Podcast appearances and mentions of Frank Cullotta

In this episode of Gangland Wire, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective Gary Jenkins sits down with author Aaron Mead to discuss his gripping novel Body in the Barrel, a story inspired by a real-life discovery in Lake Mead that shocked the nation. In 2022, as water levels at Lake Mead dropped to historic lows, authorities discovered a body in a barrel with a gunshot wound to the head—a killing style that many investigators immediately linked to organized crime. The discovery triggered speculation that the remains could date back to the 1970s or 1980s, the heyday of mob activity in Las Vegas. Aaron Mead explains how this discovery sparked the idea for his novel. Although Mead is a longtime water engineer for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the mystery of the barrel victim and the history of mob activity in Las Vegas inspired him to craft a fictional story grounded in real events. Gary and Aaron dive deep into the Chicago Outfit's influence in Las Vegas, discussing figures like Tony Spilotro and hitman Frank Cullotta, whose violent methods and stories helped shape the mythology of organized crime in the desert. They also explore the long-standing mob practice of disposing of bodies in barrels, including the infamous case of mobster Johnny Roselli, whose body was also discovered stuffed in a drum. The conversation examines several possible identities of the Lake Mead victim, including casino insiders and Outfit associates who disappeared during the era of casino skimming. Mead's novel follows a fictional mob associate named Lenny Battaglia, who becomes terrified when news breaks about the barrel discovery. The reason? He knows there's another barrel—with his victim—still resting somewhere in Lake Mead. The discussion moves beyond mob history into the psychological consequences of violence, comparing Mead's story to classic works like Crime and Punishment. Rather than focusing on a traditional “whodunit,” the novel explores what happens after the crime, examining guilt, fear, and the moral weight carried by those who commit violence. Gary and Aaron also discuss the broader context of violence in American culture, including parallels between organized crime murders and modern tragedies such as the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting. Finally, the conversation shifts to Mead's professional expertise in Western water law and the Colorado River, explaining how drought and declining water levels at Lake Mead are literally revealing pieces of hidden history—sometimes including crimes buried for decades. This episode blends mob history, real crime mysteries, and fiction inspired by true events, offering listeners a fascinating look at how the past can resurface in unexpected ways. Click here to find Body in a Barrel Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” Subscribe to the website for weekly notifications about updates and other Mob information. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here.  To purchase one of my books, click here. [0:02]Introduction to Gangland Wire [0:00]Hey, all you wiretappers, good to be back here in studio of Gangland Wire. This is Gary Jenkins. You know, I’m a retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective. Now I have a podcast and I interview real crime mobsters, policemen, FBI agents, do authors that are doing true crime books. And I do authors that are doing novels that are based on true crime. Because we stick with true crime as close as we can here, guys. You know that. And today I have one of those authors that has written a book that is a novel, but it’s based on a lot of real events in Las Vegas. And we all know a little bit about Las Vegas and the Mafia. So Aaron Mead, welcome, Aaron. Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here. It’s great to have you on the show. Tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your history. [0:47]Sure. Yeah, I’m actually I’ve been working as an engineer, a water engineer for 30 some odd years. And so I come by my writing habit as a sort of a side interest. I, I, yeah, I just, I got a very, I’ve got a varied educational background too. So I started out as a, as an engineer in my training and then just had a creative itch and went back to school, ended up doing a PhD in philosophy of all things. And while I was doing that, I, I thought I might be an academic. I thought I might be a professor at one time and through the job search, things didn’t really work out. I did find a job, but it just wasn’t going to pay well enough, consider moving my family across the country for it. So I ended up not going into academia, but I stuck with writing, which was my favorite part of the PhD, the dissertation. [1:31]And I just started writing different things, some nonfiction stuff related to my dissertation research, but then just got an idea for a story, wrote a novel. It’s still sitting in the drawer. I’m interested in publishing that someday. But this idea for the book related to kind of Las Vegas mob stuff actually came connected with my work as a water engineer. So I work for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. We import water to Southern California from the Colorado River. And so I track the Colorado River news pretty closely. And in 2022, the lake was dropping because of drought and overuse. And this body in a barrel showed up on the shore of Lake Mead. And there was a gunshot wound to the head. And this looked an awful lot like a mob hit to the authorities. And so this just piqued my interest and got me thinking about how did this barrel get there and this body and what’s the story behind it. And I started doing a little research and it turns out that the clothing on the body was pretty well preserved. [2:29]So the police dated it to the late 70s, early 80s potentially. And that’s of course the heyday of the mob activities in Las Vegas. It got me onto the Chicago outfit and, Some of the characters involved in the outfits activity in Vegas there. And so my story just went from there. But, yeah, I guess that’s a little about me and the story. So, yeah. Yeah. Those are the days when Tony Spolatro was really active out there. Chicago outfit man on the scene, if you will. And Body in a Barrel, another interesting Chicago link is they found a guy named Johnny Roselli, who was a highly placed mob guy who was connected to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. He had been their guy before Spalatro. He had been their representative out in the West, and they found his body in a barrel down in Florida. Wow, okay. There’s some reference there. [3:21]I’d read a little that this is a pretty popular method of body disposal in various times. And Tony Spalatro was, I understand that they haven’t actually identified the victim yet, but the kind of style of killing they think is pretty connected with something Tony Spalatro might do. I guess the sort of low caliber gunshot wound was a popular way to dispose of it, to whack people just because it was a little less messy than a high caliber weapon. Yeah, this is one they call it a lupara blanca, which means white shotgun in Italian. And that means that you never find the body. In this case, they found the body. Every once in a while, they’ll find the body. Not very often, though. Usually they hide them pretty good. Now, who’d ever thought that Lake Mead would drop that much? Yeah, they dropped it at 100 feet of water, and I don’t think anybody expected it to drop that low. And it could go even lower in the next couple of years here, honestly. Really? Oh, really? It’s still dropping. I thought there’d been some more rain and some snow up in the mountains that were going to add to that. It’s going to be still dropping, huh? Yeah, there has been a fair bit of precipitation this year, but in the areas that count most, where you get most of the runoff, which is up in the mountains of Colorado and Utah, it’s really quite dry, actually. They’ve had some rain, but not much snow, and so they’re talking about a snow drought. Yeah, things could. It just depends. We’ll see how things develop, but it could get bad. Yeah, talk about that gun now. Chicago was noted. [4:40]For using these 22 caliber high standard i think they’re browning semi-automatic pistols with a silencer on it and they had them out there i believe and they also another interesting thing about the outfit in order to keep the sound down they would load their own shells and so they were had less powder in them and sometimes the shells didn’t do the job that they wanted to do now frank Kulata, who was in Las Vegas working for Tony Splattro during these years, he tells a story about trying to kill a guy with one of those guns and how he had such a hard time getting him killed. So I don’t know how many holes were in this guy’s head, but you got to get somebody just right in the head with that .22 caliber pistol. Yeah, they say it had to be pretty close range. You’re talking about the Jerry Listener murder, I think. Is that right? Yeah. I read about that one. That’s actually the kind of the murder in question in my book is based on that loosely. And so yeah, Kolata advises my main character, Lenny, to load his gun with half loads because they’ve lost their silencer or something. So that’ll keep the sound down. But yeah, I guess Lister ended up with multiple bullets to the head. And when they found them, more than you’d imagine would be necessary. [5:55]Really? There’s a guy that worked for the Stardust named Jay VanderWalk that disappeared at the time. It disappeared for a long time. Did you look at that one, too, as some of your source material? Yeah. So there’s this great article that’s been turned into a podcast on the Mob Museum website. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that in Las Vegas there. And they suggest there might be three potential victims. [6:21]VanderMark is one of the—is that the guy you mentioned, George VanderMark? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they call him by Jay. That’s right. Yeah. So, yeah, he is one of the, he’s a missing person, right? From that era, had connections with the Argent company. So they think he, that’s one of the possibilities. He was running the skimming operation, at least in some of the casinos there for Argent. And I guess the, as the gaming control board in Nevada found out about the skimming operation, gradually, they were starting to talk to people. And I think that they were worried that he was going to talk or actually this is, I think the, the outfit suspected he was stealing money from him. I think it was a combination. Stealing money is worse than talking. Right, yeah. So I guess he took off to Mexico, maybe, I read, or Costa Rica even. But I think… He came back. I can’t remember the exact story, but yeah. Yeah. So from what I read, Nick Calabrese, who I guess was a hitman for the outfit, and then turned eventually and started talking to the feds. He suggested that, I guess, Vandermark ended up in a hotel in Phoenix or something, and the outfit sent a couple of hitmen after him and whacked him there. And then Calabrese said they buried his body in the desert. So that means, you know, if that’s true, then obviously it’s not the guy in the barrel, but he’s one of the ones they talk about because they never found his body. Yeah. And I guess the other one I read about was William Crespo. [7:40]I don’t know that story. Yeah. So the little I know of it is he was a drug runner [7:48]Stories of the Las Vegas Mob [7:45]involved with the outfit in Las Vegas. And he got caught kind of landing in the Las Vegas airport coming from Miami with $400,000 worth of cocaine on him. And the feds arrested him. He accepted an offer of immunity to become an informant. And he was set to testify about this drug ring that the outfit was part of. And he actually ended up testifying before a grand jury, got a bunch of folks indicted. I guess one of the names of folks who was indicted was Victor Greger, according to this article. He was a former Argent executive. But then when Crespo himself went to testify, he was set to testify in June 83. And they got to him before then and he never testified. So, he’s another kind of missing person they suspect could be in the barrel. But the article thought the most likely candidate was a guy named Johnny Pappas. I don’t know if you know him at all. Yeah, I don’t know the story of that. Okay. So, this is a Chicago native guy who was involved in some of the Argent Corporation casino work. And he was, I guess by the 70s, late 70s, he was managing this resort on the northern part of Lake Mead called Echo Bay Resort, which was an Argent Corporation Resort. [9:00]And it’s closed now. It’s not there anymore. It used to be like a hotel and a boat launch. And so he was at the lake at different times. He also owned a boat on Lake Mead. And so in 1976, the day he disappeared, his wife told authorities basically that he went to meet this guy at a restaurant who was interested in buying his boat at Lake Mead. And so they think it could have been a ruse set up by outfit folks luring him basically down to the lake to show him his boat. And then they knock him off and take him out on his own dang boat and drop him in the lake. The motive is a little less clear in this case, but it was around that time when stuff was coming out about the Argent Corporation and the skimming. And they could have just thought he was a liability, might be set to talk or something. Yeah, those are the three that I read about anyway. He just disappeared after this meeting to go sell his boat. Yeah, they found that theory makes sense. They found his car parked in the circus casino parking lot on the strip the next day. And yeah, he’s just gone, disappeared. [10:01]I’ll be darned. I hadn’t heard that story. That is a pretty likely scenario. Say, hey, I’ll drive and let’s run down there and let’s see that boat. I got the money right here. You show the guy a bunch of money and he’ll drop all caution. It’ll go to the wind. That’s how they do it. and got him isolated then. [10:18]Yeah. And maybe it’s a last minute deal. So nobody really knows who he’s meeting and where he’s going and that he’s even going. So that’s, that’s a classic in the mob. Yeah. Apparently he told his wife he was going to go sell his boat, but that’s about it. Yeah. I’ll be darned. Yeah. The, as Lake Mead’s gone down, has there been any other bodies or any other things that have been found out there recently? Yeah, there’s been some strange things turned up. One is a sort of a World War II era airplane, honestly, started coming out of the water. But that was known about for some time. You could see it, I guess, from aerial photos. But other bodies, yeah, there’s a few other bodies, just skeletons, nothing in barrels and no gunshot wounds. And so, people just, I think authorities have identified most of those and suspect they were just drowning victims, unfortunate boating accidents and whatnot. But nothing like this body in a barrel. I think they’ve been trying to identify that body. There’s lots of DNA evidence, right? You got still a pretty intact body. But the problem is back in that era, I guess they didn’t have the DNA database to be matching with. Yeah. So, it’s not borne a lot of fruit. I think it’s still an open case, honestly. Really? The chance they have is if one of that guy’s descendants goes to something like 23andMe and then does that. And I know they’ve come up with a deal where they can start running an unknown DNA through those… [11:44]Files and see if you can come up with a connection and then go back and say, okay, where would this guy have ever come across or be in this other person’s family tree, if you will, and then they can eventually get it. That’s fascinating. Amazing. Yeah, it is what they could do. I had a guy that used to be a professional criminal talking about it. He said, I don’t know