Valuetainment - March 19, 2026


“Why Do They Say You’re Part Of The Mob？” - Joey Merlino BREAKS SILENCE On Philly Mob Boss Rumors


Episode Stats

Length

11 minutes

Words per Minute

205.6933

Word Count

2,464

Sentence Count

180

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

5


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Joey Morlino is one of the most well-known mobsters of all time. He s been in prison for most of his life, but not for the reason you think...he s not part of the mob.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
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00:00:14.840 If the average guy wants to know who's Joey Morlino, what would you say?
00:00:18.440 I'm a cheesesteak guy.
00:00:19.860 You're a cheesesteak guy.
00:00:20.520 Yeah, I'm for the people.
00:00:22.860 I'm a no-mob.
00:00:23.640 Listen, that sells movies.
00:00:25.520 That's what they, you know, that's what the media does.
00:00:30.900 The media does it.
00:00:31.840 So the media says you're part of the mob.
00:00:33.400 You've never been part of the mob.
00:00:34.420 No, nothing, no.
00:00:35.660 No, so why do they make documentaries and talk about you?
00:00:40.240 Why do they, you know, write books about you?
00:00:42.600 Why do they, you know, in all these shows talk about, you know, the boss,
00:00:47.360 you know, previously with Natalia, previously with all these.
00:00:50.500 Why do they talk about your name all the time?
00:00:52.120 Natalia's the biggest liar.
00:00:53.640 ever. That's why I got mad at you, because you had him on the show. I had him on the show. He
00:00:57.780 got very mad at me. Yeah. He's a habitual liar. He was a habitual drug dealer. I, the only way
00:01:04.140 he'd get out of jail is because of me. That's it. He would have died in jail. He got his whole
00:01:09.400 family involved with drugs. He got his son-in-law involved with drugs. The guy who married his
00:01:14.480 daughter. Would I want my son-in-law to deal drugs? I want my son-in-law to be a doctor or
00:01:20.980 whatever, whatever he does, he got his whole family involved with drugs,
00:01:24.040 his son, his son-in-law, and they were never getting out of jail.
00:01:27.920 He was going to die.
00:01:30.080 Yeah, when he and I sat down, he was very critical of Leonetti
00:01:36.040 and very critical of you in a big way.
00:01:39.900 But he said you guys were in prison together when he became the boss,
00:01:44.620 if I'm not mistaken.
00:01:45.580 The boss of what?
00:01:46.640 Boss of the family.
00:01:47.120 Yeah, I was in jail with him.
00:01:48.160 Yeah.
00:01:48.800 These are not.
00:01:49.420 The guys are not.
00:01:50.980 What was he like?
00:01:51.940 I mean, I know he died a couple years ago, but what was he like?
00:01:54.660 He was a good talker.
00:01:55.660 He was a salesman.
00:01:58.000 He was a good bullshitter.
00:01:58.980 Ralph.
00:01:59.420 Yeah.
00:02:00.140 Was he a tough guy?
00:02:01.240 Was he a capable guy?
00:02:02.720 Was he a known guy?
00:02:04.140 I met him in jail.
00:02:05.400 First time you met him was in jail?
00:02:06.660 In jail, yeah.
00:02:08.040 I should have went to another jail.
00:02:09.580 I would have never met him.
00:02:11.000 So you prefer never meeting him?
00:02:12.480 Yeah, I wish I'd never met him.
00:02:15.040 So rumor has it, the plans were, you know,
00:02:18.740 He was going to be the face, and behind closed doors,
00:02:22.140 you were the puppet master kind of making the decisions.
00:02:25.360 And then afterwards, when you got out, I think a couple years later,
00:02:28.220 you ended up becoming a boss.
00:02:29.780 Is that a rumor?
00:02:30.480 Is that a fact?
00:02:30.960 It's a rumor.
00:02:31.600 It's a rumor.
00:02:32.540 How do you feel about all these rumors?
00:02:34.020 How do you manage all these rumors?
00:02:34.540 Don't bother me.
00:02:35.100 I don't care.
00:02:36.440 Like Trump says, fake news.
00:02:38.040 Yeah.
00:02:38.380 It sells papers.
00:02:40.180 Listen, me and my family have been in news since I was a kid.
