Episode 197: Lawrence Merlino

Over the last year or so on Joey Merlino's podcast "The Skinny With Joey Merlino he has referenced his uncle and the fact that he cooperated with the FEDs in the late 1980's. Who exactly was his uncle Lawrence Merlino? Today I delve into his story, his connections to Nicky Scarfo and Phillip Leonetti and Lawrence's decision to eventually flip.

Jeff Nadu is an American Mafia researcher, podcaster and content creator. He has worked at Barstool Sports and was hired personally by Dave Portnoy. His podcast "The Sitdown" with Jeff Nadu has put out hundreds of biographies on various mobsters, gangsters and criminals. He's also personally interviewed mobsters like Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Dom Cicale, Anthony Ruggiano Jr, Gene Borrello and others as well as US Prosecutor John Gleeson and FBI Agent Joaquin "Jack" Garcia. He has been personally endorsed by former Gambino mob captain Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo and esteemed author RJ Roger. 

DISCLAIMER: My videos and podcasts are meant for entertainment and educational use. All material found in my videos reflect this use. ANY opinions and or statements of any guest is merely his/her opinion. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to The sit Down, a mafia history podcast. Here's
your host, Jeff Nado. What's up, everybody, and welcome in
to another edition of The sit Down. As always, if
you enjoy this podcast, please make sure you leave us
a detailed review and a five star rating. What's Up, Everybody?

(00:34):
I am Jeff Nadou. This is episode one hundred and
ninety seven of The sit Down. Coming off a couple
of great episodes over the last couple of weeks, and
we got a couple of good ones coming up as well.
Today we're gonna talk about Joey Merlino, well not about
Joy Malino, more about his relative. Who's his uncle? What

(00:54):
exactly do we know about Lawrence Yogi Merlino. Releno has
talked to about his uncle pretty openly in the media
on his podcast, and that he's a rat. We're going
to talk about his lineage. We're going to talk about
Millino's career and when I say Mallino, Lawrence's career and
kind of how his end came kind of a crippling end.

(01:16):
All that and more. But before we get into that,
just a couple of things I wanted to get into.
Got a couple of big episodes coming up, a couple
of interviews that I'm working on, just kind of working
on pulling the right strings and focusing on them. I
also want to kind of guys, let you know about
some of the things that I've coming up that you
can see me on. And one of the reasons that

(01:39):
I wanted to do The Lawrence Millino Show this week
is because I was recently contacted by The Skinny with
Joy Millino and Snuff and Joey reached out to me.
It invited me on their show. So it's kind of
interesting this show you're likely hearing on Wednesday the twelve.
On Thursday the thirteenth, I will be on The Skinny

(01:59):
with Joey. Know. We're gonna have a divisive I think
this will be interesting argument about some things. We're gonna
talk about some big things going on right now in
the genre. So if that's something you have interest in,
make sure you check out their Patreon. I do think
they're probably gonna put some of it on YouTube, so
make sure you check that out. Obviously, many of you
guys know I'm a polarizing figure. People love me or

(02:22):
hate me, but I think it'd be a good time
to kind of make a union, come together and do
these things. So those will both be that'll be exciting
on Thursday the thirteenth, and what I'll do is I'll
drop the Patreon that they have in the description if
you guys would like to show love to it and
go support it. Should be an interesting and divisive discussion.

(02:44):
We over the years or so that they've had this show,
we haven't always seen eyed. I obviously I try to
stay in the middle. But but yeah, so feel free
to catch that and check that out. You guys are
the first people to really hear that. Also, next week,
I got to kind of figure out what I'm doing
with the show. I'm actually going up to New York

(03:05):
City on Monday and into Tuesday. I'm actually gonna appear
on two pretty big platforms. I can tell you right now.
They're not Joe Rogan, but they're pretty big, and I'm
pretty excited about it. Both these guys have kind of
reached out and and they're fans of what I do.
From a mafia history Mafia News standpoint, one of the