why anybody does crime today. He said with the DNA and the cameras and the cell phones and all that, he said, there’s just way, way too many ways to get caught. That’s wild. Yeah. Oh boy. Yeah. I watch a lot of crime shows and I see a lot of that stuff. And everybody watches those crime shows. So they know about those tools out there. So first thing, you got to go get a burner phone. If you’re going to go do something, you better go get a burner phone. And then you better dress up in one of those suits in those English police movies, those white hazmat suits and your whole face covered. Crazy, crazy. Yeah. And then go do it. Don’t use your own car. You better go steal a car somewhere. Man, complicated. It’s too hard. Yes. And even then, if they look at you and say, your phone never moved for 24 hours, but yet you were seen over here or over there. How come you didn’t have your phone with you or your car? You parked your car here for 12 hours and then you came back and got it. What were you doing? [13:08]It is just crazy, isn’t it? Yeah. But tell us, what’s the storyline of your book? Don’t give too much away. You want people to buy it. I understand that. But tell the guys the storyline of your book. Sure, yeah. So the storyline is, it starts out with the true events of 2022, right? This headline that there’s a body in a barrel shows up on the shore of Lake Mead. And my main protagonist, who’s sort of made up from my imagination, his name’s Lenny Battaglia. [13:37]The Body in the Barrel [13:33]And he reads this headline. He’s an old time mob associate. He, at one time when he was young, was connected with the outfit, but ended up getting out of it barely. But he reads this headline and starts to get worried because he’s got a barrel with a body in it that’s his victim farther out in the lake. So this one that he reads about is not his. It’s actually his partners who, in my story, the partners loosely based on Frank Collada, actually. [14:01]And so he reads this headline, gets worried, goes out in his little boat to try to move his victim farther out into the lake because he’s concerned that his lake, the lake’s continuing to drop and the kind of the falling lakes acts like a ticking clock in my story in some ways. I think the Sopranos did something like this. They thought somebody was going to come up and buy some farm, and they had said, these guys have to dig this body up and move it. So that is not out of the realm of possibility, is it? No, no. But what is out of the realm of possibility is this old guy in his tiny little boat actually moving the barrel. So he goes out with just a gaff with a hook on it and tries to yank it out with his little outboard motor, and it just won’t budge. The thing’s really heavy. If you know anything about water, stuff under water is really heavy. Really heavy. Yeah. He’s wrestling with it and ends up falling in while he’s trying to pull this barrel farther out. And so it’s a big failure. And while he’s falling in, he has this flashback to the killing, basically. And so the story kind of goes from there, but it’s really focused on how he deals with what he’s done, basically. [15:10]Crime is no mystery from the beginning. it’s not a it’s not a traditional it’s not a traditional police procedural of where who done it yeah it’s not like that it’s more like kind of what is what’s the aftermath what’s the effect of, a terrible crime like this on even the perpetrator yeah yeah and as I said one of my characters is based on Frank Collada who so he was the story takes place in kind of two time frames right we’ve got the, contemporary time frame, but then we got flashbacks to his time at the mob and Frank was his partner in this hit. We’ve also got a character showing up who’s based on Tony Spolatro. I call him Tony Bonucci, named after one of my favorite Italian soccer players. [15:50]But yeah, so we’ve got this connection to the early 80s, late 70s, and then also this kind of contemporary period. And I understand Frank Collado was actually, he recently just died, right he was he did during covid times i think he he already had copd he was already everything he did he you’d see me to have his oxygen on and so he was already weakened then he got covid during uh during covid that’s a shame you know yeah i did some listening to a podcast he was on in researching my book and it was really fascinating to listen to yeah yeah he is he’s and he’s got his there’s a whole book out there that he mainly just told stories about his life during the whole book. It’s amazing. I did one with him and then added some more clips in from that a long time. One of my earlier ones, I got to know him real early because we had the mob con out there. I knew the guy that was getting it going and I went out to the guy that actually Denny Griffin who wrote the books with Frank Collider, wrote several books with Frank Collider and I’d gotten to know Denny and so Denny invited me to come out and do a program at the first mob conference and I met Frank then. I met him and a couple others after that. He was gruff, but he was a good guy. I mean, he was gruff, I’ll tell you. He wasn’t a guy that just, it was hard to joke around with him. Interesting. Okay, interesting. [17:12]Yeah, I got a bit of that vibe from the podcast of him that I was listening to. Yeah, it’s funny. Just genuine Italian Chicago, like to the core. Yeah, he was that. He was born and bred, born and bred from early his childhood. He was a Chicago mobster. There’s no doubt about that. That’s wild. [17:32]Yeah, Denny Griffin’s book was really helpful to me, actually, in my research. Yeah, the battle for Las Vegas in particular was. Yeah, that’s the one I used. Denny was that. Denny’s dead now. I don’t know if you knew that. I did know that, unfortunately. Yeah, I was pretty good friends with Denny. He helped me out a lot when I got started and got me out there. And he gave me for my first documentary, which was about the skimming, a lot about the skimming. He got me several people to interview, lined me up with them and verified, hey, this guy’s okay and work with him. And I flew out to Las Vegas and interviewed a bunch of people and interviewed him too. But he got me an employee of the Best Casino that knew Lefty Rosenthal really well. She gave us some really great sound bites. I get calls today or emails wanting to know if she’s still around. She’s died since. People are still trying to find her to get to interview her. That’s wild. That’s wild. That’s because old Denny Griffin, he was a good guy. He really was. That’s neat. His book was certainly good. Yeah. Interesting. So what else do you want to say about your book before we get out of here? Besides, go out and buy it. Go out and buy it. It’s on Amazon, I’m sure, and I’ll have a link to the Amazon site. I appreciate that. Yeah, it is on Amazon. What do I want to say about it? I guess the other thing to say is it’s got some, I don’t want to give too much away, but gun violence is really a big part of the book. Not only this single mob hit, but also it wraps in. [18:56]This mass shooting in 2017, the one where the guy was a shooter was in the hotel suites up high and he was shooting across the street into that country music festival. So it’s really funny. I compare it to two things, right? I compare it to Casino, which is this famous Scorsese film from that mobster era, which everybody knows about. And actually, Frank Collado was in. He had a cameo in that. Yeah, that’s funny. But then the other thing I compare the book to is Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, which is obviously this sort of towering literary novel. But the parallel is just dealing with this aftermath of violence, right? What happens when you kill somebody and what’s the sort of dealing with guilt and fear and the consequences. [19:44]Exploring Themes of Violence [19:40]So I’d say those are the sort of things I point to as parallels for the book. I don’t know. There’s a lot more to say. Like you’ve said, it’s grounded in true life crime, but it’s also definitely fiction. I’ve made up the better part of it. Yeah. [19:54]All right. Aaron Mead. The book is Body in the Barrel. Aaron, I really appreciate you coming on the show. And guys, I’ll have links to this book down below. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It’s been a pleasure meeting you and hearing some of your stories. And I’m enjoying your podcast. And it’s been a privilege to be on here. So thank you. Okay. We like to hear that. Thanks a lot, Aaron. [20:17]Yeah, thank you. Okay. Okay. I’ll do a little extra here in a minute. I just want to tell you something. When I went to law school at the police department and my favorite class was water law and I did my, you have to do a 50 page publishable paper to get out of law school. I did mine on Western water law and it was just, I was fascinated by that Western water law and all the things that go into that, the Rio Grande Pact and all the different political entities that are trying to use that water and how they use it. And then how the EPA rules and figured in on using water out West. And the fact that out West, they treated water like they treated gold or some other mineral. If you found the source, you owned it. Whereas they had riparian interest in [21:06]The Complexities of Water Law [21:03]laws back East here, where you have plenty of water. You can use all the water you want as long as you don’t reduce it. But nobody owns that source of water. [21:12]If it’s a big source, it’s just a fascinating topic. Yeah, it is a bit of the Wild West, like applies to water out West. It’s that first in time, first in right thing. It’s pretty crazy. The Colorado River especially is so complicated. You got seven, seven states take water from it. You got the federal government running the dams there. You’ve got Mexico that takes a portion of it. You’ve got this whole hundred year history of law layered on top of each other. And even today, the rules on how the water gets distributed are about to expire in this year. And so we’re trying to come up with new rules. And it’s just so tough because… [21:49]There’s less water in the river than there used to be, and so the old agreements don’t quite work out, and we’re having to take reductions, and, you know, who takes what? It’s just sort of a big mess, honestly. We’re fighting over it. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up in court, honestly. But that would be not a good outcome, but it seems potentially likely. Yeah. There’s a judge I heard say once that, you better make a deal outside of my courtroom. If you come into my courtroom, my decision is not going to hurt everybody’s feelings with my decision. Yeah. And inevitably, like the folks, the special masters or whatever the justices are that are making the decisions, they don’t know as much about water as we do. If we can’t work it out, it’s going to happen. I know. And there are just so many pressures that are on it. And it’s tough. And plus, one thing we haven’t mentioned is a huge growth in population over the last 20, 30 years out there. It’s true. Yeah, it’s true. Yes, unbelievable how many people have moved to Phoenix and Albuquerque and Las Vegas, especially Las Vegas, but just being such a huge growth in population out. And before it was desert that nobody really, they didn’t live, they didn’t want to live out there. [22:55]It’s true. Yeah. And surprisingly, like in a lot of these cities, actually, the demand for water has not increased. Like in Las Vegas, it’s actually gone down. Oh, really? They have done an incredible job of conserving water. Same in Los Angeles. The demands for water have gone down despite the population growth. The thing that makes it challenging is that the whole pie is shrinking and it’s the agricultural use that’s the highest. I think it’s something like 85% or 80% of the water in the Colorado Basin is agriculture. And so, those are the things you’re going to need to find conservation there, which is harder. [23:30]Like those Israelis did, it was something called drip irrigation where they used, they were more skillful in the way they used their water in their fields down in the desert. Yeah, and some of the folks that’s been, some of the agricultural folks have been converting to that kind of irrigation for quite some time now. So, it’s like we’re wringing out every sponge we got and running out of options. But, yeah, we’ll figure it out one way or the other here. Yeah, I’m sure we will. This is America, after all. [23:59]Or is it still America? It’s hard to know. Yeah, it’s hard to know. We’re going down that path. Looking a little different these days. Yes, it is. Yeah. Oh, my God. Okay, Aaron, I really appreciate it. I’ll get in touch with you whenever I send an email with the links after I put them up. It’ll be, I don’t know. It’ll probably be a month or more before I get it up. Sure. I stay way ahead. I’ve got quite a few kind of scheduled up for the next two weeks now or three. Smart. Two weeks now, one just went up today. So I put it up, video, I put them up on Sunday evening, and then the audio comes out like 4 o’clock in the morning on Monday morning. Okay. Don’t ask me why. I just started doing that. Yeah. No worries. It gets ahead of everybody. Then they can see it. Hey, I’ve got a question for you, if you don’t, if you don’t mind. No. Do you know about any contemporary organized crime activity in Las Vegas? Is there still stuff going on or is it? I don’t. I really don’t. Yeah. Okay. [24:59]Trying to think of a source for you. I’ll check with a source for you. Okay. I know it’s not Midwest folks from your era, but yeah. Yeah, no, probably something up there out at Los Angeles and people that moved out there a generation ago and stayed under the radar. And then, of course, international. Yeah. Those like Russians and people like that out of Phoenix or in Los Angeles, both. Anyhow, I’ll check on that. Okay. Yeah. If you think of something, that’d be great. I’d be interested. Okay. Okay. I will. All right. Thank you. Thank you again. Take care. All right. Bye-bye. Can you go ahead and do, can you exit the meeting? I’m going to do a little ending thing here. I will. Yeah. [25:40]That was interesting, folks. I did Waterlaw in, well, that was interesting, folks. I really liked Aaron and I think his Body in the Barrel book is going to be pretty darn good. [25:53]Concluding Thoughts on Crime and History [25:50]So I’d recommend you try it. I haven’t actually read it myself. I’ve read excerpts from it. I’ve got it here. I need to sit down and take some time and read it. I like when they base it on the real life people and some people that I know something about. It’s kind of like hearing stories about your hometown. Oh, yeah, I know that guy. Oh, yeah, I remember when that happened. And it’s an interesting thing, the lowering of Lake Mead. He and I, he’s a water engineer, and he and I talked a little bit more about it. I find it a fascinating topic, that Western water law and Western water rights and how that all works. It’s different than back east where we have plenty of water. So don’t forget, I’ve got videos on Amazon Prime for rent. Just use my name and mafia, Gary Jenkins Mafia on Amazon Prime, and you’ll find them. And I’ve got books there. Do the same thing. Gary Jenkins Mafia books. I’ve got three books on Amazon and I’ve got them on my website. And I always appreciate when people make comments on my YouTube channel or on my Gangland Wire podcast page. We’re just here to report mob history. That’s all we want to do is report mob history. And in this case, we got a fictional book that’s reporting mob history based on real mob history. I’ll do that every once in a while, too. [27:07]So thanks a lot, guys. I always appreciate doing this show. It’s a way to end my life out, if you will. I’m down to that last quarter, maybe down to the last two minutes one of these days, but we’ll get there. Thanks a lot, guys.

