Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino (June 29, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an American mobster who was a member of the

Philadelphia crime family The Philadelphia crime family, also known as the Philadelphia Mafia, the Philly Mob or Philly Mafia, the Philadelphia-South Jersey Mafia, or Bruno-Scarfo family is an Italian-American Mafia family based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed and ...

. He served as

underboss Underboss ( it, sottocapo) is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian, Greek, and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss. The underbo ...

for

Nicodemo Scarfo Nicodemo Domenico "Little Nicky" Scarfo Sr. (March 8, 1929 – January 13, 2017) was a member of the American Mafia who became the boss of the Philadelphia crime family after the deaths of Angelo Bruno and Phil Testa. During his criminal car ...

from 1981 to 1986.

Biography

Merlino was born on June 29, 1939, in

Ducktown, Atlantic City Ducktown is a historically Italian-American district of Atlantic City, New Jersey, Atlantic City, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, stretching from Missouri Avenue to Texas Avenue. ''The Press of Atlantic City'' called the neighborhood "Atlantic ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Merlino was married to Rita Giordano, and fathered three children,

Joey Joey may refer to: People *Joey (name) Animals * Joey (marsupial), an infant marsupial * Joey, a Blue-fronted Amazon parrot who was one of the Blue Peter pets Film and television * ''Joey'' (1977 film), an American film directed by Horace ...

, Natale, Maria, Liza Ann and Jason. Merlino's brother Lawrence, was also a mobster who later turned government witness. The Merlino brothers were inducted into the Philadelphia crime family by

Philip Testa Philip Charles Testa (April 21, 1924 – March 15, 1981), also known as "The Chicken Man", was an Italian-American mobster known for his brief leadership of the Philadelphia crime family of the Italian-American Mafia. He became boss of the Phila ...

in 1980. When Scarfo took over the crime family in 1981, he promoted Merlino to underboss. In 1984,

Salvatore Testa Salvatore "Salvie" Testa (March 31, 1956 – September 14, 1984), nicknamed "The Crowned Prince of the Philadelphia Mob", was an Italian-American mobster who served as a caporegime and later acting underboss for the Philadelphia crime family. Te ...

broke off his engagement to Merlino's daughter Maria. Enraged, Merlino got permission from Scarfo to murder Testa, despite him being a loyal member of the crime family. Merlino developed a drinking problem. In 1986, Merlino got into an argument with members of the

Pagan's Motorcycle Club Pagan's Motorcycle Club, or simply the Pagans, is an outlaw motorcycle club formed by Lou Dobkin in 1957 in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The club rapidly expanded and by 1959, the Pagans, originally clad in blue denim jackets a ...

and then ran over one of them. The Pagans retaliated by shooting up his listed home address. However, the house actually belonged to Merlino's mother (who was unharmed). Afterwards Scarfo demoted Merlino and cut off ties with him. Merlino was one of 17 mobsters indicted for racketeering in 1988. On November 19, 1988, he was found guilty of RICO, RICO conspiracy, taking part in an illegal gambling business and two counts of methamphetamine distribution. On May 10, 1989, Merlino was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. In 1987, Merlino was one of seven people indicted for the 1985 murder of mobster Frank D'Alfonso. On April 6, 1989, Merlino was found guilty of helping plan the murder. He was sentenced to life in prison. In 1992, an appellate court panel overturned the murder convictions, citing prosecutorial misconduct and trial-court error. At the retrial in 1997, Merlino and his fellow defendants were acquitted of the murder. Merlino was serving his time for racketeering at the

Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Worth The Federal Medical Center (FMC) Fort Worth is an administrative-security United States federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, for male inmates of all security levels with special medical and mental health needs. It is operated by the Federal Bure ...

. His projected release date was August 3, 2016. He died on October 22, 2012.

References

1939 births 2012 deaths American gangsters of Italian descent Philadelphia crime family People convicted of racketeering People acquitted of murder American people who died in prison custody Gangsters sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners who died in United States federal government detention People from Atlantic City, New Jersey Criminals from New Jersey {{US-crime-bio-stub