Cardiac Surgery - The Boardwalk Journal Magazine

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#1 Best-Seller in Organized Crime True Accounts on Amazon.com NOW ON SALE AT: AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD An excerpt from Mafia Prince: Inside America’s Most Violent Crime Family And The Bloody Fall Of La Cosa Nostra “LITTLE NICKY” & “CRAZY PHIL” December 16, 1979 It was a cold winter afternoon, the type of day where the frigid air can literally take a man’s breath away. But on this day it wouldn’t be Mother Nature who would perform this daunting task, it would be a 26 year old mob killer with ice in his veins and orders to kill named Philip Leonetti, whose nickname “Crazy Phil” said it all. As the unmistakable sounds of the powerful and unforgiving white-capped waves pounding the shoreline a few feet away punctuated the crisp air on this dreary day, there was no force more powerful and unforgiving, more omnipresent in Philip By Philip Leonetti With Scott Burnstein and Christopher Graziano Leonetti’s life than that of his 50 year old uncle, Nicodemo Scarfo, the man who had raised him like a son after his own father had abandoned him as a child and had turned him into a heartless stone-cold killer. Scarfo, who was nicknamed “Little Nicky”, stood 5’5 and weighed a mere 135 pounds, may have been small in stature, but he had earned a reputation for committing acts of unspeakable violence that had made him a giant in the criminal underworld. By 1979 he was the Philadelphia mob’s fastest rising star and had become the de facto ‘Boss of the Boardwalk’ in Atlantic City, which, with the advent of casino gambling a year before, had become a boomtown for the mob. His beloved nephew Philip Leonetti had become his right hand man, his most trusted aide and his most able killer. In the late 70’s, in the burgeoning Atlantic City underworld, the ground shook when and where “Little Nicky” and “Crazy Phil” walked. Equally feared and respected, it was common knowledge to those doing business in Atlantic City and those who wanted to do business in Atlantic City that Scarfo and Leonetti were not to be fucked with. So when a young mob associate named Vincent Falcone drew the extremely volatile Scarfo’s ire, “Little Nicky” decided that the penalty would be death and that Philip “Crazy Phil” Leonetti would be the executioner. “Come on Vince, let’s make some drinks,” said Philip Leonetti to Vincent Falcone, as the two men stood in the kitchen of a friends beachfront home in Margate, an upscale beach community a few short miles south of Atlantic City. Inside the living room, just a few feet away, sat Nicky Scarfo, his reading glasses perched low on his nose, his Italian leather shoes resting comfortably on a coffee table as he perused the Sunday edition of the Atlantic City Press while watching the Philadelphia Eagles battle the Houston Oilers, led by future Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell. “Vince, bring me a cutty and some water,” said Scarfo in his trademark high-pitched voice, as Falcone set out two glasses for the Boss, one to be filled with Cutty Sark, the blended scotch whiskey favored by Scarfo, and the other to be filled with water that “Little Nicky” used to dilute his drink. Joining the trio of Scarfo, Leonetti and Falcone on this fateful afternoon were two aspiring mobsters, young wannabe wise guys who, like Leonetti and Falcone, were members of Nicky Scarfo’s Atlantic City crew. The five men had gathered to have a pre-holiday celebration; Christmas after all was just nine days away. But there was nothing festive about what would happen next. After placing the bottle of scotch that his uncle had requested on the kitchen table, the 26 year old Leonetti nodded towards Falcone and said, “Vince, get some ice,” as the unsuspecting Falcone nodded in agreement and walked towards the refrigerator, turning his back to Leonetti and the others as he did. Immediately, Leonetti reached into his black leather jacket and pulled out a small .32 caliber handgun that had been tucked in his waistband. Without hesitation he moved swiftly behind Falcone and pressed the handgun to the back of his head, directly behind his right ear and squeezed the trigger. BOOM. Propelled from the impact of the blast, Falcone flew forward and collided with the refrigerator causing his soon to be lifeless body to awkwardly land on his back as a pool of blood begin to turn the cheap linoleum floor a dark shade of crimson. Nicky Scarfo, apparently no longer interested in the Eagles game, got up from the couch and without saying a word, walked into the kitchen and kneeled down next to Falcone’s mortally wounded body, pressing his ear to Falcone’s chest and listened for a heartbeat. “He’s still alive,” Scarfo said to Leonetti, who was standing over Falcone’s body, the gun still firmly gripped in his right hand , “Give him another one,” said Scarfo, “Right here”, as he pointed to Falcone’s heart. As “Little Nicky” knelt beside the fallen Vincent