In the summer of 1993, Persico Jr. was granted a prison furlough to attend his grandmother’s wake at Scarpaci Funeral Home in Bensonhurst. After saying a prayer in front of his grandmother’s coffin, Persico Jr. sat down in the chapel with three associates and delivered Orena loyalist and capo Joseph Scopo's death warrant, according to testimony by mob rat Anthony "Big Anthony" Russo. He would plead guilty to the murder conspiracy charge in connection with the rubout of Scopo in 1993 during the third Colombo civil war.