Posted on Tue, Oct. 14, 2008
It's been a rough few months for reputed mob enforcer Marty Angelina.
First, back in June, there was the alleged plot to whack him.
Then, in July, he was stopped for drunken driving and, because it was a violation of the terms of his probation, was placed on limited, electronically monitored house arrest for 90 days.
And now, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court this month, he could be headed back to prison for associating with convicted felons, including reputed mob boss Joseph Ligambi.
All of this is playing out against the backdrop of an FBI investigation targeting Ligambi, Angelina, and several other reputed mob figures.
Once described by a federal prosecutor as a "bully running with a gang of misfits," Angelina, 45, is believed by law enforcement investigators to hold a position of authority within the Ligambi organization.
Angelina was given a spot in the mob hierarchy, they say, when he returned to South Philadelphia in November 2005 after serving 66 months in federal prison on a racketeering charge. Mob leader Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino and five others were also jailed in that case.
He was sent back to prison for four months in January 2007 for violating the terms of his supervised release by associating with mob figures, including Ligambi.
And now he could be headed back again for the same types of violations.
A hearing is set for this morning before Judge R. Barclay Surrick, the judge who ordered Angelina jailed in 2007.
"Mr. Angelina has been warned previously by this officer and the court about his associations with Mr. Ligambi," reads the violation form filed by the probation office in the current case.
Authorities allege Angelina met with the reputed mob boss in February in a South Philadelphia bar-restaurant.
The probation report also cites law enforcement surveillance of Angelina meeting with a convicted bookmaker in July and a convicted drug dealer in August.
The surveillance is believed to be part of an investigation into the Ligambi organization.
On Feb. 19, investigators with the Philadelphia Police Department's Criminal Intelligence Unit spotted Ligambi and Angelina leaving a South Philadelphia bar about 12:45 p.m., according to the probation department report.
Police had set up surveillance around 17th Street and Packer Avenue - not far from Ligambi's home - after they spotted a car in which Ligambi frequently traveled parked in front of a fire hydrant near the corner.
The report indicates that police saw Angelina and Ligambi exit from different doors of the Philadium Tavern at 1631 Packer Ave.
Police notified the probation office about the sighting.
Angelina's ties to Ligambi and the South Philadelphia crime family also were highlighted in an organized-crime investigation in Delaware County that led to more than a dozen arrests this summer.
Dubbed "Operation Delco Nostra" by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, the probe centered on gambling operations but included allegations that a top mob associate linked to Ligambi wanted to kill Angelina.
Reputed mobster Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello has been charged in two separate presentments in the case, one of which alleges he solicited another mob figure to assault Angelina.
Authorities allege that Monacello, who lives around the corner from Ligambi, first plotted with an associate to have Angelina killed. The associate, who was cooperating with the Pennsylvania State Police, reported the plot to authorities and wore a body wire to a second meeting. At that meeting, Monacello allegedly said that instead of killing Angelina, he wanted Angelina "beaten so badly he would have to be hospitalized," according to the grand-jury presentment.
Law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation said that Monacello was involved in a dispute with Angelina over the control and collection of gambling debts and that either Monacello or one of his customers had been threatened by Angelina.
Documents in the case indicate that Monacello had complained to Ligambi. But Monacello allegedly told the informant he would deny any involvement in the assault on Angelina if Ligambi questioned him about it.
In a taped conversation, Monacello said he would tell the mob boss, "if it was me, I would have just . . . killed him, OK?"
In the same conversation, Monacello used a epithet to describe Angelina and said he was the "most hated" member of the South Philadelphia crime family.
A preliminary hearing on the assault charge against Monacello was put off this month and has been rescheduled for January.
Contact staff writer George Anastasia at 856-779-3846 or ganastasia@phillynews.com.
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