The True Story Behind The Hit Film 'Casino' From An ‘Enforcer' Who Lived ItTony Spilotro was the Mob's man in Las Vegas. A feared enforcer, the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. The “Little Guy” built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta helped him do it. But Tony's quest for power and lack of self-control with women cost the Mob its control of Vegas; and Tony paid for it with his life.”I was a little nervous before my first meeting with former mobster Frank Cullotta. It turned out we had a pleasant conversation that ended with an agreement for me to write his book. As I drove home, I realized I had made a deal with a career thief and killer on a handshake. What was I thinking?”--Dennis N. Griffin, author of SURVIVING THE MOBhttps://amzn.to/3Ja2OKdBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro was a notorious enforcer for the Chicago Outfit, known for his brutal tactics and his role in expanding the Mafia's influence in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 1980s. Born and raised in Chicago, Spilotro quickly ascended the ranks of the Mafia due to his aptitude for violence and loyalty to the organization. In Las Vegas, he oversaw the Outfit's lucrative skimming operations from casinos and established himself as a dominant force in the city's underworld. Spilotro also led the "Hole in the Wall Gang," a crew of burglars known for their daring heists, which further solidified his reputation for ruthless efficiency. His violent methods, such as the notorious torture and murder of Billy McCarthy and Jimmy Miraglia, were designed to instill fear and maintain control over the city's criminal landscape.However, Spilotro's aggressive tactics eventually drew the attention of federal law enforcement, leading to increased scrutiny and pressure from the FBI. The turning point came when his close associate, Frank Cullotta, turned informant, providing authorities with critical information that compromised Spilotro's operations. As his criminal empire began to crumble, Spilotro became a liability to the Chicago Outfit. In 1986, he and his brother Michael were brutally murdered by fellow mobsters in a cornfield, a stark reminder of the Mafia's unforgiving code of loyalty and retribution. Spilotro's life and death underscore the perilous nature of power in the criminal underworld, where ambition and violence often lead to a swift and brutal end.(commercial at 10:42)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro was a notorious enforcer for the Chicago Outfit, known for his brutal tactics and his role in expanding the Mafia's influence in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 1980s. Born and raised in Chicago, Spilotro quickly ascended the ranks of the Mafia due to his aptitude for violence and loyalty to the organization. In Las Vegas, he oversaw the Outfit's lucrative skimming operations from casinos and established himself as a dominant force in the city's underworld. Spilotro also led the "Hole in the Wall Gang," a crew of burglars known for their daring heists, which further solidified his reputation for ruthless efficiency. His violent methods, such as the notorious torture and murder of Billy McCarthy and Jimmy Miraglia, were designed to instill fear and maintain control over the city's criminal landscape.However, Spilotro's aggressive tactics eventually drew the attention of federal law enforcement, leading to increased scrutiny and pressure from the FBI. The turning point came when his close associate, Frank Cullotta, turned informant, providing authorities with critical information that compromised Spilotro's operations. As his criminal empire began to crumble, Spilotro became a liability to the Chicago Outfit. In 1986, he and his brother Michael were brutally murdered by fellow mobsters in a cornfield, a stark reminder of the Mafia's unforgiving code of loyalty and retribution. Spilotro's life and death underscore the perilous nature of power in the criminal underworld, where ambition and violence often lead to a swift and brutal end.(commercial at 10:42)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro was a notorious enforcer for the Chicago Outfit, known for his brutal tactics and his role in expanding the Mafia's influence in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 1980s. Born and raised in Chicago, Spilotro quickly ascended the ranks of the Mafia due to his aptitude for violence and loyalty to the organization. In Las Vegas, he oversaw the Outfit's lucrative skimming operations from casinos and established himself as a dominant force in the city's underworld. Spilotro also led the "Hole in the Wall Gang," a crew of burglars known for their daring heists, which further solidified his reputation for ruthless efficiency. His violent methods, such as the notorious torture and murder of Billy McCarthy and Jimmy Miraglia, were designed to instill fear and maintain control over the city's criminal landscape.However, Spilotro's aggressive tactics eventually drew the attention of federal law enforcement, leading to increased scrutiny and pressure from the FBI. The turning point came when his close associate, Frank Cullotta, turned informant, providing authorities with critical information that compromised Spilotro's operations. As his criminal empire began to crumble, Spilotro became a liability to the Chicago Outfit. In 1986, he and his brother Michael were brutally murdered by fellow mobsters in a cornfield, a stark reminder of the Mafia's unforgiving code of loyalty and retribution. Spilotro's life and death underscore the perilous nature of power in the criminal underworld, where ambition and violence often lead to a swift and brutal end.(commercial at 10:42)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

