“We Were The Underdogs” - Joey Merlino REVEALS How He Built Respect In South Philly

Valuetainment

Valuetainment Episodes

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4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joey Merlino explains why he was respected, feared, and loved in South Philly, pointing to decades of helping locals, paying bills, and giving back long before social media. He shares stories of generosity, his early days as a jockey, and the roots of his reputation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Must remember, do not forget.
0:07.0	Remind me to bring photo ID.
0:10.0	Reminder, set.
0:12.0	Babe, can you make sure I don't forget my photo ID when I vote?
0:16.0	All right, love.
0:17.0	However you remember, you'll need photo ID to vote in the elections in England on the 7th of May.
0:22.3	Don't have ID. Apply for free voter ID today. Find out more at electoral commission.org.commition.org.
0:28.4	Slash, voter ID. This episode is brought to you by Vanta. Security and compliance done wrong is a headache.
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0:50.3	From startups like Cursor to enterprises like Snowflake,
0:53.4	top companies choose Vantor. Do security and compliance right. Get started today at Vantor.com. At what point did kids know or you know that there was something different about your toughness? Or did you even think that? No, I didn't even think of it. It's the way we were. It's the way we were brought up. People know you were different, though, Joey. I mean, you know, for a guy that, you know, don't take this the wrong way. I know, like, Michael was a big guy, right? Who? Is it Chagliani? Oh, Michael Chang, yeah. Michael Chang, yeah. He was a big guy. He was not a small guy. No, Michael was big. Michael's, it feared.
1:28.8	It was tough with his hands, yeah.
1:30.1	It was tough with his hands, but it was a family guy.
1:32.1	He was respected and loved and feared, which is a very weird combination to have loved, respected, and fear. That doesn't, it's not common to have someone like that. And when they took out Michael, this was apparently your best friend.
1:45.9	This was my guy, their friend.
1:47.7	Best friend.
1:46.0	This was my guy.
1:46.9	Their friend.
	...

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