Salvatore Testa

Salvatore "Salvie" Testa (1956 - September 14, 1984) was a Philadelphia gangster who served as a hitman for the Philadelphia crime family during a period of internal gang conflict.

Revenge

Born in Philadelphia, Testa was the son of Philip "Chicken Man" Testa, a member of the Philadelphia family. In March 1980, longtime family boss Angelo Bruno was murdered and Testa's father became boss of the family. Bruno's death triggered a violent civil war in the family between factions loyal to Harry Riccobene and Nicodemo Scarfo, who controlled the family's Atlantic City, New Jersey operations. In March 1981, as part of this internal struggle, Testa's father was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) as he unlocked the front door of his house. His successor as boss was Scarfo.

The younger Testa was a rising star in the family, quickly elevated by boss Scarfo to the rank of capo. An extremely violent individual, Testa committed over 15 murders. One murder was that of mob associate Rocco "Boom Boom" Marinucci, the man who killed Testa's father. Exactly one year after the bombing, Marinucci's body was found in a parking lot in South Philadelphia, with bullet wounds to the neck, chest, and head. His mouth was stuffed with three large, unexploded cherry bombs. It was the work of Testa.

urvivor

As the struggle between Scarfo and Riccobene continued, Testa was a constant target for Riccobene gunmen. One source estimates Testa survived 17 separate hits. [http://books.google.com/books?id=L62GGItma-QC&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=salvatore+salvie+testa&source=web&ots=ZQZuEGcEiX&sig=ZHm9oAs8JGU0gfmSWD4ekiTu6Qw#PPA171,M1] In 1982, Testa was sitting on a wooden crate outside a South Philadelphia pizza shop, eating a bucket of raw clams. A shotgun blast from one of Riccobene's men knocked Testa off the crate and nearly severed his left arm. Although in critical condition, Testa survived. In late 1983, four days after the killing of Riccobene’s brother, Testa and two associates were ambushed as they were driving in South Philadelphia, but all three men escaped injury. This would be Riccobene's last effort to dethrone Scarfo. Riccobene was soon after convicted of murder and sent to prison, where he died in 2000.

Final Hit

After the end of internal conflict with Riccobene, Scarfo decided to eliminate Testa. Scarfo was jealous of a Wall Street Journal article that described Testa as a rich, young rising star in the family, and he also worried that Testa was becoming too powerful within the family. There was also an incident involving Testa and underboss Salvatore Merlino's daughter, Maria. She and Testa were engaged until Testa broke the marriage off right before the wedding. This gravely upset Scarfo and Merlino, who felt the marriage would benefit Cosa Nostra.

On September 14, 1984, Scarfo got Testa's best friend, made man Joey Pungitore, to lure Testa into an ambush at a candy store. Several more of Testa's friends shot him in the back of the head, killing him. Another crew of men later dumped his body along a roadside wrapped in a carpet with a rope around his neck.

Violent and insecure, Scarfo would continue murdering Philadelphia crime family members whom he feared or envied. Since the 1980s, many of the made men who later became government informants, including Nick Caramandi, underboss Phil Leonetti, and capo Tommy DelGiorno, have confided that the murder of Testa marked the downfall of the Scarfo regime in many ways. Much of the family's trust was defeated, as a respected member of the family was killed for very little reason. Despite this, Caramandi told in his book how many, such as Leonetti and DelGiorno, were enthusiastic about Testa's death leading up to the time of his murder. In 1987, Scarfo was sent to prison for several murders, where he still is as of November, 2007.

In his funeral procession on September 20, 1984, nearly 300 mourners crowded St. Paul's Catholic Church in the city's Italian Market section, only a block from where Testa, survived an assassination attempt that left him seriously wounded in 1982.

External links

* [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column45.htm This Week in Gangland: A BAD NEWS DAY] by Jerry Capeci

References

*Anastasia, George,"Blood and Honor: Inside the Scarfo Mob - The Mafia's Most Violent Family" (2004) ISBN 0-940159-86-4