The True Story Behind The Hit Film 'Casino' From An ‘Enforcer' Who Lived ItTony Spilotro was the Mob's man in Las Vegas. A feared enforcer, the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. The “Little Guy” built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta helped him do it. But Tony's quest for power and lack of self-control with women cost the Mob its control of Vegas; and Tony paid for it with his life.”I was a little nervous before my first meeting with former mobster Frank Cullotta. It turned out we had a pleasant conversation that ended with an agreement for me to write his book. As I drove home, I realized I had made a deal with a career thief and killer on a handshake. What was I thinking?”--Dennis N. Griffin, author of SURVIVING THE MOBBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

In Oscar Goodman's words, “flippers are rats – and I wouldn't represent rats.” He highlights several past and more recent cases where he feels this scenario occurred. Goodman's disdain for flipping witnesses to obtain convictions extends back to another well-known name and mob associate: Frank Cullotta. Hear how Cullotta's turn as a government witness led to a contentious relationship with Goodman.

Everybody loves a true-crime story. Today, we have a special guest episode from our friends at the Las Vegas Review Journal's Mobbed Up podcast. Produced in partnership with The Mob Museum, Mobbed Up is a true-crime series that dives in to the fight against organized crime in 1960s and 1970s Las Vegas. You'll love this bonus episode from season 2 where a waiter from Vegas's oldest steakhouse shares his personal memories of a mob hitman. Jeff German, Review-Journal investigative reporter and host for Season 2, interviews longtime Golden Steer waiter Venko Nikolov about his memories of mob hitman Frank Cullotta and some of the celebrities he served at the iconic Las Vegas steakhouse. We dedicate this episode to the memory of Jeff German, in honor of his long history of reporting in Las Vegas. Listen to seasons 1 and 2 of Mobbed Up: The Fight for Las Vegas. Want more Vegas news? Make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter at lasvegas.citycast.fm/newsletter!  You can call or text us at 702-514-0719. We're also on Twitter! Follow us @CityCastVegas  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast features Red Wemette. He was an associate of the Chicago Mafia who became an informant. He helped take down the Chicago outfit. Red was around a lot of well known mobsters back in the day such as Tony Spilotro. Red shares how he made money while he was on the street as well. Red's Social media YouTube- https://youtube.com/channel/UCUOciSDJcVMoJPhV0wSSqkQBook- https://www.redwemette.com/ Find all of our Invest In Yourself Platforms Clothing Website- https://iiyclothing.bigcartel.com/productsYouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6wGSATB9uusaUCvICpJZ_QSpotify- https://open.spotify.com/show/6d5D4lauoKHeQ1obygbOhM?si=s37hThFuQACwN1EDZKFQfg&fbclid=IwAR2WNDWcwAJe-SaFOQT6AwW2P0TcntJzOy9inskcULxIswBY9dZniUYjki0&nd=1Apple Podcasts- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-i-y-podcast/id1577114137Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/invest_in_yourself_2020/fbclid=IwAR3_McZpdI3C8oy-XpAXXNfyfcoYPMtZRKab0YNSeUoA2nssgywe3Et3fnUTikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@iiy_clothing_podcast?fbclid=IwAR1oCed6gwFX5hO1ICGMmqp_6TZ-w1feubsYHnTjed00Ddz4_4zotG1HAikFacebook- https://www.facebook.com/IIYCLOTHINGEmail- iiypodcast2021@gmail.com

