Maybe his nickname should be “Mad Dog?” Alleged Philadelphia mobster Salvatore (Sonny) Mazzone has quite the temper.
Last week, Philly mafia figure Gaeton Lucibello got charged with violating his parole from a 2011 federal racketeering case when it was revealed he met briefly with Mazzone back in October at a bocce ball game held at Marconi Plaza, a large public park in South Philly. The 65-year old Lucibello was set to be released off parole restrictions on February 1. Philadelphia Police Department detectives on routine surveillance duty spotted the interaction, per award-winning local investigative journalist Dave Schratwieser (FoxPhilly29), the first member of the media to report on the incident via his Twitter account.
Sonny Mazzone is the little brother of reputed Bruno-Scarfo crime family underboss Steve (Handsome Stevie) Mazzone. While Handsome Stevie isn’t known for brutish antics out in public, his baby bro hasn’t been shy in asserting his authority out on the town if he deems the situation necessary.
In the summer of 2015, 52-year old Sonny Mazzone was arrested, but never charged with domestic battery at a Jersey Shore nightclub. An inebriated Mazzone did a night in jail, however the female companion he was with – believed to be his wife –, chose not to press charges. Present with Mazzone that evening in Jersey was Philly mob don Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino, his older brother’s best friend. Back in their younger days, Skinny Joey and Handsome Stevie’s tight-knit crew were known to brawl at the drop of a hat when hitting the bars and clubs along Delaware Avenue and at the Jersey Shore if they felt disrespected.
During an outdoor Super Bowl party in the early morning hours of February 7, 2005 (after his Philadelphia Eagles dropped a close one to the New England Patriots), Mazzone got into a fight with a fellow patron and bit part of his nose off. According to sources, Mazzone was inducted into the mafia in a ceremony held in the years after Handsome Stevie, 55, got sprung from a near-decade federal prison term for racketeering in 2009.
Joey Merlino will go on trial in New York next week on a new set of racketeering charges. He was released in 2011 from a stint in prison served for the same case the elder Mazzone got caught up in. The Mazzone brothers and Merlino played on a rec softball team together back in the 1990s. Following his last prison sentence, Merlino re-located to Florida.
Joey Merlino, Joe Ligambi and Sonny Mazzone circa 1997. Ligambi is Merlino’s acting boss.
The post Philly Mob Soldier ‘Sonny’ Mazzone Isn’t Someone To Be Messed With, Seen Meeting With Paroled Button Man In Fall Of ’17 appeared first on The Gangster Report.