Free Mafia Prince: Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family by Phil Leonetti, Scott Burnstein, Christopher Graziano

Nicodemo Scarfo was still the teacher and Philip was still his student, his most prized pupil.
    Only now the lessons had advanced on how to commit murder.
    And with the DeMarco killing under his belt, Philip had just graduated into the big leagues.
                  Chickie Narducci came down to see us, to thank us for what we had done. My uncle was ecstatic. The killing had enhanced not only his reputation within the mob, but mine as well. The guys in Philly knew what we were about, that we were killers, real gangsters. It’s what my uncle always wanted, ever since he was around Skinny Razor.
    It was a reputation that both Nicky Scarfo and Philip Leonetti would enhance, time and time again.
Sending a Message
    S HORTLY AFTER THE DEMARCO KILLING, PHILIP HAD GONE INTO BUSINESS WITH A FRIEND OF HIS FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD NAMED VINCE BANCHERI.
                  We needed $12,000 to buy equipment so we could start our own concrete company. I had been working with Alfredo, but I told my uncle I wanted to do my own thing and he agreed, so I went into a business with a friend of mine from the neighborhood. My partner Vince Bancheri burned his house down and we used the insurance money to start our company. So one night, me and Vince go out and we stop by the Flamingo Motel on Pacific Avenue; they had a lounge that a lot of people liked to go to. Judge Helfant, the guy that had double-crossed the Blade, owned it. My uncle still wanted to kill him, but the Blade was still in jail, so we put killing him on the back burner for the time being. My uncle would say, “Let it simmer; let it be until our friend comes home.”
                  So when we go in to the lounge, we see this kid named Pepe Leva who was a bookmaker who hung around Judge Helfant and the Flamingo. Vince had loaned him $3,000, and Pepe Leva was talking bad about Vince, like threatening him to people around Atlantic City saying he wasn’t going to pay him back. So Vince tells me about it and I called Pepe Leva over and asked him to step outside, I told him that I wanted to speak with him. So we go outside and I tell him, “You really shouldn’t be threatening people.” I tell him that Vince is my friend and I said, “You owe him the money; do the right thing and pay him.” I’m talking to him like a gentleman, that’s how I talked to people. I never came off like a tough guy unless I had to and usually at that point it wasn’t me, it was the gun doing the talking.
                  Well this Pepe Leva starts talking sideways to me and I don’t go for that, so I punched him right in the mouth and knocked his tooth out. There was no more talking nice to him. This is in the parking lot right in front of the Flamingo. Judge Helfant comes running outand he is going nuts, yelling and screaming. He has no idea that we are going to kill him when the Blade gets out of jail. He thinks we don’t we know that he kept the $6,000 for himself. He just sees me punch this Pepe Leva and he goes crazy. So me and Vince leave.
                  The next day, Judge Helfant makes an appointment to see my uncle. I think they went to the Lido restaurant. Judge Helfant says to my uncle, “Nick, your nephew hit this kid and he wants to press charges.” My uncle is placating him, telling him to relax. He says, “Take it easy, we’re all friends. Tell the kid to relax and not to press charges, and we will straighten it all out.”
    On June 28, 1977, two days after his fight with Philip Leonetti, Giuseppe “Pepe” Leva filed a criminal complaint in the Atlantic City Municipal Court charging Philip Leonetti with assault.
                  So, what we did was, my uncle worked it out through one of his lawyers Harold Garber and Judge Helfant that me and Pepe Leva were going to meet and we were going to shake hands and bury the hatchet between us.
                  So the next day, Pepe Leva and I meet up at the My