In October of 1977, David Bowman moved to Las Vegas as a 16 year old kid with his parents and older brother. Bowman chronicles his journey through the streets of Las Vegas for the next 3 years. Bringing Down Cullotta, Bowman tells us how he worked his way into the most elite criminal organization in Las Vegas. He recounts how he became the "point man" in the Las Vegas Organized Crime Strike Force's investigation of the Chicago Outfit and Tony Spilotro and his right-hand man Frank Cullotta, the leader of the Hole in the Wall Gang. BRINGING DOWN CULLOTTA: The. Story Casino Couldn't Tell You-David Bowman

A bonus episode for Season 2 of Mobbed Up. Jeff German, Review-Journal investigative reporter and host for Season 2, interviews longtime Golden Steer waiter Venko Nikolov about his memories of mob hitman Frank Cullotta at the iconic Las Vegas steakhouse.

David Bowman and Las Vegas Metro Intelligence David Bowman is one of the unsung heroes in law enforcement’s battle for Las Vegas with the imported Chicago outfit mobsters, Tony Spilotro, Frank Cullotta, Larry Neuman, and... The post David Bowman and Tony Spilotro appeared first on Gangland Wire.

Today Dave Breakspear and myself talk Chicago Mob legend Frank Cullotta, NYC and Mob politics, Appalachian and much more. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ian-barr9/support

In the 1970s, Chicago Outfit enforcer Frank Cullotta led one of the largest organized crime syndicates in the U.S. In 1978, FBI agent Dennis Arnoldy led the investigation that eventually brought Frank down. In this story, Frank shares secrets from his life in the mob and the jewelry heist that brought it all to an end.

Illuminati News Hour --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/illuminatiexposed/message

Frank Cullotta made his name as a hitman for the infamous Tony Spilotro in Las Vegas. He was a fascinating character, to be sure. Some of Frank’s murders were portrayed in the movie “Casino”. I had the chance to interview him several times over the years, and I’ve put a couple of interviews together here […] The post Heidi Harris Show Podcast #217: Vegas hit man Frank Cullotta appeared first on Heidi Harris Show.

Vegas Mobster Frank Cullotta, Lawman Dennis Griffin "Casino" The Real Story Guest: Frank Cullotta Frank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. As a youth he embarked on a decades-long criminal career, hanging around with some of the toughest kids on the Windy City's streets. Frank and several of his associates went on to become accomplished thieves, arsonists, and killers. One of those was Frank's friend, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro, who gained notoriety as a ruthless Chicago Outfit enforcer. Tony was the mob's top man in Las Vegas during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. Frank was his main man for much of that time. Together, they and their gang ruled the Vegas underworld. In 1982, the two men had a falling out that resulted in Frank rolling and becoming a government witness. His testimony was instrumental in putting a number of mobsters behind bars and causing the Outfit to lose its control over Las Vegas. Although the mob issued a contract on his life, Frank survived his time in prison and the Witness Protection Program. He is now a free man. His tell-all biography, Cullotta, is due to be released in May 2007. http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Wall-Gang-Frank-Cullotta/dp/1936759217/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2KJKEWILBKXOWNET&creativeASIN=1936759217 Las Vegas mafia Guest: Dennis N. Griffin Dennis N. Griffin retired in 1994 after a twenty-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada later that year. In 1996 he wrote his first novel, The Morgue, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery/thriller books in print. In 2002, Dennis turned his attention to non-fiction. Policing Las Vegas (Huntington Press, April 2005) follows the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2005. That successful debut was followed by The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law vs the Mob (Huntington Press, April 2006). This latest book tells the inside story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro's reign in Vegas, and the war law enforcement waged to remove him. The Hollywood version of that era was reflected in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro. Mr. Griffin is an active member of the Henderson Writers Group, Wizards Of Words, and the Public Safety Writers Association. http://www.amazon.com/Cullotta-Chicago-Criminal-Mobster-Government/dp/0929712455/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=GFAWKK3G4PCWHQGO&creativeASIN=0929712455+

Vegas Mobster Frank Cullotta, Lawman Dennis Griffin "Casino" The Real Story Guest: Frank Cullotta Frank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. As a youth he embarked on a decades-long criminal career, hanging around with some of the toughest kids on the Windy City's streets. Frank and several of his associates went on to become accomplished thieves, arsonists, and killers. One of those was Frank's friend, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro, who gained notoriety as a ruthless Chicago Outfit enforcer. Tony was the mob's top man in Las Vegas during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. Frank was his main man for much of that time. Together, they and their gang ruled the Vegas underworld. In 1982, the two men had a falling out that resulted in Frank rolling and becoming a government witness. His testimony was instrumental in putting a number of mobsters behind bars and causing the Outfit to lose its control over Las Vegas. Although the mob issued a contract on his life, Frank survived his time in prison and the Witness Protection Program. He is now a free man. His tell-all biography, Cullotta, is due to be released in May 2007. http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Wall-Gang-Frank-Cullotta/dp/1936759217/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2KJKEWILBKXOWNET&creativeASIN=1936759217 Las Vegas mafia Guest: Dennis N. Griffin Dennis N. Griffin retired in 1994 after a twenty-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada later that year. In 1996 he wrote his first novel, The Morgue, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery/thriller books in print. In 2002, Dennis turned his attention to non-fiction. Policing Las Vegas (Huntington Press, April 2005) follows the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2005. That successful debut was followed by The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law vs the Mob (Huntington Press, April 2006). This latest book tells the inside story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro's reign in Vegas, and the war law enforcement waged to remove him. The Hollywood version of that era was reflected in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro. Mr. Griffin is an active member of the Henderson Writers Group, Wizards Of Words, and the Public Safety Writers Association. http://www.amazon.com/Cullotta-Chicago-Criminal-Mobster-Government/dp/0929712455/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=GFAWKK3G4PCWHQGO&creativeASIN=0929712455

Vegas Mobster Frank Cullotta, Lawman Dennis Griffin "Casino" The Real Story Guest: Frank Cullotta Frank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. As a youth he embarked on a decades-long criminal career, hanging around with some of the toughest kids on the Windy City's streets. Frank and several of his associates went on to become accomplished thieves, arsonists, and killers. One of those was Frank's friend, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro, who gained notoriety as a ruthless Chicago Outfit enforcer. Tony was the mob's top man in Las Vegas during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. Frank was his main man for much of that time. Together, they and their gang ruled the Vegas underworld. In 1982, the two men had a falling out that resulted in Frank rolling and becoming a government witness. His testimony was instrumental in putting a number of mobsters behind bars and causing the Outfit to lose its control over Las Vegas. Although the mob issued a contract on his life, Frank survived his time in prison and the Witness Protection Program. He is now a free man. His tell-all biography, Cullotta, is due to be released in May 2007. http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Wall-Gang-Frank-Cullotta/dp/1936759217/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2KJKEWILBKXOWNET&creativeASIN=1936759217 Las Vegas mafia Guest: Dennis N. Griffin Dennis N. Griffin retired in 1994 after a twenty-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada later that year. In 1996 he wrote his first novel, The Morgue, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery/thriller books in print. In 2002, Dennis turned his attention to non-fiction. Policing Las Vegas (Huntington Press, April 2005) follows the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2005. That successful debut was followed by The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law vs the Mob (Huntington Press, April 2006). This latest book tells the inside story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro's reign in Vegas, and the war law enforcement waged to remove him. The Hollywood version of that era was reflected in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro. Mr. Griffin is an active member of the Henderson Writers Group, Wizards Of Words, and the Public Safety Writers Association. http://www.amazon.com/Cullotta-Chicago-Criminal-Mobster-Government/dp/0929712455/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=GFAWKK3G4PCWHQGO&creativeASIN=0929712455

