Brazen Ambush In Philadelphia Latest Episode In All-Out Mob War

PHILADELPHIA - It began as a routine morning rush hour on Philadelphia's clogged and cursed Schuylkill Expressway, known here as the "Sure Kill."

Before it was over, the roadway had almost lived up to its moniker: It was the scene Tuesday of the latest battle in an internecine war bloodying the storied crime family once headed here by Niccodemo Scarfo.

In one of the more brazen hit attempts in the memory of local mob-watchers, challengers of Scarfo's reputed successor, John Stanfa, ambushed him right on the expressway, blasting from inside a van.

Stanfa's son, Joseph, 23, was hit in the face and is recovering; Stanfa, 52, was unhurt.

It was the third gory episode this year in what law-enforcement officials see as all-out mob war. They do not believe it is the last, considering that the challengers went for the godfather himself - and missed.

"Stanfa has to retaliate," said David Laustsen, an attorney with the Pennsylvania Crime Commission. "I can't fathom that this matter can be resolved at the bargaining table."

The war ostensibly arises from the attempt by dissident foot soldiers of the mob to increase their share of protection money, according to law-enforcement officials.

One would think that repeated bloodlettings in public places would draw yelps of outrage from the law-abiding citizenry. But almost the opposite is true. Stanfa, so elusive that investigators have few photographs of him, is a source of romance and intrigue here, where mob hits are an accepted and closely watched feature of life.

"Some people in Philadelphia almost think of the local mob as another sports team," Laustsen said. "In some cases, they know some of the players, or people who claim to be players, and follow them with great interest."

Meanwhile, crack dealers kill each other in the inner city, and few people take notice. "It's frustrating, because it's only the traditional organized-crime figures that get attention - not Asian organized crime or the biker gangs or local racketeers or others that are equally threatening," Laustsen said.

The morning after the expressway shooting, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported it as a "daring" ambush and devoted more space to it than to the arrival of Hurricane Emily, which earlier had been expected to damage the nearby New Jersey shore.

The tabloid Daily News launched a call-in contest to come up with a nickname for Stanfa, who unlike most local mob figures is not known to have a handle. The paper reported receiving a "small torrent" of entries, including: "Front Seat Johnny" (that's where Stanfa was sitting during the ambush), "Johnny Wheels," "the Dodger," "Bald Bull," "John the Don" and "Ain't Gonna Stanfa This."

Crime-family members and associates at times oblige the public by encouraging the romance of the largely Italian mob. Vincent Filipelli, a muscle-bound man police say is Stanfa's bodyguard, was born Vincent Phillips but went to court to Italianize his name, according to a law-enforcement official.

Stanfa, on the other hand, is obsessively low-profile.

His only previous moment in the spotlight was as driver for longtime family boss Angelo Bruno, who was murdered in his car in 1980 when Stanfa was behind the wheel. Stanfa, in fact, rolled down the window for the gunman, according to police, then said he knew nothing about the plot.