| abstract | - Philip Leonetti was born on March 27th 1953 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. His father abandoned him when he was a baby and his mother Nancy Scarfo raised him. she was the sister of future Philadelphia crime family boss Nicodemo Scarfo, he has a close bond with his nephew phil and thought of him as like a son. In 1962 Nicodemo Scarfo implicated his nephew Phil Leonetti as an accessory after the fact in the murder of Dominick (Reds) Caruso. Caruso was murdered for disrespecting Joseph (Joe the Boss) Rugnetta, who was the consigliere of the family that served under Angelo Bruno. Caruso tried to extort Rugnetta for money and slapped him at his home in Southwark, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After Caruso’s body was dropped off at the intended burial site in Vineland, New Jersey Scarfo drove the pick-up truck to his parents’ apartment building in Atlantic City where Leonetti lived. Leonetti was about nine years old at the time. Scarfo picked up Leonetti and took him for a ride to Philadelphia to use him as a decoy. Scarfo figured that if anybody saw the killers using the truck in the murder and reported it to the police, the police would never think that a truck with a little kid in it had been used in a murder. Scarfo told Leonetti on the day of the murder that he had just “killed a very bad man” and explained to Leonetti why he wanted Leonetti to ride with him to Philadelphia. Scarfo drove the truck to Philadelphia for it to be destroyed so that it could never be used as evidence. Dominick “Reds” Caruso was reported missing by his wife on January 30, 1962. As of this date, Caruso’s body has not been found. This event would have a huge impact on the young Leonetti's life and may have influenced him to follow his uncle into organised crime and join the Philadelphia crime family.
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