Philly Breaks Down
There was little brotherly love for Philadelphia mobster Ralph Natale. He was the first Mafia boss to turn rat while still on the job. Not that a rat in the family was unusual for Philly, though usually the rats were small-time operators. This violation of Omerta was just the latest blow to the faltering Philadelphia family, a group that endured mob wars, RICO cases, and the turning of some of their top capos.
The Old-School Don
Prior to Natale turning traitor, the big boss of Philadelphia was the old-school Angelo Bruno. He was nicknamed “the Docile Don,” because he was more loath to use violence than any of his predecessors or contemporaries. Under his leadership the Philly family maintained an even keel, making millions from gambling, loansharking, narcotics, unions, and other rackets. But Bruno's ambivalence toward Atlantic City angered some of the New York families, while his underlings wanted a bigger slice of the pie. The low-level punks in the Philadelphia family were either jumping ship or getting a piece of the lucrative drug trade. Bruno was losing power and influence, and the boys in New York finally ordered his assassination. He was murdered in 1980.
Power Grab
The resulting fallout from Bruno's assassination set a series of events in motion that rocked the underworld for the next twenty years. Underlings scrambled to be the top banana in the days after the Docile Don's demise. Over thirty New Jersey and Philadelphia mobsters were murdered in the bloody battles, including one of Bruno's killers, Antonio “Tony Bananas” Caponigro, and the man who replaced Bruno, Phil “Chicken Man” Testa. By the time Nicky Scarfo and his successor, John Stanfa, were put behind bars, the Philly family was under the thumb of Ralph Natale.
Two of the victims in the endless Philly mob war of the early 1980s were members of a loosely affiliated Hellenic crime group, referred to as “the Greek Mob.” Led by Steve Bouras, the Greek Mob was engaged in many of the same rackets as the Philly family. There were also Greek crime figures in New York City, Chicago, Philly, and Tampa.
From Cop to Capo
The Natale-Merlino reign was a shaky one. One of the thorns in their side was a hoodlum named Ron Previte, who had been, interestingly enough, a Philadelphia police officer for ten years. He was the capo of a New Jersey crew.
Previte was unhappy with the leadership of Natale and Merlino, and their dynasty was built on sand. Previte turned back from the Dark Side to the Force. In this case, the Force was the FBI. He “wore a wire,” meaning a recording device on his person. Hours of damning evidence was handed over to the feds. Natale and Merlino were indicted on drug charges.
Boss Rat
Feeling the heat, Ralph Natale became a federal informant and witness for the government. His former partner in crime, Merlino, and ten others were indicted, and the charges were expanded to include attempted murder and murder in the first degree. Merlino and most of his men were sent to prison, and Natale was shipped off to an undisclosed location. After Natale left, Joe Ligambi allegedly took control of the family. But if past history is any indicator, Ligambi's reign will be a short one.
