come after me.

And Leonetti kept his mouth shut when all this was going on.

LEONETTI: I didn't know what to do.

He was my best friend and we grew up together. I didn't...

I thought about killing my uncle.

But I just couldn't kill him.

Because I just couldn't do it. I was just, I was just there.

NARRATOR: BUT SCARFO ISSUES THE ORDER AND THAT'S ALL IT TAKES.

LEONETTI: Salvie knew.

He felt- you know, he felt the vibes.

When we were saying goodbye, Chuckie kissed Salvie,

uh kissed him on the lips like the kiss of death.

JOHN MARKS: When it happened, what happened to you?

LEONETTI: Well, I knew he was gonna get killed,

I couldn't do nothing about it. I just let it happen.

Joey Punch drove him over to this store that was empty.

When he went to go shake Wainy Grandy's hand,

Joey Grandy shot him in the back of the head.

I wanted to tell him, but

It's not the type of kid if I told him he was going

to run away. He was going to shoot it out.

I did what I had to do, because that's the way I was brought up.

I thought I was doing something good but, that's how I am.

That was my life.

ANASTASIA: His murder I think epitomized all that was wrong

with the Scarfo organization.

And again, it's not to say that any murder is ever right,

but Salvie Testa literally put his life on the line for Scarfo

when Scarfo became the boss.

NEWSMAN: The Salvatore Testa funeral procession arrived

at St. Paul's Catholic church in South Philadelphia shortly

after 10 this morning.

PICHINI: Scarfo had a fatal flaw.

His fatal flaw was a blood lust.

And that blood lust psychopathically drove him

and his decisions.

And it was his decision to murder Salvie Testa that was

really the breaking point.

NARRATOR SALVIE TESTA'S MURDER SENDS A CLEAR SIGNAL TO EVERYONE

IN THE PHILADELPHIA MOB: NO ONE IS SAFE.

LEONETTI: All the made guys, all the tough guys,

all the gangsters are scared to death of what my uncle did

because they're saying if they-

if he could kill Salvie, who was like his son,

we don't stand a chance here.

NARRATOR: BY 1984, EVERYONE UNDER SCARFO NOW BEGINS FEARING

FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY.

ANASTASIA: Scarfo is a psychopath, and he's paranoid.

He's always worried about

who's gonna turn on him, and who's gonna come at him.

Because that's his mindset.

You know, he's always- you gotta kill somebody before

they kill you.

NARRATOR: AFTER TESTA'S DEATH, SCARFO SHAKES UP THE FAMILY

STRUCTURE, DEMOTING EVEN OLD FRIENDS LIKE CHUCKY MERLINO.

LEONETTI: He had a meeting, he took Chuckie down as underboss

and he made me the underboss.

ANASTASIA: It was that, wanton unnecessary violence,

the treachery, the turning on guys that had put their life

on the line for you, all of that which flied in the face

of the whole Godfather honor society, all of that nonsense.

Leonetti, like other members of the organization realized,

he's taking us all over a cliff.

LEONETTI: I lost faith in my uncle,

and I lost faith in La Cosa Nostra, because he was the boss,

he didn't follow any of the rules that he wanted everybody

else to follow.

BY THE MID-1980s, THE WALLS ARE CLOSING IN ON PHILLY MOB BOSS

LITTLE NICKY SCARFO.

FIRST HE STARTS KILLING ANY OF HIS GANG HE CAN'T TRUST...

...AND THEN THE LAW STARTS ARRESTING THE OTHERS.

LEONETTI: Nick Caramandi who was friendly with my uncle,

who was a con man.

So he wound up getting in trouble.

He wound up taking a fall and getting indicted,

and he knew my uncle was mad at him,

and he thought my uncle was gonna kill him.

ANASTASIA: So from prison he calls the FBI.

Virtually the same time, Tommy DelGiorno's being told

by the New Jersey State Police, you got this problem.

He flips.

NARRATOR: NOW TWO SCARFO FAMILY MEMBERS HAVE TURNED,

INCREASING THE HEAT ON THE BOSS, LITTLE NICKY.

NEWSMAN: He is the only one who can okay the crime of murder,

DelGiorno said, and went on to list fourteen hits ordered

by his boss.

PICHINI: All law enforcement agencies never had a mobster

become a government witness. We now did.

We had it because the two individuals felt that they had

become sideways with Scarfo.

So the choice isn't so hard then to become a government witness.

NARRATOR: IN 1986, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INDICTS SCARFO

AND MOST OF HIS LEADERSHIP ON CHARGES OF CONSPIRACY AND MURDER

LAWYER: The enterprise was known as the Bruno family and then

the Scarfo family of La Costa Nostra, this thing of ours.

The indictment charges not only Nicodemo Scarfo

and Philip Leonetti, but several other individuals.

PICHINI: This was going to be one of the last time that

we would be able to go in and prosecute Scarfo and this time

the setting was not only Scarfo, it was all his mob members.

It was the capos, it was the soldiers,

we had seventeen defendants in the courtroom, uh,

seventeen lawyers. This time

law enforcement truly, not only was energized, it was galvanized

NEWSMAN: Nicodemo Little Nicky Scarfo has reigned

over Philadelphia and Atlantic City as one of the nation's

most violent mafia bosses.

But the reputed Scarfo crime family may be about to crumble

from within.

