Nicky Scarfo, The “Hothead” Mafia Kingpin Of Philadelphia
Bettmann/Getty ImagesNicky Scarfo ruled Philadelphia with violence and intimidation for years.
Nicky Scarfo stood just 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed only 135 pounds, but he ruled as Philadelphia’s Mafia boss with violence and terror unlike anything seen before or since.
Born in Brooklyn on March 8, 1929, Scarfo grew up in an Italian-American family with strong ties to the Italian Mafia, according to The New York Times. After high school, Scarfo went to Philadelphia to work with three of his mob-affiliated uncles and quickly gained a reputation for violence.
Philly was run by a mobster named Angelo Bruno but Bruno’s assassination in 1980 — and the subsequent assassination of Bruno’s successor, Philip Testa — made room at the top. And Nicky Scarfo soon seized power.
Bettmann/Getty ImagesNicky Scarfo (right) arrives at Philadelphia International Airport on January 20, 1984. Carrying his bag is Salvatore Testa, the son of slain mob leader Phil “Chicken Man” Testa, who Scarfo would have killed later that year.
Capitalizing on the legalization of gambling in Atlantic City, Scarfo ran an extensive and profitable criminal enterprise. But he also ruled through fear, intimidation, and violence. Scarfo ordered the deaths of fellow mobsters and had their bodies left in the street as a deterrent for others.
Widely called a “hothead” even by the other unhinged killers in his midst, Scarfo saw brutal violence not just as a business necessity, but as an unending source of deranged glee.
In 1979, when he had an associate of his named Vincent Falcone murdered just for underestimating his power, Scarfo not only insisted on being present, but he joyously watched the whole thing while drinking an entire bottle of scotch and giddily exclaiming, “I love this. I love it.” Meanwhile, Scarfo once used his 10-year-old nephew to help him transport a corpse and, on another occasion, stabbed a longshoreman to death in a bar fight — with a butter knife.
As The New York Times reports, Scarfo’s hotheadedness didn’t engender loyalty but resentment. Fellow mobsters — including Scarfo’s own nephew — eventually testified against him. By the time he died in prison in 2017 at the age of 87, Scarfo was serving a lengthy sentence for everything from murder to extortion to illegal gambling.