00:02:42.940 It don't bother me at all.
00:02:44.960 I don't, you know, say whatever they want.
00:02:46.220 How do you handle it?
00:02:46.800 How do you handle when they say this stuff?
00:02:47.980 i don't i don't even pay attention to it but joey you got to realize even from the outside like i i
00:02:52.220 know what your answers are going to be because i've been watching you for of course you know we
00:02:55.420 uh uh the story is one time we lived six houses down from each other and i would walk the kids
00:03:00.860 and i would see you and one time i'm driving the car and i think you know i pull up i'm like
00:03:06.620 excuse me yeah who's this i said is this uh are you skinny joey i'm joey to you and you pull up
00:03:13.020 and i said uh i know you and you're like aren't you the guy that interviewed that's how our first
00:03:19.260 conversation you had the kids in the truck i had the kids in the truck yes i remember that i'm like
00:03:23.780 wait a minute you know that's i was saying to myself who the fuck's this guy i just waved you
00:03:28.120 know i waved all the neighbors yeah go to that area everybody waves that's right walk the dogs
00:03:32.040 it's a great area no it's beautiful it's a great i love that area we almost bought a couple places
00:03:36.080 there but for a guy i've sat with most of the guys that are living guys even leonetti the only one
00:03:42.620 he did was with me and leonetti was the underboss of uh working with scarfo everything ties you
00:03:51.100 that you were part of that life but the only guy that and i'm trying to figure out how you're doing
00:03:57.760 this you claim you're not the feds say they know you were and are that's what the feds say the
00:04:05.960 streets say you know he was maybe got out in 24 you know possibly the only guy that was a boss that
00:04:13.900 still walks the streets you'll walk anywhere you'll go to new york what's the saying that you
00:04:17.060 say we can go anywhere you can go anywhere you can go to new york go to philly and nothing's
00:04:21.080 gonna happen to you but you grew up in this life now whether you claim you were in it or not that's
00:04:25.760 you know you can that's a speculation but you grew up in this life and you excelled in this
00:04:31.360 life how did you get into the life i was never in the life it's just the way i just grown up in
00:04:35.620 south philly it's just the way we lived you know what i mean it's that we have street smarts you
00:04:41.320 know you got you're in the streets you could be the greatest lawyer in the world the smartest guy
00:04:45.260 in the world if you don't have street smart you ain't gonna make it nowhere i don't care what are
00:04:48.900 street smart you just gotta be street smart like you know you just can't like people are
00:04:53.420 i know lawyers that are the smartest like intelligent lawyers but in court that you
00:05:00.960 don't have the street smarts to get you know present to a jury you're done bobby simone was
00:05:06.440 one of the best lawyers in philly he had street smarts you gotta have street smarts how do you
00:05:11.000 gain it how do you just learn it you know growing up is it learned or is it dna is it something that
00:05:16.200 i mean a lot of people in south philly have it you know it's just growing up respect like my
00:05:22.700 my father i mean if i came to your house when i was a kid if i didn't shake your hand
00:05:26.680 and look at you and say hello
00:05:29.160 and have respect for others.
00:05:30.540 We were bad kids, but we have respect for others.
00:05:32.940 I'll be getting beaten.
00:05:35.560 From your pops?
00:05:36.580 Yeah, we got to respect people.
00:05:38.340 Leonetti was very complimentary of your dad.
00:05:40.880 Leonetti's a fucking nut.
00:05:43.260 Why is that?
00:05:44.740 He robbed his uncle, he took all his money.
00:05:47.220 He never went to jail ever in his life.
00:05:49.320 The first time he went to jail,
00:05:51.640 he made up stories to get out of jail.
00:05:54.060 He robbed his uncle, he robbed all his money,
00:05:55.860 he robbed his whole family.
