Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 6

6A COURIER-POST, Saturday, February 6, 1982 1111 1 I I Crime connection Nicholas Merchiorre (far left), former manager of Cous' Little Italy restaurant, testifies before the Pennsylvania Crime Commission In Philadelphia yesterday. Executive Director Wallace P. Hay (from left); Commissioners Clifford C. Cooper, Malcolm L. Lazin and Dean W.

Roach, and Deputy Executive Director Donald E. Johnson question Merchiorre (in foreground) about connections the establishment has with reputed ized crime figures. Courier-Post photos by Ron Karalirt PHILADELPHIA Cous' Little Italy eatery to organized crime ownership DELAWARE VALLEY Police search for two in Phila. bank robbery records of Cous' show bank deposits totaling $151,000 more during fiscal 1980 than the business earned, a Pennsylvania Crime Commission investgator testified yesterday. Cash on hand from the business totaled $303,879, while bank deposits for the period were $454,964, Cle-.

mente said. Clemente said accountants for Cous' told him the discrepancy was the result of employee bookkeeping errors. "Do you accept that explanation?" commission member Clifford Cooper asked Clemente, "No sir," Clemente replied. Clemente also testified that, according to federal corporate tax be the present head of organized crime in Philadelphia. Nicholas Piccolo first bought an interest in the business in 1 953, when it was1 known as the 500 Restaurant and was located at 11th and Christian streets in South Philadelphia, Lazzari said.

Lazzari said organized crime figures seek ownership of bars and restaurants with little concern for profit. "Basically what they're looking for is a private club where they can conduct business out of the watchful eye of law enforcement authorities and the nosy public," he said. Lazzari showed slides of several organized crime figures leaving Cous' including Frank Sindone, principal loan shark in the Bruno crime family who was shot to death in October 1980. A salad on Cous' menu is named in Sindone's honor Lassarosaid. Commission member Malcolm Lazin, in opening remarks for the hearing, said bars and restaurants serve several other purposes for On Thursday, about 15 employees and customers were evacuated from the Western Savings Bank and a square block area between 15th and 16th streets and Chestnut and Walnut streets was cordoned of shortly before 4 p.m., while officers from the Philadelphia Bomb Squad inspected a package left there during that robbery, a city detective said.

The area was cordoned off for about 40 minutes, he said. A 4-inch by 6-inch white package that bank employees feared was a bomb contained a tin can with a small metal ball inside, the detective said. The bank remained closed for the rest of the day, the detective added. Offices in the same building as the bank were not evacuated, he said. Police are looking for a black man between 28 and 35 years old, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, 185 pounds and with a full mustache.

The man was wearing a tan trench coat and a dark blue scarf, the detective said. According to the detective, the man entered the bank about 3:55 p.m. and waited in line for a teller. When his turn came, he handed the teller a manilla envelope and a note demanding money. The teller put the cash in the envelope and handed it to the man, who then fled, the detective said.

The robber did not say that a package he placed on the counter was a bomb, the detective said. Suburban SEPTA routes saved by city, state funds By BERNIE WEISENFELD Of the Courier-Post PHILADELPHIA Cous' Little Italy, a South Philadelphia restau- rant known as a meeting place for organized crime figures, has been owned since the 1950s by persons associated with the local Mafia or their wives, a Pennsylvania Crime Commission investigator testified yesterday. Appearing at a commission hearing on mob infiltration into Pennsylvania bars and restaurants, commission special agent Gino Laz-zari said the establishment at 901 S. 11th St. presently is owned by Rosanne DelGiorno, wife of Thomas DelGiorno, 1 Lazzari said Thomas DelGiorno is a "close associate" of Frank "Fran-kie Flowers" D'Alfonso, a reputed lieutenant in the Angelo Bruno crime family.

Bruno ate his last meal at Cous' before he was shot to death in March 1980. DelGiorno and D'Alfonso were convicted in 1972 of operating an illegal sports betting business, Lazzari said. Both were fined and given probationary sentences, he added. Before October 1979, D' Alfonso's wife, Michelene, was a partner with Mrs. DelGiorno in Cous', Lazzari said.

The two wives purchased Cous' in 1977 from Michael and Nicholas Piccolo, paying $5,000, said Lazari, adding that Nicholas Piccolo is a "consiglieri" or mediator of disputes in the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra. The Piccolo brothers owned Cous' since 1958, Lazzari said. Nicholas Piccolo's nephew is Nicodemo Scarfo of Atlantic City, believed to MAGNA VOX COLOR TV I PHILADELPHIA City police here were searching for two men who robbed the First Pennsylvania Bank at 1845 Walnut St. yesterday of $1,500 and then fled the scene in a car. Police said the robbery was probably not related to a robbery on Thursday at the Western Savings Bank at 16th and Walnut streets in which a man fled with $1,000 after leaving a small package in the bank that employees feared was a bomb.

