September 15, 2005
Tony Spilotro (Courtesy LVMPD)
Turning Point
by Dennis N. Griffin
Introduction
Mobster "Bugsy" Siegel is generally acknowledged as being
the first member of organized crime to establish a major mob presence in Las
Vegas. That occurred in the 1940s, when he took control of an unfinished
hotel/casino construction project located on what would become known as the
Strip. That property was the Flamingo. Siegel, financed with several million
dollars of organized crime money from back east, saw the Flamingo through to
completion. After a shaky start, the casino began to turn a profit. But some of
Bugsy's financial backers had become suspicious of how he was spending their
money. And the handsome, but volatile, gangster had shot his mouth off to some
very dangerous people, including New York City boss "Lucky" Luciano. The
Flamingo's improving financial picture wasn't enough to save Siegel from the
mob's version of early retirement. On June 20, 1947, the 41-year-old was gunned
down at his girlfriend's Beverly Hills home. Bugsy was dead, but the mob knew
there was the potential to make some big money in Vegas. As the oasis in the
desert transitioned into the gambling and entertainment capital of the world,
more mobsters and their money poured in.
During those years organized crime considered Las Vegas to
be an open city. Crime families from across the country were welcome to operate
there, and many did. But the dominant group was the Chicago Outfit. In the
1970s, Chicago and its colleagues in Kansas City, Milwaukee and Cleveland were
using Sin City as a cash cow. Commonly referred to as the "skim," unreported
revenue from certain casinos was making its way out of Vegas by the bag full,
and ending up in the coffers of the crime bosses in those four locations.
The skim involved large amounts of money, and the
operation had to be well managed to ensure a smooth cash flow. To accomplish
that goal, the gangsters had brought in a front man with no criminal record to
purchase several casinos. Allen R. Glick, doing business as the Argent
Corporation (Allen R. Glick Enterprises) purchased the Stardust, Fremont,
Hacienda, and Marina. Then they installed Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal as the real
boss. Rosenthal was a Chicago native and considered to be a genius when it came
to oddsmaking and sports betting. He had been a good money producer for the
Outfit for several years. However, he was forced to remain an "associate" of the
family, because Jews were not permitted to become "made" men. Under Lefty's
supervision, the casino count rooms were accessible to mob couriers. The skim
was up and running the way the mobsters wanted.
However, the bosses weren't stupid, and didn't believe in
leaving things to chance. They knew there were crooks out there always looking
for ways to make a quick and dishonest dollar. Maybe having Rosenthal calling
the shots inside the casinos wasn't sufficient to guarantee the integrity of
their operation. What if an outsider tried to muscle in on the operation? Or
just as bad, suppose one of their own decided to skim the skim? To guard against
such possibilities, it was decided to send someone to Vegas to give Rosenthal a
hand should that kind of trouble arise. The successful applicant had to be a
person with the kind of reputation that would deter interlopers from trying to
horn in, or make internal theft too risky to try. But if a fearsome reputation
wasn't enough, action had to follow. In other words, the mob's outside man in
Vegas had to be an individual capable of doing whatever it took to protect its
interests. So, in 1971, 33-year-old Tony Spilotro, considered by many to be the
"ultimate enforcer," his wife Nancy, and son Vincent, moved to Las Vegas. Tony
was a made man of the Outfit and a childhood friend of Rosenthal's. The mobsters
now had their bases covered.
Spilotro, sometimes called "tough Tony," or "the Ant," had
the kind of reputation that would cause troublemakers to think twice before
making a move on the Outfit's business arrangements in Vegas. He was known as a
man who could be counted on to get the job done. Tony began earning that status
a decade earlier as an enforcer for a Chicago loan shark named Sam "Mad Sam"
DeStefano. Young Spilotro proved to be capable of committing acts of extreme
viciousness. It was alleged that on one occasion Tony forced a man to provide
information he didn't want to give up by placing the guy's head in a vise and
squeezing until one of the victim's eyeballs popped out. This incident was
depicted in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a
character based on Tony Spilotro.
Spilotro was an ambitious sort, and quickly recognized
that there were other criminal opportunities in his new hometown besides
skimming from the casinos. Street crimes ranging from loan sharking to burglary,
robbery, and fencing stolen property were all in play. It wasn't very long
before Tony had his hands into every one of these areas. As the scope of his
criminal endeavors grew, Tony brought in other heavies from Chicago to fill out
his gang. His burglary crew was called "The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang," because of
their method of entering businesses by going through the wall or roof. They also
hit residences with equal relish. The five-foot-six-inch gangster was soon being
called the "King of the Strip."
