Andrew Thomas Del Giorno - Scarfo's Downfall

Scarfo's Downfall

In March 1984 Scarfo was released from prison and was triumphant after all of his enemies had either been killed or incarcerated. No longer than a month after Nicky's release from prison another "piece of work" was thrown DelGiorno's way by the Boss.

Salvatore "Salvie" Testa had virtually led the Scarfo crime family during the war with the Riccobene faction, for most of the war Scarfo was in a prison cell in Texas. Testa even took a bullet for Scarfo, he was nearly killed when the Riccobenes fired a shotgun at him from a moving car. Testa survived and nearly lost his arm. Salvie Testa was loyal and the epitome of La Cosa Nostra, his father Phil had taught him well since he was a teenager. By 1984 at the age of 28 Salvie was a millionaire and had achieved the position of captain in the Scarfo crime family since his father made him in 1981.

Then in April 1984 Nicky Scarfo decided that Salvatore Testa had to die. Testa had recently broke off an engagement to Merlino's daughter Maria and expected Scarfo to side with him for his loyalty during the Riccobene war. But that war had left Scarfo paranoid and trigger happy.

Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino wouldn't let go of the fact Testa dumped his Maria. He began telling Scarfo that his youngest capo was involved in drug trafficking with a Black gang, trying to put together his own organization and possibly making moves to take over the Philadelphia Mob. Merlino was Scarfo's oldest friend and his underboss, if anyone could persuade Scarfo to murder one of his most loyal guys it was Chuckie. Merlino was desperate to avenge his honor.

Tommy DelGiorno and Faffy Iannarella was put in charge of supervising the Testa murder, Nick Caramandi and Charlie Iannece were going to be the shooters. But it was difficult, Testa was a professional hit man and knew all the tricks of the trade. He was extremely cautious and checked everyone who hugged him for a gun. The job seemed almost impossible and Scarfo was getting restless. So DelGiorno and Iannarella brought Salvatore "Wayne" Grande and Joseph "Joey Pung" Pungitore into the conspiracy. Pungitore was Testa's closest friend and would only go along with the job if he didn't have to pull the trigger. Wayne Grande on the other hand jumped at the opportunity to put a bullet in Testa.

Less than a week later Salvatore Testa the Crowned Prince of the Philadelphia Mob was dead and had been found hogtied at the side of a dirt road in Gloucester Township, New Jersey. Salvie had been lured to a meeting with Wayne Grande and Joey Pung at a candy store on Passyunk Avenue. There Salvie went into the back room where he shook the hand of Wayne Grande who was sitting on a sofa. Salvie then turned to talk to Joey Pung. At that moment Wayne took out a pistol hidden under a cushion and shot Testa in the back of his head; then shot him again as he lied on the floor lifelessly. Nicky Caramandi, Charlie Iannece and Salvatore "Tory" Scafidi helped get Testa out of the candy store and dumped the body in New Jersey.

Testa's murder created career opportunities all around. Nick Caramandi, Charlie Iannece and Joe Grande were made members of the Scarfo crime family. Tommy DelGiorno and Faffy Iannarella were promoted to acting capos of the old Ciancaglini crew and Testa's former crew respectively, assuming most of the responsibilities of the deceased Testa, who had been running both Philadelphia crews after Ciancaglini went to prison. Their operations included bookmaking, gambling and loan sharking. Nicky Scarfo took a third of the profits made by a major bookmaking operation put together by DelGiorno, Salvatore Testa and Pungitore. Wayne Grande was rewarded with 25% of Testa's business and Salvatore "Tory" Scafidi got a $500 a week job making numbers pick ups.

In some ways Testa's murder marked the beginning of Scarfo's downfall since it defeated most the trust the soldiers had in their leader, they had tolerated the previous murders because they all deserved it. But when Scarfo marked Testa for death many felt he had gone to far, Testa was a highly respected capo and popular made man.

By 1985 the New Jersey State Police's Organized Crime Bureau had targeted Nicky Scarfo and DelGiorno in a major gambling investigation. Nailing Scarfo was proving very difficult for the State Police, veteran detectives on the mob squad were amazed that a greedy, nepotistic and psychopathic killer like Nicky Scarfo had risen to the top spot in the Philadelphia Mob. They set their sights on DelGiorno, he was a much easier target as wiretaps on Scarfo were fruitless because Scarfo preferred to talk business face to face with his associates. Where DelGiorno often talked business at great length at his home. The only fear was that DelGiorno's wife Roseanne (a compulsive cleaner) would stumble upon one of their listening devices.

In February of that year Frank "JR" Forline was found lying in the cab of his pickup truck in the parking lot of a K mart in Marple Township, Pennsylvania. He had been shot five times in the head, neck and body. Forline was a loan shark and gambler who operated on the fringe of the Mafia in Philadelphia.

In spring of that year Scarfo decided it was time to send Frankie D'Alfonso one last message. He called a meeting with his top associates at the Wok, a trendy Chinese restaurant on Walnut Street in the middle of Philadelphia's Center City commercial and business district. Among the restaurant's regular customers of lawyers, bankers, office workers and shoppers. No one paid any attention to the group of casually dressed middle-aged men sitting at two tables in a far corner. There Nicky Scarfo, Chuckie and Yogi Merlino, Faffy Iannarella and Phil Leonetti spent three hours discussing the business agenda of the Philadelphia Mob. Murders, past and present, were a major topic of discussion. Specifically the murder of Frankie Flowers.

