This week’s episode of Mob Talk featuring George Anastasia and Dave Schratwieser includes some Philadelphia mafia history and new rumors of a potential rat.
The FBI brought in a seasoned supervisory agent from New York last year to oversee a newly formed organized crime strike force that seemingly has its sights set on the mafia in Philadelphia. There have been rumors floating around ever since then about the feds building a new case against the Philly mafia and now those rumors are expanding. According to the guys, there might be a mid-level mobster cooperating with the feds that could potentially provide new evidence along with backing up information from previous testimonies. There hasn’t been a name tied to these rumors yet and it is still unclear how close the feds may be to having any kind of case but as the old saying goes where there’s smoke there’s fire. With Joey Merlino already facing an upcoming trial and mounting rumors, there may be some wiseguys in The City of Brotherly Love on edge.
We have seen multiple reports of the feds continuing investigations into the still-unsolved murders of John “Johnny Gongs” Casasanto, Raymond “Long John” Martorano, and Ronnie Turchi. The feds believe these gangland hits could involve some high ranking members of the current Cosa Nostra family including Joseph Ligambi and other top associates. But these murders go back several years and as Anastasia noted the feds would probably need guys who were in on these hits to take the witness stand connecting the bodies to the family hierarchy and corroborating other pieces of evidence. According to George, the mid-level guy in these rumors may not fit that bill especially since the feds seem to lack in secondary witnesses that could back up the turncoat’s story in court. But if someone is talking then the potential for major problems to arise certainly exists and as history has shown when it comes to the mafia today there is always another potential rat looming somewhere.
Related: Mafia cop Stephen Caracappa passes away behind bars
