Podcasts about spilotro

In this episode, we delve into the intricate world of the Chicago Outfit’s informants, featuring insights from my late friend, Cam Robinson, and Paul Whitcomb, a well-respected expert on the mob. This special compilation draws from past interviews and shorts that once highlighted various informants who operated during the notorious 1980s era of organized crime in Chicago. Through a series of concise segments, we explore the lives of key players who chose to turn against the Outfit, revealing the complex motivations and consequences of their decisions. We kick things off by revisiting the tale of Paul “Peanuts” Pansko, an influential figure leading the Polish faction of the Outfit. Pansko's criminal activities, including a racetrack heist, not only placed him in dangerous territory but also set into motion a chain of events that would later link to the infamous Family Secrets trial. It's during this journey that we outline how interconnected the informants’ narratives are, showcasing how Pansko’s actions inadvertently unraveled parts of the organization.   The discussion shifts to more dramatic stories, including Mario Rainone. Rainone's infamous decision to cooperate with the authorities opened the door to significant revelations about Lenny Patrick, one of the highest-ranking Outfit members to switch sides. Rainone's tapes ultimately led to the dismantling of major sections of the Outfit’s operations, including political connections that had long shielded them from legal repercussions.   We also explore the tale of Ken “Tokyo Joe” Eto, a Japanese mobster who thrived within the Outfit’s ranks. His attempts at self-preservation after surviving an assassination effort highlighted the stark realities faced by those who navigated the perilous landscape of organized crime. As he eventually became a witness for the prosecution, Eto’s insights illuminated the internal workings of one of Chicago’s most feared organizations. The episode further examines dramatic betrayals and deadly encounters that shaped the Outfit’s legacy. From the chilling events surrounding the murders of the Spilotro brothers, orchestrated by their own associates for reasons steeped in loyalty and betrayal, to the grim fate that met informants like Al Toco and the impact of domestic discord on organized crime, each tale is a window into the bleak realities faced by both mobsters and informants alike. As we round out the episode, we reflect on the cultural dynamics surrounding informants, particularly how personal relationships and family ties heavily influenced their decisions to cooperate. It becomes clear through the interviews that while fear of retribution often compels loyalty, the specter of betrayal looms large within the mob. This multifaceted examination blends personal stories with historical context, providing a deeper understanding of the Chicago Outfit’s complexity and its operatives. Join us in this retrospective journey through the shadows of organized crime as we pay homage to those who bravely shared their stories, revealing the inner workings of a criminal empire that continues to fascinate and terrify in equal measure. 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. Transcript [0:00] Well, hey, guys, after listening to Bob Cooley, one of the more damaging sources and witness and informant to the Chicago Outfit outside of the Calabrese family, [0:13] Nick and his nephew, Frank Jr., I got the rest of the Chicago Outfit informants on tap here. No, not really. They’re not coming in. But I did do a story. I did a series of shorts a few years, or I don’t know, two or three years ago, maybe. [0:32] I interviewed my late friend, Cam Robinson, rest in peace, Cam. So you get to hear from him again. And Paul Whitcomb, who is a Chicago outfit expert, he’s been on this. They used to have some kind of a round table show up there. I don’t know if they still have it or not with the Seiferts. But anyhow, I got these guys to sit down with me and talk about all the different informants in Chicago during the, it was during the 80s. So this is just kind of a series of shorts that I put up before. They’re six or eight minutes long, I think, each one of them, that they talk about different informants. This kind of threw it together as another little bonus episode we’ve done. And I went to Chicago, if you notice, after Johnny Russo, which I apologize for in a way, I don’t know. I mean, the guy’s got some crazy-ass stories, doesn’t he? Who am I to say that he didn’t do it? But most people know that he didn’t do most of that stuff. Anyhow, so I threw up another Chicago right away about the guy that had the race wire that they killed, James Reagan. [1:38] Then i had