If you have gone through YouTube watching back-to-back episodes of mob films and documentaries then you have probably heard the name ‘Ron Previte’. Just recently the 6 foot tall, 300 pound Previte even appeared on the first series of ‘The Mafia With Trevor McDonald’.

What you will also know about Previte, is that he did a lot of things for money. Including the time he made a pact with the FBI to turn government witness. Previte wore a body wire for more than a year, recording conversations for the FBI while helping to make cases against Merlino and titular mob boss Ralph Natale. He often said wearing that wire on a daily basis was the most exciting time of his life.

He opted not to go into the Witness Security Program after testifying in a 2001 racketeering trial that led to the convictions of Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino and six co-defendants. Instead, he remained in South Jersey.

Early Life

Ron was actually a Philadelphia police officer back in the day, and it was during this part of his life that he worked out how to be a criminal. As an officer of the law he could abuse his power and position, by exorting people.

He had “More guts than anyone and the best at thinking on his feet,” said John Sheeran, a retired investigator with the New Jersey State Police and Division of Criminal Justice.

In the end, and somehow, it wasn’t the mob that ended Ron’s life but a heart attack.

Ron Previte, the hulking, 6-foot, 300-pound former Philadelphia police officer turned mobster turned FBI informant, passed away from a heart attack at the age of 73. If you have spent any time diving deep into mob documentaries and films, his name will ring a bell — most recently he appeared in the first series of *The Mafia With Trevor McDonald*, where his larger-than-life personality made for compelling television. In many ways, Previte embodied the contradictions that defined the modern American mob: a man who took an oath to uphold the law, then took another oath to break it, and ultimately betrayed them both for reasons he was always refreshingly candid about — money.

Previte's criminal education began, somewhat ironically, during his years as a Philadelphia police officer. Rather than viewing the badge as a call to serve, he treated it as a licence to exploit, using his position and authority to extort the very people he was sworn to protect. It was a crooked apprenticeship that would serve him well in the world he was gravitating towards — the Philadelphia mob, an organisation with deep roots stretching back through the broader history of American organised crime, a family connected to the same national crime networks that figures like Lucky Luciano helped architect during the early consolidation of mob power across the eastern seaboard.

What truly set Previte apart, however, was what he did next. After embedding himself within the Philadelphia crime family, he struck a deal with the FBI and spent over a year wearing a body wire, recording conversations whilst operating in plain sight of some of the most dangerous men in the city. He helped build cases against boss Ralph Natale and the flamboyant Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, ultimately playing a central role in the 2001 racketeering trial that resulted in convictions for Merlino and six co-defendants. Remarkably, Previte declined entry into the Witness Security Programme afterwards, choosing instead to remain in South Jersey — a decision that spoke volumes about either his confidence or his sheer nerve. John Sheeran, a retired investigator with the New Jersey State Police and Division of Criminal Justice, put it plainly: Previte had "more guts than anyone and the best at thinking on his feet." Previte himself often described the period of wearing the wire as the most thrilling of his life — which, given everything that preceded it, is saying something.

His death marks the end of one of the more extraordinary double lives in recent mob history, and his recorded testimony remains a definitive chapter in the long decline of the Philadelphia crime family.