(03:27):
channels is approaching a million subs. I think it's about
nine hundred thousand, which is pretty cool. I'm also going
to appear on another one that I think it's almost that,
you know, four hundred thousand, So I'm looking forward to it.
It'll be a good thing to kind of you get
to know some people not in this space and to
kind of have some interesting conversations about this space and

(03:51):
kind of where it's going and and and you know,
kind of teach a different audience about kind of what
we're doing. So when I can put those out, I
will I think could be excited to hear them. They're
going to probably be pretty long discussions, you know, these
channels you know due to three hour discussions. So yeah,
I'm looking forward to kind of letting you guys see those,
So stay tuned to those coming up in the near future. So,

(04:16):
without further ado, I want to delve into our topic today.
This is I think a pretty interesting look into the
life of a guy that you know, in Philadelphia we
don't talk much about, right, you know, we have obviously
the Nicky Scarfos and the Fillionetti's, and the John Staffas
and the Jolly Milinos. But you know, Joey obviously had
his father who was in the life and his uncle

(04:38):
was in the life. So I think it's important that
we talk about him. You know, he's kind of the
one of the people in the family, that is, until
his death, was a black sheep. You know, no one
messed with him, no one talked to him. He became
kind of public enemy number one due to the fact
that he was a higher up in the scar For organization.
He was a captain and in the end he was

(04:59):
convict that of his crimes and decided to cooperate against
his brethren, including you know, Nicky Scarfoe and his own brother.
So let's delve into it. Let's talk about it. I
hope you all enjoy our show as always, Please support it,
please share it, Please tell someone you think that might
like it about it. Let's get into Lawrence Yogi Milino

(05:23):
on the sit down and Lawrence Millino was born on
June eighteenth, nineteen forty six, in Philadelphia. He would grow up,
as we know, in South Philadelphia. Now, one thing I
did want to do in regards to Joey Milino is
do a bit of a family tree. What were his grandparents,

(05:45):
like great grandparents, when did they come over, et cetera. Now,
as we know, Lawrence Millino had one brother, a person
called it Salvatore Chucky Millino seen on the far left.
That's obviously Jerry Milino on the far right. Now, the
Milinos can be traced back to South Philadelphia really since
the early nineteen hundreds. Now Chucky and Lawrence Melino. Their

(06:10):
father was named Joseph Merlino. His wife was named Mary Benito.
Now Joseph Merlino, Chucky and Lawrence's father. There are some reports,
including censor supports, that have him being born in Cleveland, Ohio.
That could have just been a misprint. There's also other

(06:32):
censuses that say he was born in Philadelphia, which we'll
venture to believe. Now, as far as Joseph Merlino his
parents which would be Salvatore and Lawrence's grandparents, and Skinny
Joey Milino's great grandparents, they came over in nineteen hundred
and nineteen oh four, and Mary Merlino, which would be

(06:57):
Lawrence's mother, her family came over were in nineteen oh seven,
all from Italy, and they settled in South Philadelphia and
they lived in various parts of South Philadelphia. Now in
the forties, Joey Melino his father and uncle. They lived
on Sixteenth Street at one point according to the nineteen

(07:17):
forty census. The nineteen fifty census, which as we know
and Joey's talked about, the family would live at nine
to twenty seven Jackson Street, So Lawrence and Chucky Milino
lived at nine to twenty seven Jackson They were raised
in that house, and then Joey Molino Skinny Joey was
eventually raised in that house as well. So I know

(07:38):
it's confusing, but I did want to do a little background.
The Milinos have been in South Philadelphia since essentially nineteen hundred,
so they go back very deep. When they came over
from Italy, they didn't live anywhere else as far as
we know now. Lawrence Merlino would actually go to Bishop
Newman High School on South ten Street, and as far

(08:00):
as I know, would graduate from there in the early sixties. Now,
one of the things that I had trouble low katting
was what exactly did Joey Skinny Joy Molino's grandfather do
for a living? So, the father of Chucky and Lawrence,
what did he do for a living? According to at
one point records I found in the forties, he was

