November 28, 2020 – A detention memo filed by the U.S. Attorneys Office in eastern Pennsylvania on Friday details the taping of a mob making ceremony in Philadelphia and includes transcripts of defendants Steven (Handsome Stevie) Mazzone and Domenic (Baby Dom) Grande talking crime. News of the bombshell memo was first reported by Mob Talk Sitdown’s Dave Schratwieser (FOX29) on his social media after Mazzone and Grande pleaded not guilty and were both denied bail in a sweeping racketeering case that dropped Monday and included more than a dozen members and associates of the Bruno-Scarfo crime family. Mazzone, 56, is the family’s underboss. He took a racketeering conviction and did nearly a decade in federal prison in the 2000s. Grande, 41, is Mazzone’s nephew and reputed to be a captain in the borgata. Salvatore (Sonny) Mazzone, Handsome Stevie’s younger brother and an alleged soldier in the family, was part of the bust as well, but he was granted bond. Per the detention memo, the feds recorded Sonny Mazzone’s induction into the mafia, a ceremony Handsome Stevie and Grande attended. Handsome Stevie was introduced to the new initiates as the crime family’s underboss and gave a speech ordering an expansion of the organization back into Atlantic City. “Got to get ahold back on Atlantic City, buddy,” Mazzone said. “That’s what I want. We have to get that back.” It is unclear who conducted the “making” ritual, part of a rash of induction ceremonies to take place in the Bruno-Scarfo clan during the past five years, both in-state and out, according to sources. The traditional gun and knife display and burning of the saint card is confirmed to have occurred at the one memorialized by the feds. The FBI believes the mafia in Philly is in the midst of ballooning its’ ranks and stretching its’ reach; a crew in New England has been operational for more than five years, reinvigorating a presence in the region from the late 1990s, per sources. Soldiers have been “made” in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Florida, in the flood of recent ceremonies, sources claim. Back in the 1980s, Atlantic City was the Philly mob’s playground and golden goose. The Bruno-Scarfo crime family under maniacal don Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo dominated the A.C. rackets, controlling street activity, construction and labor union affairs. Today, the New York mob families have more of a foothold in the area. Four of the five New York Italian crime syndicates are alleged to have a presence in Atlantic City these days. Little Nicky Scarfo died of a heart attack in prison three years ago. Mazzone explained his attitude towards life in the mob in another excerpt. “I don’t want nobody glomming on to our fucking shit (our rackets), you know what I mean, you hear what I’m saying? We’re still street guys. Let’s face it, we’re fucking gangsters. I’m not going to let some sucker take that.” In the recorded ceremony, Grande was introduced to new members as a captain and was later caught on tape referring to himself as a “skipper.” Grande is also heard listing the hierarchy of the current Philly mafia lineup in another conversation. An unnamed wired-for-sound informant recorded Grande discussing the Atlantic City expansion effort. Grande told the informant he wanted to “plant the flag” for the Bruno-Scarfo crime family in the Jersey resort town. “We’ve got our hooks in (now), they either pay or get the fuck out,” said Grande of the local bookies and loansharks they were extorting. Drug dealing was in the mix, too. Grande was intercepted bragging of his ability to sell counterfeit oxycodone pills. “I can move thousands of them,” he said. “You know, these kids sell them for 20 bucks apiece.” If found guilty on all the counts, Mazzone and Grande are looking at maximum 20-to-40 year prison sentences. Grande only has a minor bookmaking charge on his record. Mazzone’s best friend, the swashbuckling 58-year old Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino, is the crime family’s reputed boss and lives in Florida. Merlino, with help from Mazzone and other childhood friends, fought and won a war for power and control of the Philly mob kingdom in the 1990s. Mazzone has filled the role of either Merlino’s underboss, acting boss or street boss since the fall of 1996, per sources. Grande’s dad, Salvatore (John Wayne) Grande was an enforcer and hit man during the Philly mob’s erratic Little Nicky Scarfo era. The elder Grande got nailed pushing drugs in prison and entered the Witness Protection Program.