DelGiorno supervised the hit used Gino and Nicky Milano; Frank and Philip Narducci as the shooters. Frankie Flowers D'Alfonso was sitting on a crate in the middle of the block near Cartherine and Percy Streets enjoying a smoke when two men ran up behind him and fired five shots into his back and head. The hit men dumped their weapons at the scene and kept running to a waiting car. In seconds they had gone and Frankie Flowers was dead.

In 1986 DelGiorno's world began to unravel. A drug dealer who was ripped off by DelGiorno's crew was threatening to go to war and Scarfo didn't like that kind of aggravation. Nick Caramandi had been arrested by the FBI trying to extort money from a real estate developer. DelGiorno was Nick's capo and he knew he might be held responsible by Scarfo.

In March of that year Nicky Scarfo once again summoned his top associates to a meeting. At that meeting Scarfo demoted his underboss and best friend Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino to a soldier for his drunken behavior. Nicky stripped Lawrence "Yogi" Merlino of his capo rank also and promoted his nephew Phil Leonetti to underboss. At the same meeting Scarfo promoted Faffy Iannarella and Tommy DelGiorno to official captains.

From the pressure of the added responsibility and simply the constant fear brought on by the double-dealing and treachery that had become the trademarks of the Scarfo regime

That summer the New Jersey State Police found themselves in possession of tapes of Tommy DelGiorno ranting and raving about the organization and belittling the Boss.

"They're all pussies, four Irish guys from Northeast Philadelphia could run the mob better." -- Andrew Thomas DelGiorno on the Philadelphia Mob's leadership.

This was one of many recordings made by wiretaps planted in DelGiorno's home by the New Jersey State Police. Most of which consisted of DelGiorno's drunken ranting and raving about the mob's leadership.

Soldiers in DelGiorno's crew began complaining to Scarfo and Crazy Phil that Tommy was drunken and irrational, that he berated them for no reason. Tommy had become a problem just like John Calabrese and Chuckie Merlino. How Scarfo would resolve the problem was another matter.

In July of that year in the midst of the extortion investigation Scarfo sent word to DelGiorno, that he was being demoted to the rank of soldier and that he would now report to Faffy Iannarella. Iannarella had become DelGiorno's closest associate in the mob, but he had betrayed DelGiorno and spoke against him to Scarfo.

Tommy and Joey Pungitore would divide the cash from their bookmaking operation once every three or four months with Scarfo. But when asked, Scarfo said to let the cash sit for a while. Which told DelGiorno that he might not be around for much longer, he knew that Scarfo would never turn down a cut of $300,000. With DelGiorno out of the way Scarfo could take a cut of 50% as opposed to the third he was being offered at the time.

Then Tommy found that guys he bet with were holding back and avoided making bets with him. He knew this must mean that Scarfo had already decided how to handle the situation. Then one day two detectives from the New Jersey State Police turned up on his doorstep telling them that his Boss had put out a contract on Tommy's head.

Tommy Del played dumb with the detectives but the visit shook him up. He considered getting as much cash together as he could and going into hiding. He even thought about taking out Scarfo. Now just like Salvatore Testa before him, Tommy Del was living life on the edge constantly looking over his shoulder.

The detectives returned in November with what they called "proof". DelGiorno and the detectives sat down in his house. There they listened to the recordings on a pair of cassette tapes. The detectives said that one tape was of DelGiorno himself and the other was of Faffy Iannarella and Wayne Grande. Tommy arranged to meet up at a hotel with the detectives to listen to the tapes.

At the hotel room Tommy listened over a cup of coffee to the sound of Iannarella and Grande discussing his demotion at the hands of Scarfo. Iannarella talked of wondering about DelGiorno's fate in the organization and Wayne Grande responded "Ain't nothin' gonna happen to him... yet." The detectives reminded DelGiorno of what he had said on the other tape and that Scarfo, himself and many others were going to be indicted on the basis of that tape.

Already in trouble for the drug deal and the Penn's Landing waterfront extortion, DelGiorno knew that the New Jersey indictment would seal his fate. He knew that the tapes of him belittling Scarfo would eventually be heard by him when the prosecutors handed the tapes over to their defense attorneys.

The next day Scarfo, DelGiorno and the others were all arrested. Word of the secret state police tapes surfaced and DelGiorno became the number one man on Scarfo's hit list. Shortly after Tommy Del made bail, his son Bobby was driving Tommy's car home when he noticed a suspicious car begin to follow him. After pulling into his father's driveway, the car drove by, and Bobby recognized Salvatore "Tori" Scafidi in the passenger seat, as well as another familiar face slouching in the backseat who may have possibly been Nicky Milano. Milano and Scafidi were younger members of the Scarfo organization known at that time to be active hitmen. Bobby considered it odd that the young men would go out of their way to drive by the DelGiorno home without stopping in, but when Tommy learned of the incident, he immediately believed that it had been a hit team ready to kill had it been he who stepped out of the car.

Two days later, Tommy arranged another meeting with Detective Ed Johnson, this time in the parking lot of the airport hotel the following Sunday on November 9. From the parking lot the two men went to a hotel room where they discussed DelGiorno's predicament.

"What can I tell them they can expect from you?"-Ed Johnson talking to DelGiorno. "Everything"-Andrew Thomas DelGiorno agreeing to become an FBI informant.

Tommy DelGiorno was the first of five informants that eventually gave evidence against Scarfo and his associates. He was soon joined by Nicholas "the Crow" Caramandi and Eugene "Gino" Milano. Later they were joined by Lawrence "Yogi" Merlino and Phil Leonetti. And together the five of them put Nicky Scarfo and many others away for the rest of their lives.