The rift between Philadelphia mafia pals Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino and George Borgesi seems to be at an end.
Merlino who is believed by many including authorities to still be the boss of the Philly-based Cosa Nostra family has bumped his boyhood pal Borgesi back up to captain according to Scott Burnstein and his gangsterreport. Although Borgesi was officially listed as a soldier after a previous bump down he has pretty much been seen by underlings as having a captain like role since his release from prison making this move more of a ceremonial gesture by Merlino to show there was no more bad blood.
“George Borgesi“
Merlino tasked old school mobster Joseph “Uncle Joe” Ligambi to once again take over as acting boss bringing him out of semi-retirement to stabilize things according to reports. The well respected Ligambi now leads an administration that also includes Steven Mazzone and Joseph “Chickie” Ciancaglini. Tensions have seemingly eased amongst the various factions within the Philly mafia and everyone is quietly back to doing business. Borgesi was causing waves claiming his rackets were raided by fellow mobster Marty Angelia while he was in prison and was angered that Merlino stood by and let it happen along with seeing control of the families Delaware County rackets handed over to John “Johnny Chang” Ciancaglini.
A series of sit-downs reportedly took place last summer in South Philly and over the winter down in Florida between Borgesi and Merlino. As a gesture of good will Merlino allegedly held a making ceremony inducting new members into the Philly mob family that are loyal to Borgesi and faction leader Phil Narduci. It seems like the recent bump up to capo has put the beef to rest and allowed Merlino to get Borgesi back on board.
