2009 Mob Talk on Skinny Joey Merlino and John Borgesi

thank you everyone for subscribing to infinitely Productions if if you have not done so please click the bell and subscribe and we hope you enjoy our content welcome to this week's edition of mob talk I'm Dave shat Weiser and I'm George Anastasia with the Philadelphia Inquirer George this week we're going to talk about a couple of guys we haven't spoke about for about 10 years because they've been behind bars Joey Marino and George Borg yeah Joey will be out probably in about a year a year and a month or two Georgie's got probably two a little bit more than two years Georgie's also got some other problems uh not the least of which is his name popped up in the Delaware County racketeering investigation and now the feds are taking an interest in that George you want to say anything not today not today all right George let's start with George Bazi uh a lot of buzz on the street about some recent events with him yeah he's apparently in in the H in he's in prison in West Virginia and he's in communicado and that always creates a problem when you're not hearing from somebody you start to wonder you got a couple of ways you can go there exactly is it an administrative thing or is it something else yeah and there something else is what bothers everybody you know the fact that he would be considering cooperating to me seems outlandish given who he is given his track record given the fact that his uncle is the alleged boss but that's what happens in this kind of situation rumors start people start talking there's a lot of chatter going on about that and he clearly has a problem with the Delaware County thing because his name came up in the state police investigation and now the feds have a opted a lot of that and they're having different individuals going in front of a grand jurry so there could be problems there was some information in that Delco noer case about money going to his wife correct exactly I mean part of the money that was being collected was given given to his wife and it was allegedly his bookmaking operation and Ben fingalo manell was his proxy out there in Delaware County so all of that has got the feds interested and that may be another kind of criminal problem he's got in addition to whatever reason he's in the hole I mean that's another thing that's got people chattering we all know George is a nervous fellow to begin with with can you imagine the nerves if he is in the hole still and hearing all this buzz on the street kind of where his mind is oh sure I mean the very fact that his name started to come up in that Delaware County thing had to get him upset cuz he doesn't like that kind of stuff he's looking at you know I got two more years to go before I come out and now somebody's saying you know maybe that door is not going to open that creates a problem now this other business nobody quite knows why that adds to a lot of the turmoil internally yeah in your estimation could the feds be waiting at the jail house door when he does go out you know they like do that kind of stuff you know they like to like say you know you think you're coming out but you're not really coming out forget about it I mean that's the kind of mind games that they're playing and he's the type that you can play those games with and it creates a problem you could also just be in the hole for administrative stuff that happen prison corely yeah I mean there's no way we know why he's in the ho and it could be something as simple as that and uh the problem is apparently he can't communicate with anybody so nobody really knows all right since we're on communication uh Joey Marino's been in prison now for almost 11 years uh there are some reports that he now has internet he can go on and email people and I've been hear from people who say Joey is emailing yeah so Joey emails Joey calls on the phone Joey keeps on top of what's going on here uh I think he's aware of everything that's happening and he's also interested in how the Phillies are doing and how the Flyers are doing and all that kind of stuff Joey is Joey and uh you know like I said he'll be out in probably a year year in two three months something now I've heard a little buzz that Joe Le gambi has actually been talking to him on the phone and communicating back that wouldn't surprise me I think Joey has a way of communicating with a lot of different people either directly or indirectly or you call somebody and somebody else is going to be there when the Call Comes in those kind of things and it's interesting given all the interplay that's going on and how people are lining up with that monachello Delon nro who's lining up behind Bazi who's lining up behind Marty Angelina who is Joey's guy a lot of different things going on a lot of things at play where does Joey go if he comes out if he goes to a halfway house say in the next year or so does he come back to Philadelphia I've heard reports he wants to go to Florida he's not coming back to philadelph phelia if there's a big Federal indictment and Joe Le gambi is off the street and his cohorts that opens the door again yeah I think Joey comes back to South Philly no matter what Joey's Joey Joey's going to do what Joey wants to do I don't think it matters if there's a vacuum and a lot of guys are indued in a way in jail he'll help throw that vacuum if they're there he'll slide right in Joey doesn't really care about titles Joey is just Joey and I think none of that's going to change he also doesn't care about other people too much when it comes to the hierarchy if he wants to slide in somewhere he slides yeah exactly I mean I think that the situation if you remember with with rfh natal Raph natal was the boss but Joey was content to let him be the boss Joey was doing what Joey wanted to do it'll be the same no matter who's in charge when he comes back out George let's talk about if Marino were to come back out on the street in a year or so and Joe Le gambi was still on the street as the boss Joey's a high-profile doesn't shrug off the media Joe Le gambi is the complete opposite could they bang heads a little bit well in that respect philosophically they're totally different I mean Le Gabi likes to stay in the shadows make money don't make headlines don't call attention to yourself Joey is the kind of celebrity gangster but I think lag gambi has indicated or or has demonstrated that he's very much l