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The FBI Bugged a Doctor’s Office. It Recorded a Mob War. · FBI Files

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: A ruthless grab for power tears a city apart. A
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: crime family splits in two as the young and the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: old fight to the death. The FBI is caught in
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the middle as they infiltrate the syndicate in a desperate
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: attempt to end the brutal war raging on the streets
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: of Philadelphia.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: In the early 1990s, Philadelphia became the scene of a
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: bloody vendetta. The streets erupted in mob warfare. Authorities feared
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: innocent people would be caught in the crossfire. I'm Jim Kallstrom,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: former head of the FBI's New York office. Agents launched
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: a complex and risky surveillance operation. Their mission, to bring
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: down a notorious crime family and to stop a brutal
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: turf war before more people were killed.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: 1990.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: A quiet morning in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Joe Andruzzi is
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: being wired.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: By the FBI.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: He's a 20-year-old accounting student at LaSalle University, and he's
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: in trouble. He's been betting on football through a mafia bookmaker.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: He was winning at first, but his luck turned sour.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: He owes the mob $ 1, 000.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: It's a debt he cannot pay.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: I don't think you do something. I don't think you
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: got it at all. Do you understand what's going on here?
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: In way over his head and afraid for his life,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Andruzzi contacted the FBI and asked for help.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: It's money, kid.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: South Philly is a tough place.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Not the kind of place where you want to cross
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: the mob. La Cosa Nostra, the Italian syndicate of organized
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: crime families, runs a profitable and bloody business there. Gambling,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: loan sharking, and extortion rackets. For years, South Philly was
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: run by Angelo Bruno, known as the Gentle Don because
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: of his dislike of violence. He took over the city
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: in the 1950s. He was brutally murdered in 1980. The
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: man suspected of being behind the hit was Nicodemo Scarfo.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Nicky Scarfo took over Bruno's empire. He was a cold-hearted
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: killer who ruled the city by violence. But now Nicky Scarfo.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: Is in jail.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: The FBI wants to find out who is running the
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia mob while the boss is behind bars. Andruzzi's problem
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: with the loan shark gives the FBI the perfect opportunity
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: to collect new information on the organization. The college student
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: meets with the bookmaker. He plays his part perfectly and
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: is introduced to Salvatore Sparaccio, a.
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: Known member of the Philadelphia Mafia.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: I don't have the money. You don't have the money.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: FBI Special Agent Jim Marr was the case agent on
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: this investigation.
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: Salvatore Sparaccio didn't make any overt threats, but the implied threat,
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: I'm the boss of the family, you got to pay.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: I want $ 120 a week for 10 weeks.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: The boss offers a repayment plan.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Although the mob is charging little more interest than a
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: credit card company, the penalty for defaulting on the loan
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: has a far higher price.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: Nicky, here, take some cake home to your wife.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: Hey, thanks, Doc.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: For the next 10 weeks, the FBI gives Andruzzi the
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: money to make his payments. And each time he takes
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the money to the bookmaker, the FBI records the conversation,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: building their case against Salvatore Sparaccio.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Each payment is evidence of the crime, of racketeering.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: But the FBI is not interested in making low-level gambling arrests.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: They have a much bigger target.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: I'm sure it's all there.
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: The ultimate goal is to destroy the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: family as a crime problem. The tactics we use are
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: to attack the hierarchy. The structure is the target and
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: we attack the target through the hierarchy.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: They need more information.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: So on Christmas Day, when they know it will be closed,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: the FBI breaks into the bakery shop.
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: We proved to the judge that gambling activity and loan
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: sharking activity was taking place in an Italian bakery. The
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: judge authorized us to put microphones in.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: For the next several months, the FBI records the conversations
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: inside the bakery.
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: We began listening to conversations of Salvatore Sparaccio, who was
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: claiming to be the boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra family.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Although Spiraccio claims to be the head of the family,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: the FBI wire soon makes it clear that Spiraccio is
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: not one of the big Philadelphia mafia bosses. He is
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: little more than an employee, but the FBI doesn't know
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: who he's working for.