As the years passed, Tony and his activities became the
main focus of both federal and local law enforcement. The feds were interested
in getting the mobsters out of the casinos and stopping the skim. The locals
were mainly responsible for investigating the gang's street crimes. It seems
that this would have been a clear case for a well-coordinated, two-pronged
attack by the law against the bad guys. But all was not well between the FBI and
the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. FBI wiretaps had caught Metro cops
passing information to Spilotro and other mobsters. One detective, Joe Blasko,
was regularly heard reporting the details of surveillance activities and
information on potential burglary targets. In 1978, when Blasko's superiors
learned they had a rogue cop on their hands, they fired him. But the resulting
scandal cost Metro its credibility with other agencies and law enforcement
groups. The bottom line was that their colleagues believed the local cops
couldn't be trusted when it came to handling sensitive information or
investigating organized crime. The FBI wouldn't involve Metro in their
investigations. The two agencies went about their business working independently
of each other. The rift was bad for law enforcement, but good for the criminals.
In November 1978, things began to change with the election
of John McCarthy as sheriff of Clark County. McCarthy had run as a reform
candidate, vowing to first clean up Metro and then declare war on organized
crime in Las Vegas. Upon assuming office in 1979, Metro's new boss made
wholesale changes in the staffing of the department's Intelligence Bureau.
Although it took some time for trust to be restored on an institutional level,
individual agents and detectives formed personal relationships rather quickly
and information began to be shared. That was followed by cooperative
investigations targeting Spilotro and his men.
Although law enforcement was getting its act together and
the picture was improving from their perspective, the mobsters were worthy
adversaries. The war between the law and the criminals ebbed and flowed, with
victories and setbacks for each. On the mob side, Tony Spilotro had a strong
advocate in the form of criminal defense attorney and future mayor of Las Vegas,
Oscar Goodman. During nearly 15 years of investigations and indictments, Tony
was never convicted of any serious charges.
What the lawmen needed to break the standoff was a
decisive event that went in their favor, something that would drive a wedge
between the gangsters and lead to an informant or a cooperating witness. That
much-needed break occurred on July 4, 1981, when the HITWG burglars went after a
million dollar score. Their target that night was a business called Bertha's
Gifts & Home Furnishings on East Sahara.
The job was well planned by the burglars, but the
lawmen were ready for them. Through excellent intelligence work, the authorities
had a source inside the gang. They knew well in advance what Spilotro's gang
had planned for that evening. As darkness settled in and fireworks lit up the
sky over Las Vegas, the gang burgled and the law sprung its trap.
Bertha's
It was the Fourth of July and it was hot. It was always
hot in Las Vegas in July, but to many of the 40 or so FBI agents and Metro
officers working a special assignment, it seemed even hotter than normal. And
that was only the temperature. If things worked out as planned, the heat would
get even more intense for Spilotro's Hole-in-the-Wall Gang.
The center of the law's focus that day was Bertha's Gifts
& Home Furnishings, located at 896 East Sahara. The store was in an upscale
single-story building, and included a jewelry shop on premise. The lawmen
believed a burglary was going to take place at that location in the evening,
with the thieves expecting a take of around $1 million in cash and jewelry. That
kind of haul was a big score, especially in 1981 money, and the HITWG crew that
had been assembled to carry out the burglary reflected that. It was comprised of
criminal stars Frank Cullotta, Wayne Matecki, the homicidal Larry Neumann, Leo
Guardino, Ernie Davino, and former cop Joe Blasko.
Their opposition was headed on-scene by the FBI's Charlie
Parsons and Joe Gersky, and Metro Lt. Gene Smith. Their bosses — Joe Yablonsky
and Kent Clifford — were nearby, and available if needed to make any necessary
command decisions.
Although the actual crime wasn't to take place until after
dark, the lawmen were at work much earlier in the day. After weeks of
preparation, the final planning had to be done, and a command post and necessary
equipment needed to be set up. Surveillance teams were active around Bertha's
all day, monitoring activity and making sure they were thoroughly familiar with
the area. An eye had to be kept on the bad guys also, looking for any indication
of a change in their plans or other potential problems.
