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Threats of violence always near for Delco Nostra, say officials
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Mari A. Schaefer and Joelle Farrell
Inquirer Staff Writers
Jul 24, 2008
The type of alleged bookmaking ring apparently uncovered by authorities in Delaware County represents an "enormous moneymaker" for organized crime, a former prosecutor said yesterday.
Barry Gross, who led cases against four past mob bosses - Nicky Scarfo, John Stanfa, Ralph Natale and Joey Merlino - said bookmaking and loan-sharking generate funds that often provide "seed money" for more serious crimes, such as extortion and murder.
On Tuesday, 17 defendants surrendered to authorities in Delaware County and Philadelphia on charges ranging from solicitation to commit aggravated assault to gambling and drug-dealing. All are free on bail.
Police, who conducted a lengthy probe that ended with a year-long investigation by a Montgomery County grand jury, dubbed the operation "Delco Nostra" - for Delaware County La Cosa Nostra.
Whenever an operation generates more than $1 million a month, as the Delaware County operation reportedly did, "disputes over money are inevitable," said Gross, now in private practice at Drinker Biddle & Reath.
James Jacobs, a criminal law professor at New York University who has written four books on the Mafia, described loan-sharking as "a violent crime" because it can lead to bloodshed.
"In general, I don't think the Mafia has a lot of violence in it, as surprising as that is," he said.
The threat of violence generally suffices, he said, adding, "Most of the violence has got to do with internal discipline, punishing people who are disloyal."
Court records in the case against the Delco Nostra, allegedly led by Louis Monacello, 41, a South Philadelphia mob associate known as "Bent Finger Lou," and Nicholas "Nicky the Hat" Cimino, 49, of Wallingford, indicate internal mob violence was threatened.
For example, Monacello discussed having another mob operative killed, according to grand-jury documents.
Although Monacello told a witness he sought a hit man to kill Marty Angelina, a convicted racketeer, Monacello later changed his mind, documents said.
"Monacello indicated that, instead, he wanted Angelina beaten so badly that he would have to be hospitalized," documents said, adding that Monacello "wanted people to talk about it and realize that Angelina was a nobody."
Asked by an informant what Monacello would say if Joseph Ligambi, the alleged head of the South Philadelphia mob, found out about Monacello's plans for the beating, he said he would deny his involvement and say: ". . . If it was me, I would have just . . . killed him, OK?"
The Delaware County operation spread out from Philadelphia and operated from 2002 until March 2007, authorities said,
Cimino, who allegedly paid Monacello a monthly "tax" to operate a basement casino on MacDade Boulevard in Folsom, also asked Monacello to help collect gambling debts when routine coercion failed, documents said.
Cimino initially used a "mild approach" to persuade debtors to pay, according to the grand jury presentment. When they resisted, he allegedly told his workers to say: "Look, you know, I got a partner and, you know, he pays everybody but, you know, somebody don't pay, he don't like it. You're jammed up, OK. . . ."
When that failed, Cimino would pay an "intimidating" visit to the debtor with Monacello and "Frank the Plumber," documents said.
Yesterday, in Cimino's neighborhood, a condo development on a tree-lined private road in Wallingford, neighbors were not eager to discuss the case.
One man suggested that anyone with good sense would refuse to comment considering the allegations. He said Cimino had lived there for several years and kept to himself, never attending the annual meet-your-neighbors event the condo association holds.
In the meantime, lawyers for the Delco Nostra defendants are still assessing their clients' alleged roles in the operation.
"Most of the attorneys have asked for a continuance," said Walter A. Strohl, the district judge who set a preliminary hearing date for Tuesday.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Erik L. Olsen, the prosecutor, said 12 of the 13 Delaware County defendants would be tried together "if logistics and schedules allow."
Carmen DellaPolla Sr., 73, of Folsom, the owner of DellaPolla's Family Tavern, is charged with lesser offenses such as pool selling and bookmaking, and will be tried separately, Olsen said.
"Busts rarely stop enterprises like gambling," said Arthur T. Donato Jr., a Media defense attorney.
Crimes such as bookmaking and other forms of gambling can lead to violence, but do not always, Donato said.
"There are plenty of people who get together for the purpose of taking bets and laying off bets," he said. "That is all they do."
Jacobs said illegal gambling and loan-sharking were unlikely to disappear soon, thanks to organized crime.
"They've always done this; it's been a core part of their business model," he said.
Contact staff writer Kathleen Brady Shea at 610-696-3021 or kbrady@phillynews.com .
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