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: Thinking he can.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Lead them to his boss, The FBI surveillance tracks Barraccio
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: to a law office.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: In Camden, New Jersey. There he meets with other members of.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: The Philadelphia mafia, including one man well known to the FBI,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: John Stanfa. John Stanfa is a Sicilian immigrant and a
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: made member of the Sicilian mafia. He worked as a
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: driver for the late Angelo Bruno, AKA the Gentle Don,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: former head of the Philadelphia family. Stanford was implicated in
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: the murder of the former mafia boss in 1981 and
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: was apprehended in Maryland. He was convicted of perjury in
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: his testimony before a grand jury that was probing Bruno's death.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: He went to jail for eight years.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: When he was released, The Philadelphia Mafia put out a
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: contract on his life for the killing of Bruno. Special
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Agent Fred Walsh is a member of the FBI's organized
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: crime squad.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Only through the intercession of his Gambino associates up in
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: New York, the contract was taken off him and he
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: was allowed to live.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: After Nicky Scarfo went to jail, Stanford returned to Philadelphia.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: He went to work in the construction business and laid
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: low for a while.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: He was relatively quiet. So when he started to come
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: to power and we started to notice he was making
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: a name for himself, it came as a kind of
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: a surprise to us.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Thanks to the cooperation of the young college student, the
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: FBI has now identified the man they believe is running
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: organized crime in Philadelphia.
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: We had put away the previous boss and most of
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: the hierarchy of the family. We felt if we could
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: put Stanford away, that we would go a long way
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: towards the ultimate goal of eliminating the Philadelphia family as
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: a crime problem.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: On the street, informants confirm the FBI suspicion that John
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Stanford is the new boss of the Philadelphia mafia.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: Once you determine that an individual like Stanford has taken
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: the family over, you want to see how he intends
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: to run it. Contact your informants, see what they can provide.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Stanford maintains a low profile. He runs things like the
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Gentle Don before him. He engages in traditional mob activities
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: such as loan sharking, gambling, and extortion. The FBI wants
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: to find out where he is conducting business. According to
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: FBI informants, high-level secret mafia meetings are being held in
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: the lawyer's conference room.
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: Informants told us that that's where they were meeting, that
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: they felt secure there. Since it was a lawyer's office,
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: they felt secure there from FBI eavesdropping. We decided that
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: it would be a very, very good place to put microphones.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: Agents prepare an affidavit to wire the premises.
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: We recognized that intruding into a lawyer's office was extraordinary.
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: The affidavit had to go down to the FBI headquarters.
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: The director of the FBI personally signed off on it. it.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: A federal judge gives the FBI the green light. Agents
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: install a hidden video camera outside the law office so
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: they can monitor anyone who enters or leaves the building.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: How about now?
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: A special FBI entry unit will install a hidden microphone
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: inside the law offices. Agents make a surreptitious entry into
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: the second floor suite.
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: In terms of the actual entry into the premises, it's
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: what I regard to be one of the most dangerous
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: things the FBI does, because you're burglarizing someone else's property.
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: Although you have authority to be there, the person, if
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: you encounter someone, he doesn't know that you have authority
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: to be there.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Inside, the agents fear they've been discovered. An armed deputy
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: sheriff is inside the building.
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: The night before we went in, the re-elect the sheriff
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: campaign moved into the ground floor. The agents making the
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: entry were surprised by a deputy sheriff's Unfortunately, they were
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: able to conceal themselves. He got in and got out
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: before there was any problem.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: The technicians install a microphone in the conference room. The
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: surveillance agents will first try to identify each suspect and
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: determine their roles in the organization.
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: There's 18 FBI agents who do nothing but physical and
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: photographic and video surveillances. Most of their work they did
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: for the organized crime squad. So we've got a lot
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: of manpower out there, and we've got people who know
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: how La Cosa Nostra works. And we can a lot
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: of times figure out a hierarchy, just by watching the.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Way that they behave towards one another.
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: That coupled with information coming from informants can tell us
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: who the hierarchy is.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Agents monitoring the conversations have to match the voice on
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: the wire to the face in the video surveillance.
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: John Stanford was very easy. He had a very heavy
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: Italian accent. So it was very easy to figure out when.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: He was speaking.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: But the agents have a problem.
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: The conversations we intercepted in the office indicated to us
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: that they were leaving the conference room and going somewhere.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: After going to all the trouble to plant the wire,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: the mob boss moves the meetings.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: The surveillance agents will have.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: To find out where the meetings are now taking place.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: They will have to place another bug. A few days later,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: the FBI learns from an informant that a.