Falcone, “Crazy Phil” pumped another shot into his heart at point blank range, BOOM, causing his body to violently jerk as the bullet ripped through his chest, immediately ending his life. “The big shot’s dead,” said a jubilant Nicky Scarfo, rising to his feet, belittling the dead man as a “piece of shit cocksucker” as he did. Philip Leonetti, still holding the pistol, turned to one of the other men in the kitchen, a close friend of Falcone’s, and fixated an icy stare on him, “He was a no good motherfucker,” Leonetti said, “I wish I could bring him back to life so I could kill him again.” It wasn’t the first time that Scarfo and Leonetti had killed together and it wouldn’t be the last. Over the next decade there would be twenty more killings. Another half-dozen or so that pre-dated the Falcone murder would punctuate their reign as two of the most notorious gangsters of the twentieth century. Three things figured prominently in many of the murders: money, power and Atlantic City. Eventually “Little Nicky” and “Crazy Phil” had them all; all the money, all the power and absolute control over Atlantic City. They had ascended from a lowly mob street-crew loaning money to cash-strapped gamblers and shaking down two-bit wise guys and had risen to the pantheon of organized crime; they were the Boss and Underboss of the Philadelphia mob / Atlantic City mob, the CEO’s of the nation’s bloodiest and most ruthless mafia empire. All good things usually come to an end and ten years after the Falcone murder it was over. But in many ways to Philip Leonetti it was just beginning. 46 | The Boardwalk Journal | December 2012 December 2012 | The Boardwalk Journal | 47
LOCAL LAW FIRM GIVES BACK Cooper Levenson launched a “Life After Sandy” disaster relief program to help the more than 1,500 Atlantic City families with school children affected by Hurricane Sandy. Some families remain in shelters. Others have returned to homes that need repairs and are without heat. Storm water-soaked furniture, household items and clothing line the sidewalks and streets of many neighborhoods. Many children are still without the most basic of needs to return to school. School officials have worked tirelessly on the overwhelming task of getting these children—many of whom have only the clothes they wore at the time of evacuation—back to “normal,” at least during the school day. This has been a ground-up effort. The first step was to have teachers conduct an assessment to determine which families were in need. The results of that assessment were compiled, calls for donations were made, and the school district set up a distribution center where children and their families could go to replace storm-soaked items. Kenneth J. Calemmo, Jr., Chief Operating Officer of Cooper Levenson, worked closely with Atlantic City School Superintendent Donna Haye to launch a two-pronged relief effort—a day of distributing donated mattresses and furniture to families who lost the contents of their homes in the flood, and a “Fill the Truck” campaign to provide items that will help struggling families piece their lives back together. The firm contacted clients, colleagues and area business owners through a social media and email campaign, asking them to donate winter coats, hats, gloves, underclothes, school uniform shirts and pants, blankets, sheets, towels, washcloths, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, backpacks, pens, pencils, notebooks, and Top: Ken Calemmo helps out with the relief effort. Bottom from left: Ken Calemmo; Vice Principal, Shelley Williams; Media Specialist, Ron Buckbee; BSI teacher, Brigid Huges; Custodian, Tony Cruz; 3rd grade teacher, Yolanda Smith; and in front is Early Intervention Specialist, Jennifer Stablini. non-perishable food items. “Atlantic City was evacuated and our office was closed for nearly a full week. Some of our staff members were affected by the storm at home as well. Despite all that, we were amazed at the magnitude of the devastation; 1,500 families with school children and estimates of 6,000 total households affected is a huge number in a community of our size,” said Ken Calemmo, Chief Operating Officer. “We are grateful to be in a position to help and we look forward to our children and families regaining some sense of normalcy,” he added. TAP ROOM SPECIALS 48 | The Boardwalk Journal | December 2012 HAPPy HOuR – DAILy 4PM TO 7PM $3 DRAfTS, $5 COCkTAILS & MARTInIS, $5 WInE by THE gLASS $5 APPETIzER bAR bITES ExTEnSIvE nEW bAR MEnu fRIDAy nIgHTS HAPPy HOuR $29 WInE & DInE MEnu SATuRDAy nIgHTS HAPPy HOuR CHEf DAggERS’ nEW fALL DInnER MEnu LIvE EnTERTAInMEnT Lunch – 11am DaiLy • nEW FaLL mEnu bREAkfAST – 8AM SATuRDAy & SunDAy SunDAy bRunCH – 10AM TO 2PM vISIT ACCOunTRyCLub.COM fOR MEnuS, MORE DETAILS AnD InfORMATIOn On ALL OuR HOLIDAy & fun EvEnTS atlantic city country club entertain • engage • enjoy visit: accountryclub.com | reserve: 609.236.4465 location: one leo fraser drive, northfield, nj
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