Philip Testa

Case background and investigation

Philip Testa, widely known by the nickname "Chicken Man," was described by law enforcement and in press reports as the man who took over leadership of Philadelphia's organized crime family after longtime boss Angelo Bruno was shot dead in March 1980. According to United Press International, Testa had been indicted on federal racketeering charges along with Frank Narducci and eight others in February 1981, only weeks before his own death.

At about 3 a.m. on Sunday, March 15, 1981, Testa was returning to his twin home on Porter Street in the Girard Estates section of South Philadelphia when an explosive device packed with nails went off at the front porch. According to the organized crime history site The Writers of Wrongs, which summarizes contemporary newspaper coverage, the blast tore through the concrete porch floor and drove the front door into the house, and investigators concluded that the bomb had been set off by remote control by someone who could see the porch. Testa was taken to St. Agnes Hospital and died roughly an hour later. He was 56. UPI reported that he was buried on March 20, 1981 at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, close to Bruno's grave.

The investigation led to two young men from South Philadelphia. UPI reported in June 1982 that Theodore DiPretoro, then 21, had been charged with Testa's murder, with police alleging that he built and planted the device. Police sources cited in the same report said that Rocco Marinucci, 30, was present and triggered the bomb from a van parked nearby. Marinucci was never tried: he was found dead on March 15, 1982, the first anniversary of the bombing, with firecrackers in his mouth, in what investigators regarded as retaliation.

DiPretoro pleaded guilty to the murder on September 20, 1983. According to UPI, he told the court he had helped Marinucci because he feared he would be killed if he refused. In November 1983 Common Pleas Judge Lisa Richette sentenced him to life in prison, to run concurrently with a life term he was already serving for an unrelated 1980 killing.

Who ordered the bombing has never been established in court. Published accounts, including Testa's Wikipedia biography, state that the plot was allegedly directed by his underboss Peter Casella and by Narducci; neither man was convicted of it. Narducci was shot dead in January 1982, and Casella was reportedly forced out of the organization and moved to Florida. Testa's killing is generally described as one of the opening events of a violent struggle inside the Philadelphia crime family during the early 1980s. His son Salvatore Testa was himself shot dead in 1984.

Some reference lists still classify the Testa bombing as unsolved, apparently because the people alleged to have ordered it were never prosecuted. The court record, however, shows that one participant admitted his role and was sentenced for the murder.