Loading ...

By Marla Eggar

Joseph Salvatore “Skinny Joey” Merlino is a South Philly native believed to be the head of the Philadelphia mob. Merlino came on the scene in the early 90s as an alluring, magnetic and poised personality. Merlino may be better known in the mob world for the war he initiated with John Stanfa when Stanfa was chosen as the new leader of the Philadelphia Crime family. Stanford was chosen because of his maturity and low profile. Merlino on the other hand headed a fraction in the family referred to as the “Young Turks.”

This crew was stocked with more of the “young bloods” in the family whose loyalty remain with each other. The “Young Turks” were also more prone to the limelight and media attention. When the war within the family broke out media attention and the limelight were also accompanied by casualties. Still, by “95” Merlino was declared the winner and became an impressive leader. Now, at the age of 55 Merlino has spent, at least 20 years, of his life behind bars. Despite speculation of participating or orchestrating many hits he’s never once been convicted of murder.

However, last summer Merlino was arrested in Boca Raton at his condo down in Florida as part of an FBI sweep in a multi-state (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Florida) East Coast mob round up. Merlino was charged with illegal Gambling, gun sales and healthcare fraud. In the beginning, the charges against Merlino looked daunting. If convicted he could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison. On the other hand, a change in the wind has revealed Merlino (once again) to be nothing more than resilient! I personally thought he was going away once it was revealed the Feds had cooperating witnesses.

To make matters worse, these witnesses were harnessed with audio and video recording equipment that captured hundreds of hours of taped conversations in which Merlino was a part of at one point or another. Unfortunately for the FBI, the “rat” who could’ve been Merlino’s undoing has now had the reverse effect. Two FBI agents are now the targets of an internal investigation into the way a key cooperating witness was directed… Talk about dumb luck! The case against Merlino is formed around tapes made by a former Genovese crime family associate named Rubeo who started cooperating after being arrested on drug dealing charges.

Apparently, the issue (from the authorities’ standpoint) is how protocols were ignored when Rubeo moved to Florida. In addition, Rubeo’s bellyaching about the way he was managed by the FBI and about prosecutors inadequate handling of evidence, (OJ Simpson all over again!) has been made public. So, in the event this case goes to trial trust and believe this situation will be brought up and it won’t look good for the prosecution. So, what do you think? Should the prosecution just drop the charges and let Merlino walk? Should Merlino reconsider and take the two-year plea bargain? Or do you think Merlino should just go to trial and let the chips fall where they may?

Vote in the NewzBreaker Poll with your thoughts…

[si-contact-form form=’3′]