Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness (33 page)

“Everything in this book is the truth; it happened just as I told it. At times, putting it all together was difficult. It brought back a lot of memories and not all of them were pleasant. In some cases it was like resurrecting the dead.

“I had a good mother. She tried very hard to make me walk the straight and narrow. I had two sets of friends, the good ones and the bad ones; I chose the wrong group. Once I went the way I did, I became a good crook. I think that if I’d put my efforts into something legitimate, I might have been a millionaire today. But I didn’t, and I’m not. I don’t think it does any good to go down the ‘what-if’ route anyway. What’s done is done.

“All I know now is that it’s a wonderful feeling to be legit, to be a working stiff. When I wake up every day, I go to work. I don’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. I’m not worried that someone I consider a friend is going to take me for that final walk just to put a bullet in my head.

“As far as my becoming a government witness, I have no regrets about what I did under the circumstances I was in. I’m a survivor and I did what I had to do to keep me and my family alive. I can count forty-four of my former friends and associates who were killed either by their own kind or by the police. Many more are still in prison or have done long prison terms. Any reasonable person will understand why I chose not to be included on that list.

“People always want to know if the mob is in Las Vegas today.

They’re not. At least not the Outfit, and not in the same form as when I was there. And nobody’s [organized-crime families] running the casinos. You’ll still see some mob-connected guys in Vegas, but they’re on vacation. And a few might live there. They aren’t the criminals, though. What you’ve got in Vegas today are renegades, bookies and drug dealers mostly. But it’s not organized like it used to be. Those days are gone.

“Now, the street gangs have taken over. Most of them are from Los Angeles, unemployed kids looking for status. We only killed when we thought it was necessary. These guys will kill a person, any person, just to get recognition, to build a reputation. They’re much more dangerous to the general public than we ever thought of being.

“And today you’ve got the white-collar criminals. They don’t use guns, but they’ll empty your pockets and bank account and put you in the soup line without batting an eye. Maybe some day they’ll all be gone—the mob, the gangs, and the scam artists. And then the world will truly be a better place.”

The current status of some of the other key players in this book was obtained from confidential sources, newspaper archives, and public records. It’s believed to be as accurate as is reasonably possible.

Joseph Ferriola, the man who allegedly ordered Tony Spilotro’s execution, had only a three-year stint as boss of the Outfit. He died of natural causes in 1989.

Tony Accardo died in 1992 at the age of 86. Unlike many of his colleagues, he avoided serving any lengthy prison terms and his death was the result of natural causes.

Joseph Aiuppa passed away in February 1997. At the time of his death, the 89-year-old was in prison as a result of his convictions in the casino-skimming cases.

Sam Giancana was murdered in his Oak Park home on June 19, 1975, in an apparent mob hit.

The Other Bertha’s Burglars

Wayne Matecki was found not guilty of burglary by a jury ver

dict. He is now living in Illinois.

Leo Guardino pled guilty to burglary. After serving a prison

sentence, he left Nevada. He is now deceased.

Ernest Davino pled guilty to burglary. He is out of prison and

residing in New Jersey.

Larry Neumann died in prison on January 9, 2007, of advanced

cardiac disease. His body was cremated.

Joe Blasko, the former cop, served five years in state and federal prisons for his crimes while working with the Spilotro gang.

He died of natural causes in November 2002 at the age of 67.

Others Associated with Tony Spilotro

Oscar Goodman, the defense attorney who represented Tony Spilotro and several other alleged mobsters, was elected Mayor of Las Vegas in June 1999. He began serving his second term in April 2003 and has enjoyed high approval ratings while in office. Mr. Goodman often describes himself as “the happiest mayor in America.”

Spilotro associate Herb Blitzstein was convicted of credit-card fraud in 1987 and received a five-year prison sentence. After his release in 1991, he resumed loansharking and fencing stolen property in Las Vegas. He was found dead in his Vegas townhouse in January 1997, shot execution-style. Two men were arrested for the murder and pled guilty prior to going to trial. Two other men with ties to the Los Angeles and Buffalo organized-crime families were subsequently charged with hiring the hit men to kill Blitzstein so they could take over his illegal businesses. They were acquitted of those charges, but were convicted of running an extortion scheme to take over Herbie’s loansharking and insurance-fraud operations. Blitzstein’s death marked the passing of one of the last remnants of the Spilotro gang in Las Vegas.

Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal lives in Florida and is still involved with the world of sports betting. He has a sports-related Web site at www.frankrosenthal.com.

Charlie Parsons, the agent who visited Frank Cullotta in jail and informed him there was a contract on him, is the Executive Director and COO of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, headquartered in Los Angeles.

Emmett Michaels, the FBI electronics and surveillance expert, retired in May 2006 from his position as the Vice President of Corporate Security & Surveillance for Station Casinos, Inc.

Gene Smith is enjoying retirement and lives north of Las Vegas.

Kent Clifford obtained a real-estate license while working for Metro. After leaving the department he considered attending law school and an attorney had agreed to hire him upon graduation. As he was contemplating his future, he closed his first escrow on a vacant parcel of land. His commission on that one transaction was nearly what his potential employer had quoted him as an annual salary. Today Clifford owns and operates Clifford Commercial Real Estate in Las Vegas.

Stan Hunterton, former Strike Force attorney, has his own law practice in Las Vegas.

On April 25, 2005, federal indictments were announced charging 14 reputed members and associates of Chicago organized crime with running a decades-old criminal enterprise that was responsible for 18 murders. The slayings included those of Tony and Michael Spilotro.

Among those named as a result of the FBI-led investigation dubbed “Operation Family Secrets” was Joseph “the Clown” Lombardo. Mr. Lombardo was allegedly one of Tony’s superiors during Spilotro’s Las Vegas years. He was considered by many to have been a friend of the Spilotro family.

After nearly 19 years, how was this news received by some of those who knew Tony best? In order to find out, I reached three such people by telephone on April 25 and 26, 2005. Following are their comments.

Nancy Spilotro: “I’m thrilled, absolutely thrilled.” Tony’s widow had been critical of the government’s efforts to solve the killings of her husband and brother-in-law over the years. She explained: “I never said the FBI was doing nothing to solve the murders. But Tony and Michael weren’t the Kennedys.”

Regarding Joseph Lombardo, she said: “I’ve known him like a cousin for forty years. But I’m going to withhold comment until I learn more details.”

Vincent Spilotro: Although there had been rumors of indictments in his father’s murder for some time, Vincent was pleasantly surprised when they actually happened. “I couldn’t be happier,” he said. In the weeks prior to the announcements, Chicago and Las Vegas reporters had contacted Vincent and his mother, hinting that major developments were pending and requesting interviews. No interviews were granted, however. The government gave them no prior warning of the indictments.

Another person quite familiar with the Spilotro case is Dennis Arnoldy, the former FBI Las Vegas case agent for the Spilotro investigations. On April 27, Mr. Arnoldy provided his comments.

“The orders to kill Tony and Michael likely came down from Joe Ferriola. Lombardo would have had little choice but to carry them out. Remember, when it comes to protecting the Outfit, its bosses, or business interests, there is no such thing as friendship or even blood ties. Even if Lombardo was a personal friend to Tony and Nancy, it would have made no difference.”

Joseph Lombardo was not immediately arrested after the indictments were issued. Instead, he went into hiding and became a fugitive from justice. For nine months he avoided the law, but his luck finally ran out. On Friday January 13, 2006, FBI agents nabbed him in Elmwood Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

As the charges against Lombardo and the other defendants move forward (they’re scheduled to go on trial in Chicago on May 15, 2007), perhaps the complete story of the demise of Tony and Michael Spilotro will at last be told.

In 1994, Dennis N. Griffin retired after a 20-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York and moved to Las Vegas. In 1996 he wrote his first novel,
The Morgue
, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery thrillers in print.

In 2002, Griffin turned his attention to non-fiction.
Policing Las Vegas
(Huntington Press, 2005) chronicles the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas.
The Battle for Las Vegas—The Law vs. The Mob
(Huntington Press, 2006) tells the story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro’s reign in Vegas from the law-enforcement perspective.