Piece of the Action: The Stanfa Hit

At around 7:45 a.m., near the Vare Avenue/Mifflin Street exit on the Schuylkill Expressway, a white Chevy van caught up with the Caddy. In a flash, two 9mm machine pistols popped out of portholes cut into the side of the van and began strafing the Cadillac. John Stanfa ducked down as the spray of bullets shattered the window. Joe, in the backseat, wasn't as quick as his father. One of the bullets caught him above his right cheekbone. He slid to the floor in agony....

The hit took everyone by surprise. The victims, of course, but also the public, terrified by the wanton display of violence, and even the cops, who had never seen anything like it during 14 bloody years of Mafia turmoil in Philadelphia. They were used to finding wiseguys with bullet holes behind their ears, wrapped in blankets and cast aside. This was different, crazy. An ambush in the middle of rush-hour traffic, with total disregard for hundreds of innocent people who might have been caught in the crossfire or crushed in a mass pileup. It was out of character-it was more Sicily than South Philadelphia. But that was just the point.

from "The Mob'sLast Civil War,"Playboy, September 1994

GEORGE AN ASTASIA IS KNOWN FOR PUTTING GANGSTERS AT EASE.