00:05:57.500 And I don't know where the fuck,
00:05:59.000 wherever the fuck he's living.
00:06:00.740 Did you guys spend a lot of time together or no?
00:06:02.600 No, yeah, I know him, yeah.
00:06:04.380 All these rats, the only one I knew was really him.
00:06:07.020 Like, see all these guys that go on these shows?
00:06:10.460 Old, I'm like, Sacali, I never met them
00:06:13.880 or sold them ever in my life.
00:06:15.580 Leonetti, I know.
00:06:17.160 Leonetti and Ralph, that's the only two I ever know.
00:06:18.800 How much time did you spend with Leonetti?
00:06:20.740 I lived down here.
00:06:21.620 I lived down here, sure.
00:06:22.480 Like, yeah, I spent time.
00:06:24.260 Daily, weekly, like you saw?
00:06:25.500 Yeah, like, yeah, not a lot.
00:06:27.280 What was he like?
00:06:28.020 Did he carry weight?
00:06:29.460 Was he respected?
00:06:30.420 Was he feared?
00:06:31.320 He was quiet.
00:06:32.100 He really was.
00:06:33.480 He used to love when they called him Crazy Phil.
00:06:35.260 His mother, they used to love it.
00:06:36.740 When they wrote in the paper, Crazy Phil, they loved it.
00:06:39.060 Now he's, my uncle told me to do it, Phil.
00:06:43.980 It's jail.
00:06:44.740 Nobody wants to go to jail.
00:06:45.700 That's the bottom line.
00:06:47.320 They all change their lives when they go to jail.
00:06:50.560 Just picture, if none of them ever got locked up,
00:06:53.000 They would never have been in there.
00:06:54.140 They wouldn't have been sitting here.
00:06:56.640 He'd still be in Atlantic City.
00:06:58.020 So why are you doing it?
00:06:59.180 Franchise, he's still being.
00:07:00.260 I'm the voice for the people in jail that got no voice.
00:07:04.680 These people buried people, lied about them, put them in jail.
00:07:08.700 And then they go on in, whatever, YouTube, Internet, make money off them,
00:07:13.200 send me to Bulls selling shirts that he killed 19 people.
00:07:16.280 He's proud of it.
00:07:17.640 He killed a 16-year-old kid.
00:07:19.200 Nobody ever, nobody talks about that.
00:07:20.800 I mean, these people are sick.
00:07:24.100 Have you and Sammy ever done anything together?
00:07:25.960 No, I never, if he will, I know what he looks like now.
00:07:28.360 I've never seen him in my life.
00:07:29.520 Never seen him in your life?
00:07:30.660 Ever.
00:07:31.520 Never was in jail with none of them.
00:07:32.740 Have you guys ever interacted, phone call, anything?
00:07:35.380 No.
00:07:36.180 Phone call, no.
00:07:37.460 How about Michael?
00:07:38.540 No, I've never seen him in my life.
00:07:40.560 He's another one.
00:07:41.760 He found God as soon as he got locked up.
00:07:44.920 When he was robbing all that money and he'd give it to God.
00:07:46.820 has that ever happened with you did you ever have a moment where you found god or no
00:07:53.480 no i mean i'm i'm catholic i was an altar boy you've always had it yeah but these guys as
00:07:59.620 soon as they get locked up sammy just got baptized i see something they put him in a pool what do
00:08:04.380 you think about that he should have got electrocuted the motherfucker instead of a
00:08:08.720 i mean look look what he's doing now and that's another thing all these guys there's
00:08:16.200 There's not a way he could do it.
00:08:17.740 But all these guys, all of them, they all commit crimes.
00:08:22.540 Sammy, he got five years.
00:08:24.820 He killed 19 people.
00:08:26.080 He didn't even do five years.
00:08:26.960 He did a year.
00:08:28.020 He gives that bullshit.
00:08:28.860 He did a year.
00:08:29.640 He got out.
00:08:30.280 He flooded Arizona with drugs, all college kids.
00:08:33.200 Got another break.
00:08:34.000 Now he just molested his secretary, pedophile.
00:08:38.540 What is he?
00:08:39.200 Who's this?
00:08:40.080 Sammy.
00:08:41.300 What about his assistant?
00:08:42.980 He molested her.
00:08:44.500 You didn't read it?
00:08:45.700 No.
00:08:46.320 It's a civil case.
00:08:47.480 Is she under 18?
00:08:49.440 I don't know.
00:08:50.340 I'll be honest.
00:08:51.580 Unless it has to be under 18.
