{"id":248537,"date":"2022-12-18T16:03:29","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T22:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=248537"},"modified":"2022-12-18T16:54:45","modified_gmt":"2022-12-18T22:54:45","slug":"philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly Mob Underboss Steven Mazzone Gets Five Years for Extortion, Illegal Gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steven \u201cHandsome Stevie\u201d Mazzone, the underboss of the Philadelphia mob<\/a>, has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of racketeering conspiracy, extortion, and illegal gambling.<\/p>\n

\"Stevien
\u201cHandsome Stevie\u201d Mazzone, left, leaves a Philadelphia courtroom with his lawyer in June 2020. He was taped taking part in a Mafia induction ceremony in 2015. (Image: Philadelphia Inquirer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mazzone was indicted<\/a> in November 2020, along with 15 other alleged members of the notorious crime family, with names like \u201cTony Meatballs,\u201d \u201cJoey Electric,\u201d and \u201cLouie the Sheep.\u201d Also indicted was Domenic \u201cBaby Dom\u201d Grande, allegedly Mazzone\u2019s capo.<\/p>\n

Mazzone directed a vast network of criminal activity that spanned Philadelphia and parts of New Jersey, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

He pleaded guilty in June 2022 to conduct that involved financing high-interest loans to sportsbook customers who were unable to pay their debts. This would result in the collection of interest rates on loans of as much as 264%, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

His henchmen made several threats of violence to debtors who did not pay, including one threat to make a victim \u201cdisappear\u201d for nonpayment.<\/p>\n

Look Out, Atlantic City<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Prosecutors built the case against Mazzone with evidence gathered through wiretaps, surveillance footage, and witness testimonies.<\/p>\n

One such wiretap records Mazzone\u2019s participation in a Mob initiation ceremony in which the underboss\u2019 brother and others are turned into made men. They are made to swear they will \u201cburn in hell forever if I betray my friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

We got to get a hold back on Atlantic City, buddy! That\u2019s what I want. That\u2019s what I want. We have to get that back. I mean we have a few guys out there, you know, right now. You\u2019re going to have a couple more guys out there with you \u2026 I want you, I want you to do something.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Philly Mob was a dominant force in the casino resort town in the 1970s and 1980s under former bosses Angelo Bruno and Nicky Scarfo.<\/p>\n

Among other rackets, Scarfo intimidated many of the city\u2019s casino developers, including Donald Trump, into using his cement contracting company, and made a fortune from its new gaming industry.<\/p>\n

Skinny Joey<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But the family\u2019s influence has waned in general in the ensuing years because of infighting and the successful prosecution of leaders like Scarfo, John Stanfa, Ralph Natale, and Joseph \u201cSkinny Joey\u201d Merlino<\/a>, The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

Merlino is reputedly still the boss of the family. He was released from prison in October 2019, having served a sentence of two years in prison for illegal gambling. That was after a jury failed to find a verdict on racketeering charges.<\/p>\n

\n

Mazzone was incarcerated for nine years in 2001, along with Merlino, for racketeering and illegal sports bookmaking.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen he got out, he went right back to the same streets and same old rackets — overseeing loansharking, illegal gambling, and extortion,\u201d Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI\u2019s Philadelphia Division, said in a news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cMazzone and co. need to accept that the FBI is just as committed to shutting down organized crime here as \u2018the family\u2019 has been to sustaining it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steven \u201cHandsome Stevie\u201d Mazzone, the underboss of the Philadelphia mob, has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of racketeering conspiracy, extortion, and illegal gambling. Mazzone was indicted in November 2020, along with 15 other alleged members of the notorious crime family, with names like \u201cTony Meatballs,\u201d \u201cJoey Electric,\u201d and \u201cLouie the Sheep.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":248538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1074],"tags":[84155,84154],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPhilly Mob Underboss Steve Mazzone Gets Five Years for Illegal Gambling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steven Mazzone, aka \u201cHandsome Stevie,\u201d Phillly Mob underboss, gets five years in prison for racketeering, extortion, illegal gambling.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philly Mob Underboss Steve Mazzone Gets Five Years for Illegal Gambling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Steven Mazzone, aka \u201cHandsome Stevie,\u201d Phillly Mob underboss, gets five years in prison for racketeering, extortion, illegal gambling.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-18T22:03:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-18T22:54:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/handsome-stevie-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling\/\",\"name\":\"Philly Mob Underboss Steve Mazzone Gets Five Years for Illegal Gambling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/handsome-stevie-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-18T22:03:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-18T22:54:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Steven Mazzone, aka \u201cHandsome Stevie,\u201d Phillly Mob underboss, gets five years in prison for racketeering, extortion, illegal gambling.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/philly-mob-underboss-steve-mazzone-gets-five-years-for-illegal-gambling\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/handsome-stevie-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/handsome-stevie-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"\u201cHandsome Stevie\u201d Mazzone, left, leaves a Philadelphia courtroom with his lawyer in June 2020. 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