John Stanfa Thesis

John Stanfa was a Sicilian Mobster in Philadelphia and was born on December 7th, 1940 in a tiny mountain village of Caccamo, which was about 30 miles south east of Palermo, in a region of western Sicily long dominated by the mafia. He was the youngest of 4 children. Two of his elder brothers as well as his one brother-in-law were members of the Sicilian Mafia.

John and his wife Nicolena Congialdi moved to Philadelphia. Stanfa’s main objective was to bring the Philadelphia Crime Family back to the top, but things didn’t work out the way he planned. In 1967 him and his wife had their first child Sara, then 4 years late came Joseph, and the in 1976 Maria was born. In Stanfa’s early years he wasn’t really noticed even though he hung around “wise

Piccolo became his consigliere. Street tax came about again thanks to Stanfa and that meant every criminal had to pay a tax on his activities which created tension and threats of violence on the streets of Philadelphia. Felix Bocchino used to collect the street tax but then someone murdered him and at first Stanfa and the FBI had no idea who did it but then it was clear that it was a group of new mobsters; Joseph Merlino and his group. Stanfa decided he needed new blood and got some Sicilian Soldiers. In 1992 Stanfa started to plot against Merlino so he decided to by the saying “keep your friends close but your enemies closer”, and so he kept Merlino closer. The two were seen at social events as well as mob meetings together. Stanfo also inducted Merlino and 2 others into the Philadelphia Family as made members. After a while he decided to get rid of Merlino and to do this he had to move fast so he ordered a hit on Merlino but he and his friends were still alive in the summer of 1993. Stanfo’s second attempt was a drive by shooting where Ciancaglini was killed but Merlino still didn’t die because he was only shot in the rear