Kriti Mehrotra
Netflix’s ‘Mob War: Philadelphia vs. The Mafia’ delves into the power struggle between John Stanfa and Joey Merlino in the 1990s. The documentary series incorporates archival footage and exclusive interviews to shine a light upon what precisely transpired, its aftermath, and the extent of the mob’s activities. In doing so, it places a specific focus on the mob-boss Giovanni “John” Stanfa, who was allegedly backed by all five families of the New York Mafia.
John Stanfa Was Reportedly an Old-School Mobster
Born on December 7, 1940, in Caccamo, Sicily, Giovanni “John” Stanfa was reportedly a young man when he got involved in the world of criminality and mobsters thanks to his family. According to records, he relocated from his homeland to New York at the age of 23 in 1964 and listed his occupation on official documents as a blue-collar worker, bricklayer. However, reports suggest his brothers and brother-in-law almost immediately introduced him to the Gambino crime family, as they were a part of it, leading him to join them soon.
John eventually settled down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under the then-local mob boss Angelo Bruno, just to quickly become a made man and rise up the ranks. However, everything turned upside down for him after 1980, following his boss’ murder, as he was found to have lied about meetings with mobsters after Angelo’s death. He had relocated to Baltimore to work as a baker in a pizza shop, where he was arrested and extradited. In 1981, he was convicted of perjury and sentenced to eight years in prison, unaware that his reputation would precede him. After all, in 1990, following the conviction of mob boss Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo, John emerged as the new leader of the Philadelphia branch of the mafia, aka the La Cosa Nostra.
According to records, he was an old school mobster as he preferred to focus on his “business” rather than publicity, name, or fame, and he thus even operated on the down low. Therefore, it was initially hard for the FBI to even confirm he was the new leader, but it turned out he did most of his illegal dealings at his lawyers’ office. They thus bugged it and got a mountain of information, including John referring to the mob as La Cosa Nostra – the first person in the mob to certainly acknowledge its existence. Then came the details of his internal power struggle with legacy men like Joey Merlino, as not many youngsters liked his old-school Sicilian style.
John Stanfa’s War With Joey Merlino Inadvertently Led to His Downfall
When Joey began causing trouble for John as a new leader, the latter allegedly hired a hit man to remove him and his underboss from the picture for good, making an intensely detailed plan. According to the aforementioned show, while John preferred to keep things on the down low usually, he wanted his hits to send a message by ordering them done in broad daylight. He allegedly also didn’t care if there were additional casualties in the form of civilians or his targets’ family members, including their wives or their young kids.
Joey and his underboss were eventually shot in a drive-by shooting on August 5, 1993, but while the latter sadly passed away, the former survived and later allegedly responded in kind to the best of his abilities. It could never be proven, but many believe the attack on John Stanfa and his son on August 31, 1993, was an act of revenge. That’s because not only were they shot at in their car on the Schuylkill Expressway while on the way to work, but the triggerman was also a friend of Joey’s. Somehow, John managed to escape unscathed, but his son was gravely injured as he took a bullet in the jaw and near his eye, affecting him greatly in the long run.
It was reportedly this alleged act of revenge and the murder of his underboss that made John take things even further by ordering a hit on every single one of John’s associates. In the end, though, in 1994, he was arrested on several federal charges after his hitman, John Veasey, decided to become an FBI informant after internal issues and a threat to his own life. John, who, on paper, resided in suburban New Jersey and ran a blue-collar construction business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was federally indicted on 35 charges, including extortion, labor racketeering, loansharking, murder, and conspiracy to commit murder, on March 17, 1994.
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John Stanfa Continues to Serve His Life Terms in Prison
It was an intense trial, but after several witness statements and the evidence collected by the FBI since 1993, John Stanfa was convicted on 33 of the 35 charges against him. The primary witness against him was actually John Veasey, who testified even after his elder brother, William “Billy” Veasey, was murdered on the day the trial was initially scheduled to begin, on October 5, 1995. John testified to being an enforcer and a hitman for the mob, claiming that while he did commit several heinous crimes since 1993, almost all of them had been ordered by John Stanfa. He also detailed other aspects of John’s “business” that helped prosecutors secure convictions.
As a result, on July 9, 1996, John was handed down five life sentences without the possibility of parole. As per Department of Justice records, the charges against him involved four murders, seven attempted murders, and a kidnapping. Yet, the then-head of the federal organized crime division asserted they are glad because they “were able to capture John Stanfa before he became well-entrenched.” Thus, today, at the age of 84, he remains incarcerated at the low-security Federal Correctional Institution-Danbury (FCI Danbury) in Fairfield County, Connecticut, where he is expected to remain for the rest of his natural life.
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