With two different agencies participating in the
operation, communications were particularly important. Their radios had to have
a common frequency, but one that wasn't known to the burglars. A secret
frequency was obtained and divulged only to those with a need to know. It was
decided to utilize the regular frequencies, those likely to be monitored by the
thieves, to disseminate bogus information as to the location and status of
personnel. In the late afternoon the balance of the agents and officers deployed
to the field.
The main observation point to observe the roof of Bertha's
was from the top of a nearby five-story building. Charlie Parsons and Joe Gersky
took up positions there, along with the equipment and personnel to videotape the
scene. Gene Smith worked with the surveillance detail, riding with an FBI agent.
The burglars were not to be arrested until they actually entered the building,
making the crime a burglary rather than the lesser charge of an attempted crime.
It was believed that at least four vehicles would be used
by the burglars, three of them to conduct counter-surveillance
activities, and one to transport the three men who would go on the roof and do
the break-in. Frank Cullotta, operating a 1981 Buick, Larry Neumann, in a late
model Cadillac, and an unknown individual — possibly Joe Blasko — in a white
commercial van with the name of a cleaning business and a "Superman" logo on the
side, would represent the gang's forces on the ground. The occupants of all
three vehicles would be equipped with two-way radios and police scanners. The
burglars, Matecki, Guardino and Davino, would arrive by station wagon and go on
the roof to gain entry to the store. They would also have radios to keep in
contact with the lookouts on the ground.
At around 7 p.m. the HITWG counter-surveillance units
began to appear. Cullotta and Neumann repeatedly drove around the area,
apparently checking for a police presence or anything that seemed suspicious. In
turn, they were being tailed by cops and agents. The white van took up a
position in the driveway to the Commercial Center shopping plaza, across the
street from Bertha's. From this vantage point, the operator — believed to be Joe
Blasko — had an unimpeded view of the store. As the man in the van watched, he
was under constant surveillance himself.
While this game of cat-and-mouse was going on, the whole
operation almost came to an abrupt end. Gene Smith and the FBI agent were
stopped at a traffic light when a car pulled up next to them. Out of the corner
of his eye, Smith saw the driver of the other car was none other than Frank
Cullotta. The cop − very well known to Cullotta − went to the floor of the
vehicle as fast as he could. The light changed and Cullotta pulled away. It is
almost a certainty that had Smith been spotted in the area the burglars would
have scrubbed their plans.
At approximately 9 p.m. a station wagon bearing Matecki,
Guardino, and Davino arrived and parked behind a Chinese restaurant located at
1000 East Sahara. A police surveillance vehicle was parked nearby, but went
unnoticed by the burglars. The three men exited their vehicle and unloaded tools
and equipment, including a ladder. They next proceeded to the east side of
Bertha's and gained access to the roof, hauling their gear up with them.
From the roof a few buildings away, the videotape was
rolling. The burglars were obviously unaware they were walking into an ambush.
Utilizing electric outlets located in the air conditioning units, they went
about their business, using power and hand tools to penetrate the store's roof.
Everything was going pretty smoothly for both sides. Other than Lt.
Smith's close call with Cullotta, the only thing that had gone wrong for the law
so far was that one of the surveillance teams had to be treated for dehydration.
Agent Dennis Arnoldy was in charge of a four-man team, two
FBI and two Metro, responsible for arresting the thieves on the roof. They
relaxed as best the could in the back of a pickup truck in the parking lot of
the Sahara Hotel & Casino, located a few blocks from Bertha's.
Arnoldy and his team weren't expecting their prey or the
lookouts to be armed. These were veteran criminals, and they knew that if they
were caught with guns the charges against them would be more serious, and the
potential penalties would be greatly increased. The lawmen certainly hoped that
would be the case.
As the burglars progressed in their efforts to get through
the roof, Arnoldy and his men made their way to the scene. Using a ladder they
got onto the roof. An impressive fireworks display exploded in the sky over Las
Vegas as the lawmen secreted themselves behind vents and air conditioning units
to wait for the pre-determined arrest signal to be broadcast. At that point a
minor snag developed when the burglars broke through, only to realize they
hadn't hit their target: the store's safe. Recovering quickly, they soon made
another entry in the right place. At approximately 10:40 p.m. Leo Guardino
dropped through the opening and into the store, carrying the tools necessary to
break into the safe. The act of burglary was then complete.
