Opinion ID: 6500514
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Organized Crime Origins

Text: This case has its roots in organized crime, and, like other mob cases, it gets its start with family – both biological and made. Nicodemo Domenico “Little Nicky” Scarfo Sr. was the “boss” of the Philadelphia branch, or “family,” of La Cosa 2 The following factual background is based on the evidence adduced at trial and is cast in the light most favorable to the prosecution. See United States v. Pungitore, 910 F.2d 1084, 1097 (3d Cir. 1990) (“We are bound, after a jury has delivered a guilty verdict, to interpret the evidence in a light most favorable to the government.”). 8 Nostra (“LCN”) for most of the 1980s.3 See United States v. Pungitore, 910 F.2d 1084, 1098 (3d Cir. 1990). He oversaw nearly a decade of murders, gambling, and extortion for the benefit of LCN. Id. at 1097-1102; see also United States v. Scarfo, 850 F.2d 1015, 1016 (3d Cir. 1988). By the time the Defendants here began their FirstPlus scheme, however, he was out of the game, serving a lengthy federal prison sentence. Pungitore, 910 F.2d at 1152. His son, Nicodemo Salvatore “Nicky” Scarfo (the “Scarfo” in this opinion), wanted to fill the power vacuum, but his attempted takeover of the Philadelphia LCN family did not go according to plan. On Halloween in 1989, as he was having dinner at a restaurant, masked assailants ambushed him, shooting him several times but, no doubt to their chagrin, not killing him. When he recovered, Scarfo sought the help of the Lucchese LCN family, which operated in northern New Jersey. He had an “in” with the Luccheses: their boss was incarcerated in the same prison as his father. According to the government’s expert on the structure and operations of LCN, eventually the 3 “La Cosa Nostra” is “an Italian phrase which literally translates as ‘our thing’ or ‘this thing of ours.’” Pungitore, 910 F.2d at 1097 n.3. According to an FBI agent who testified at trial, the word “mafia” – despite its ubiquity in discussions of mobsters – refers to Italian organized crime based in Italy, while LCN is based in the United States. (JAC at 8282.) LCN is headed by a commission of “bosses,” who in turn direct the illegal activities of regional organized crime “families.” Pungitore, 910 F.2d at 1097. A family is “a highly structured criminal enterprise with a well defined chain-of-command” comprising multiple layers of operatives. Id. at 1098. 9 Lucchese family integrated Scarfo into their organization as a “made member” – someone who has been “fully inducted” and has “taken an oath of loyalty to the family.” (JAC at 8280-81.) Being a made member meant that he had to generate money for the Lucchese family and share with it the profits of any criminal activities he pursued. Scarfo’s longtime friend Salvatore Pelullo, although not a blood relative, had a close relationship not only with Scarfo but with Scarfo’s father too. The older Scarfo treated Pelullo as his nephew. Pelullo became an “associate” of the Luccheses – a criminal colleague who hadn’t been “formally initiated into [the family’s] ranks.” Pungitore, 910 F.2d. at 1098. The government’s expert testified that an associate like Pelullo had to “share … the profits of any of [his] criminal activity” with the family, and he had to answer to a made member, such as Scarfo, who would “supervis[e] and direct[]” his actions. (JAC at 8286-87 (trial testimony of government LCN expert).) Before the events at issue in this case, Scarfo and Pelullo had each earned criminal convictions. Scarfo was convicted in 1990 of assaulting a woman in a hospital elevator, and then in 1993 for racketeering conduct. In 2002, he was convicted of running an illegal gambling business. Pelullo, meanwhile, was convicted of bank fraud and making false statements to the SEC in 1999. Three years later, he pled guilty to wire fraud.