The former home of a mob boss has been nominated as a Philadelphia landmark — likely the first time ever the city will weigh whether to bestow such an honor to an organized crime figure, officials said.
Angelo “The Gentle Don” Bruno led the City of Brotherly Love’s syndicate until he was killed with a shotgun blast to the head on March 21, 1980, outside the south Philly home at 934 Snyder Ave.
“I assume it is our first historical property nomination related to Mafia history in Philadelphia. I can’t think that there is another one,” said historic preservation planner and Historical Commission staffer Kim Broadbent told the Philadelphia Daily News.
“It’s certainly a unique story about Philadelphia’s history that we don’t typically come across at the office,” Broadbent added.
Bruno– played by actor Chazz Palminteri in the Tom Hardy gangster movie “Legend” — was bumped off on orders by his own consiglieri Antonio “Tony Bananas” Caponigro, launching a Philadelphia mob war that eventually brought down the entire operation.
Tony Bananas was was rubbed out a month after Bruno’s murder and his body found in the Bronx.
Bruno’s successor, Philip “The Chicken Man” Testa, was killed a year later by a bomb at his home – an attack immortalized by Bruce Springsteen’s song “Atlantic City” and lyrics, “Well they blew up The Chicken Man in Philly last night, now they blew up his house too.”
David Fritchey, who recently retired as head of organized crime prosecutions for the US Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, burst out in laughter after learning of the odd nomination.
“That’s a little unorthodox,” he said. “It’s not like he (Bruno) was William Penn or Ben Franklin.”
The Philadelphia Historical Commission will review the nomination next month.