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: High-level sit-down is about to take place at the law
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: office between John Stanford and several associates. They need to
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: get the new bug in place before the meeting. But
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: they don't know where the meeting will be held.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Agents dispatch an undercover detective to follow Stanford into the office.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia detective Mark Pinero gets the job.
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: We tried to come up with a reason to actually
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: go into the law firm to get a closer look
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: at what was going on.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: So we had come up with a cover.
• 13:49
  Speaker 6: Story utilizing a name of an attorney that we knew
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: had left that firm.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: But it does not go exactly as planned.
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: This unknown individual held the door for me to go
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: in first, which kind of set me back because I
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: wanted to go in second. I wanted to see where
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: they were going before I was attended to.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: But I was.
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: Relieved when I walked in and the receptionist greeted John
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: Stanford and John Stanford told her.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: Let him know I'm here.
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: And the receptionist immediately keyed her intercom and let the
• 14:28
  Speaker 6: lead attorney of this law firm know that John was
• 14:31
  Speaker 6: there and to send him in.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: I'm looking for Attorney Dave Peterson.
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: So not only was I able to get her to
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: identify John Stanford, I was able to stand there and
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: watch him go down to the actual office of this
• 14:46
  Speaker 6: lead attorney at this law firm.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: That's good. Real good. Okay, lock it on.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Thanks. With this information, a federal court approves an affidavit
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: for a second break-in at the office. Agents install hidden
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: microphones in the attorney's office. Shortly after the new bugs
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: are placed, agents hear some alarming.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: News on the wire. The mob bosses are afraid they
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: are being watched.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: They hire a private counter surveillance contractor to sweep the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: law offices for bugs.
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: If he finds a listening device, the entire operation could
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: be destroyed.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: The FBI in Philadelphia is closing in on mob boss
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: John Stanford. They learn he is conducting mob business in
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: an attorney's office. Agents place listening devices in the office.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: But Stanford calls in a man to sweep for bugs.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Agents watch as the sweeper enters the building. Their entire
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: case could collapse if he finds their bugs.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Here they come.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: What's going on here?
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: But after a few tense minutes, the private contractor completes
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: his sweep without finding anything.
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: It sort of brought a smile to everybody's face because
• 16:24
  Speaker 6: they basically brought in an expert who didn't detect anything.
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: So that would bring sort of a feeling of ease
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: on their part. And I guess our expectations were that
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: they would be even more at ease to discuss further
• 16:40
  Speaker 6: criminal activity.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Now with microphones in the conference room and the lawyer's
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: private office, the information begins to come in. The FBI
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: learns that John Stanford is having problems with a group
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: of young mobsters. Born and raised in South Philly, their
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: allegiance is still with Nicky Scarfo and the mafia regime
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: before Stanford took over.
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: They are known as the Young Turks.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: As far as they're concerned, Philadelphia is and always has
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: been their turf. And the Young Turks deserve to be
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: running the crime family, not newcomer John Stanford. Joey Merlino
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: is the boss of the Young Turks. Michael Changlini is
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: the number two man. Joey and Michael have known each
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: other since grade school. FBI Special Agent Gary Langan is
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the co-case agent.
• 17:42
  Speaker 7: They didn't like the fact that John Stanford, who they
• 17:45
  Speaker 7: considered an outsider, would come in and take over the
• 17:48
  Speaker 7: mob family. And so they were trying to organize them
• 17:52
  Speaker 7: all in a group, even though they were part of
• 17:55
  Speaker 7: the overall picture.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: And they wanted to be in charge.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Informants tell the FBI that the Young Turks are not
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: taking orders from John Stanfa.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: They bragged about who they were and who they were
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: aligned with. Bragged about how they were going to take
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: the city over. They were the legitimate successors to the
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: previous mob members under Nicky Scarfa. They were going out
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: and shaking down bookmakers, drug dealers, and even in shaking
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: down legitimate businesses and weren't sharing the profits, you know,
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: kicking upstairs to Stanford.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: The young Turks feel they're entitled to run the city
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: and the Philadelphia mafia. The aging John Stanford, the old
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: world Sicilian boss, resents the ostentatious lifestyle of the Young Turks.
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: The Young Turks, if you will, were very, very flamboyant.