(08:22):
a partner in an ammonia still but by nineteen fifty,
there was no job listed for him. In fact, in
that household, the only person that had a job was
Lawrence and Chucky's grandmother, a woman called Rafaela Benito. So
I don't know what Joey Joseph Melino, their father did

(08:44):
for a living. I have no idea, but at one
point he was a partner in an ammonia still but
that's all I really found on them. As I said,
Lawrence Melino would graduate high school, and eventually in the
seventies he began obviously paling around his brother, who by
that point was very close with Nicki Scarfo. Here they
can be seen in nineteen sixty two after being arrested

(09:06):
for the stabbing of a person called William Duggan at
the Argon Diner at Third and Argon in South Philadelphia.
So the Scarfo's, most notably Nicky Scarfo and CHUCKI Millino,
Lawrence's brother, go back pretty deep, and they were dick
as Steves in the sixties. Eventually, Lawrence Millino starts palling
around Philip Leonetti, who is Nicky Scarfo's nephew. He starts

(09:30):
piling around, and I want to kind of fast forward
to the late seventies because that's a really important time
and obviously the maturation of the Scarfo regime, their involvement
in construction, and their involvement in eventually kind of taking
over parts of South Jersey, Atlantic City, the shore areas.
I want to talk about the Vincent Falcone hit because

(09:52):
a lot of people know about it, but I kind
of want to talk about how Lawrence Melino is allegedly
involved in this. Now. I want to make this abundantly clear. Eventually,
Lawrence Melino, Philip Leonetti, and Nicki Scarfo are indicted in
this case involving taking out a cement contractor in a

(10:12):
Philly mob associate called Vincent Falcone in December of nineteen
six seventy nine. I wanted to be made clear they
were acquitted in this case. But I do think it's
interesting to hear from a person who was also there,
a person called Joe Seleerno. Now remember Joe Sileno testified
these individuals were found acquitted. Seleerno would eventually enter the

(10:34):
witness Protection program and write a book. I do just
want to read his testimony in regards to what he
says happened at the Vincent Falcone head. According to Selenno.
He would further testify that on the night of this,
he was at home in Brigantine, New Jersey, when he
received a phone call to go over to the office

(10:54):
of Scarf Inc. Which was Nicky Scarfo's, a concrete company
in Duck Town, Atlantic City, which he did. When he
arrived there, he indicated that he wanted to go home
to be with his children in order to decorate for Christmas.
It was about a week till Christmas, but instead was
induced to drive with Vincent Falcone, Philip Lionetti, and Lawrence

(11:16):
Molino to an apartment in Margate, New Jersey, in the
area of one hundred North Decatur Avenue, where it was
said Nikki Scarfo would be waiting. Now Scarfer was there
watching television and the group arrived. He would then tell
Falcone to fix some drinks. Now. Within minutes after Falcone

(11:37):
reappearing with the drinks, Philip Lionetti, using a weapon provided
by Joe Salerno, got Falcone once. According to Salerno, Scarfo
then stated, I think I'll give him another one. Leonetti
would allegedly respond, no, I'll give it to him, firing
another shot. Now pursuing the Scarf, those instructions. Leonetti and

(12:02):
Lawrence Milino then left the premises to dispose of the
weapon and pick up Vincent Falcon's car. Silena then tied
up Falcone and wrapped it in a blanket. As Sealerno
performed this assigned task, Scarfo stated quote, I love this,
I love it. When Milino returned with Falcon's car, Seleerno

(12:25):
allegedly helped him put the body into the trunk. The
co conspirators that abandoned the car at another location in
Margate cleaned the apartment, disposed of their clothing in a sewer,
then had dinner at Scarfo's apartment. Now again, Leonetti was
allegedly the person that fired the shot, and this all

(12:46):
happened in Margate. As I said, eventually these individuals were
acquitted of this hit, so they beat the rap in
this case. Now, it has been said over the years
that Lawrence Man was involved in various whackings, which we'll
get into, and we'll get into obviously some of those

