PHILADELPHIA -- One year ago today, Mafia don Angelo Bruno, 69, known as the 'gentleman don,' was shot to death in front of his home as he prepared to get out of a car.
The day before the first anniversary of Bruno's violent death, Philip 'Chicken Man' Testa, 56, his reputed sucessor as Philadelphia's mob leader, was buried near Bruno's grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in suburban Yeadon.
Testa was killed by a bomb Sunday as he approached the front door of his South Philadelphia home.
Several federal and local law enforcement sources believe the Testa killing was another in a series of moves by New York-based crime families to secure control of casino gambling-related rackets in Atlantic City.
About 300 mourners attended Testa's funeral and burial Friday, including Frank 'Chickie' Narducci, 48, another reputed mob figure, who waved to television cameras as the limousines headed for the cemetery.
Testa, who was indicted last month along with Narducci and eight other alleged organized crime figures on racketeering charges, was buried in the same cemetery as Bruno and another Bruno loyalist, Frank Sindone, 52. Sindone was found shot to death last October.
Testa, who got his nickname from the days when he sold chickens in the Italian Market in South Philadelphia, died from injuries suffered in the explosion of a mine filled with nails as he approached the front door of his house about 3 a.m. EST Sunday. He died an hour later.
The Pennsylvania Crime Commission in its 1980 report identified Testa and Sindone as two of Bruno's top men in gambling and loansharking in the gentelman don's Delaware-New Jersey-Philadelphia territory.
Four other longtime Bruno allies have been shot to death since Bruno was killed.
No obvious candidates stood out as Testa's successor.
Among his mourners were several of Bruno reputed 'family' members; Wilmington, Del., Teamsters boss Frank Sheeran; Raymond 'Long John' Martorano, whose vending machine company listed Bruno as a cigarette salesman; Joseph 'Chickie' Ciancaglini, former bodyguard to Sindone, and Nicodemo 'Little Nicky' Scarfo, Bruno's alleged underboss in Atlantic City.