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: They'd go into the clubs on Delaware Avenue, throw their
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: weight around, push people around, trade on the fact that
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: they were connected to the local Cosa Nostra family, and
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: in general call attention to themselves, which is not a
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: good thing if you're running a Cosa Nostra family.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: You should be low-keyed. Hey, girls, get in the car. Jay,
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: come on. Get out of here.
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: Start it up.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: The Young Turk boss, Joey Merlino, has a different idea
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: of how a Cosa Nostra boss should live the life.
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: He was the kind of guy who felt that when
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: he went into a restaurant, because of who he was,
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: he shouldn't have to pay.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: This was easily adopted by his aunt.
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: And they became a problem for everybody. There were fights,
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: there were shootings, it's just not the way to run
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: a Cosa Nostra family. Attracting all that attention to yourself,
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: the police begin to know then where you are and
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: who you are, and It's just not a good thing.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: John Stanford was particularly angered by the Young Turks' involvement
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: in the sale of illegal narcotics.
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: That was the wave of the future, and it's an
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: easy way to make money. Traditionally, the mob frowns upon
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: having its members engage in drug dealing. Now, that's not
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: to say that they don't do it. They get around
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: that by having an associate or something deal drugs, and
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: then they'll tax that individual and take a percentage of it.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: But Stanford, you know, he thought drugs were a dirty
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: business and it draws a lot of attention, again, to
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: the family. And he didn't want to do that. And
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: these guys were just defying him and doing it. Once
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: we heard that there was friction developing, we were looking
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: to see how Stanford was going to handle it. Okay,
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: was he going to be aggressive and, you know, take
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: extreme measures? Or was he going to try and mollify
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: these people and the quiet them down and get them
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: under his wing, so to speak.
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: But Joey Merlino isn't going under anyone's wing.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: The young Turks strike back at Stanford. 73-year-old Joseph Gattone
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: is one of Mafia boss John Stanford's most loyal employees.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Gattone is a bookmaker, a collector of street taxes. Four
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: gunshots shatter the daily routine of Joseph Gattone. The old
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: man's blood marks the beginning of a deadly civil war.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: The FBI and the Philadelphia Organized Crime Task Force surveil
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: top bosses of the Philadelphia Mafia. Friction between feuding factions
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: of the crime family increase and a bloody civil war
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: breaks out. Philadelphia police officers arrive at the scene of
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the shooting. The victim's keys are still in the ignition,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: and the engine is still running. Two bullets penetrated the
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: victim's neck. A third bullet entered his temple. A fourth
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: grazed the bridge of his nose and shattered the passenger
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: side window. When Agent Marr arrives on the scene, police
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: have already checked the registration of the car, but they.
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: Don't yet know who the victim is.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Agent Marr recognizes the victim from previous investigations. Gattone is
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: a longtime member of the Philadelphia crime family, currently under
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: the leadership of John Stanfa. Several of Gattone's neighbors witnessed
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: the shooting, but no one can identify the lone hooded gunman.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Special Agent Jim Marr suspects Joey Merlino's young Turks are
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: behind the killing.
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: Where he was killed, The manner in which he was
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: killed indicated to me that the Merlino faction was sending
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: a message to Stanford and his people, we're here and
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: we are to be reckoned with.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Agents monitor their wiretaps. But no one is talking about
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: the murder.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: Special Agent Fred Walsh.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: Initially, at the time that this bookmaker was murdered, we
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: weren't sure who was involved. There was nothing definitive on
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: the wire after the bookmaker had been murdered. There was
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: a reference to the fact, but nothing that would indicate
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: to us that Stanford had a belief someone had done
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: it or someone hadn't done it.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Investigators are certain the murder is mob-related, but they have
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: no proof. When they speak to Stanfa himself, he claims
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: to know nothing. But Stanfa strikes back. Five weeks after
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: the murder of John Stanfa's bookie and tax collector, Michael Changlini,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the Young Turks' number two man, is coming home after
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: a basketball game. Two men armed with shotguns open fire. Somehow, Changlini,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: his wife and two children, were uninjured in the attack.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Investigators recovered 12-gauge shotgun shells from the front yard and
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: shotgun pellets from the ceiling of the living room and
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: dining room. Despite the brazen attack on Changlini and his family,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: he won't cooperate with the detectives.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: He wasn't going to say anything. They just don't talk
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: to law enforcement. They feel they're going to handle it themselves.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: It's business, and it's none of our business. So you're
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: not going to get anything out of them.