(13:07):
in detail. Now, As I said, around this time, in
the late seventies, one big thing was going on in
South Jersey and a lot of the Scarfo regime, most
notably Nicki Philip Leonetti, Larry Molino, Chucky Millino, They were
all involved in trying to get in on the windfall
that was coming from the nineteen seventy nine casino boom

(13:28):
in Atlantic City. As we know, Scarfink was created. That
was a concrete company that was headed by Nicki Scarfo. Now,
one thing that I've learned in my life because my
father was in concrete as well. My father was a
big concrete contractor when I was a kid, and I
remember many summers tying rebar. Now, when you pour concrete,

(13:52):
one are the main catalysts that go hand in hand
with pouring concrete is rebar. It reinforces, it's it and
to be quite frank, it's mandatory to have when you
pour concrete. So they go hand in hand. So what
does Chucky Milino and Larnce Millina do. They create a
rebar company, which again goes hand in hand and make

(14:16):
it start bidding on all these big construction projects because
they run rebar. They create a company called that not
incorporated now, that is incorporated in the late seventies as well. Now,
I do want to talk a little bit about some
of the random things that a large Melino is involved
in nineteen eighty two, according to Atlantic City Police, he

(14:40):
would be questioned over a brawl at a club called Ancopa,
which was in the area of Atlantic Avenue in Atlantic City.
Now you'll get you'll laugh at some of the names
mentioned here. Now, according to what we know, a person
called William Myers of Ambler, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania was stabbed

(15:02):
in the ribs and beaten on the head in a
brawl that would happen in this nightclub. Now, investigator who
would say that Larry Molino of the first block of
North Georgia Avenue and his nephew Joseph Melino twenty, as
well as Louis Apollo, also of Atlantic City, were among
ten people questioned after the brawl. Now, no one was

(15:24):
arrested in the attack, but police say they filed charges
of refusing to take a breathalyzer test and driving while
intoxicated against Larry Molino. Police would take Larry Molino, his
nephew Joseph, and Topolo in the custody after an officer
spotted them leaving the nightclub in a nineteen eighty two Cadillac.

(15:45):
Police say the ascer stopped the car after he noticed
Lawrence Molina, who was driving, had blood on his jacket. Now,
his nephew Joseph Milino and Louis Apolo also had quote
blood in their jackets. Authority said all three jackets were
commas gated it as evidence. Now, investigators would then later
say that they recovered a folding knife believed to have

(16:06):
been used in the attack on the third floor of
the club. Now this had come at recent as due
to the fact that Merlino was also included on the
exclusion list. Him and Philip Lynetti were hit with that
after their known organized crime connections. Now, Melina was also
indicted by the state in nineteen eighty five for dumping

(16:28):
a body, which then ended up being dropped due to
bad info, so the charges were dropped. So for latter Molino,
things were going good. He was making a lot of money.
He was at this time living in Brigantine, right near
Atlantic City. He was involved with not only shakedowns, gambling, narcotics,
but he was involved in construction, making a bunch of

(16:50):
money with his rebar contracts. And he's eventually elevated to
captain in the scar for organization. And remember his brother
is elevated to underboss for Nicky Scarfo. The Milinos are
essentially major confidants to Nicky Scarfo. In fact, there's no
one above them other than Nicky Scarfo. So it's there's

(17:13):
four people that are quite powerful in the organization under
Nicki Nicki himself, CHUCKI Millino, Philip Leon Eddie and Lawrence
Jogi Milino. So everybody's got their kind of roles in
all this and Atlantic City is booming and they're making
a ton of money. Now, it has been alleged that
in nineteen eighty five Larry Milino was involved in a

(17:35):
hit on a person called Frankie Flowers the Alfonso in Philadelphia,
and eventually this would be one of his undoings when
he's eventually arrested. Now, one of the issues that has
become very well known that in the late eighties, as
the fall of Nicky Scarfo starts, all these people are
taken out. Eventually, his old pal, a guy who had

