The Scarfo-Riccobene War was a mob conflict in the Philadelphia crime family between boss Nicodemo Scarfo and renegade soldier Harry Riccobene lasting from 1982 to 1983. When Riccobene refused to bow down and pay tribute to Scarfo after he arrived to power, the boss ordered that he, his brothers and all other loyalists be killed.
History[]
Harry Riccobene and his brothers Robert and Mario ran their own Mafia crew in South Philadelphia which still paid tribute to the Philadelphia crime family but acted mostly independently. Riccobene had an understanding with boss Angelo Bruno that he would pay him respect but he wasn't directly under the family's jurisdiction. However, Bruno was killed in March 1980, and his successor Philip Testa was himself killed with a nail bomb under the front porch of his home in March 1981, leading to Nicodemo Scarfo arriving to power. Scarfo, a more violent and ruthless mob boss than his predecessors, imposed a street tax on every illegal organization in Philadelphia, which included the Riccobene crew, but they initially refused. Sensing an impending threat, Scarfo told his consigliere Frank Monte to approach Mario Riccobene and propose he join their side. After pretending to consider the offer, Mario informed his brother of Scarfo's plot, and the Riccobenes prepared for war. The first victim of the warfare was Scarfo's messenger, Frank Monte, who was shot to death by Riccobene's henchman Joseph Pedulla outside a gas station in Southwest Philadelphia on 13 May 1982. For the duration of the war, Scarfo relayed orders to his subordinates from prison, as he was serving a two-year sentence for gun possession at La Tuna Federal Institution in Anthony, Texas.
It wasn't long before the Scarfo faction retaliated and Harry Riccobene was shot inside a telephone booth as he was talking to his girlfriend by Scarfo gunman Salvatore Grande on 8 June 1982; the five-foot tall Riccobene survived a bullet to the chest and wrestled Grande's gun away from him, shooting at him with it as he ran away, but the ammunition was already empty. The main man on the hunt for the Riccobenes was Scarfo's protegé and Philip Testa's son Salvatore, who had been wounded in the conflict after a Riccobene hit team shot him in his left arm outside Philadelphia's Italian Market on 31 July 1982 and led a hit team comprised of Pat Spirito, Nicholas Caramandi and Charles Iannece. An attempt similar to the first against Riccobene's life took place on 21 August 1982, when Grande's brother Joseph shot at Riccobene inside his car, but he managed to survive by crouching in the driver's seat. Eventually, Scarfo became tired of Spirito's apparent reluctance to dispatch rival targets so he ordered that Spirito himself be killed. On 29 April 1983, while on an apparent stake-out for Riccobene, Caramandi shot Spirito in the back of the head, killing him and fleeing the scene along with his partner Iannece.
The last stages of the war saw Scarfo redacting a list of about 10 targets to kill from prison, including Riccobene loyalist Frank Martines; when Thomas DelGiorno located him as he was about to drive to work on 14 October 1983, Charles Iannece and Eugene Milano ambushed him and shot him multiple times, though he survived. However, the Scarfo faction gained the upper hand after Nicholas Milano and Philip Narducci killed Salvatore Tamburrino in his variety store on 3 November 1983, and one month later, on 6 December 1983, Iannece, Francis Iannarella and Joseph Pungitore ran up on Robert Riccobene as he was taking a walk with his elderly mother outside her Southwest Philadelphia house; Riccobene attempted to run away by sprinting through a fence, but he didn't make the jump and Iannarella shot him in the back of the head, killing him and ending the Scarfo-Riccobene War. The conflict had a lasting impact on the crime family, and Riccobene's nephew Enrico even shot himself inside his jewelry store on 14 December 1983 after noticing Testa, Phil Leonetti and Lawrence Merlino outside. Riccobene himself and his remaining supporters would all be arrested on charges relating to the bloodshed in March 1984 and sentenced to life in prison, ensuring Scarfo's continuing reign over the organization.