Joseph Merlino is headed back to prison today this time in Miami for a four month stint on charges that he violated his supervised release. He was convicted back in 2001 on charges of racketeering and was under supervised release down in Florida. He was caught by authorities meeting with Philly mobster John “Johnny Chang” Ciancaglini at a cigar bar down in Florida in June in direct violation of his release situation.
Is Joey Merlino still the boss of the Philadelphia mafia ? Well according to Joey he has retired from the life and maintains no more mafia ties but the feds don’t seem so convinced. Seems the feds still believe that Skinny Joey is still tied directly into things in Philly and is running things using his right hand man and childhood friend Steven Mazzone as acting boss.
Melino with his typical flair tweeted “I’ll be in great shape for when I get out on Cinco de Mayo,” referring to his upcoming prison stint. He also found a way to get a plug in for his newly opened restaurant down in Florida tweeting “I can’t wait to go,” he texted. “I need a vacation after working so hard at the best restaurant in Florida, Merlino’s Restaurant.”
