NORTHFIELD, N.J. -- The imprisonment of reputed mobster Salvatore 'Chuckie' Merlino will temporarily cripple the operations of the Scarfo organized crime family in the South Jersey-Philadelphia area, officials said Saturday.
Merlino, 46, acting on a state Supreme Court order, turned himself into Atlantic County police Friday to begin serving a four-year sentence for trying to bribe a police officer to have drunken driving charges dropped. The Philadelphia man was convicted two years ago and had been free on bail until earlier this week.
Merlino, alleged underboss of the crime family run by Nicodemo 'Little Nicky' Scarfo, was to be transferred early Sunday from an Atlantic County jail to the YardvilleReception And Correction Center, officials said.
Sheriff's office authorities said the time of the transfer to the center, where inmates are classified and assigned to a prison, was being withheld for security reasons.
'Whenever an underboss is removed, it will certainly lead to disarray within the organization,' Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey Blitz said. 'He is the the second in command, (but) these people are able to rebound quickly. How quickly they move to plug up the hole I can't really say.'
The Scarfo family is apparently involved in loan sharking, labor racketeering, narcotics trafficking and illicit gambling, Blitz said.
Merlino was accompanied Friday by his son Joey Merlino and Joseph Ligambi, who was indicted with Merlino's brother, Lawrence, last year on charges of conspiring to dispose of the body of Salvatore Sollena, who had been identified by police as a member of the Gambino crime family.
Sollena bullet-ridden body was found in the trunk of a car in the parking lot of a diner Nov. 10, 1983.
Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Philip Gruccio sentenced Merlino on Sept. 28, 1984, to four years imprisonment. He faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
