The Mafia and Me

                           J

I am sure that you, the reader, have had those times when you are reading the Inquirer (October 22) or The New York Times in a casual way, and then you read something that rips you in vivid terms from now to the past. For me it occurred when I was reading the Inquirer this morning. There was an article, Looking back on Philly’s bloody mob war of the 1990s”. More than 30 years ago, Philadelphia was the battleground in a brutal mob war as young mafia upstarts challenged the rule of established La Costa Nostra leadership. It is now being told in a Netflix documentary series.

It is a brutal tale of the mafia in the 1990s. John Veasey was found on January in1994 near Sixth and Sigal Streets with three bullet wounds to his head, one to his chest, and seven stab wounds having fought off his attackers and miraculously survived. The mafia knew that he had a lot of information. As it turned out John Veasey had gone to the FBI and shared information abut various killings occurring by people whose names were such as Skinny Joe, Johnny Meatballs, Sticky Buns, and Al Pajamas Pagano. He did this because he was encouraged by his brother, Billy Veasey, to do this for Billy heard that there was a contract out on John Veasey’s life.

On October 5, 1995, just hours before John Veasey was set to take the witness stand against the mob, His brother Billy was shot and killed on the 2700 Block in South Philly. John Veasey was angry at this gesture and had testified regarding everything that he knew about the mob’s actions including the work of their hitmen.

In November of 1995, the mob associates were convicted on all counts. Later there would be more drama as a young group of mobsters wanted to take over from the old mob. In 1998, the news reports indicated that Merlino took over as acting mob boss.

The Netflix documentary states that they wanted to show the human side of the mafia. I don’t know how comprehensive that theme is going to go in the amount of detail, but there is someone left out of the narrative in the press today. That is Billy Veasey Jr. who was a fourth form student (tenth grade) at EA when this occurred.  The mob watched the comings and goings of Billy’s dad. They knew that he began his day by going to a Dunkin Donuts getting   breakfast for his son and him to eat on the way to school.  Then he would go back to his home to get his son to bring him to EA. He was assassinated in front of his home in front of his son.

Billy and I met for a good bit of time to help him work through the trauma of this drama, but he was healed by the way the school community embraced him. Billy also found solace by being part of the Junior Flyers Ice Hockey Team. It was a difficult road forward.

One day I received a call from an attorney who wanted to meet with me. Since he wanted to be anonymous, I will not mention his name. He met Billy through the Flyers program and wanted to financially support Billy through EA and beyond. His bills should come to him. He would call me to periodically to make sure that Billy was doing OK.

The FBI positioned agents on the four corners of or campus in Merion to guarantee safety for our students and faculty.  We set up a place for the reporters to get updates from our Director of External Communications. We did this to limit their access to that one location at the head of the entrance drive of our campus. They were not to interview anyone on campus. Reporters haven’t change much when getting a story meant they sneaked on campus to talk with students and faculty, so we forbade any members of the school such as faculty and students to speak with them. Our security team had to remove some of the reporters.

But this event caused an ethical decision. The Mass of Christian Burial for Billy’s father was to be held at a parish in South Philly. Our students particularly those in our fourth form wanted to attend the service in support of Billy. Parents were angry with me for putting their children at risk for taking them to the service. They were not required to go. It was totally their choice. I understood their concern. I don’t blame them for being angry with me but included in that large group was one of my sons. What was best for Billy? What was best for our kids who wanted to go?

I just so happened to know the attorney who had represented people in the mafia. I called him, and I will never forget his response to my question about the safety at the service. “That service will be the safest place in our country as there is mafia law that forbids any attacks at services for the deceased.” Parents who permitted their children to go and me went to the service. It meant the world to Billy. Support continued. He was quite a hockey player and went to Arizona State University which has long history of successful ice hockey programs.

He has come back East and last we talked was in South Philly and had a family. He was a great kid. I hope they checked with him before doing this series. There are many things that EA is great about, but none more than rallying by students, faculty, and parents, etc. in supporting a student going through the most difficult time. The chapel program run by students with me as coach provides a way for students to know and feel what is right to do.

After a particular tragedy involving two students, one from our school and the other from another independent school, I received a call from a Head of the other school who said simply, “Jim, it is times like these that I wish we had a chapel.” It not only touches their emotions but touches their soul as well!