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: The Young Turks' number two boss isn't talking.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: But the FBI suspects the attack is payback for the
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: murder of John Stanford's bookie.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: After the bookmaker's murder and then the attempt on Michael Cinglini,
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: we believed that we were going to see an increase
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: in violence. There was going to be a potential mob war.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Fearing this, the FBI petitions a federal court to expand
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the eavesdropping. In the spring of 1992, they get the
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: court order they need. Agents place bugs in seven new locations,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: including lawyers' private offices, the law library, the television room,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: and the lunchroom.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: The new wires immediately start paying off.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Early in May of 1992, FBI cameras catch Stanford arriving
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: at the law office with his conciliary and Joseph Changlini,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: brother of the young Turk's second in command. Inside, John
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Stanford angrily announces that he knows the young Turks are
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: looking for him. They want him dead. But Stanford doesn't
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: want a war. He wants to make one last attempt
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: at diplomacy. His first move is to make Joseph Cenglini
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: his new underboss.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: I guess he thought as a concession to them, he
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: would be able to control them. This is saying, keep
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: your friends close, keep your enemies even closer. This was
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: the way to keep an eye on them. We fully
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: anticipated that we were going to see an increase in violence,
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: but we were surprised by what did happen.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Informants tell the FBI that Stanford invites Joseph Changlini's younger
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: brother Michael and the young Turk boss Joey Merlino to
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: a secret meeting. Here, Joey and Michael become made members
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: of La Cosa Nostra.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: You have to swear to place the family before anything
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: else in your life. God, your own personal family, your mother,
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: your father, your wife, your children. If the family calls you,
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: you come before them.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Now, as made members of La Cosa Nostra, the two
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: young Turks enjoy special privileges.
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: The benefits that come with that are that you can
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: conduct your rackets, whatever they may be, without fear of
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: interference from someone who is not a member. The family
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: in a dispute will always decide in your favor if
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: you are a member and the other.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: Person is not.
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: A member cannot be killed unless the boss of that
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: family to which he's a member approves.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: For John Stanford, promoting the Young Turks is his final
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: act of diplomacy. The FBI and the Organized Crime Task
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Force will keep a vigilant watch to see if Stanford's
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: bold move stops the violence. But agents still need to
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: collect more information about the crime family to shut them
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: down for good. Through an informant, they learn the law
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: office is not the only place where Stanford and his
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: associates are congregating.
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: We found out that Stanford had opened up a dinette
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: next to another business he owned, which was a food
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: distribution business. And surprisingly, Stanford actually worked at this place
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: every day. John Q. Citizen, he would go to work
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: and he actually worked there. You'd see him out there
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: sweeping and cooking and handling stuff. But he was also
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: meeting his family members there and discussing mob business. So
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: the next step logically is to attempt to get a
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: Title III bug installed in the binet so that we
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: can listen to the conversations he's having with these members
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: and associates of the family.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Once the microphone is installed inside the dinette, the FBI
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: hears that an angry John Stanford is still having problems
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: with the young Turks. He requests a final sit down
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: with Joey Merlino. Joey Merlino and Michael Changlini pay a
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: visit to Stanford. Gamblers are complaining that the young Turks
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: are not honoring their bets. Merlino assures the boss he'll
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: fix the problem and make.
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: Good on the debts.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: The meeting ends amicably. Perhaps there can be peace within
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: the family. Early in March, FBI surveillance agents observed Joseph
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Changlini and a waitress opening up the Stanford dinette. It's
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: almost exactly one year after his brother Michael was nearly
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: gunned down at his home. His.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: Activities were easy to document.
• 30:54
  Speaker 5: He was regular. He got up in the morning and
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: he went to work.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: But on this morning, Joseph Changlini's routine takes a terrifying twist.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Four men pull up and open fire on Changlini and
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: the waitress, reigniting the bloody war between the old and
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the new mafia of South Philadelphia. On March 2nd, 1993,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: in South Philly, underboss Joseph Changlini and a waitress opened
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: John Stanford's diner. Shortly after 6.30 a.m., four gunmen launch
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: an attack.