this interview that i’d been doing during those last couple weeks with bob cooley who’s appeared uh out of nowhere and he’ll maybe see him on some other shows now he’s he’s wanting to do shows he tells me so after hearing bob cooley talk i thought well i’m doing do one more i want to just throw it up as an extra uh from some of my old chicago outfit stuff and that’ll finish me off on the Chicago outfit for a while. I hadn’t, I hadn’t been in Chicago, uh, doing shows about Chicago for quite a while. And, and I didn’t want to, uh, neglect you guys. You know, I get a lot of books written about New York and I’ve got all these authors that are wanting to do these books about New York. Uh, not so much about Chicago. So if you got anybody that, you know, wants to, got a book and wants to come on the show, uh, talking about the outfit, why steer them to me. So anyhow, just sit back and relax and enjoy. [2:37] My late, great friend, Cam Robinson. One more look at Cam, for those of you who remember him, and Paul Whitcomb. And we’re going to talk about famous snitches from Chicago. Thanks, guys. Well, let’s move along now to, this is kind of interesting, Paul Peanuts Panczko, who was the leader of the Polish branch of the outfield. Is that what you would call Peanuts Panczko, the leader of the Polish branch? If the Polish branch is the Panczko family, which you could easily say there were three brothers, then yeah, that wouldn’t be right. We haven’t really done a show on them. I don’t know a whole lot about them other than they were released at all. So we said non-Italian, Peckerwood, as we call them at Kansas City, professional criminals who did a lot of business with different outfit people. And he did a robbery of a racetrack. I think it’s the Balmoral Racetrack. It’s the name of it. James Duke Basile and then Panczko was in trouble for that and he convinced Basile to come in and they did some talking remember anything about that situation, you know in a lot of ways you. [3:50] Panczko could be considered one of the first dominoes that eventually led to the Family Secrets trial. Panczko, as you said, led to Dookie Bazile, who they had done robberies together. Bazile led them to Scarpelli, who was a much higher guy. I mean, there’s debate, but he was, because there was a making ceremony at this time, but Scarpelli was pretty highly ranked. I mean, he was a known killer, and he was up there. He was in the wild bunch. But Scarpelli then did tell them about a lot of the things that Frank Calabrese had done. [4:28] He wasn’t known as well as Scarpelli had brought him up to be. And a lot of those things dominoed into what would eventually lead to family secrets years later. [4:42] Scarpelli, I think, did not know so much about Nick, but he did know about Frank. And so a lot of that information sort of filled in the gaps. And even though Frank Calabrese Jr. Led them led them to Nick They A lot of seeds were planted And can be traced back to Pianus Pansico Um. [5:01] So it is kind of an interesting line. Basile, he wore a wire on Scarpelli and not even talking about a lot of these things. It’s not the FBI knew about that. They were in a car together. Right. If I remember right, he even talked about a mob graveyard. They went up there and they found two or three bodies. One of them was connected. It wasn’t anybody really important, but one of them was connected to Harry Aleman. So it was a pretty important wearing of a wire on Scarpelli, who then came at himself for a while. And that’s what led to the family secrets. He talked about Frank Calabrese. Is that what you’re saying? Yeah, that’s right. And some of those bodies in that graveyard were 10 years apart, which was interesting. I’ve got, it’s on the map that I created, but some of those bodies, there was years in between them. So it was something they were going back to and they believed that there were a lot of things there they did not find. Yeah, because they built a health care facility or something. They built some big building over where there would have been bodies. Right. Right. And the fascinating thing about this is Scarpelli, like, just like Cam said, this guy was a serious killer. He was a muscle builder. He was a terrifying guy. I mean, he had almost inhuman physical strength. Yeah. And when he flipped, he was completely debriefed by the FBI and the DOJ and then decided to try and change his mind. [6:27] But before he could do that He hung himself in the bathroom Of the Metropolitan Correctional Center With his hands behind his back And a bag over his head, Who was he in prison with? Who was he in MCC with, Paul? Was it anybody? He did happen to be in the MCC with the German at the time. He bound his hands