Former mobster says Geraldo on hit list

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PHILADELPHIA, July 7 (UPI) -- Tommy "Horsehead" Scafidi, a former mob hit man, claims he was ordered by Philadelphia boss John Stanfa to kill Geraldo Rivera for giving the mob bad publicity.

Rivera's interview with Scafidi is set to air Monday on "Geraldo at Large," revealing alleged details of how the mob planned to punish reporters investigating mob murders, Fox News said. Scafidi, who later became a government informant, claims he risked his own life to save the investigative reporter.

"(Stanfa) had a bad taste in his mouth when you ambushed him that day...It was on tape...," Scafidi said. "He doesn't like publicity, and he don't like what you did ... If you woulda come back and ambushed that guy (Stanfa) like you did before, you woulda never walked outa Philadelphia alive."

Scafidi said Stanfa would have had motorcyle assassins ride up behind Rivera with two shotguns to "blow you and whoever you were with, the head right off of your shoulders."

The former hit man has been in the witness protection program since testifying against numerous Philadelphia mob bosses in the early 1990s, Fox said.