One of the nation's most violent organized crime families took a body blow when its leaders were awakened in a pre-dawn raid by authorities armed with indictments.
Law enforcement officials rounded up reputed organized crime boss John Stanfa and almost two dozen others Thursday during raids in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey."This is a tremendous blow to the organization," said Joel M. Friedman, chief of the organized crime division of the U.S. Attorney's Office. "If you had a corporation, I would say you wouldn't be able to function too well right now."
The indictment unsealed Thursday follows a series of mob shootings and was based on information given by three mob-connected informants.
The 24 men indicted faced charges ranging from murder to obstruction of justice. Two remained fugitives today - the rest were in custody.
It was the third time a Philadelphia boss has been indicted since Angelo Bruno, known as "the docile don" during his relatively peaceful 21-year reign, was killed in 1980 as he sat in his car.
Phillip "Chicken Man" Testa and nine others were indicted in 1981 and Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and 18 others were indicted in 1988.
Since Bruno's shooting, at least 25 men have died in mob-related slayings. At least five were killed and five others wounded in the past 15 months alone.
One of the suspects is Salvatore Avena, Stanfa's attorney, whose office was wiretapped when authorities came to believe it was being used to hide mob business.
To assure Stanfa he was loyal, Avena once said, "If you want me to put my brains in the toilet, I'll put my brains in the toilet," the indictment says.
Two other suspects were charged with aggravated assault in a botched Jan. 14 attempt to kill John Veasey, one of three mob members who had been working with the FBI.