Arnoldy, shotgun at the ready, heard a broadcast over his
radio that he thought was the arrest signal. But due to the noise from the
constantly running air conditioners he couldn't be sure. He hesitated for just a
few seconds and then directed his team into action. When Davino and Matecki
detected the lawmen approaching they scurried to the front of the building and
possible escape. But when they looked down on Sahara they saw a number of agents
and officers on the sidewalk below them pointing weapons in their direction.
Knowing the game was up, they surrendered without incident. A few seconds later
Guardino's head popped up through the hole in the roof and he was taken into
custody.
On street level, other agents and cops were already busy
apprehending the lookouts. Neumann and Cullotta were nabbed a short distance
from Bertha's. Agent Gary Magnesen and two Metro officers arrested Joe Blasko.
In a 2004 interview Magnesen recalled the incident.
"One of the Metro officers was in uniform and driving a
black and white. Our plan was for the marked car to come up on the van from the
rear with its lights flashing and headlights illuminating the van's interior.
Another detective, armed with a shotgun, and I with a pistol, approached the van
from the front and ordered the occupant out. Up until that point we thought it
was Blasko inside, but we weren't positive. In fact, some of the cops didn't
want to believe that their former colleague had really gone to the dark side.
When Blasko got out the cop recognized him and said, 'Son of a bitch.' This was
the best joint operation I was part of while in the Bureau."
No weapons were found on Blasko or any of the other
arrestees.
When agents and officers entered the store they found that
the gang's second hole in the roof had been accurate, and was located directly
over the safe. Burglary tools were found nearby and several holes had been
drilled into the safe in an effort to open it. Leo Guardino had been a busy man
during his short time inside the building.
Joe Yablonsky and Kent Clifford held a press conference
shortly after the arrests were made. They told reporters that Frank Cullotta,
age 43, Joe Blasko, age 45, Leo Guardino, age 47 and Ernest Davino, age 34, all
of Las Vegas, were in custody. Also arrested were Lawrence Neumann, age 53, of
McHenry, Ill., and Wayne Matecki, age 30, of Northridge, Ill. The six men were
charged with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, attempted grand larceny,
and possession of burglary tools. They were all lodged in the Clark County Jail.
When reporters asked how the lawmen happened to be in the
area at the time of the burglary, Yablonsky and Clifford weren't very specific.
They denied that the arrests were the result of an informant's tip. But they did
admit being aware that Bertha's was scheduled to be hit on the Fourth of July.
The story the reporters were given that night was not exactly true, though. And
there had really been seven gang members present at Bertha's, not six.
What the reporters weren't told was that Sal Romano, an
expert at disabling alarm systems, was working as a part of the HITWG's
counter-surveillance team that night. Unbeknown to the rest of the crew, two
agents from the FBI's Tucson office, Donn Sickles and Bill Christensen, had
flipped Romano several months earlier. Based on information he provided, the
lawmen knew virtually every detail of the gang's plan well before July Fourth.
When the signal was broadcast to arrest the burglars, Romano was removed from
the area and placed in the Witness Protection Program. His role in the Bertha's
operation wasn't made public until several years later.
But the Outfit knew there had been a traitor, and they
didn't like it. It wasn't Romano individually; it was that he, Weasel Fratiano,
and others were becoming snitches. A pattern seemed to be developing that made
Chicago nervous. Once-trusted members and associates were making deals to save
their own skins. Honor among thieves seemed to be rapidly becoming a thing of
the past.
The HITWG burglars after being arrested on July 4, 1981.
From left: Ernie Davino, Lawrence Neumann, Wayne Matecki, Leo Guardino, Joe
Blasko, and Frank Cullotta. (Courtesy Gene Smith)
Aftermath
Frank Cullotta was released from jail on bail following
his arrest for the Bertha's burglary. But in November he was back in the slammer
for a previous crime. In this case a woman's home had been burglarized
and her furniture stolen. The missing items were subsequently found in
Cullotta's residence, and in a grand jury indictment he was charged with
possession of stolen property. Due to already being free on bond from the
Bertha's arrest, the judge set a high bail. But the resourceful Cullotta was
able to come up with the assets necessary to extricate himself from jail.
On April 20, 1982, Deputy D.A. Jim Erbeck won a jury
conviction against Cullotta on the possession of stolen property charges from
the previous November, and he was sent back to jail. But this time he faced the
likelihood of being adjudicated a habitual criminal and a possible sentence of
life in prison.
