Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness (25 page)

They scheduled the burglary on the night of the Fourth of July, a Saturday. Not only would there be lots of noise with all the fireworks going off, but the cops would be busy handling traffic and fireworks calls. Because it was a long holiday weekend, they’d be able to drive the merchandise to Chicago and be back in Vegas before the crime was even discovered. In addition to him and Blasko, the crew would consist of Neumann, Guardino, Davino, and Matecki. Frank thought that other than Blasko, it was a good crew.

With the details of the Bertha’s job in place, it was a matter of waiting until the date for the burglary arrived. While counting down the days, Frank was sent to Chicago with some kickback money for the Outfit from Tony.

When he made his delivery to Joe Ferriola, they talked about all the heat being put on the gang in Vegas. The next words out of the bigshot’s mouth were, “Who in the fuck is murdering all those people out there?” He mentioned a few names, including Jerry Lisner.

Frank denied that he or Tony had anything to do with the murders in question and the subject was dropped. He was bothered by the conversation, though. The man who asked him the question was the one to give Tony permission to murder Lisner. Now he was acting like he knew nothing about it and wanted to know who was responsible. After giving it more thought, Frank came to the conclusion that Tony had lied to him. He’d authorized the Lisner killing on his own and Chicago knew nothing about it.
What the fuck was going on? Why would Tony do something that stupid?
Frank asked himself. He didn’t know the answers. But he did know that committing a hit without prior approval was the kind of thing that could get him and Tony both killed, and he didn’t like it.

When Frank returned to Vegas, he didn’t mention his concerns to Tony, but they did discuss other things. “I’ve got a job I might need to have done,” Tony said. “I want you to prepare for it. Make sure Larry is ready to go and get one other guy. Who else can you get?”

“What’s the job?”

“I might want to get rid of the Jew [Rosenthal].”

“For something like that, I can have Wayne come in from Chicago.”

“I’m not sure right now I want to do this, so don’t do anything until I tell you. I’m going to bring in a couple of other guys, one from California and the other from Arizona. They’re going to dig a big hole in the desert. They’ll cover it with plywood and dirt. You’ll know where the hole is, because I’ll take you there and show you. When I’m ready to get rid of the Jew, I’ll tell you. Then you scoop him up from the street. Don’t kill him on the street, Frankie. Kill him when you get to the grave we’re going to dig. Then dump him in and cover him up. That will be the end of that.”

Frank wasn’t surprised. The relationship between Tony and Lefty had long since deteriorated past the point of no return. The only question was whether Tony would seek permission from Chicago to take Rosenthal out or make the decision on his own, as he had apparently done in the Lisner killing. In either case, Frank worked for Tony, not the Outfit. If the order to kill Rosenthal came, he’d carry it out and worry about the consequences later.

This plan, like Tony’s plot to bring the Blackstone Rangers in on the killing of Groover and Smith, never went any further. Frank didn’t get much time to reflect on Tony’s plans for murder, though. As the date for the Bertha’s caper drew closer, he received some upsetting news.

This time Frank’s information came from two sources he considered highly credible. He believed that what they told him was the smoking gun that would surely convince Tony Spilotro that having Sal Romano hanging around was risky business.

Two Chicago cops whom Frank had known for years and worked for Bill Hanhardt in the CIU were in Las Vegas on vacation and they stopped at the Upper Crust to see him. They asked if he knew Sal Romano; he said he did. One of the cops said, “We don’t know about this guy. We busted him at O’Hare Airport with a load of furs he’d stolen here in Vegas. Because we had him for interstate transportation, we turned him over to the feds. Well, they haven’t done anything with it. He hasn’t even been indicted. We’re looking at this Romano as maybe being an informant now. We’re not sure, but it doesn’t look right. We figured we’d pass this on to you while we were here.”

Frank gave the cops $500 each and got their rooms comped. And then he told Tony what he’d learned. Tony said, “You gotta take this stuff at face value. How much can you trust these guys? They’re cops!”

It was apparent to Frank that Tony had been completely taken in by Romano. And he found Tony’s response short-sighted in the least, and suicidal at most. But there was worse to come.

Not long after talking with the Chicago cops, Frank got about the worst news he could imagine: Out of the blue Ernie Davino told him that he’d asked Sal Romano to come along on the Bertha’s job. Frank was livid. “You had no goddamn business bringing him in! Tony and I make those decisions, not you.”

“I only asked him because I figured he could help out with the alarms.”

“We don’t fucking need him. Everything’s covered. I don’t trust the son of a bitch and I don’t want him in on the job.”

Frank went to Tony and gave him the news. Spilotro wasn’t happy about it either, but he said, “If Sal is bad like you think, the damage is already done; he knows. You might as well let him come along.”

“I’d rather just pass on the whole thing.”