Vegas Mobster Frank Cullotta, Lawman Dennis Griffin"Casino" The Real StoryGuest: Frank CullottaFrank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. As a youth he embarked on a decades-long criminal career, hanging around with some of the toughest kids on the Windy City's streets. Frank and several of his associates went on to become accomplished thieves, arsonists, and killers. One of those was Frank's friend, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro, who gained notoriety as a ruthless Chicago Outfit enforcer. Tony was the mob's top man in Las Vegas during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. Frank was his main man for much of that time. Together, they and their gang ruled the Vegas underworld.In 1982, the two men had a falling out that resulted in Frank rolling and becoming a government witness. His testimony was instrumental in putting a number of mobsters behind bars and causing the Outfit to lose its control over Las Vegas. Although the mob issued a contract on his life, Frank survived his time in prison and the Witness Protection Program. He is now a free man. His tell-all biography, Cullotta, is due to be released in May 2007.http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Wall-Gang-Frank-Cullotta/dp/1936759217/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2KJKEWILBKXOWNET&creativeASIN=1936759217Las Vegas mafiaGuest: Dennis N. GriffinDennis N. Griffin retired in 1994 after a twenty-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada later that year. In 1996 he wrote his first novel, The Morgue, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery/thriller books in print.In 2002, Dennis turned his attention to non-fiction. Policing Las Vegas (Huntington Press, April 2005) follows the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2005. That successful debut was followed by The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law vs the Mob (Huntington Press, April 2006).This latest book tells the inside story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro's reign in Vegas, and the war law enforcement waged to remove him. The Hollywood version of that era was reflected in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro.Mr. Griffin is an active member of the Henderson Writers Group, Wizards Of Words, and the Public Safety Writers Association.http://www.amazon.com/Cullotta-Chicago-Criminal-Mobster-Government/dp/0929712455/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=GFAWKK3G4PCWHQGO&creativeASIN=0929712455+

Vegas Mobster Frank Cullotta, Lawman Dennis Griffin"Casino" The Real StoryGuest: Frank CullottaFrank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. As a youth he embarked on a decades-long criminal career, hanging around with some of the toughest kids on the Windy City's streets. Frank and several of his associates went on to become accomplished thieves, arsonists, and killers. One of those was Frank's friend, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro, who gained notoriety as a ruthless Chicago Outfit enforcer. Tony was the mob's top man in Las Vegas during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. Frank was his main man for much of that time. Together, they and their gang ruled the Vegas underworld.In 1982, the two men had a falling out that resulted in Frank rolling and becoming a government witness. His testimony was instrumental in putting a number of mobsters behind bars and causing the Outfit to lose its control over Las Vegas. Although the mob issued a contract on his life, Frank survived his time in prison and the Witness Protection Program. He is now a free man. His tell-all biography, Cullotta, is due to be released in May 2007.http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Wall-Gang-Frank-Cullotta/dp/1936759217/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2KJKEWILBKXOWNET&creativeASIN=1936759217Las Vegas mafiaGuest: Dennis N. GriffinDennis N. Griffin retired in 1994 after a twenty-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada later that year. In 1996 he wrote his first novel, The Morgue, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery/thriller books in print.In 2002, Dennis turned his attention to non-fiction. Policing Las Vegas (Huntington Press, April 2005) follows the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2005. That successful debut was followed by The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law vs the Mob (Huntington Press, April 2006).This latest book tells the inside story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro's reign in Vegas, and the war law enforcement waged to remove him. The Hollywood version of that era was reflected in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro.Mr. Griffin is an active member of the Henderson Writers Group, Wizards Of Words, and the Public Safety Writers Association.http://www.amazon.com/Cullotta-Chicago-Criminal-Mobster-Government/dp/0929712455/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=GFAWKK3G4PCWHQGO&creativeASIN=0929712455

Vegas Mobster Frank Cullotta, Lawman Dennis Griffin"Casino" The Real StoryGuest: Frank CullottaFrank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. As a youth he embarked on a decades-long criminal career, hanging around with some of the toughest kids on the Windy City's streets. Frank and several of his associates went on to become accomplished thieves, arsonists, and killers. One of those was Frank's friend, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro, who gained notoriety as a ruthless Chicago Outfit enforcer. Tony was the mob's top man in Las Vegas during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. Frank was his main man for much of that time. Together, they and their gang ruled the Vegas underworld.In 1982, the two men had a falling out that resulted in Frank rolling and becoming a government witness. His testimony was instrumental in putting a number of mobsters behind bars and causing the Outfit to lose its control over Las Vegas. Although the mob issued a contract on his life, Frank survived his time in prison and the Witness Protection Program. He is now a free man. His tell-all biography, Cullotta, is due to be released in May 2007.http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Wall-Gang-Frank-Cullotta/dp/1936759217/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2KJKEWILBKXOWNET&creativeASIN=1936759217Las Vegas mafiaGuest: Dennis N. GriffinDennis N. Griffin retired in 1994 after a twenty-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada later that year. In 1996 he wrote his first novel, The Morgue, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery/thriller books in print.In 2002, Dennis turned his attention to non-fiction. Policing Las Vegas (Huntington Press, April 2005) follows the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2005. That successful debut was followed by The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law vs the Mob (Huntington Press, April 2006).This latest book tells the inside story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro's reign in Vegas, and the war law enforcement waged to remove him. The Hollywood version of that era was reflected in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro.Mr. Griffin is an active member of the Henderson Writers Group, Wizards Of Words, and the Public Safety Writers Association.http://www.amazon.com/Cullotta-Chicago-Criminal-Mobster-Government/dp/0929712455/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=GFAWKK3G4PCWHQGO&creativeASIN=0929712455

Vegas Mobster Frank Cullotta, Lawman Dennis Griffin "Casino" The Real Story Guest: Frank Cullotta Frank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. As a youth he embarked on a decades-long criminal career, hanging around with some of the toughest kids on the Windy City's streets. Frank and several of his associates went on to become accomplished thieves, arsonists, and killers. One of those was Frank's friend, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro, who gained notoriety as a ruthless Chicago Outfit enforcer. Tony was the mob's top man in Las Vegas during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. Frank was his main man for much of that time. Together, they and their gang ruled the Vegas underworld. In 1982, the two men had a falling out that resulted in Frank rolling and becoming a government witness. His testimony was instrumental in putting a number of mobsters behind bars and causing the Outfit to lose its control over Las Vegas. Although the mob issued a contract on his life, Frank survived his time in prison and the Witness Protection Program. He is now a free man. His tell-all biography, Cullotta, is due to be released in May 2007. http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Wall-Gang-Frank-Cullotta/dp/1936759217/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2KJKEWILBKXOWNET&creativeASIN=1936759217 Las Vegas mafia Guest: Dennis N. Griffin Dennis N. Griffin retired in 1994 after a twenty-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada later that year. In 1996 he wrote his first novel, The Morgue, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery/thriller books in print. In 2002, Dennis turned his attention to non-fiction. Policing Las Vegas (Huntington Press, April 2005) follows the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2005. That successful debut was followed by The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law vs the Mob (Huntington Press, April 2006). This latest book tells the inside story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro's reign in Vegas, and the war law enforcement waged to remove him. The Hollywood version of that era was reflected in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro. Mr. Griffin is an active member of the Henderson Writers Group, Wizards Of Words, and the Public Safety Writers Association. http://www.amazon.com/Cullotta-Chicago-Criminal-Mobster-Government/dp/0929712455/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=GFAWKK3G4PCWHQGO&creativeASIN=0929712455+