Although his present incarceration had nothing to do with
Bertha's, Cullotta knew he was in big trouble over that case, too. The
prosecutors had him and his fellow burglars nailed, with serious
prison time only a forgone formality. But the law wasn't Cullotta's only
worry. He had been in charge of the Bertha's gig and had bungled it badly. Why
hadn't he detected Romano's treachery in time? Why hadn't the law's surveillance
of Bertha's been spotted? Romano had turned rat, how reliable would Cullotta be
if the law turned up the heat? Tony Spilotro and the Chicago bosses were no
doubt asking those questions.
Metro liked Cullotta for the 1979 murder of a guy named
Jerry Lisner, and attempted to interview him about that killing while he was
locked up. He rebuffed them, but he knew what they wanted to talk about. The
cops didn't give up easily and kept the pressure on. Even though he was keeping
Metro at bay, having been around crime and criminals for most of his life, Frank
Cullotta could sense when all was not well in his world. The fact that Spilotro
was violating mob protocol by not returning phone calls or taking care of him
and his family spoke volumes. He knew he was in jeopardy on all fronts.
The FBI soon arrived on the scene with new information
that proved to be pivotal in the effort to attain Cullotta's cooperation. On the
afternoon of Friday, April 30, Charlie Parsons had a job to do before beginning
his weekend. He contacted Cullotta's lawyer — who also represented other
organized crime figures — and asked to meet with him and his client at the jail.
Parsons left his office at around 5 p.m. and drove to the meeting. He explained
to his audience that he had obtained credible information that the Chicago
Outfit had authorized a contract to have Cullotta killed.
"We had a policy that if we were aware that someone's life
was in danger we had to inform that person, regardless of who he was or what we
thought of him," Parsons explained. "I told them that it had been a long week
and that I would be brief. I made my announcement and left. The threat was real,
but my matter-of-fact delivery was intentional, and designed to get Cullotta
thinking."
The strategy worked. Shortly after arriving at his office
Monday morning, Parsons received a phone call. The caller said he was the man
Parsons had talked with Friday afternoon. He wanted to meet again, this time
without his lawyer. For Tony Spilotro, things were about to start unraveling.
Frank Cullotta wanted to live, and in return for that
chance he was willing to talk. In just a few days, he had a new lawyer — one
without mob connections — and an agreement with local and federal prosecutors.
He would admit to various charges and serve a federal prison sentence determined
by a judge, based on a recommendation from prosecutors. Any local charges that
were not part of the plea arrangement would be dropped. After serving his
sentence — which turned out to be seven years — he, his wife, and their
daughter, would be placed in the Witness Protection Program. To get that deal,
Cullotta had to cooperate fully and honestly with law enforcement, and testify
in court proceedings as necessary.
Less that two weeks after Charlie Parsons had informed him
of the contract on his life, Frank Cullotta was out of jail and his family was
under law enforcement protection. Still technically in the custody of Clark
County, he was housed in various hotel and motel rooms around Las Vegas. For
security purposes, the longest stay in any one place was two nights. Debriefing
began immediately, and was a joint effort by Metro and the FBI from the start.
"We worked hand-in-hand with the FBI," Gene Smith said.
"Frank remained in our custody for about a month before we formally turned him
over to the feds. Metro was responsible for his security during that stage and
we knew the bad guys wanted him dead. I told my men, tongue in cheek, that if
Cullotta got killed there had better be a number of dead cops around his body to
keep it company."
In addition to hotel rooms, Cullotta spent some of his
time as Metro's guest in a well-equipped motor home the cops had obtained during
a drug bust. "Frank liked to fish and we took him out to Lake Mead for a couple
of days so he could do some fishing. He really enjoyed that," Gene Smith
recalled.
The lawmen treated Cullotta with respect, and a bond soon
developed between them. "He called me Lt. Gene," Smith said. "He came to think
of himself as part of the team. I remember he'd say to me in his Chicago accent,
'We're gonna get these guys, ain't we?'
During the Metro phase of his debriefing, Cullotta
provided information that allowed the police to clear about 50 of their
previously unsolved burglaries. He also admitted to the Lisner killing. But in
order to get a murder conviction in Nevada, the law required that other evidence
be presented to corroborate the suspect's confession. In the Lisner case, no
such hard evidence could be found.
"We tried," Gene Smith said. "Frank took us out to where
he said he threw away the murder weapon, but the gun wasn't there. It had been
almost three years, though, so that didn't come as a big surprise."
