Babe Ruth

A mob gal takes her nudie-pic story to the airwaves.

by Brendan McGarvey and Gabriele J. Valentine


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Published: Apr 11, 2007

WYSP 94.1 FREE FM sounded more like Mob Talk Radio last week when Ruthann Seccio turned up on the Kidd Chris show to chat about a recent City Paper story in which she alleged that someone stole nudie pics of her taken by former Cosa Nostra boss turned federal witness Ralph Natale.

After reading [Underworld, "One Night in Ruthie," Brendan McGarvey and Gabriele J. Valentine, March 28, 2007], Chris invited Seccio to appear as a guest. Seccio showed up late — she runs on South Philly time — but brought along a few sexy photos for the DJ and his posse to ogle. Kidd Chris called her a "mob hottie," teased her about buying the photos himself and listened to Seccio tell mafia and sex stories.

Seccio reiterated her claim that someone had stolen a secret stash of sex and was trying to peddle them to the highest bidder. She said she'd sell her own copies to a men's magazine and was even willing to pose for new nude photos.

But once the phone lines were open, they heard from several angry male callers with South Philly accents who threatened Seccio. Kidd Chris nervously told Ruth that "I'm not walking out front with you." Seccio cracked wise with some of the self-proclaimed wise guys and, to the host's amusement, admitted she and Natale once made a pornographic video. During the half-hour appearance, Seccio seemed to adapt easily to the shock-jock atmosphere and even shared some off-color anecdotes and mafia sex secrets.

Kidd Chris joked with Ruthie on the radio for half an hour, gave out Seccio's MySpace address and invited her to come back on the show sometime soon.

The Mob Hottie Sex Photos story continues to percolate in the media; word is that a nationally syndicated television show is interested in talking and may flash some cash for the rights to some of those candid photos.

Muy Mal Meth

While the mob and the region's two largest outlaw biker gangs have been keeping a lower profile lately, law enforcement sources claim that the illegal methamphetamine market — once dominated by the Pagans and the Warlocks — has been taken over by Mexican organized-crime groups.

"The bikers don't have shit," one DEA agent tells City Paper. "They used to be at the top of the food chain for dealing meth around here, but not anymore. The stuff they have is low-grade."

A U.S. Customs source added, "Now the meth is made in Mexico and smuggled into the U.S. It comes into the Philly area every way you can imagine and in a lot of ways you can't."

Mexican criminal groups trafficking and distributing meth in the Delaware Valley are organized in a variety of ways. Some are based on family relationships and regional associations in Mexico. Others are connected to drug cartels and Mexican-American street and prison gangs from California. But, there are also local, loosely organized Hispanic gangs eager to work with these Mexican criminal networks.

Local gangs like the SUR 13 operate in Camden, Philly, Reading, Wilmington and smaller places like Kennett Square and Norristown. Their members are the sons and daughters of migrant workers in Chester and Montgomery counties and in Delaware.

These gang bangers prey on their own, extorting migrant workers, shaking down small Mexican-owned businesses and, in some cases, dealing meth. The local gangs claim allegiance to the Mexican Mafia and other California-based street gangs, but a Pennsylvania state trooper who specializes in Hispanic organized crime explains that the locals "have no connection to the West Coast organizations. They model themselves on the Mexican Mafia and La Nuestra Familia, but they're just local punks targeting their own communities. The illegals hate these gangs. When they're victimized, they can't do a thing because they're afraid they'll be deported. And the gangs use that."

Mobbed Up?

People living near Ninth and Moore streets in South Philadelphia have long maintained that their neighbor, the J&F coffee shop, is a corner store that serves as a gathering place for some nice elderly men who "don't bother nobody." Law-enforcement sources, however, continue to claim it's a mob clubhouse that hosts illegal card games and a loan-shark business.

Last year, a member of the Warlocks motorcycle gang was spied on several occasions meeting with reputed mobsters inside the store. Now, sources say the same outlaw biker has returned. "Maybe he's there to do a little business with the mob," one source says. "Maybe he's just there to play cards. Or maybe he just likes the coffee."

(editorial@citypaper.net)