Nicky Scarfo became the boss of the Philadelphia Mafia in 1981 after a long period of peace and prosperity within the crime family. But his tenure, marked by violence and betrayal, brought about the end of an era. By the time he went to prison in 1989, some 30 people were dead on his orders.
Nicodemo Scarfo was known as “Little Nicky” for his 5-foot-5-inch stature. But he more than made up for it with his violent temper. Scarfo was so ruthless that he was once said to have exclaimed, “I love this. I love it,” with joyous excitement while watching his soldiers tie up the body of an associate he’d ordered killed for insulting him by underestimating his power.
It soon became too much for his captains, who feared his unpredictability and slowly began informing on the family. The final blow came when his own nephew, Philip Leonetti, who’d been at his side for a quarter-century, turned on him to avoid a 45-year prison sentence in 1988.
And when Nicky Scarfo was sentenced to 55 years in 1989, he became the first mob boss in American history to have been personally convicted of murder — and joined the infamous ranks of bosses whose personal ruthlessness brought an ignominious end to their entire organization.
