here’s a tale about friendship & one of the dumbest mob murders ever that will probably only be interesting to 5 of my followers: L: anthony “tony nic” nicodemo, R: dom “baby dom” grande. tony nic is a soldier & dom is a capo in the philadelphia mob. they are also best friends

tony nic & baby dom are thought to have gotten made after allegedly killing john “johnny gongs” casasanto in 2003. johnny gongs had apparently been running around town with the wife of joey merlino, the then incarcerated boss of the philly mob. the murder is still unsolved

jump to december 12th 2012: mob associate & suspected informer dino dipietro is shot & killed in broad daylight outside of his home. the suspected acting boss & ruling panel of the philly mob also happened to be in the middle of a racketeering trial not far from the murder scene

witnesses wrote down the license plate of the suv the masked gunman jumped into. the license plate led police to tony nic’s house within 30mins. the .357 smith & wesson used in the shooting was still wrapped in a sweatshirt in the backseat. baby dom is thought to be the shooter

the philly underworld waited to see if tony nic would flip & give up baby dom this murder as well as johnny gongs. recently married & a new father, it seemed like cooperating would be the obvious decision. but tony nic surprised the mob & feds alike by refusing to budge an inch

a clear motive has never been given for the hit, though various sources say it was spurred by dipietro insulting tony nic in front of an illegal card game that he ran. dipietro had allegedly racked up heavy losses and refused to settle up when tony nic asked

it’s also not clear if it was sanctioned by the family administration. a murder in the middle of a RICO trial usually isn’t ideal. the feds say tony nic & baby dom were seen meeting with the family’s underboss (baby dom is his nephew by marriage) 24 hours before the hit occurred

on the eve of a second trial, tony nic pled guilty to being the getaway driver in the murder. he was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in state prison with a maximum sentence of 50 years. he will first be eligible for parole in 2038 when he’s 66

in the time since then, baby dom was made a capo, however he & 15 other alleged members of the philly mob were arrested on RICO charges in november 2020. a few days after the fbi released never before seen surveillance photos of the dipietro hit in an effort to get new tips

why share this? imo in this day & age it’s frankly fascinating to find someone who still believes in a code of silence. what’s the moral of the story? don’t use your own car in a mob hit, I guess. does baby dom owe tony nic a big thank you? yes. should hbo call me? also yes