By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.
Philadelphia’s underworld has seen a quiet but steady homecoming this year. One by one, key figures of the city’s notorious Mafia family are leaving federal prisons and making their way to halfway houses across the city. The wave of releases comes at a time when a new documentary about the Philly mob is set to premier on Netflix and shine a bright spotlight that will light up the town.
In September, Salvatore “Sammy” Piccolo, a convicted drug dealer and soldier in the Philadelphia Mafia, was transferred to a halfway house in Philadelphia after serving six years behind bars. Piccolo, whose induction into La Cosa Nostra was famously caught on secret FBI tapes, is slated for full release in November 2027.
Piccolo received a 12-and-a-half-year federal sentence in 2019 as part of a sweeping FBI drug investigation that peeled back layers of the Philly mob’s narcotics network. In 2017, Piccolo distributed quantities of crystal meth to FBI undercover agents on three separate occasions.
On one occasion, he sold the undercover agent approximately four ounces of the drug in a restaurant parking lot in Sicklerville, New Jersey, in exchange for a $5,660 cash payment. On two other occasions in September 2017, FBI undercover agents purchased two ounce quantities of methamphetamine from Piccolo in Atlantic City for cash payments of $2,800 for each transaction.
It wasn’t exactly high-level kingpin stuff, but it paid the bills.
South Philly big bosses
Just a few weeks after Piccolo’s transfer, Domenic Grande followed a similar path. In October, the South Philly mob captain, described by law enforcement as one of the organization’s rising powers, was moved to a Philadelphia halfway house with 20 months left on his sentence. Grande was one of several high-ranking defendants in a 2020 federal racketeering case against Philadelphia leaders.
That case also snagged Mafia underboss Steve Mazzone who was sentenced to 5 years behind bars in December of 2022. Prosecutors said Mazzone directed a vast network of criminal activity that spanned Philadelphia and parts of New Jersey. Wiretap evidence established that Mazzone financed high-interest loans to customers of the sportsbook who were unable to pay their debts, resulting in the collection of loans with interest rates as high as 264%. Mobsters threatened debtors who did not pay with violence, including one threat to make a victim “disappear” for nonpayment on a loan.
But he too is now out and about and currently residing at a Philadelphia halfway house. Mazzone is expected to complete his term by next March.
Dave Schratwieser reported on Facebook that: “One time mob underboss Joseph Massimino got early release to halfway hour a couple years ago, he’s still on supervised release. Experts say a combination of the federal First Step Act and the normal 15% federal sentence reduction formula lead to these early releases.”
Adding some muscle for the spotlight
While none of these men are free and clear yet, halfway house placement still comes with strict conditions, their gradual return to Philadelphia adds another layer to the city’s ever-evolving mob dynamic. With key players like Grande and Mazzone inching closer to full release, and veterans like Massimino still in the mix, the Philadelphia Mafia sees an extra boost to its depleted ranks.
It couldn’t come at a better time. A new documentary about Philadelphia’s Mafia 1990s Mafia war is set to air on Netflix on October 22. Titled Mob War: Philadelphia vs. The Mafia it details the organization’s infighting between the faction led by Mafia boss John Stanfa and the faction led by young up-and-comer Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino. The docu series will place South Philly’s underworld in the spotlight and place all eyes on its local mob family.
No doubt, some of them will be watching as well.
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