Mob hit man who led Boy Scout troop while working as a contract killer says he's reformed and driving a church bus
- John Veasey says he's seen the light and has no intentions of returning to his Philly mob past
- Even as a hit man, Veasey led a Boy Scout troop and says his kids had no idea he was a killer and loved it when he took them camping
A convicted mob hit man who led a Boy Scout troop while still a killer says he’s living for God now and volunteers his time driving a church bus in suburban Midwest town.
John Veasey was once a feared killer in the Philadelphia mob who survived getting shot to the head three times, aligned with Sicilian crime boss John Stanfa.
Now, Veasey says he attends church and has tried to atone for his dirty deeds.
He worships regularly, he says, and even helps out his church by volunteering to drive their church school bus.
New leaf: Former Philly mob hit man John Veasey says he's a born-again Christian and even volunteers to drive his church school bus
Ironically, this isn’t the first time Veasey has volunteered his time.
Believe it or not, While still murdering for the mob, Veasey was a Boy Scout troop leader.
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He was asked in an upcoming 60 Minutes interview about his double life.
‘Those kids didn’t know I was a hit man,’ he smirks, ‘and a lot of parents were mad. But their kids had fun when I took them camping.’
Darker days: Veasey was once a feared killer who eventually helped take down Philly's biggest crime boss, John Stanfa
High price: For ratting out his boss, Veasey's former crime family gunned down his brother Billy
Veasey pulled off other hits, but his first—made in broad daylight—would be his most famous and perhaps the most sensationalized in Philadelphia mob history.
In the interview, scheduled to air Sunday, he describes how it felt as he sat waiting, prepared to kill two men on a tree-lined sunny street.
Like ‘I was going to work,’ Veasey shrugs, ‘and part of my work that day was to kill somebody.’
That somebody ended up being rival mobster Mikey ‘Chang’ Ciancaglini, who died on the sidewalk that day in August 1993.
The other man Veasey was hired to kill, rival mob boss Joey Merlino, survived.
The murder and attempted murder became part of a trial that ultimately took down Veasey’s boss—with Veasey’s testimony against his old boss as a linchpin in the federal case against the mobster.
Veasey’s decision to turn against Stanfa would cost him. His former associates attempted to kill him, but he survived three shots to the head.
Then, on the very day Veasey was scheduled to rat out Stanfa, Veasey’s brother Billy was gunned down on his way to work in what police called an intimidation tactic performed to keep Veasey off the stand.
Betrayed?: Philly mob boss John Stanfa, at center in 1980 photo, was handed 5 consecutive life sentences thanks in large part to Veasey's testimony
Quiet life?: A Philadelphia woman claims Veasey has threatened her and her and her husband, who happens to be the man acquitted of Veasey's brother's murder
Veasey testified, anyway, and Stanfa was eventually handed five consecutive life sentences.
After serving 10 years for murders to which he confessed in court, Veasey was placed in the witness protection program and began an unlikely life of repentance.
He became something of an enigma in an unnamed Midwestern suburb where he’s made a successful living selling luxury cars.
But as the 60 Minutes interview proves, the former mobster hasn’t lost his signature swagger.
The report, however, questions Veasey’s self-described new lease on life.
Kathy Ciancaglini of Philadelphia, whose husband John was acquitted of Billy Veasey’s murder, claims Veasey has left her and her husband threatening voicemails.
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