LESSONS
FROM THE PRESS
It's crazy reading recent press on the mob. People say
it doesn't exist. You can learn a lot from articles. Some
hits are never discovered, and some, meant to be publicized.
In all whack jobs, things went down and had been brewing,
usually for a while, and the decision was made. The lesson
here, don't switch sides in the middle of a mob war. What
really happened though? What led to this article? Only
the guy in the trunk, and a select few wiseguys from Philly
know, and neither party is talking.
Mobster Slain, Found in Car Trunk
October 27, 1999
by Kitty Caparella and Regina Medina
Philadelphia Daily News
The body of Ronald Turchi, a one-time Mafia consigliere
or adviser who was busted to capo in the mid-1990s, was
found yesterday in the trunk of his wife's car in South
Philadelphia. He had been shot in the back of the head,
according to sources close to the investigation. Turchi's
hands were tied behind his back and a plastic bag was
over his head, sources said this morning. It was reminiscent
of many mob hits of the 1980s. His wife had reported the
car stolen sometime over the weekend. The car was found
in front of his late mother's home on 7th Street near
Federal, where the 61-year-old Turchi grew up, police
said. "The body was dead awhile. Not too long. Maybe a
day we believe," said Homicide Lt. Michael Morrin. The
body was taken to the Medical Examiner's Office, where
an autopsy was scheduled for today. The missing car was
located about noon and towed to a police garage at McAllister
Street near Whitaker Avenue, where the trunk was pried
open and the grisly remains found, police said. The Homicide
Division was notified at 7:10 p.m. last night. Turchi,
who once controlled the lucrative numbers operation in
South Philadelphia, has been circulating recently in gambling
circles in South Philadelphia. One street source saw Turchi
at a state Turf Club, an off-track betting parlor a month
ago. On May 7, 1997, Turchi, who had eluded authorities
for five months, was arrested on parole violations by
U.S. Marshals as he sneaked out of his girlfriend's house
- wearing only socks and a bathrobe - in an alley behind
the 1900 block of South Camac Street. The convicted arsonist
was sent back to prison for associating with mobsters,
such as then reputed mob underboss Joseph "Skinny Joey"
Merlino and convicted drug trafficker Joseph "Mousie"
Massimino. In 1992, Massimino, considered by authorities
as one of the mob's top earners, turned over his lucrative
numbers operation to Turchi and Gaeton Lucibello, who
was later acquitted of federal racketeering charges. Inducted
into the Mafia in the early 1990s by then-mob boss John
Stanfa, Turchi later switched sides in the middle of a
1993 mob war. After Stanfa was arrested in 1994 and Ralph
Natale took over the local mob, with approval from the
New York crime families, Natale elevated Turchi to the
No. 3 spot of consigliere or adviser. But Natale and Turchi,
of Gloucester Township, N.J., apparently had a falling
out more than a year later and he was busted down to capo,
or captain in 1996. Turchi, however, was on federal parole
and was being closely watched by authorities. He had been
convicted in 1979 of torching a warehouse and bar for
insurance in an arson-for-hire scheme. Authorities said
Natale met with Turchi at Garden State Racetrack on Oct.
25, 1996, and was with Merlino after the Riddick Bowe-Andrew
Golotta fight in Atlantic City on Dec. 14, 1996, a day
before Merlino was arrested for gambling inside the Showboat
casino. Turchi had served 10 years of a 40-year sentence.
Released from St. Petersburg federal prison on Aug. 1,
1989, he had nearly 11,000 days remaining on his parole,
according to authorities. Staff writers Gloria Campisi
and Chris Brennan contributed to this report.
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