LEONETTI: I'm praying, I says, I hope I beat this case,

get outta here and get away from him.

And if I don't beat it, I'm gonna get my family

and my kid out of here.

I'll call the feds up and start cooperating.

JUDGE: The state of New Jersey Versus Nicodemo Scarfo

and Philip Leonetti and others.

I'll ask counsel first to please enter appearances.

COUNSEL: ...waive a reading of the indictment,

simply enter pleas of not guilty.

NARRATOR: AFTER A TWO-MONTH TRIAL, SCARFO, LEONETTI,

AND 15 OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PHILADELPHIA MOB ARE CONVICTED

ON RACKETEERING CHARGES IN NOVEMBER 1988.

LEONETTI: I was charged, I believe,

with four murders, extortions, gambling, beatings.

I was facing 45 years.

PICHINI: And at that point where he got 45 years, um,

he decided to cooperate.

ANASTASIA: I remember on a Sunday,

I get a call from another reporter who covers federal

court, and she says to me, Leonetti has flipped.

LEONETTI: My decision to cooperate was a very, very

hard decision, even though I was so disgusted with my uncle.

But it was a decision I wanted to make.

I didn't want my son to grow up in this environment.

ANASTASIA: And I mean, that sent shockwaves.

People in law enforcement couldn't believe it number one,

and people in the underworld were- you know,

this is a guy who was inside the inner circle.

You know, it was a circle within a circle kind of thing.

He was there.

PICHINI: Leonetti was really at that point the highest-ranking

mob member ever to turn and become a government witness.

On top of that, Leonetti was Scarfo's nephew.

That made his cooperation then even more significant.

ANASTASIA: And as a witness he was probably one of the most

effective that I've ever seen.

NARRATOR: IN VIVID DETAIL, LEONETTI DESCRIBES THE SCENE

OF THE CRIME WHEN HE MURDERS VINCENT FALCONE IN COLD BLOOD.

HE MAKES CLEAR THAT SCARFO IS CALLING THE SHOTS.

YOUNG LEONETTI: My uncle was watching TV and he was making

drinks and I shot him.

DEFENSE ATTY: You intended to take him unaware?

YOUNG LEONETTI: Yes sir. That's our life in La Cosa Nostra.

DEFENSE: Your uncle checked his breathing?

LEONETTI: Yes sir. DEFENSE: What did he say?

LEONETTI: Shoot him again. DEFENSE: And what did you do?

LEONETTI: Shot him

NARRATOR: LEONETTI'S TESTIMONY DOES PERMANENT DAMAGE

TO THE PHILADELPHIA MOB, WHICH NEVER FULLY RECOVERS.

SCARFO HIMSELF IS CURRENTLY SERVING OUT A LIFE SENTENCE

IN A MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON IN NORTH CAROLINA.

ANASTASIA: And Leonetti testified and he ultimately

had his sentenced reduced

to five years, five months and five days.

NARRATOR: AND TODAY LEONETTI'S A FREE MAN WITH A FAMILY

OF HIS OWN.

LEONETTI: I have a new life now.

A lot of guys that I was friendly with went away

for twenty, thirty years.

But, you know, most of my friend's, like Salvie,

he's dead, uh Lawrence Merlino, he died.

My uncle's still living, but he'll live forever until

I get killed, until he kills me.

NARRATOR: THAT' WHY LEONETTI REMAINS IN THE SHADOWS.

EVEN NOW, EVERY DAY, HE FEARS THE POSSIBILITY OF HIS UNCLE'S

WRATH IN THE FORM OF AN EXECUTION.

LEONETTI: Well, there's a contract out on my life,

he wants to kill me, my family.

My uncle knows a lot of people, especially in New York.

And he can find help to have me killed.

So I gotta be careful.

PICHINI: Law enforcement would not have been successful without

Scarfo's commitment to violence.

His decision to murder Salvie Testa was his Waterloo,

and the death knell for the Philadelphia Mob family.

And it was the death knell for Omerta within

the Philadelphia mob.

Whatever relationships they have, those don't exist anymore.

Whatever power they had doesn't exist anymore.

They have been reduced to a street gang.

REPORTER: As the old mafia dies, so will more of its members.

RON GOLDSTOCK: It's a very bad time for the mob.

NARRATOR: LEONETTI'S COOPERATION IS THE BEGINNING OF A DOMINO

EFFECT WITHIN THE FIVE FAMILIES OF THE NEW YORK MOB...

...A SIGN THAT THE OLD TRADITIONS OF LOYALTY

AND SECRECY OF WHAT'S CALLED 'OMERTA' ARE GIVING WAY

TO THE PRESSURE OF A NEWLY INVIGORATED

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT...

MAN: We have proven that la Cosa Nostra can be taken on.

That the community can be protected.

NARRATOR: ...A DEPARTMENT THAT WILL USE MEN LIKE CRAZY

PHIL LEONETTI TO ATTACK AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF MOBSTERS...

NEWSMAN: As the arrests continued,

the FBI said it was the worst night ever for the mafia.

NARRATOR: ...AND IT WILL SERVE AS THE DEATH KNELL OF NEW YORK'S

INFAMOUS FIVE FAMILIES.

REPORTER: You got something to say, Tony?

TONY SALERNO: Hey, Go xxxx yourself.

REPORTER: Thank you.