In the 1990s mob wars, John Stanfa didn’t have a nickname. The Daily News tried to change that.
Philadelphia's bloody mafia power struggle of the 1990s is now being chronicled in a Netflix docuseries.
Convicted former Philadelphia mob boss John Stanfa made headlines as part of a bloody mafia power struggle in the 1990s, which is now being chronicled in the newly released Netflix docuseries, Mob War: Philadelphia vs. The Mafia.
But, he was missing one thing that many of his contemporaries had — at least in the papers.
A nickname.
Don of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra from 1990 to 1995, when he was convicted on racketeering, murder, and conspiracy charges that netted him five life sentences, Stanfa went without an official street name during his time at the top. In September 1993, the Daily News set out to change that with a “Name the Don” contest encouraging readers to send in their best handles for Stanfa.
“Philadelphia mobsters have had nicknames since there’s been a Philadelphia mob,” the People Paper wrote in a contest announcement. “But poor John Stanfa, the acknowledged leader of the local Cosa Nostra, has suffered long enough. Our godfather needs a nickname — and fast.”
A classic Daily News stunt, yes — but its timing was somewhat, well, insensitive. Just days before the contest was announced, Stanfa was the target in a brazen morning rush-hour shooting on the Schuylkill Expressway in Grays Ferry. His then-23-year-old son, Joseph, was seriously injured with a gunshot wound to the face.
That shooting, the Daily News reported, signaled an “all-out war” for control of the local mafia, escalating the then-ongoing feud between Stanfa’s crew and a group of young upstarts referred to by the press as the “Young Turks,” purportedly led by Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino. The month before, Merlino was injured in a shooting on the 600 block of Catharine Street, and his friend Michael “Mikey Chang” Ciancaglini was killed.
(Merlino, who opened Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks on South Broad this year, has long denied having been behind a faction of the city’s mob.)
» READ MORE: How the Inquirer and Daily News covered the 1990s mafia power struggle seen in Netflix’s ‘Mob War’
Stanfa was uninjured in the expressway shooting. His son survived and was never implicated in Stanfa’s underworld dealings.
Still, some of the Daily News’ audience was game to participate in the contest, though the total number of submissions was not reported. Some of the potential monikers were directly inspired by the attempt on his life, including “Nine Lives,” “The Dodger,” and “Johnny Wheels.”
Others poked fun at his appearance, like “Sourpuss,” “Stoneface,” and “Big Baldy.” And some — such as “Johnny Meatballs,” “The Grocer,” and “Sticky Buns” — focused on Stanfa’s work in the food business, thanks to his involvement in a South Philly-based Italian food importer.
The contest, however, was not without its detractors. It was, after all, a controversial move — this was a mob boss being roasted, and one who was nearly killed only days before the Daily News began soliciting jokes at his expense. And it didn’t help that the paper went directly to some law enforcement officials to ask for their suggestions.
“I don’t think I should be in the business of characterizing Mr. Stanfa,” said Joel Friedman, then-head of the U.S. Organized Crime Strike Force in Philly. ”I am in the business of investigating criminal activity, and prosecuting it.”
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Regular folks were upset, too — largely over the perception that the contest mocked Italian Americans at large. One reader, retired high school principal Richard Capozzola, took particular umbrage with the stunt, postulating that the Daily News “wouldn’t have done it if [Stanfa] weren’t Italian.”
“How much more insulting can your paper be to the Italian-American community of Philadelphia?” said Arthur Gajarsa, of the National Italian-American Foundation. “Would you dare run a contest involving any other ethnic criminal element?”
The outcry became so significant that after almost two weeks, the Daily News’ editor at the time, Zachary Stalberg, addressed it in a note to readers. The message: Relax.
“I think people understand that nothing in our handling of the contest mocked those of Italian descent,” Stalberg wrote. “And I think people know it’s OK to be intrigued by the mob, even if you hate their business.”
By mid-September, the Daily News had a winner with John “Tightlips” Stanfa. That entry came from South Philadelphia resident Brian Baratta, who won, of course, a box set of The Godfather I, II, and III for his effort.
“‘Tightlips’ certainly is descriptive of this strong and silent guy,” the Daily News wrote of the winning entry. “John Stanfa doesn’t talk to the cops, the feds, or the press.”
With that, the contest was over — but it wasn’t so quickly forgotten, and not just in Philadelphia.
In 1995, ahead of Stanfa’s trial, the Daily News sent reporter Kitty Caparella to Italy to investigate the mob boss’ family tree. While in Caccamo, on Sicily’s Tyrrhenian coast, Caparella was approached by a police officer, editor Stalberg wrote in a note that year.
The officer, Stalberg said, pulled out the 1993 Daily News issue advertising the “Name the Don” contest.
“What do you know about this?” he asked.