According to a city detective, police were searching for a green station wagon with Pennsylvania license plates they said was used by the men who robbed the First Pennsylvania Bank for their escape. The men entered the bank about 5 p.m. and gave a teller a note demanding money after waiting their turn in line, the detective said. The two men then fled west on Walnut Street before they got into a station wagon parked on Sansom Street and drove off, the detective said. Police were looking for two black men, one about 20 years old, about six feet tall and about 160 pounds.

He was wearing a blue shirt and cap. The second man was described by the detective as about 22 years old, about six feet tall and 1 70 pounds with a full beard and an earring in his left ear. The bank was closed for business after the robbery, the detective added. No parking zone PHILADELPHIA SEPTA officials say a last-minute infusion of state and city, money yesterday should avoid the necessity of eliminating some suburban commuter lines which were in danger of being shut down for lack of cash. Spokesmen for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said $13 million in aid from the city and the state would alleviate a cash shortage which threatened to force SEPTA to close several suburban commuter rail organized crime members.

"They can be used to obtain a line of credit, or to provide wages for criminal associates, or to skim profits for investment in criminal activities, or to launder illegal funds," Lazin said. "And sometimes, they become magnets for violence, turning neighborhoods into gangland battlefields," he added. Another crime commission investigator, special agent Vincent testified the business li returns, Cous' paid suppliers twice the industry average for food and drink between November 1979 and October 1980. Suppliers got 64 percent of Cous' gross receipts for the period, or $448,303, he said. Clemente's testimony prompted commission member to observe, "they (Cous) either are giving huge portions at low cost and enormous drinks or 32 percent (of the gross receipts) are disappearing someplace." Cous' owner Rosanne DelGiorno and her husband were subpoenaed to testify at yesterday's hearing but they declined to appear, invoking their right to remain silent, crime commission deputy executive director Donald E.

Johnson said. lines at the end of March. Conrail, which now operates the commuter lines, had posted the required 60-day notices before halting service. "Now we'll make it through fiscal year 1982," said SEPTA spokesman Rick Woolen, referring to the SEPTA fiscal year which ends June 30. Gov.

Dick Thornburgh said yesterday he was advancing $13 million in payments to alleviate the Philadelphia region's transit problems. LADIES' SUEDE JACKETS BLAZERS $3S) 99 REG- nit IU.UU UP MEN'S LAMBSKIN ZIP-OUT JACKETS REG. $300 WTO SIZE nked (LADIES) mm mm l- ii A car parked beside the Susquehanna River in Fairview Township, is nearly surrounded by tons of ice that crept up the bank as temperatures rose yesterday. The thaw also caused flooding in many low-lying areas. Man charged with mail fraud '1 LADIES' FUR JACKETS $23)99 CHINCHILLA FULL SKIN FRENCH RABBIT FUR JACKETS $8S 99 REG.

$149.99 MEN'S GENUINE LEATHER JACKETS $52)99 AEG. SIM LADIES' FULL SKIN RED FOX JACKETS REG. $1200 SCRANTON, Pa. A 40-year-'" old Monroe County man was arrested yesterday on charges of running a phony work-at-home, envelope-stuffing scheme, postal authorities announced. Gerald A.

Price, of Tobyhanna, had promised people that they could earn up to $270 a week by addressing and filling envelopes, according to authorities. The. reported victims were offered memberships at $25 apiece in a program operating under several names with mailing addresses in Tobyhanna and Mount Pocono and formerly in Burlington, N.J., and Willing-boro, N.J. Associated Press A federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment Thursday charging Price with mail fraud and the use of ficticious names in the scheme. Price was released on his own reconizance during a bail hearing in Scranton yesterday before U.S.

Magistrate Joseph F. Cimini. Jacob H. Rahming, postal inspector-in-cnarge, and Carlon M. O'Malley the U.S.

attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, said an investigation into the scheme began in May 1979. Postal inspectors halted mail to the addresses in July 1981. Spectrum show. Electric Factory said the concert would be rescheduled. The promoter said a new date probably would be announced later this month.

The raspy-voiced singer has been on a tour of cities in the United States and Canada since Nov. 11, 1 4 Delivery Included Service Included No Long-Term Obligation Order by Phone No Credit Tie-Up Large Selection Rental Application Required WE alsu rent: i STEREO HI-FI WASHERS DRYERS REFRIGERATORS I WE ALSO RENT: Portable Color TV's as low COME IN OH CALL I mm bblv Rod Stewart concert canceled iaiiifci PHILADELPHIA British -rocker Rod Stewart canceled tonight's sold-out concert here because of bronchitis, an Elec- trie Factory Concerts spokeswoman said yesterday. According to Julie Hittner, a publicist for Electric Factory, the 37-year-old musician would not be able to appear at tonight JAMESON TRADING OF CALIFORNIA 15 PARK ROWt NEW YORK, N.Y. 10038 FRIDAY, SATURDAY SUNDAY. FED.

5th-6th-7th I UVATTAfUrDBVuiTl MARRIOT HOTEL CITY LINE AVE. AND MONUMENT RD. 2 LOCATIONS RT. 70 CUTHBERT CHERRY HILL MX GG2-3131 These stories are based on reporting by the Courier-Post staff and The Associated Press. i i.