Big Vince Filipelli was caught on tape bragging that he was "made"
Federal Judge Noel Hillman gave Filipelli a stiffer sentence than he might have otherwise gotten — almost six years in prison for extortion — because he considers Big Vince to be a "money maker for an organization that has a history of violence." But mob insiders say Filipelli isn't a made member of the Philadelphia Mafia, and has nothing to do with the current local regime. "He might have had to pay off the mob to keep his gambling operation going," one local law enforcement investigator tells Underworld. "But from what we hear, he's independent." Filipelli was caught on tape bragging that he was "made" to an undercover New Jersey state policeman who owed Filipelli's gambling operation $13,000. Big Vince threatened to put the man he thought was a deadbeat gambler "in the hospital" if he didn't pay up. A mob associate who agreed to talk to Underworld with the understanding that his identity would be protected tapped his ...