The Philadelphia Police recently announced that charges against Michael Piselli, 38, were upgraded to murder in the beating death of Santo Procopio, a 78-year-old South Philadelphia barber.
Procopio was brutally beaten in his South Philadelphia home in December of 2024. He was pronounced dead on December 14, 2024, after he’d been treated for severe injuries that included cuts to his head and chin, facial fractures and brain bleeding.
Philadelphia police officers responded to a report of a person screaming on 10th and Oregon Avenue on December 2nd, and they discovered Procopio in his kitchen bleeding from his massive injuries. Procopio was rushed to the Jefferson University Hospital in critical condition, according to the police.
Piselli was identified quickly as the suspect and he was taken into custody by the police. The Philadelphia Police said that their investigation revealed that Piselli had been acting irrationally in Procopio’s backyard. A witness to Piselli’s behavior called the police after Piselli entered Procopio’s home and locked the witness out of the home. Police said Piselli entered the home and assaulted Procopio repeatedly.
The witness told police that he saw the attack through the kitchen window. He saw Piselli hitting Procopio while he was lying on the kitchen floor. Piselli left the house and ran down the street. Police searched the area, found Piselli, and arrested him. He was charged with a variety of assault offences.
The Philadelphia Police said Piselli was processed at the Special Detention Division, and the Homicide Unit is now conducting an investigation.
I’ve covered many murder cases over the years while working as a reporter and crime columnist, but this case is of special interest to me as Santo Procopio was not only my barber for many years, he was also a good friend. I thought of Santo, and his late brother Vince, as my uncles. I have been Santo’s customer and friend since I was a teenager in the 1960s.
Santo and Vincent Procopio came to Philadelphia from Calabria, Italy in 1955 and opened their barber shop in 1965. In the 1960s, when I frequented the shop as a teenager, and into the 70s, 80s and 90s, the Vince and Santo’s barber shop on Sartain and Oregon Avenue had a congenial atmosphere akin to an old-fashioned taproom bar or a social club — minus the alcohol. The barber shop was authentically “South Philly.”
When I wrote about the barber shop in 1994 for Philadelphia Weekly, I quoted Vince Procopio, who said, “We are a friendly shop. Everybody is more of a friend than a customer. We have customers who have moved to New Jersey and other places far away, but they still come back here for a haircut. A lot of shops give them a haircut and throw them out. Our friends stay and talk about the salaries of ball players and such. This is an Italian neighborhood, although we have all kinds living here, and we all get along.”
Thanks to their loyal, multi-generational following, the shop remained open for years even during the long hair days of the 1960s, when many other barber shops folded. Other than the four years I spent in the Navy overseas, I went only to Vince and Santo’s barber shop for my regular haircut.
Back in the late 1970s, I was a young gambler. I was a fair poker player, and I bet widely on sports games. I usually did alright, win some, lose some. But when I had a bad week and lost heavily, I would invariably go to Santo. He would shake his head in disappointment, and he would caution me about betting heavily, but he was always there for me, as he was there for many of the young men in my South Philly crowd.
Many years after I gave up gambling and other vices, and I married and started a family, I would be in the barber shop waiting to get a haircut and I would see Santo giving sound advice and sometimes money to people in trouble. He would also reach out to his friends and ask them to give a troubled soul a job or medical care.
Santo retired a few years ago, but he continued to help others. I recently spoke to a mutual friend who told me that Michael Piselli had drug and mental issues, and Santo Procopio had been helping him.
Piselli, it appears, rewarded Santo for his good efforts by brutally beating him to death.
No good deed goes unpunished, as the saying goes. Santo Procopio did not deserve to die this way.