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: Changlini is gunned down.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: The surveillance agent alerts FBI HQ and calls 911 for
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: an ambulance. The FBI agent on surveillance arrives on the scene.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Joseph Changlini has been shot repeatedly in the head, neck,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: and chest.
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: The waitress is unharmed.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Changlini has somehow managed to survive the deadly attack.
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: Though severely wounded, he can talk.
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: You couldn't get a statement out of him, and even
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: if he knew who did it, he wasn't going to
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: implicate anybody. He was part of the mob, the omerta,
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: the code of silence, and they would take care of
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: this on their own.
• 32:31
  Speaker 7: They had to know who they were.
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: He saw them.
• 32:34
  Speaker 7: We suspected that it was a group from the Young Turks,
• 32:40
  Speaker 7: but he basically told us he didn't know anything.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Hoping to identify the shooters, FBI agents review the surveillance
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: tapes But in the early morning darkness, the images are
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: too dark to identify anyone.
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: The video was very grainy, very blurry. It was very
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: hard to identify with any kind of particularity of features
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: where you would recognize who actually went in. But you
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: could see four shapes going in. Then you go to
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: the audio and you hear screaming and you hear shots.
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: And then you hear someone yelling, move, move. And then
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: they exit the place and they drive away. That's basically
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: all we had. You couldn't say with any reasonable certainty
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: who actually went in there and shot Joseph Cinglini.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: But agents are still surveilling the law office. In the
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: listening post, wiretaps record a chilling conversation between Stanford and
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: a mob associate. John Stanford suspects Michael Changlini was behind
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: the attempt.
• 33:50
  Speaker 4: To kill his own brother Joseph at the restaurant.
• 33:53
  Speaker 7: Michael and Joey were on the opposite sides of internal
• 33:57
  Speaker 7: war within the Stanford family. They were half-brothers, and it
• 34:04
  Speaker 7: didn't make any difference. He thought his brother Joey was
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: on the wrong side, and he was.
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: Going to take him out.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: For John Stanford, there is only one choice. Eliminate Joey
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Merlino and the Young Turks.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: So he starts to recruit his own muscle to send
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: them out and to start stalking these young Turks and
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: trying to kill Joey Merlino, Michael Cenglini, and the people
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: associated with him.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Undercover FBI agents deliver a warning to Merlino and Michael Cenglini.
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: What's going on, fellas?
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: When we're aware of the fact that violence is going
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: to occur or may occur, and we think we know
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: who the violence is going to occur against, we have
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: an obligation to go out and warn them.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: John Stanford is sending hit teams into the streets with
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: orders to gun down Merlino and Changlini. The Young Turks
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: shrug off the FBI warning. Even though they know their
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: lives are in danger, they refuse to cooperate. The young
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Turks should have listened to the FBI. A Stanford hit
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: team tracks them down and opens fire in broad daylight.
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: Michael Changlini is shot in the heart and dies on
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: the street.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: Joey Merlino is wounded. It is clear to the FBI
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: that John Stanford means business.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: He's taken up the challenge and he's retaliated with a
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: lot of force. So that's where we are right then
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: and there. We believe that Stanford is responsible for it.
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: Now we have to prove it.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Three hours after the shooting, South Philadelphia police officers.
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: Respond to a burning vehicle.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: The car matches the description of one seen by witnesses
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: at the shooting. Police run a trace and learn that
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: it was leased to a member of the Stanford crime family.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: That night, police question Phil Colletti and his wife. She
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: tells police she reported the car stolen. Colletti says he
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: has been home all day. The FBI views the couple's
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: alibi with skepticism. Colletti becomes the first suspect in the
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: shooting murder of Michael Changlini. Several days later, the FBI
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: gets a lead on the second shooter.
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: The FBI had received a call from a physician who
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: said that he had treated an individual who came in
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: with burns. He felt rather suspicious.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: FBI agents find John Vesey at home. He, too, is
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: a known member of the Stanford crime family. Agents ask
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: Vesey what happened to his hand. And he says he
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: had an accident with his barbecue grill. His hand was
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: burned when he spilled lighter fluid. Vesey insists the burn
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: was an accident and says he knows nothing about the
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: murder of Michael Changlini and the shooting of Joey Merlino.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: But when investigators check out the grill, they discover it
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: runs on propane, which conflicts with Vesey's story that he
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: was using lighter fluid when he burned himself.
