An alleged Philadelphia mob associate was charged Thursday with the execution-style killing of a man along a South Philly street.
Police charged Anthony Nicodemo, 41, of the 3200 block of S 17th Street with killing 50-year old Gino DiPietro along the 2800 block of Iseminger Street around 3 p.m. Wednesday. The shooting happened just a few doors away from DiPietro's home.
DiPietro, who was also an alleged mob associate, was shot five time. He was taken to the Hahnemann University Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Source tell NBC10 that ballistics match a gun found in Nicodemo's car to a bullet fragment found on DiPietro's clothing.
Nicodemo pleaded guilty four years ago to gambling conspiracy charges for his role in the Borgata sports-betting sting.
Police sources tell NBC10 that Nicodemo is suspected to be linked to other unsolved mob-related murders, including Johnny "Gongs" Cassanto's killing in 2003
Sources tell NBC10 that Nicodemo is a mid-level mobster in the Joseph Ligambi crime family but was recently demoted to the rank of soldier.
Ligambi, the reputed mob boss of Philadelphia, known as "Uncle Joe" is currently on trial with six other defendants for racketeering. He's accused of being on the payroll at Top Job Disposal for 10 years, but never doing any work.
Prosecutors allege that the La Cosa Nostra boss defrauded the Teamsters' health and pension fund, of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The defense claims Ligambi has steered several contracts to the trash hauler over the years, before going out of business.
Closing arguments are expected to begin in January.
