Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (13 March 1962-) was the boss of the Philadelphia crime family from 1999, succeeding Ralph Natale, and the underboss of the Philadelphia crime family from 1994 to 1999, succeeding Frank Martines and preceding Steven Mazzone. Merlino led an internal rebellion against boss John Stanfa in the 1990s, and after Stanfa's arrest in 1994, took over the Philadelphia Mafia. He was renowned for interacting with the media and never shying away from reporters.
Biography[]
Mafia career[]
Merlino in 1991.
Merlino was born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1962. His father was Chuckie Merlino, the underboss of the Philadelphia crime family under Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo. From an early age, Joey veered towards a life of crime, and formed a gang of associates, including Michael Ciancaglini, Steven Mazzone or Martin Angelina. He earned his first conviction in 1982, when he and his associate stabbed two patrons in an Atlantic City restaurant. He was found guilty in 1984. Merlino and his crew, often dubbed the "Young Turks" were a new generation of neighborhood mobsters, younger wiseguys who didn't abide strictly by the code of the Mafia and more by fraternity amongst themselves. Merlino's move which put him on the spotlight was the shooting of Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. on Halloween Night 1989. As the mob boss' son was eating his dinner at an Italian restaurant in South Philly, a masked gunman believed to be Merlino and carrying a trick-or-treat bag came up to him and pulled a MAC-10 machine pistol out of the bag, shooting him seven times before fleeing the restaurant in a getaway car. Scarfo Jr. survived, but the attack was meant to send a message that his recently indicted father no longer held any sway in Philadelphia, though the older Scarfo did put up a $500,000 bounty on Merlino's head. In 1989, Merlino was convicted of an armored truck hijacking and sentenced to three years in prison the following year.
War against Stanfa[]
Merlino after having been shot.
While imprisoned in 1990, Merlino became friendly with Philly Mob associate Ralph Natale, who was serving a 27-year sentence. Together, they plotted to take over the family once they were both released, and hatched a plan along with Merlino's Young Turks. Their sentiment strengthened when unpopular Sicilian-born boss John Stanfa was put in place by the Five Families in New York. Merlino decided to wage War against Stanfa, and he did so by ordering the killing of his top captain Felix Bocchino in January 1992. After being released from custody three months later, Stanfa attempted to prevent further conflict by making both Merlino and Michael Ciancaglini into the family in September 1992, though his efforts proved to be futile. Merlino and three loyalists attempted to kill Stanfa's underboss Joseph Ciancaglini on March 3, 1993, instead leaving him permanently comatose. Stanfa retaliated five months later, on August 5, 1993, when his soldiers Philip Coletti and John Veasey performed a drive-by shooting on Merlino and Michael Ciancaglini outside their Catherine Street social club: Merlino was injured and Ciancaglini died. In response, three weeks later, the Young Turks shot at Stanfa through a van as he was driven to work on the Schuylkill Expressway, but only managed to injure his son. Merlino was then arrested on a parole violation and sent to prison for a year. The War ended shortly after when Stanfa and 23 of his loyalists were arrested on March 16, 1994; they would later be convicted and given long sentences, Stanfa himself receiving a life penalty in 1996. With the Stanfa faction off the street and Merlino and Natale released from prison, they seized control of the Philadelphia family as they had planned.
Boss[]
Merlino in 1999.
Despite having taken over the family, Merlino would not officially proclaim himself as boss, instead giving that title to Natale, and becoming the underboss. His reasoning behind this action rose from the fact that Merlino preferred not to become the main target of law enforcement, and he let Natale deal with all the heat, all the while being the actual decision maker in the family. Their relationship also became more strained during this time. Merlino separated himself from other mob bosses in that he wasn't interested in keeping a low profile, interacting with the media regularly and presenting himself as a neighborhood hero. He hosted annual Christmas parties for homeless children and gave out turkies to the unemployed. In June 1998, Natale was arrested on a parole violation, and Merlino took over as boss, neglecting to pay Natale's family in their time of need. After being charged with drug trafficking in September 1999, Natale decided to cooperate, the first American Mafia boss ever to do so. He and informants Ron Previte, Peter Caprio and Gaetano Scafidi testified against Merlino and his associates during his trial in 1999. In the end, Merlino was convicted of racketeering and sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2001.
Merlino in 2018.
Merlino was released after serving almost 12 years on March 15, 2011. He was transferred to a halfway house in Florida where he decided to move to after serving his sentence. He was given four months in prison for a parole violation in 2015 but was freed after the sentence was vacated. In August 2016, Merlino was arrested as part of a RICO indictment charging him and 45 other East Coast mobsters with medical fraud and illegal gambling. He was released on a $5 million bond, and later went to trial in January 2018. After two weeks of testimony, the judge declared a mistrial, and to avoid being retried, Merlino struck a plea deal in April, pleading guilty to one count of illegal gambling, for which he was sentenced to a maximum of two years. He served one year in prison and another in a halfway house in Boca Raton, before being freed of all restrictions in July 2021.