Chuckie Merlino


Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino was an American mobster who was a member of the Philadelphia crime family. He briefly served as underboss for Nicodemo Scarfo. He is the brother of mobster-turned government witness Lawrence Merlino and the father of Philadelphia mob boss Joey Merlino.

Biography

Merlino was born on June 29, 1939 in Ducktown, Atlantic City, New Jersey. Salvatore "Chuckie" and Lawrence "Yogi" Merlino were friends of Nicodemo Scarfo since they were teenagers. The Merlino brothers were officially inducted into the Philadelphia crime family by Philip Testa in 1980. When Scarfo took over the crime family in 1981, he promoted Merlino to underboss. In 1984, Salvatore Testa broke off his engagement to Merlino's daughter. Enraged, Merlino got permission from Scarfo to murder Testa, despite him being a loyal member of the crime family.
Merlino developed a drinking problem. In 1986, Merlino got into an argument with members of the Pagan's Motorcycle Club and then ran over one of them. The Pagans retaliated by shooting up his listed home address. However, the house actually belonged to Merlino's mother. Afterwards Scarfo demoted Merlino and cut off ties with him.
Merlino was one of 17 mobsters indicted for racketeering in 1988. On November 19, 1988, he was found guilty of RICO, RICO conspiracy, taking part in an illegal gambling business and two counts of methamphetamine distribution. On May 10 1989, Merlino was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison.
In 1987, Merlino was one of seven people indicted for the 1985 murder of mobster Frank D'Alfonso. On April 6, 1989, Merlino was found guilty of helping plan the murder. He was sentenced to life in prison. In 1992, an appellate court panel overturned the murder convictions, citing prosecutorial misconduct and trial-court error. At the retrial in 1997, Merlino and his fellow defendants were acquitted of the murder.
Merlino was serving his time for racketeering at the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Worth. His projected release date was August 3, 2016. He died on October 22, 2012.