As the case agent, Dennis Arnoldy worked the Cullotta
debriefing with Metro from the beginning. He remained Cullotta's primary
interrogator after the feds took custody of the informant. "Once we took control
of Frank we got him out of Las Vegas. After that we only brought him back for
legal proceedings. For Frank's protection we had to move him around regularly. I
met with Frank hundreds of times during the following months in various
locations across the country, including while he was in prison serving his
sentence. Frank was treated courteously and our discussions were always civil in
nature."
Cullotta Outed
"We tried to keep Cullotta's defection a secret," former
Strike Force lawyer Stan Hunterton said. "We were doing okay until Frank
provided information that one of the other Hole-in-the-Wall Gang burglars, Wayne
Matecki, had fallen out of favor with Spilotro and was going to be killed by one
of his colleagues. The alleged hit man was in jail, but was trying to get out on
bail pending an appeal of his conviction. We contested the motion, of course.
During the bail hearing, Charlie Parsons testified and had to divulge that the
source of our information was Frank Cullotta. A gasp went up from the spectators
in the courtroom. The word was out, generating a buzz in the media."
The hit man who Frank Cullotta said planned to kill Wayne
Matecki was fellow HITWG burglar Lawrence Neumann. Neumann was a very dangerous
man. He had been convicted of a triple murder in Chicago in 1956. In that
incident he used a shotgun to kill the bartender, the bartender's brother, and a
waitress in a Chicago tavern. The local papers reported that the slayings were
the result of a dispute in which Neumann thought he had been short-changed in
the amount of $2. He left the bar, returned with the shotgun and opened fire. He
was sentenced to 125 years in prison. For all practical purposes that should
have been the end of Mr. Neumann's criminal career. Incredibly, though, the
killer was paroled in 1968, after serving only about 11 years of his prison
term.
Stan Hunterton knew that as long as Neumann remained free
he posed a threat to the public in general, and to potential witnesses in
particular. He also knew that Frank Cullotta was providing information that
would eventually put Neumann away for a long, long time. What Hunterton needed
to do was get a conviction against Neumann that would keep him locked up until
he could be prosecuted on the new charges. To accomplish that goal, he went
after Neumann on a still unresolved 1981 charge of an ex-felon in possession of
a concealed weapon. The gangster was convicted and sentenced to two years, the
maximum sentence allowed at that time. It was during the appeal process from
this conviction that Neumann was trying to attain bail so he could kill Matecki.
Bail was denied, and Neumann was subsequently convicted of murder in 1983, and
put away for good.
As more people became aware of the Cullotta situation, the
concerns for his safety increased. "Frank was one of the best protected
witnesses I ever dealt with," Hunterton added. "He had a lot of information we
were interested in. He was a valuable asset and was treated as such."
Cullotta's Overall Effectiveness
Spilotro attorney Oscar Goodman later stated that Cullotta
was a bust as a government witness. Dennis Arnoldy disagrees with that
contention. In his opinion Cullotta was a very productive cooperating witness.
The former agent believes you have to look beyond Bertha's to properly evaluate
Cullotta's overall benefit to the government.
To support his argument, Arnoldy cites statistics of
Cullotta's productivity between 1982 and 1988. In that time frame, Cullotta's
testimony during various federal and state grand jury appearances and trials was
instrumental in obtaining a number of indictments and convictions. There were 19
federal racketeering-related indictments; four Illinois murder indictments, and
five Nevada burglary and armed robbery indictments. These charges resulted in 15
federal convictions, one Illinois murder conviction, and five Nevada burglary
and armed robbery convictions.
In addition, Cullotta testified before the President's
Commission on Organized Crime, the Florida Governor's Commission on Organized
Crime, and at a sentencing hearing for Chicago mobster Joseph Lombardo.
The turning of Frank Cullotta impacted on many people in
one way or another. To the law enforcement personnel who had made it happen, it
made the endless hours of surveillance, interviewing, confrontations, and
risk-taking all worthwhile. To many of their opponents it meant the beginning of
the end. For Tony Spilotro, his former friend's move increased the already
tremendous pressure he was under. But Tony was a tough guy, and he still had
some fight left in him.
For more information about the author or to place a book
order, please visit: http://www.authorsden.com/dennisngriffin.
The author is available to speak on police history or the
Tony Spilotro era in Las Vegas. Email griff1945@hotmail.com.
