Nicodemo Dominic "Little Nicky" Scarfo (8 March 1929 – 13 January 2017) was boss of the Philadelphia crime family from 1981 to 1991, succeeding Philip Testa and preceding John Stanfa.
Biography[]
Nicodemo Dominic Scarfo was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York on 8 March 1929, and he grew up in Franklin, New Jersey before becoming a boxer in Philadelphia. His uncle Nicholas Piccolo introduced him to the Philadelphia crime family, and he was "made" in 1954. Angelo Bruno had him oversee the family's operations in Atlantic City during the 1960s and 1970s, and he founded his own cement contracting company, intimidating businesses into buying from his company. After Bruno's 1980 murder, Scarfo became Philip Testa's consigliere; after Testa's murder in 1981, Scarfo became boss.
Boss of Philadelphia[]
Scarfo on trial
The paranoid and aggressive Scarfo led the family in a bloody rampage, purging the family of those who were responsible for Testa's murder, later turning on supporters of his who he could not trust (including his own godson and the late Testa's son, Salvatore Testa). The disloyal Scarfo was seen as bloodthirsty and dangerous, and he stepped up the family's trafficking of drugs and use of murder. In 1987, he was betrayed when some of his family members decided to turn states against him, and he was handed a life sentence for his involvement in several murders. He died in prison in Butner, North Carolina in 2017 at the age of 87.