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: It aroused our suspicion and kind of pointed us toward
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: Veazey more so than anybody else.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: The FBI suspects two members of the John Stanford crime
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: family in the murder of Michael Changlini and the shooting
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: of young Turk boss Joey Merlino. But before the FBI
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: can bring the shooters to justice, Joey Merlino and the
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: young Turks try to get their own revenge. John Stanford
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: is writing in a 1976 Cadillac Seville. He's headed south
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: on the Schuylkill Expressway with his son Joseph and a
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: trusted driver.
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: A van pulls up next to the Cadillac.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Two gunmen thrust 9mm machine pistols through portholes cut in.
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: The side of the van, and they open fire.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: A full-scale mafia civil war rages on the streets of Philadelphia.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: Violence explodes with a brazen rush hour attack on Sicilian
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: mob boss John Stanford. The gunfire misses John Stanford, but
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: his son Joseph is hit in the face. Stanford's driver
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: rams the van, forcing it off the highway.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: What was really brazen about it was on a highway
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: like that, random shots could have struck and hurt, even
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: killed any innocent people who were on there.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: Investigators have no doubt the attack on Stanford is Joey
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Merlino's revenge for the murder of Michael Changlini.
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: It showed you the extent of the violence these people
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: were willing to employ and the grudge they bore against him. Stanford.
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: Police find Stanford at the hospital.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Despite the brazen attack on him and his innocent young son,
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: the Cosa Nostra boss claims he has no idea who
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: tried to kill them.
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: And of course, it's the old, I don't know who
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: would have done this to me, And we don't get
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: anything out of him.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: It is only a matter of time before innocent civilians
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: get caught in the crossfire. And it's time to turn
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: up the heat on the warring mob. Any known Stanford
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: or Merlino associates seen driving around South Philadelphia becomes the
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: subject of a routine traffic stop. Authorities arrest eight mobsters
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: for carrying weapons.
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: They confiscate. 380,. 45, and.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: 38 caliber semi-automatics. The FBI has no doubt the young
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: Turk's boss ordered the hit on John Stanford, but feds
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: can't prove it.
• 40:37
  Speaker 4: Joey Merlino has to be yanked off the streets. The
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: FBI arrests him for.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: A parole violation of a 1990 armored truck robbery. With
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: Joey Merlino off the streets, it is now time for
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: the FBI to focus its sights on John Stanford's crew.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: The agents target murder suspect John Vesey. The professional hitman
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: is one of John Stanford's soldiers. But tonight, thanks to
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: a New Jersey firearms violation and the threat of a
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: long jail sentence, Vesey has agreed to wear a wire
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: for the FBI.
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: He was a very tough, tough individual. And he did
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: some construction work as a hired laborer for John Stanford's brother-in-law,
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: who was in construction. And he caught the eye of Stanford.
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: Stanford realized this kid was a tough kid, and he
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: intimidated people.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Under Stanford, Vesey became a loan collector, an enforcer, and
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: a killer. Now he claims he feels the weight of
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: the murders he committed.
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: All these things... Plus the fact that his brother, who
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: really cared for him, was convinced that John was going
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: to go down and never see the light of day.
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: His brother convinced him that he should cooperate.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Vesey was made into the family by John Stanford. And
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: now he wants to get out alive.
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: You couldn't measure the significance of it. It was like
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: a coup for us that he came on board.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: Vesey quickly becomes comfortable wearing the wire. He has several meetings,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: but the conversations don't provide any new evidence against John Stanfa.
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: He's out for a little while. I think he met
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: with one or two people, nothing great. He was a
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: little down about the fact that he wasn't getting the
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: conversations he wanted to. He was really into it. We
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: told him, look.
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: Don't worry about it. We've got a lot of time.
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: We'll do it again until we get it right. It's
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: Friday night now. You've worked long and hard for us.
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: Go home. Go home and relax. Don't go out. We'll
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: hook up with you again. We'll do it again.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: Later that night, John Vesey runs out of luck, and
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: the FBI's Organized Crime Task.
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: Force is dealt a crippling blow.
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: In a bloody South Philadelphia mob war, the FBI's number
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: one informant is gunned down by mafia hitmen. And the
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: FBI's best chance at busting up a notorious crime family
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: is shattered. FBI Special Agent Fred Walls is devastated by
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: the news that informant John Vesey has been shot.