“There’s too much money involved and it’s too close to back off now.”

“Sal installed a burglar alarm in your house. I wouldn’t doubt but that he bugged your place.”

Tony dismissed the idea. “If he did, the cops would have arrested me by now. Sal did a nice job putting that system in for me, Frankie; he’s a good man. You’ve just got a hard-on for him for some reason.”

Frank didn’t give in. “He’s bad fucking news and I don’t want any part of him.”

Tony relented slightly. “Tell you what. Take him on the job, but have Larry watch him. Tell Larry that if Sal does anything funny, he should take him out.”

So as the Fourth of July drew near, Frank found that his crew now consisted of himself and six other guys. Four of them he trusted. A fifth, Blasko, he didn’t trust completely. And the sixth, Romano, he didn’t trust at all.

In June, the thieves began to fine-tune their plan for Bertha’s. Tony Spilotro obtained police radio equipment from Chicago and Frank lined up additional gear and a couple of vehicles to use.

One of Tony’s devices unscrambled police calls and scrambled the gang’s transmissions. Frank wanted to have a van available, but didn’t want to rent one in his name in case things didn’t work out. He knew a man who ran a steam-cleaning business and had a van with all his equipment inside and a big Superman logo on the outside. Frank made arrangements to use the van on the Fourth of July for a fee. Joe Blasko would set up in the van across from Bertha’s with the police scanners, walkie-talkies, and a CB radio. Frank sent Larry to Chicago to get some acetylene tanks and torches. Getting stuff from out of town would make it tougher to trace than if it was obtained locally. Neumann stole what was needed and brought it back. The burglars had a ladder, picks, sledgehammers, and cutting tools, about everything they could possibly need. Finally, they scrounged up a station wagon to bring the equipment to the scene.

When the crew got together at an apartment one last time to go over the plan, Sal Romano was wired and the FBI was parked out on the street, listening to every word that was said.

With full knowledge of the Hole in the Wall Gang’s plans, the lawmen of the FBI and Metro prepared their ambush. The team was headed on-scene by the FBI’s Charlie Parsons and Joe Gersky and Metro’s Gene Smith. Their bosses—Joe Yablonsky and Kent Clifford—were nearby and available if needed to make any command decisions.

Although the actual crime wouldn’t take place until after dark, the lawmen were at work much earlier. Surveillance teams were active around Bertha’s all day, monitoring activity and making sure they were thoroughly familiar with the area. They had to keep an eye on the bad guys as well, looking for any indication of a change in their plans or other last-minute situations.

With two different agencies participating in the operation, communications were critical. Their radios had to have a common frequency, one that wasn’t known to the burglars. A secret frequency was obtained and divulged only to those with a need to know. At the same time they continued to use 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 overlooking the roof of Bertha’s was from the top of a nearby five-story building. Charlie Parsons, Joe Gersky, and videotape personnel took up positions there. 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 it a burglary rather than the lesser charge of an attempted crime.

The cops knew that the crooks planned to use at least four vehicles, 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. Representing the gang’s forces on the ground were Frank Cullotta driving 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. Sal Romano would be functioning as a lookout, using either his own vehicle or riding with one of the others. The occupants of each vehicle would be equipped with two-way radios and police scanners. The actual 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 gang’s counter-surveillance units began to appear. Cullotta and Neumann, with Romano in his car, 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 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 continued, 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 that the driver of the other car was none other than Frank Cullotta. The cop—who was wellknown to Cullotta—went to the floor of the vehicle as fast as he could. The light changed and Cullotta pulled away. It’s 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 parked nearby 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. Plugging into electric outlets located in the air-conditioning units, the burglars went about their business, using power and hand tools to penetrate the store’s roof. Everything was going 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 a member of the surveillance team 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 they could in the back of a pickup truck in the parking lot of the Sahara Hotel & Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip 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 who knew that if they were caught with guns, the charges against them and the potential penalties would be more serious. The lawmen certainly hoped that would be the case and that the arrests would be made without bloodshed.

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 too 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 predetermined arrest signal to be broadcast.

At that point a minor snag developed. When the burglars broke through, they realized 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 complete.

Arnoldy, shotgun at the ready, directed his team into action. When Davino and Matecki detected the lawmen approaching, they scurried to the front of the building and possible escape to the street below. But when they looked down they saw more agents and officers on the sidewalk 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.

At 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.

One of the Metro officers was in uniform and driving a blackand-white. As planned, the marked car came 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 Magnesen with a pistol approached the van from the front and ordered the occupant out. Up until that point, it was thought that Blasko was inside the van, but no one knew for sure. In fact, some of the Metro cops didn’t want to believe that their former colleague had really gone to the other side. When Blasko emerged from the vehicle, the veil of uncertainty was gone.