(17:56):
been he had been pals with for thirty years, he demotes.
We know, Chucky Millino is demoted from underboss to soldier. Remember,
Lawrence Milino is demoted as well. He's demoted to soldier
as well. This is I think again where the cracks
start developing, they eventually are all arrested. In the late seventies, sorry,

(18:17):
the late eighties, scarfo Leonetti, Lawrence Milino, Chucky Millino, pretty
much everybody at the top of the Philly Mob at
the time is picked up by the Feds. Trial happens.
Everybody's indicted. There's a lot of people taken out. Those
are all included. This is a death nail case. If
Lawrence Milino is convicted, he's gonna get life. He's gonna

(18:40):
die in federal prison. That happens. He's eventually convicted alongside
everybody else. And one of the main things that did
him in was the Frankie Flowers hit. Now, within knowing
that he's going to get life, he's given life, he
decides in May of nineteen eighty nine that he is

(19:02):
going to become a cooperator. He would become the fourth
member of the Philly Mob since nineteen eighty six to
flip and the Feds are hoping that they can get
all sorts of quality information from the involvement in the
casino industry unsolved hits all sorts of stuff, and eventually

(19:22):
that's exactly what Larry Milino gives them. He would do
a short time in federal prison. In fact, I did
actually recently speak to somebody who did time inside prison
with Larry Millenno after he flipped, and he would tell
me that he loved being around him. He was a
quote quote great guy. Now, I also have spoke to

(19:42):
people that knew Larry Molino far before he cooperated, and
they would also say he was always a good guy,
very funny. You always kind of a jovial guy, you know,
in fact, you know, outside of people calling him a rat, obviously,
some people said he was a really good guy. Now again,
I'm sure he was before he cooperate, and we know
how Jory Milino feels about him, which we'll get to

(20:06):
at the end of the day. Mister Millino would eventually
move to Florida, as I know, I found some short
of residence that he had in Broward County. He would
die in November of two thousand and one at the
age of fifty five. And this takes us right up
to the show that Joey did on his uncle, to
which he receives a phone call from Lawrence Melino's children saying,

(20:31):
what do we do? Do we bury him? What do
we do? And we would learn. I would learn that
the family did eventually bury him. And now I'm going
to talk about something that would happen after all of this.
One of the things that I've negated to tell you
is did Liar Milino ever have kids? Was he married?
He absolutely was married. He would marry a woman called Phyllis.

(20:55):
Now I'm going to talk about a situation that would
arise far after the death of Larry Melino, to which
in nineteen eighty five, eventually nat NAT Incorporated is barred
from doing work at casinos. Eventually a company pops up
in nineteen eighty five called Bay Shore Rebar Incorporated. Now

(21:16):
this company is still in business today. Now the sole
proprietors of this business was a person called Joseph N.
Merlino and his mother, a woman called Phyllis Merlino. This
is the estranged wife and son of Lawrence Larry Melino. Okay,

(21:39):
now I want to talk about They would go to
court over the fact that they were barred from the
casino industry service list. They were not allowed to do
any short of rebar contracts due to connections to organized crime.
And they would take this to court and fight over
it and I want to discuss some of the court
findings in this case. According to Phyllis Merlino, she would

(22:02):
state that she was married at age sixteen, had five
children by the time I was twenty two, and I
was separated by the time I was twenty three. And
we would find out that Phyllis Merlino and Lawrence Milino
divorced in approximately nineteen seventy seven. Now, Phyllis Molina would

(22:22):
say of her late husband, Lawrence Millino, a mob captain. Quote,
he was abusive. She told her attorney John Donnelly, he
quote gave me a black eye, So again abusive. She
would also talk about the fact that at one point
he would even hold a weapon to her head and

(22:42):
played wanted to play Russian Roulette. Really just depraved guy
in terms of his wife, real scumback beat his wife up,
left her for nothing. Now, she would also state that
at that point she had five children, including Joseph n
seen in the photo. Now, Phyllis Molina would testify that
she raised her children on her own, often struggling to

