September 14, 1984
If there was anyone that Salvatore Testa should have been able to trust it was his godfather, the Godfather—Nicodemo Scarfo. Testa had known Scarfo all his life and looked on him as a father. He should have had nothing to fear from the man, but nobody was safe with Scarfo.
“Salvie” Testa was the son of Philip “Chicken Man” Testa, that same Chicken Man who had run the Philly family after the death of Don Angelo Bruno, and who was later himself murdered through the use of a nail bomb. It’s said Salvatore was a Mafia blueblood, that he’d been born and bred for the life. They called him the Crown Prince of the Philly Mob. Standing over 6ft tall and darkly handsome, he looked the part.
After the death of Salvie Testa’s father, Scarfo took over the Philadelphia family and a new regime—one of violence, intimidation and fear—was initiated. Testa became a capo in this new regime, standing right beside Scarfo. After all, he was the son of a late mob boss, and Scarfo’s godson.
When Scarfo went to war with the Riccobene brothers, Testa was there, dishing it out with the rest of them. In fact Testa was a specific target of the Riccobenes, and received several dangerous wounds in that war. He recovered, but with scars that were marks of his loyalty to Little Nicky Scarfo.
It wasn’t all one way, though; Testa drove fear into the hearts of the Riccobenes and was never as happy as when he was finally able to take revenge on the men who had murdered his beloved father Philip. In all, it’s said he was responsible for at least eighteen deaths.
As the 1980s rolled on, Testa was everywhere and the media were beginning to take notice of the handsome and charismatic gangster. In fact, the press were starting to refer to the mob prince as a rising star in the Mafia.
Little Nicky Scarfo was taking notice too and he didn’t like what he saw. Testa was becoming too popular and getting awfully close to the top. The jealous and unstable Scarfo was beginning to view him as more of a threat than a godson. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.
Some time in 1984, then, Little Nicky Scarfo ordered the hit on a man who had been like flesh and blood to him—Salvatore Testa. At a Mafia funeral, Testa was singled out and given the kiss of death.
On September 14, 1984, Testa was lured by his best friend to the Too Sweet candy store, ostensibly for a meeting. Once inside, he received two shots to the back of his head and died immediately.
During the early 1980s the Philly family existed in an atmosphere of paranoia and treachery, thanks to Scarfo’s mismanagement of the mob. Over the next few years, Nicodemo Scarfo would be tried on a number of charges—including Salvatore Testa’s murder—and as a result, will now probably spend the rest of his life in prison. Among those who testified against him were members of Scarfo’s own Philly family—mob men who no longer felt any loyalty for the man who had had his own godson murdered.