September 1, 1999
by Kitty Caparella
Philadelphia Daily News Staff Writer

The attempted assassination of Gorilla may rank as one of the city's legendary hits that missed.

Steven "Gorilla" Mondevergine, the president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Pagans Motorcycle Club, is riddled with at least nine bullet holes - entrance and exit - but he is expected to survive.

The 44-year-old biker, who had one of six bullets removed during a series of operations, remains on a respirator under sedation at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

His would-be killer used a .380 caliber handgun, which gun experts say would never kill a guy like Gorilla, at 2:29 a.m. Saturday near his home on 12th Street near Bigler. Neither police nor the Pagans report any suspects.

Not too many mobsters or bikers can survive a hail of bullets, except in Philadelphia where hits and misses have become an art form, as described in trial testimony.

Some lead missiles fall so wide of the mark that their executioners have been dubbed "The Dumbfellas" and "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."

Take the case of Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, the jailed reputed acting mob boss who survived nearly two dozen murder attempts in the past seven years.

His enemies are legion - and notoriously inept.

During the 1992-1993 mob war, then-mob boss John Stanfa concocted all manner of plots to kill his upstart rival: bomb him, shoot him sleeping off a hangover, poison his drinks with cyanide.

Only once did Stanfa hit men find their prey.

On Aug. 5, 1993, mob capo John Veasey and associate Phil Colletti drove past Merlino's clubhouse at 6th and Catharine streets and saw Merlino and Michael Ciancaglini walking down the street.

The pair opened fired, killing Ciancaglini and wounding Merlino in the buttocks.

Roles quickly reversed for Veasey on Jan. 14, 1994, when he became a mob target.

Then-mob underboss Frank Martines and then-mob capo Vincent "Al Pajamas" Pagano took him to an apartment to discuss gambling. Martines excused himself. Suddenly Veasey felt something hit the back of his head.

"Bye, bye, John-John," said Martines.

"Yo, Frank, what are you trying to do?" Veasey asked.

"Shoot him again," advised Pagano.

Martines shot him several more times. Pagano tried stabbing him. They tried pistol whipping him, beating him, and they wrestled him down a flight of stairs.

Veasey was pulled off Martines by Pagano, who said "Cut his f------ neck." But Veasey kicked away from Pagano, grabbed a knife on the floor and slashed Martines near the eye. The fight ended when Veasey stuck the knife in a sofa and fled.

In retaliation, a rival mob faction cut a hole in a van so a gunman could assassinate John Stanfa on the Schuylkill Expressway en route to his pasta warehouse.

On Aug. 31, 1993, the would-be killers missed Stanfa and hit his son, Joseph, in the face. Both survived.

Earlier, during the mob war, Merlino and Michael Ciancaglini were upset that Ciancaglini's brother, Joseph, was Stanfa's underboss, according to Sergio Battaglia's confession to the FBI.

On March 2, 1993, in the only mob hit videotaped by the FBI, there are sounds of the hit men walking through the dark into the Warfield Breakfast and Lunch Express, followed by a waitress' blood curdling screams and gunshots.

Joseph Ciancaglini, shot five times, lay in a pool of blood in the storage area. Disabled now, he walks with a cane, has had trouble hearing and seeing.

Head of Stanfa's hit squad, Battaglia avoided killing anyone during 17 tries, but he recognized a fellow bumbler in Merlino. He told the FBI:

On Oct. 31, 1989, Merlino, dressed in a masked Halloween costume, was test-firing his Mac-10 submachine gun out the window. By the time Merlino and Michael Ciancaglini arrived at Dante and Luigi's Restaurant to allegedly kill the arrogant son of a mob boss, Ciancaglini was cussing Merlino for running out of ammunition.

The would-be assassins returned to Ciancaglini's home at 12th and McKean streets to get more ammo. Then, the masked Merlino allegedly blasted young Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. out of his seat. Merlino dropped the Mac-10 on the way out. Scarfo survived. No arrests were made.

Merlino's attorney, Joseph Santaguida described Battaglia's information as "hearsay."

Another Stanfa hit man, Rosario Bellocchi, was ordered to kill his rival, Biaggio Addornetto, on his first contract murder. Addornetto had disrespected Stanfa and made a pass at Stanfa's daughter, who was Bellocchi's fiance.

The masked Bellocchi showed up at a posh waterfront restaurant and fired a sawed-off shot gun at Addornetto. The gun misfired. He had used the wrong size cartridges.

In 1995-1996, the late Louis Turra was obsessed with killing Merlino in retaliation for a severe mob beating he survived after refusing to pay the mob street tax.

One Turra plan was to pitch a hand grenade into the Avenue Cafe, Merlino's now closed expresso shop on Passyunk Avenue near Broad, to kill Merlino.

Notorious tough guy and convicted felon-turned government witness Rocco Turra nixed his nephew's plan, saying mothers and children could be hurt.

The only mobster close to Merlino in avoiding murder repeatedly was the late Salvatore "Salvy" Testa, who survived 17 attempts until his death at 28 in 1984.

Testa became an assassin to avenge the death of his father, mob boss Philip "Chicken Man" Testa, in a bomb blast on March 15, 1981. He tracked down and killed everyone involved.

Bloodthirsty Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, who became mob boss, tapped Testa to head his hit squad, dubbed by cops as "The Young Executioners."

Wary the young mobsters would outmuscle him, Scarfo allegedly agreed to turn on his best hit man, at the request of then-underboss Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino, who was upset that Salvy jilted his daughter, Maria, on the eve of their wedding.

In 1982 in the Italian market, Testa, 26, sat on a stool, eating a basket of clams and a Coke, on Christian near 9th. Low-level mob hit men Victor DeLuca and Joseph Pedulla pulled up in a car, jumped out, pumped Testa with eight bullets, then sped off. Testa survived.

The gunmen failed to notice Officer Irvin Nunes in marked police car behind them witnessing the episode. After a high-speed chase, the pair were arrested after crashing into a utility pole at 47th and Grays Ferry Avenue.

Salvy Testa, like many mobsters, was done in by his best friends. At Scarfo's order, Testa's closest pal, Joseph Pungitore, allegedly set him up and Wayne Grande allegedly shot him twice in the back of his head. Both men and seven others were acquitted of the 1984 murder.

During the Riccobene wars between 1982-1984, the notoriously vicious Scarfo felt threatened by the independence of Harry Riccobene, one of the oldest and most active members of the Bruno clan.

Try as Scarfo might, he couldn't kill him, despite issuing murder contracts to several hit men.

On June 8, 1982, Wayne Grande was jogging past a telephone booth where the 5-foot Harry Riccobene, then 72, was talking to his girlfriend.

Grande, 10 inches taller and much beefier than his prey, started shooting, hitting Riccobene five times. Riccobene, tough as a bull, came charging out of the booth, wrested the gun out of his assassin's hand before he collapsed. Grande fled.

"I was keepin' count of the bullets he was firing and so I didn't go after him until I knew he didn't have any left," Riccobene told then-Lt. Frank Friel. Only five bullets were loaded in the six-shot revolver.

A couple weeks later, Riccobene's guys delivered a shotgun blast at Testa, but only hit him in the arm.

The Scarfo faction then found Riccobene in a car and shot up the car, but missed Harry.

"Probably neighborhood vandals," said Riccobene.

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