Colorful New England mobster Alfred (Chippy) Scivola, a highly-respected mafia elder statesman on the east coast, died of natural causes this week, three years removed from his release from a three-year federal prison term he served for racketeering. The popular 76-year old Scivola was based out of Providence, Rhode Island and allegedly got inducted into the Patriarca crime family in 1996. He is the third member of the New England mafia to pass away since the spring and was known in the local underworld as a true character.
In 2011, Scivola was convicted alongside former Patriarca clan boss Luigi (Baby Shacks) Manocchio and one-time acting boss Anthony (The Little Cheese) DiNunzio for shaking down four Providence area topless bars (the Cadillac Lounge, the Satin Doll, the Foxy Lady and Club Desire) for street taxes ranging in the seven figures.
Manocchio, 90, is retired from the rackets – he did five years on the charges. DiNunzio, the 58-year old younger brother of reputed new don Carmen (The Big Cheese) DiNunzio, is scheduled for release from prison next winter.
The elder DiNunzio’s predecessor in the don’s seat, Pete Limone, succumbed to a bout with cancer last month at 83. The DiNunzio brothers hail from Boston, as did Limone. Longtime Boston button man Ralph (Ralphie Chong) Lamanttina died of old age in April – he was 94.
Back in 2005, Scivola was incarcerated for two years on similar charges stemming from his shaking down of Stamford, Connecticut strip clubs. That indictment reported a meeting in Connecticut between Scivola and a New York mob underboss Anthony (Tony the Genius) Megale of the Gambino crime family in 2002, regarding the Patriarcas’ extortion of Fairfield, Connecticut strip-club owner and Gambino associate Harold (Oil Can Harry) Farrington. Megale claimed “ownership” of Farrington and his businesses and paid Scivola a “settlement fee” to give to Manocchio for the Patriarcas to back-off of any further extortion efforts, per court filings. Megale died of cancer in the summer of 2015.
Scivola rose through the ranks of the east coast mafia as part of the infamous Acorn Social Club crew in Providence’s Federal Hill neighborhood (Rhode Island’s Little Italy) in the 1970s and 80s. According to federal surveillance reports and court records, Scivola was gangland running buddies with Edward (Little Eddie) Lato and Frank (Bobo) Marrapese as the threesome made their way up the syndicate’s pecking order and gained considerable esteem in area mob circles in the process
In October 1981, Scivola and Marrapese were busted for receiving a load of stolen La-Z-Boy recliner chairs and then in 2002, Scivola and his son were pinched for selling “hot” Reebok-brand sneakers. Lato and Marrapese pled guilty with Scivola in 2011 to extortion charges and are both currently behind bars.
The post New England Mafia Loses Another Anchor, Beloved ‘Chippy’ Scivola Bites The Dust At 76 appeared first on The Gangster Report.