00:08:52.940 If it's like a accused of sexually assaulting employee.
00:08:56.540 Yeah, I guess that.
00:08:58.060 Assaulted employee.
00:08:58.840 Right.
00:08:59.280 He made her stay in a hotel with him.
00:09:00.680 He stuck a tongue down her throat.
00:09:01.820 He pulled the gun out.
00:09:03.100 You didn't read it?
00:09:04.080 I could have sent it there.
00:09:05.040 Yeah, so a woman who worked with Salvatore.
00:09:07.620 Yeah, she worked for him.
00:09:08.560 I don't know her name.
00:09:11.280 Somebody sent me anything.
00:09:12.160 Yeah, I don't know these stories.
00:09:13.020 And I got the text.
00:09:14.120 I mean, he's texting or something.
00:09:16.000 The guys are not.
00:09:17.140 I mean, they just keep on getting shit.
00:09:18.820 But they got a license.
00:09:20.040 They could do it.
00:09:21.400 You realize every day on the Internet, for the last two years, me and Snuff,
00:09:25.300 especially Snuff, they bother him.
00:09:26.780 Poor kid, he's an innocent kid.
00:09:29.240 We get threatened every day.
00:09:31.400 They're going to come.
00:09:31.960 They're going to blow the cheesesteak place up.
00:09:33.280 They're going to beat all our employees up.
00:09:34.500 If I said that on the Internet, I'd get locked up immediately.
00:09:37.700 What's the difference?
00:09:39.000 They have a license.
00:09:40.440 The government loves them.
00:09:41.300 and the government doesn't love you no they hate me why is that i don't could i guess because i'm
00:09:47.360 italian i don't know you think this is my name italian yeah if my name is joe bloke i wouldn't
00:09:52.440 i wouldn't ever even got locked up or just many times i went to jail for making a bet
00:09:58.360 just think of that not book making yeah not gambling running illegal again placing a bet
00:10:07.940 over the phone i got two years in jail they would have to lock the whole world up everybody bets
00:10:13.400 i got two years the other guy the other guy i seen the other day in a paper he was with isis
00:10:21.640 he's supposed to get 20 years they gave him 11 years he got out in six years
00:10:27.660 and he went shot it shot the people the system's fucked up yeah if that was me i would have got
00:10:34.440 the lecture chair yeah but i think i think what uh uh when i see a different case study with yours
00:10:40.760 i mean respectfully when you when you talk to the guys in the streets and and you get different
00:10:45.760 sides of the story you know one of them is there's seven i think there is alleged of course this is
00:10:53.820 alleged seven hits that you have alleged seven people you took out that that's what the street
00:10:59.760 talks about i was acquitted of every one of them right i understand that but there's seven of them
00:11:04.420 that they alleged that you did that because they said, you know,
00:11:07.720 one thing about Joey that you get respect from your peers is he was not only tough,
00:11:12.800 he was capable.
00:11:13.560 Some are capable but not tough.
00:11:14.880 Some are tough but not capable.
00:11:16.780 Joey was both.
00:11:17.580 Meaning if you wanted to get somebody's job done, you went and did it yourself.
00:11:22.320 You're like, hey, Bobby, you go do it.
00:11:23.620 Hey, Jack, you go do it.
00:11:24.460 You went and did it yourself.
00:11:26.080 This is the rumors.
00:11:26.980 That's the rumors.
00:11:27.760 Right.
00:11:28.180 I never killed nobody.
00:11:29.580 You never killed nobody.
00:11:30.540 No, never.
00:11:33.320 You've never killed nobody.
00:11:34.320 No.
00:11:34.720 Okay.
00:11:35.420 My name's Joey Merlino.
00:11:36.920 Any questions you have on my neck, you want to ask me.
00:11:40.380 I'm an expert in sports, gambling, restaurants.
00:11:44.200 We've got the best cheesesteaks in Philly.
00:11:46.760 Anything you want to know about Philly, South Philly, Atlantic City,
00:11:51.060 reach out, and I got you.
00:11:53.200 If you enjoyed this video, you want to watch more videos like this,
00:11:55.580 click here, and if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.