Vegas Mobster Frank Cullotta, Lawman Dennis Griffin "Casino" The Real Story Guest: Frank Cullotta Frank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. As a youth he embarked on a decades-long criminal career, hanging around with some of the toughest kids on the Windy City's streets. Frank and several of his associates went on to become accomplished thieves, arsonists, and killers. One of those was Frank's friend, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro, who gained notoriety as a ruthless Chicago Outfit enforcer. Tony was the mob's top man in Las Vegas during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. Frank was his main man for much of that time. Together, they and their gang ruled the Vegas underworld. In 1982, the two men had a falling out that resulted in Frank rolling and becoming a government witness. His testimony was instrumental in putting a number of mobsters behind bars and causing the Outfit to lose its control over Las Vegas. Although the mob issued a contract on his life, Frank survived his time in prison and the Witness Protection Program. He is now a free man. His tell-all biography, Cullotta, is due to be released in May 2007. http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Wall-Gang-Frank-Cullotta/dp/1936759217/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2KJKEWILBKXOWNET&creativeASIN=1936759217 Las Vegas mafia Guest: Dennis N. Griffin Dennis N. Griffin retired in 1994 after a twenty-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada later that year. In 1996 he wrote his first novel, The Morgue, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery/thriller books in print. In 2002, Dennis turned his attention to non-fiction. Policing Las Vegas (Huntington Press, April 2005) follows the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2005. That successful debut was followed by The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law vs the Mob (Huntington Press, April 2006). This latest book tells the inside story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro's reign in Vegas, and the war law enforcement waged to remove him. The Hollywood version of that era was reflected in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro. Mr. Griffin is an active member of the Henderson Writers Group, Wizards Of Words, and the Public Safety Writers Association. http://www.amazon.com/Cullotta-Chicago-Criminal-Mobster-Government/dp/0929712455/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=GFAWKK3G4PCWHQGO&creativeASIN=0929712455

Vegas Mobster Frank Cullotta, Lawman Dennis Griffin "Casino" The Real Story Guest: Frank Cullotta Frank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. As a youth he embarked on a decades-long criminal career, hanging around with some of the toughest kids on the Windy City's streets. Frank and several of his associates went on to become accomplished thieves, arsonists, and killers. One of those was Frank's friend, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro, who gained notoriety as a ruthless Chicago Outfit enforcer. Tony was the mob's top man in Las Vegas during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. Frank was his main man for much of that time. Together, they and their gang ruled the Vegas underworld. In 1982, the two men had a falling out that resulted in Frank rolling and becoming a government witness. His testimony was instrumental in putting a number of mobsters behind bars and causing the Outfit to lose its control over Las Vegas. Although the mob issued a contract on his life, Frank survived his time in prison and the Witness Protection Program. He is now a free man. His tell-all biography, Cullotta, is due to be released in May 2007. http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Wall-Gang-Frank-Cullotta/dp/1936759217/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2KJKEWILBKXOWNET&creativeASIN=1936759217 Las Vegas mafia Guest: Dennis N. Griffin Dennis N. Griffin retired in 1994 after a twenty-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada later that year. In 1996 he wrote his first novel, The Morgue, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery/thriller books in print. In 2002, Dennis turned his attention to non-fiction. Policing Las Vegas (Huntington Press, April 2005) follows the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2005. That successful debut was followed by The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law vs the Mob (Huntington Press, April 2006). This latest book tells the inside story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro's reign in Vegas, and the war law enforcement waged to remove him. The Hollywood version of that era was reflected in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro. Mr. Griffin is an active member of the Henderson Writers Group, Wizards Of Words, and the Public Safety Writers Association. http://www.amazon.com/Cullotta-Chicago-Criminal-Mobster-Government/dp/0929712455/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=GFAWKK3G4PCWHQGO&creativeASIN=0929712455

"I'm probably the only guy standing right now." Decades after it was at the center of a federal racketeering case, the aging Stardust hotel-casino is imploded to make way for a new resort project. Meanwhile, Frank Cullotta has returned to living under his own name in Las Vegas.  Join us for Mobbed Up LIVE on Aug. 4 at 7 p.m. Pacific on the Las Vegas Review-Journal Facebook page. Send your questions in advance to rredmond@reviewjournal.com.  For more on this episode, visit www.reviewjournal.com/mobbedup. For more on the Mob Museum, visit www.themobmuseum.org. 

"You never become a rat."Following their arrests for attempted robbery of a home furnishings store in Las Vegas, Frank Cullotta and five other members of the "Hole in the Wall Gang" face steep prison sentences. Loyalty wears thin, and the FBI sees an opportunity.For more on this episode, visit www.reviewjournal.com/mobbedup. To learn about The Mob Museum, visit www.themobmuseum.org.

“This was the end of organized crime in Las Vegas.”In 1978, mob-connected thief Frank Cullotta moves from Chicago to Las Vegas to work alongside his childhood friend, reputed Las Vegas mob enforcer Tony Spilotro. When he arrives, Frank says his first assignment was to put together a crew of guys⁠—a crew that would soon earn a reputation as one of the most prolific burglary outfits in the country.For more on this episode, visit www.reviewjournal.com/mobbedup. To learn about The Mob Museum, visit www.themobmuseum.org.

"It supersedes family." Tony Spilotro always dreamed of becoming a ‘made’ man—a full-fledged member of the Chicago Outfit—according to his childhood friend Frank Cullotta. In the spring of 1962, as Cullotta recalls, an unauthorized triple murder on mob turf would give Tony an opportunity to make that dream a reality and cement his claim to fame. For more information on this episode, visit www.reviewjournal.com/mobbedup. To learn about The Mob Museum, visit www.themobmuseum.org.

"And I said, 'What's your name?' And he says, 'Tony Spilotro.'" As a kid, Frank Cullotta’s first job was stealing. His second job was shining shoes on Grand Avenue in Chicago. One day, another young shoeshine yelled at him from across the street, and the two kids stepped into the middle of the road to defend their turf, both ready for a fight. Instead, the encounter sparked a friendship that would span decades. For more on this episode, visit www.reviewjournal.com/mobbedup. To learn about The Mob Museum, visit www.themobmuseum.org.

Dennis Says:"I retired in 1994, after a 20-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State. My debut in nonfiction, Policing Las Vegas – A History of Law Enforcement in Southern Nevada, was released in April 2005. It covers the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from the city’s establishment in 1905. My second nonfiction, The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law versus the Mob, tells the story of the Tony Spilotro era in Las Vegas from 1971 thru 1986. It was released in July 2006 and was a Computer Times Editor’s Selection in October 2006. That was followed in July 2007 by CULLOTTA, the biography of former Chicago and Las Vegas mobster Frank Cullotta. Surviving The Mob, the biography of former Gambino crime family associate Andrew DiDionato, which hit store shelves in January 2011." Since then Dennis has written even more true crime books, all of them excellent and as respected as Dennis himself. Join us for this fun and fact filled hour with one of our favorite guests ( Burl can make Dennis crack up laughing at least twice per show!) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/burl-barer/support

Frank Cullotta, is a former enforcer for the Chicago Outfit, leader of the "Hole in the Wall Gang" in Las Vegas, and a friend of notorious Chicago mobster Tony Spilotro. In later life, having given evidence against Spilotro and other mob associates, Cullotta wrote a book about his experiences.

In the third and final episode, Agent Michaels and LVPD Commander Clifford plan a surprise for Frank Cullotta and the Hole in the Wall Gang. The post Hole in the Wall Gang Part 3 appeared first on Gangland Wire.