(23:05):
pay bills, sometimes staying in a house without electricity, and
seldom receiving any help from her former husband, who, by
the early eighties, was a big timer in the Philly mob.
So not only did he beat his wife, but he
gave her no help after getting rid of her. He

(23:27):
had five kids. He was a debeat dad essentially, and
he would, you know, do everything he did. He became
an informant and was still estranged in the two thousands,
to which he would die and they would say they
didn't quite know what to do. Now. The family would
then later state that just on goodwill, they did pick
his body up and have a service for him, because

(23:50):
again they felt that's what good people do. And they
would also claim that they had no connection to the nephew,
which was as we know, Skinny Joey Milino now Phyllis
Millino would also say that she had known of her
nephew's nephew Joey's mob ties from quote reading the paper,

(24:11):
but that until his conviction on racketeering charges in two
thousand and one, she had not been fully aware of
how deeply he was involved. She would stay quote, I
never knew him that way when she talked to the
Gaming Enforcement Division, including the fact that she negated to
tell them that Base Shore rebar. Now this will kind

(24:32):
of go against what They said Base sure Rebar had
allegedly offered Joey Millino a job when he was seeking
parole in nineteen ninety five, and that Skinny Joey and
his wife were sometimes house guests and attended parties at
Phyllis Molino's home in Ventnor in the late nineties. So
Joey Millino has talked that he doesn't he hadn't had

(24:55):
any communication with that side of the family, which again,
they weren't connected to their uncle or his uncle and
their father, So why wouldn't he hang out with his family.
That's normal. We can venture to believe that probably by
the two thousands he maybe didn't talk to him. He
was in prison anyway, right, so you know he's going

(25:16):
away anyway now. Phyllis Mollino would then say that she
and her family decided to several all ties with that
side of the family in approximately two thousand or two
thousand and one because of the notoriety, and she would
also state that Joy Molino's mother, Rita essentially badgered her
as to why she brought the body of Larry Mollino home.

(25:39):
Eventually down the road, they would actually get approved for
a license, but it was interesting in learning some of
the connections that they had. Obviously, Joseph M. Melino is
not a mobster, and Phyllis his mother would talk about
the fact that we have to live kind of life
without parole. She would also state that they were quote branded,

(26:01):
and you gotta kind of feel bad for them because
in the end, they really had no connection to organized crime.
They just had a really notorious name. And it didn't
actually help that his name was also Joseph Milino. Now
Skinny Joey would say that they would once call, you know,
to kind of decipher the two. They would call him
fat Joey, kind of you know, a pun too. I
don't know if he was fat or not, but a

(26:23):
way to tell them apart. Now we also see that
in Italian families they often have a lot of the
same names. And remember Lawrence and Chucky's father was called Joseph,
so you know, they take the grandfather's name that sort
of thing. So it does make sense in the end.
We do know that, Look, no one will try to

(26:45):
decipher who Joey Milina is. We know who he is.
At one point he was a mobster. That's all true
and all well and good. We know that but we
do know that he has a major disdain for informants,
and we can obviously see that he does have a
lot to say regarding his uncle, and who wouldn't, especially
coming from him, we do have to figure no, in
the end, Larry Molina was the ultimate scumbag. He was

(27:07):
a deadbeat dad, he was an abusive individual, and he's
really one of the worst type of informants they make.
In the end, he did all the things he did.
He participated in killing people, he stole, he took from people,
He was convicted, sentenced to life, and then decided, now

(27:30):
I'm gonna flip. It's really the ultimate kind of end,
the ultimate worst part of it. I do say, and look,
I'm not in the streets. I have said. There are
different levels of that. I don't again, I'm not in
the streets. I have no care whether you do or not.
I just look at this from an historical standpoint, But

(27:51):
when you look at someone like Larry Millino, he was
kind of an ultimate scumbag, throwing the heck at all
the stuff that he did. I thought it was important
that we look into him due to the fact that
we don't really know much about him. I hope you
enjoyed this video on Larry Malino. If you did, you
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(28:12):
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