Real-life mob narratives are always fascinating to us because they show a version of the mob that is just as ruled by protocol and respect as the fictional depictions are, but show that, whenever possible they try to operate in the shadows. So when one splashy mob hit after another make the local news, it\u2019s a big deal. In Philadelphia in the early 1990s, it signaled a massive war among mob factions, as a new docuseries examines.<\/p>\n
Opening Shot: We see the back and side of a man\u2019s head; he takes a puff on a cigarette and says, \u201cWe just drove every day looking to kill people. That\u2019s all I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gist: Mob War: Philadelphia Vs. The Mafia is a three-part docuseries, directed by Raissa Botterman, that examines the mob violence that dominated headlines in the City of Brotherly Love in the early 1990s. It was a back and forth war between two mafia factions: The loyalists to John Stanfa, and the \u201cyoung guns\u201d that were loyal to Joey Merlino.<\/p>\n
Through interviews with former mob soldiers and law enforcement, along with surveillance video and audio, we hear about the power vacuum that was created with the arrest of Nicky Scarfo in 1986. While Scarfo was considered a homicidal maniac, the idea was that the Sicilian-born Stanfa, hand-picked by New York\u2019s Five Families to lead the Philly mob, would bring some stability. The idea, as some of the interviewees mention, was to \u201cmake money, not headlines.\u201d With Atlantic City as part of their territory, there was plenty of opportunity, and splashy mob hits that make the local news don\u2019t help.<\/p>\n
But \u201cyoung guns\u201d like Joey Merlino thought of Stanfa as a \u201czip,\u201d an outsider who couldn\u2019t tell them what to do. Merlino and his loyalists wore designer clothes, drove flashy cars, and aimed to take over the whole operation.<\/p>\n
Federal agents and technicians explain how they were able to get intelligence from informants as well as bug the office of a noted mob attorney, where Stanfa started to slip and talk more directly about killing Merlino and his crew after a member of Stanfa\u2019s crew was killed in a planned hit by Merlino\u2019s faction.<\/p>\n
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n