Gabby Girl returns, telling us about her interactions with mobster Tony Spilotro and others.podcast Click to listen - Alt-click to downloadShow Notes[00:00] Intro[00:43] Listener question #1: Should a casino care about simultaneous pass and don't pass bets? [05:18] Listener question #2: Is it just as effective to count only aces and tens?[07:30] Listener question #3: Do casinos care if players use a video poker strategy card at the machine?[09:00] Listener question #4: Which machines are best for coupon redemption?[10:35] Listener question #5: Is a 25% commission reasonable to sign someone else's W2G[14:17] Gabby Girl's experience wearing a wire in a DMSO case discussion[19:19] Has Gabby Girl ever testified?[21:00] Gabby's experiences with Anthony Spilotro[22:11] Tommy Amato discussion[26:59] Conflicts between private investigator work and social life[30:57] Prostitution sting at The International (currently known as the Hilton)[35:23] Serving papers on a boxer[40:44] Chateau Vegas[42:39] Frank Cullotta's avoidance of gun use[44:48] Toastmasters

Our guest this week is Gabby Girl, a woman who was a private investigator back in the early 1980s and did work for Oscar Goodman as he defended mobsters. podcast Click to listen - Alt-click to downloadShow Notes[00:00] Gabby Girl Intro[00:55] Show Notes for GWAE[02:12] Richard randomly experiences of the value of an Las Vegas Advisor coupon at the Palms [03:42] Listener email question #1: Why would a sports book ban a sharp player?[06:43] Listener email question #2: How do you discretely scout table games?[08:40] Listener email question #3: When is it socially acceptable to leave a poker home game? [11:14] Listener email question #4: Is 6:5 blackjack here to stay in Las Vegas?[13:40] Listener email question #5: Why are Europeans more accepting of constant shuffle machines? [14:23] Listener email question #6: Where does Richard play chess online?[14:54] Gabby Girl's experience as a private investigator before she was 21[16:14] How Gabby Girl learned to extract information from people[18:01] Cary Sayegh kidnapping case[21:13] Joseph Yablonsky and Oscar Goodman[24:23] Gabby Girl's father's perception of her job[25:23] Anthony Spilotro and the Hole in the Wall Gang[29:15] Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal[35:11] Frank Cullotta[41:29] Eddie LaRaue and bonuses for serving difficult subpoenas[47:39] Surveillance in adultery casesLas Vegas Advisor - https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/Mob Museum - https://themobmuseum.org/Chicago Joe's - http://www.chicagojoesrestaurant.com/

In Part 2, Frank goes into more depth about his work with the Hole in the Wall Gang. Spilotro obtained inside information that the owners of Bertha’s jewelry story in Las Vegas kept as much... The post Frank Cullotta and Tony Spilotro Part 2 appeared first on Gangland Wire.

In this first of a 2 part interview of Frank Cullotta, we talk to a guy who was a career criminal from his teenage years and rose though the ranks of the Chicago Outfit from... The post Frank Cullotta and Tony Spilotro Part 1 appeared first on Gangland Wire.

The True Story Behind The Hit Film 'Casino' From An ‘Enforcer' Who Lived ItTony Spilotro was the Mob's man in Las Vegas. A feared enforcer, the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. The “Little Guy” built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta helped him do it. But Tony's quest for power and lack of self-control with women cost the Mob its control of Vegas; and Tony paid for it with his life.”I was a little nervous before my first meeting with former mobster Frank Cullotta. It turned out we had a pleasant conversation that ended with an agreement for me to write his book. As I drove home, I realized I had made a deal with a career thief and killer on a handshake. What was I thinking?”--Dennis N. Griffin, author of SURVIVING THE MOBhttps://amzn.to/3Ja2OKdBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Frank Cullotta, a career criminal, hit man and associate of the Chicago Outfit, will join co-hosts Denny Griffin and Eric Miller to discuss his conversion from killer to author. Cullotta is now working on his third book with Griffin. He also hosts Frank Cullotta’s Casino Tours with George Robert Allen in Las Vegas. If you like true crime books, or are thinking of writing one, don't miss this show. Frank is the real deal and will talk about how his books were developed as well as events in his life.

The guys talk about current events and Hollywood goings ons. Later they sit down with one of americas most infamous Mafia members Frank Cullotta. His life was portrayed in the movie Casino!

Frank's World features guets that include former mobsters and lawmen, entertainers and businessmen and women. Tonight's show will feature a preview of Mob-Con 2014.  

Frank's World features guets that include former mobsters and lawmen, entertainers and businessmen and women. Tonight Frank welcomes back author, screenwriter and musician Jon D'Amore.

Frank's World features guests that include former mobsters and lawmen, entertainers and businessmen and women. Tonight Frank welcomes Paul Scharff, whose father was murdered in Lakemoor, Illinois on June 2, 1981. Paul is co-author of the book Murder in McHenry - A Son's Pursuit of Justice.  

Vegas Mobster Frank Cullotta, Lawman Dennis Griffin "Casino" The Real Story Guest: Frank CullottaFrank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. As a youth he embarked on a decades-long criminal career, hanging around with some of the toughest kids on the Windy City's streets. Frank and several of his associates went on to become accomplished thieves, arsonists, and killers. One of those was Frank's friend, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro, who gained notoriety as a ruthless Chicago Outfit enforcer. Tony was the mob's top man in Las Vegas during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s. Frank was his main man for much of that time. Together, they and their gang ruled the Vegas underworld.In 1982, the two men had a falling out that resulted in Frank rolling and becoming a government witness. His testimony was instrumental in putting a number of mobsters behind bars and causing the Outfit to lose its control over Las Vegas. Although the mob issued a contract on his life, Frank survived his time in prison and the Witness Protection Program. He is now a free man. His tell-all biography, Cullotta, is due to be released in May 2007.http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Wall-Gang-Frank-Cullotta/dp/1936759217/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=2KJKEWILBKXOWNET&creativeASIN=1936759217Las Vegas mafiaGuest: Dennis N. Griffin Dennis N. Griffin retired in 1994 after a twenty-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada later that year. In 1996 he wrote his first novel, The Morgue, based on an actual case he investigated. He currently has six mystery/thriller books in print. In 2002, Dennis turned his attention to non-fiction. Policing Las Vegas (Huntington Press, April 2005) follows the evolution of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2005. That successful debut was followed by The Battle for Las Vegas – The Law vs the Mob (Huntington Press, April 2006). This latest book tells the inside story of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro's reign in Vegas, and the war law enforcement waged to remove him. The Hollywood version of that era was reflected in the 1995 movie Casino, in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro. Mr. Griffin is an active member of the Henderson Writers Group, Wizards Of Words, and the Public Safety Writers Association. http://www.amazon.com/Cullotta-Chicago-Criminal-Mobster-Government/dp/0929712455/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=theopprep-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=GFAWKK3G4PCWHQGO&creativeASIN=0929712455This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/1198501/advertisement

Denny Griffins story is a truly unique story and his success and analyzing how he has evolved hi businesses to match his capabilities is truly inspiring.  Denny and I have a lot of fun on the show. Call in to ask him questions.    Dennis began his career as a private investigator with Pinkerton’s Inc., working mostly undercover assignments, which ultimately led to a position as the Director of Investigations with the New York State Dept. of Health laboratory division. There were stops along the way as a Sr. Child Support Investigator and deputy sheriff in Madison County, New York, in between. Dennis relied heavily on resources such as retired FBI agents and police detectives from that era, and through his conversations with career criminal and former Spilotro lieutenant Frank Cullotta.    His latest book chronicles the true story of Andrew DiDonato, a former member of the Gambino crime family, Surviving the Mob, is available at all online book sellers, and local book stores.

The Mob wanted him, the FBI had him, Mark and Sazzy get to talk to him. That's right folks – Ex-Mobster Frank Cullotta comes out of the shadows to talk to The Vegas Tourist. Right before he was to step out publicly to release his biography Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness (True Crime), Frank Cullotta takes the time to talk with Mark and Sazzy. Not only do we talk to Frank, we also get to talk to his FBI contact Dennis Arnoldy as well as the man who put the book together, our friend Dennis Griffin.   We got this honor in front of any other media because of our previous interview with Mob Crime author Dennis Griffin. In fact, at the time of the recording, most media people had no idea Frank Cullotta was even in Las Vegas! We were sworn to secrecy and if you know Sazzy, you know that wasn't an easy thing to do. After months of planning and prepping, Dennis, Dennis, and Mr. Frank arrive at our studios for a Sit-Down. (complete with an unassuming bodyguard)   Nothing was really off-limits, but it was just fascinating and fun to sit down with the men we just finished reading about.  The man who helped run Las Vegas for the Chicago Mob and the man who helped to bring them down.  Getting the How and why it happened. For the non-Vegas Mobster fans, Frank Cullotta was the right-hand man and boyhood friend to Tony “the ant” Spillatro. The man who ran the Chicago Family's business in Vegas. Tony Spilattro was played brilliantly by Joe Pesci in the movie “Casino” Frank also plays a hitman in the movie as well as a technical director.