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: Well, when you hear that someone's been shot in the head,
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: you think the worst.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: But against all odds, after three. 22 caliber slugs slammed
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: into his skull, John Vesey is still alive.
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: I'm shocked. This guy was shot in the head. He's
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: given an interview. And he proceeds to tell what happened.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: Earlier that night, after he removed the wire and the
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: FBI agents went home, Vesey ran into John Stanford's underboss
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: and one of his soldiers.
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: I know a nice place.
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: And they tell him, we've been looking for you. We
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: want to get you started in your own bookmaking operation.
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: We're going to show you how to do it. We're
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: going to go over to this location in South Philadelphia
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: above this meat store.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: For Vesey, it was just another late-night business meeting. He
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: wasn't wearing the wire anymore, and he thought he had
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: nothing to fear.
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: He says he goes up to the room. The main
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: guy is sitting down with him at a table, going
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: over figures, telling him how to take bets, how to
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: write stuff down. The underboss excuses himself, he has to
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: go to the bathroom.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: John Vesey heard the sound of the flushing toilet and
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: the door to the bathroom opening.
• 45:13
  Speaker 4: And then he heard the gunshots. Three.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: 22 caliber slugs impacted John Vesey's skull But he didn't
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: go down.
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: Vesey turns around, looks at the guy and says, what
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: the frig you doing? And of course, the shooter now,
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: he's in shock. So he throws the gun down and
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: he pulls out a knife. Well, Vesey takes the knife
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: away from him and cuts him and basically incapacitates him
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: and throws him on the ground. He turns to the
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: other guy, the main guy, who's an older guy, and
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: the guy looks at him and he says, John, John.
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: He said, this has all been a mistake. It's a misunderstanding.
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: We're gentlemen here. We can settle this. And Vesey says,
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: get out of the way or I'm going to take
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: you down too.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: And against all odds, John Vesey walks out of the
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: room alive.
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: And that just goes to show you how tough this
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: kid was. I mean, he was tough. And the bullets
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: went into the back of his head. And we later
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: found out they had hit the head and come around.
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: I guess the slugs weren't as strong. It was a.
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: 22 caliber long rifle slug. And he took three in
• 46:27
  Speaker 3: the head and survived.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: Two weeks later, ex-Mafia hitman John Vesey makes his first
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: appearance before the federal grand jury and testifies against his
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: former crime family. The information he provides is invaluable to
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: the FBI.
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: Vesey names names.
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: And gives the FBI what they need to move against
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: the Philadelphia mob. When the FBI increases the pressure, other
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: mobsters make deals with the prosecutors and become informants for
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: the FBI. And the dominoes begin to fall. On St.
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: Patrick's Day in 1994, 24 suspects are arrested on racketeering
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: charges of murder, murder conspiracy, extortion, arson, kidnapping, gambling and
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: obstruction of justice. Among those arrested is Frank Martinez. He's
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: found guilty of assault and the attempted murder.
• 47:26
  Speaker 4: Of John Vesey.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: Vincent Pagano is also arrested and found guilty of assault
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: and the attempted murder of John Vesey. On the same day,
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: John Stanford is arrested on racketeering charges of murder, murder conspiracy, extortion, arson, kidnapping, gambling,
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: and obstruction of justice.
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: It was a nice, clean, easy sweep. We brought the
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: people in, and we were very satisfied with it.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: Ultimately, 27 people are charged with conspiracy and racketeering under
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: the RICO Act. 24 defendants are either convicted or plead
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: guilty to the charges.
• 48:24
  Speaker 5: I felt pretty good that we did make Philadelphia a
• 48:26
  Speaker 5: little bit safer. It was my job. It was my
• 48:31
  Speaker 5: life's work. I thought we did a good job, and
• 48:35
  Speaker 5: I thought that we served the citizenry well. very well
• 48:39
  Speaker 5: with what we did. We took a very, very violent
• 48:41
  Speaker 5: group and sent a lot of them to jail for
• 48:45
  Speaker 5: a long, long time. And we made Philadelphia a little safer.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: On July 9th, 1996, John Stanford is sentenced to five
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: consecutive life terms. He is serving at the United States
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.