fair if it doesn't impact him if he doesn't think it's going to cause him a problem he'll probably let Joey be Joey it doesn't really matter Joey not in South Philly I can't picture that no I mean I neither can I I mean he is a product of South Philadelphia it's his identity and I I would imagine even if he were to come out and say I'm going to Florida he may go to Florida for a vacation but he's always going to be based in South Philadelphia and is he fortified by the fact that most of his guys are now back on on the street well I mean that's got to be something I mean Marty Angelina is his guy Stevie mone's his guy those guys came back out they're sitting there they're not doing very much and I think their allegiance is to Joey right much more than allegiance to an organization their allegiance is to Joey Boy friends they come from 12 and wolf they're all the guys from the corner and that's what this was always about with Joey it wasn't about the mafia Coen AER it was about the guys from 12 and wolf all right George so the future of of Marino and boresi really depends a lot on what the feds do exactly I think the FBI's got a reter investigation and the key is who gets invited who gets sent away who's left out there and and everything will play out according to how that evolves and we don't know yet what's going to happen we know there's a grand jewry we know there's an investigation but we don't know what it's going to result in okay that's it for this week's version of mob talk we'll see you next week we're here on pasak Avenue of South Philadelphia used to be the nerve center for Joey Rino's operation one he was the major figure in Philadelphia organized crime he had a coffee shop right here on pank Avenue it's kind of his headquarters where we hung out Joey is uh a unique character in terms of the Philadelphia mob Joey was the guy who gave the Philadelphia mob a face he was the Philadelphia mob's first celebrity gangster he was kind of the John Gotti of pasun Avenue before that everybody was kind of lowkey Joey kind of embraced that look at me I'm a Gangster celebrity kind of approach to to the underworld and Joey had the Bloodlines Joey's father was Salvatore Chucky Marino who had been the under boss in the scarfield crime family back in the 1980s so he grew up around this life his first big problem with the law was he was involved in an armor car robbery down here in South Philadelphia he and two Associates made offer with about $357,000 one of the guards involved in the armor truck dropped the money off the of the truck Joey's associate picked it up Joey ended up going to jail for four years on that case because his associates testified against him the reason they had testified against him was Joey was hoarding all the money and his approach to it basically was two and a half years in prison which is what he spent in prison was worth the was the price he paid for $357,000 and that was kind of Joey's approach to life in the mid1 1990s he becomes a major player in the underworld and even when he was part of the organization Joey was very much an outlaw and lived life on his own terms he clashed with my boss John Stanford and it was a a cultural ethnic Clash uh Stanford was from Sicily Joey was from South Philadelphia Stanford was in his 50s Joey and his guys were in the 30s and so you had this mob war that broke out in the mid 1990s shootings here in South Philadelphia Joey was wounded in one of those hits survived the hit his best friend Mikey Chang was killed end of the day staa and his associates get indicted taken off the streets and Joey becomes the the titular head of the organization Ralph natal comes back from prison in 1995 they form an alliance and from 95 to 99 they were running the show down here in South Philadelphia Joey out of a clubhouse here Ralph from over in in South Jersey eventually that fell apart in typical fashion lot of conflict internally Ralph becomes an informant cooperates Joey ends up getting jammed up in a big racketeering case and he and his associates were convicted in 2001 he's currently finishing up a 14-year prison stin should be back in South Philadelphia within a year a lot of different things kind of typify who Joey was Joey used to give uh Christmas parties for homeless had a restaurant down here on pasan Avenue homeless kids from from uh Kensington would be bust in they'd be given toys presents fat Angelo Lutz played Santa Claus he was in a lot of ways a robin hoodes although the feds would tell you it was easy to be free and generous with other people's money Joey never used his own money um Joey gave away turkeys at to the homeless at Thanksgiving I mean he was very much uh uh wanted to be a man of the people that was the image he projected he also was probably of all the mob bosses in in the last 25 years in Philadelphia Joey Molino was the one who was least afraid of the media he wasn't afraid to talk he wasn't afraid to be quoted there was a situation I recall back in the mid1 1990s supposedly Scarfo from prison puts a contract on Joey Marino's life half million dollar contract and I remember the guys from channel 29 Dave Strat Riser and Brad now the photographer went to see Joey about it they put the camera on him and they say to Joey Joey what do you think about this half million doll price tag on your head and Joey looks into the camera that crooked grin of his out of the side of his mouth he says you give me the $500,000 I'll shoot myself I mean that was Joey that was Joey's approach you know Larger than Life Not Afraid and he just was out there he was very much an outlaw and and a one of a kind there's been a lot of mob bosses since Angelo Bruno but only one like Joey Marino and I don't think we'll ever see that [Music] again thank you for watching this video please subscribe to our Channel and check out more of our content feel free to give your feedback and suggestions on what we should do next in the comments this is infinite Lee Productions we love you

Channel: Infinite-Lee Productions

Views: 4,020

Keywords: Dave Schratwieser, George Anastasia, Mob Talk, Mafia, LCN, Costra Nostra, John, Borgesi, John Borgesi, Skinny Joey Merlino, Joseph, Chuckie Merlino, 1990s, podcast, history, status, Philadelphia, Crime Family, Florida, Fox News, Media, Lil Snuff, The Skinny, interviews

Id: 8okluRgwDlM

Length: 11min 11sec (671 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 15 2024