Salvatore Testa - Being Given The Kiss of Death

Being Given The Kiss of Death

Salvatore's lifelong friend and fellow made man in the Scarfo crime family Joseph Pungitore's aunt had died. Nicholas Caramandi said, "Joe Pungitore was Salvie Testa's best friend out of all the fellas. He's also a made guy and was one of Salvie's top guys. So there's no way Salvie's not going to come to the (Cato Funeral Home at Broad Street (Philadelphia)). But Salvie knows about funeral parlors (being used as a hit location), because it was used in one of the many botched attempts on Mario Riccobene's life. As Nicholas Caramandi explains what happened at the funeral parlor, "Nicky (Nicky Scarfo), Chucky (Salvatore Merlino) and Philip (Phil Leonetti) are ten feet away from me. I'm looking directly at them. Chuckie's standing there and I motion to Chuckie with my head, up and down, like, let's do it right now. But he waves me off. So when he does that, I go to the lounge and sit down. We were all tense and I couldn't understand what happened. I was right behind him (Salvatore Testa), ready to shoot him, he's talking to a guy at the bar. All I hadda do is go bing, right in the back of his head. Then about ten minutes later Tommy (Andrew Thomas DelGiorno) and Faffy (Francis Ianarella) come over and they tell me there's too much law outside. Too many cops... When we leave the funeral parlor, we all go downstairs outside and we're saying goodbye to everybody, members and nonmembers. I'm standing with Nicky, Chuckie, Philip, Tommy, Faffy and Charlie. Now when Salvie says goodbye, he shakes hands with all of us. Chuckie Merlino shakes his hand, grabs his head and kisses him on the lips... for like ten seconds. Tommy, Charlie, Faffy and me, we look at one another. We said, 'What the fuck. This guy's nuts. Salvie's gotta know now.' It was the kiss of death. 'We looked at the expression on Salvie. He was sorta stunned. He just couldn't figure out what the fuck was going on. But this is how crazy they (Salvatore Merlino and Nicky Scarfo) were. I mean, they wanted him to know."