Former Philadelphia mob soldier and handsomely-paid FBI informant Ronnie (Big Ron) Previte died of natural causes this week at 73, steadfastly refusing to uproot and leave his New Jersey digs even after his cooperation and testimony put several high-ranking mafia leaders behind bars. Known as an “earner” on the street throughout his career in the
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Philadelphia drug world figure Anthony Reaves was slain this week less than an hour after he received a suspiciously lenient sentence in state court for his role in a large narcotics ring being run out of the Bennett Homes housing projects in Chester, Pennsylvania. Reaves, 41, had been cooperating with prosecutors in Delaware County in
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This week’s 67-page response motion filed by the U.S. Attorneys Office in New York gave us our first tiny glimpse at the hundreds of hours of audio surveillance evidence the government has compiled on alleged Philadelphia mob don Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino over the last five years. Besides his now already-famous opining on the ease of murdering those close to him, released in a brief
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The only murder reputed Philadelphia mafia boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino is suspected of carrying out that possibly matches the method he was recorded bragging of favoring on an FBI wire three years ago is the 1996 Michael (Dutchie) Avicolli hit. Merlino, 55, was taped telling mobsters in New York’s Genovese crime family in 2014 “It’s easy to kill
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