behind his back and put a bag over his own head. He did. He did. And so the outfit continues to somehow persuade people to take their own lives rather than testify against them. [7:07] It’s a hell of a way to die by suicide it is by suicide at least they didn’t have arrows in his back, not as far as we know yeah it was terrible he cut his own head off I saw a cartoon once that the homicide guy liked to go ahead and maybe real suckle of suicide because then you could just walk away from it so there’s a dead body laying there with a bunch of arrows at his back and a homicide detective standing over him with a hand and pencil and says, hmm, suicide, huh? [7:44] Got the inside joke. It worked homicide. You see how those guys sometimes will try to make something into a suicide that probably is a homicide. On the other hand, we had one, we had a mob guy, he wasn’t really a mob associate, who had gone to Vegas. He lost a lot of money and they found his body in his car at the airport parking lot after coming back from Vegas and they found out later lost a lot of money and the car was parked up against the fence and he was shot in the head and there was no gun in the car you know found so just assume that somebody shot him in his head the car kept going and rolling up against the fence. [8:25] But this one detective, I remember Bob Pence is his name. He was dumb. And he started, he went back over and he dusted that car for prints again. And he got some more evidence out of it. And then he went back to the airport and he looked and started asking questions. And he found out later that somebody who had a pickup truck parked there had a week later, three or four days later, come back and got his truck. When he got home he found a pistol inside the bed of his truck and he called the airport or he called somebody turned it in Pinson found that pistol that was a pistol that that shot the guy so Pinson's theory was he was rolling along in his car he shot himself in the head and then he flipped that pistol out is with a reaction he flipped it out and went in the bed in that pickup and then it rolled on up against the fence and they ruled it a suicide wow damn that’s not that different than Scarpelli I mean the fbi to this day insists it was suicide yeah well, Oh, well, right. All right. Let’s move along to Mario. John, the arm. Rainone. [9:41] Is that correct, Cam? That yeah, that’s Rainone. Yeah. So tell us about that. I know we talked about this, you know, a little bit about this one. [9:50] This is kind of a funny one. He was he was sent to kill a building inspector. Raynaud was with the Grand Avenue crew and so he’s en route to kill this guy and this is one of those mob blunders and he sees a couple guys following him and it’s Rudy Fredo and Willie Messino and he recognizes him when he’s driving over there and it’s important to point out who these guys are, Cam, not to interrupt you Willie Messino, was the right hand man and bodyguard for Tony Accardo for 30 years I mean, he was serious, serious business. Rudy Frayto, you know, the chin, but Massino was serious news. If you saw Willie Massino, you knew he were in for trouble. Yeah, he wasn’t there as backup to do anything except clean up after Rainone, including Rainone. So Rainone saw the writing on the wall. He pulls up and he goes straight to the FBI. [10:54] And he informs, he talks to them and gives them his information. And later on, he sort of regrets doing so, denies that he ever did. Uh, there were, there were, uh, articles written about him. There’s a, there’s a Chicago Tribune writer, John Cass, and Ray Nolan had a back and forth with him writing letters. This is how these mob guys in Chicago operate, talking about, I’m, I ain’t no beefer. And, uh. Once he was out of prison in 2009, he was busted several more times. If you can believe it, he stayed in the criminal life. He was robbing a liquor store with another guy. And the guy he was robbing with, this is why I jump ahead a little bit, was a guy named Vincent Forliano. He claimed that he didn’t even know Fratto or Messino. These were guys he didn’t know, so he never would have informed against them. The guy he was robbing the liquor store with and he was committing other robberies with, Vincent Forliano, was Fredo’s son-in-law. [11:56] So he was committing robberies with a guy related to the guy, but he didn’t know who they were. And to say that somebody didn’t know, as Paul said, Willie Messino, is just ludicrous. Anybody in the criminal atmosphere, period, knew who Willie Messino was because you were probably paying money to it. to exist. And this is extremely important because Rainone, at the time this happened, Rainone cooperated long enough to record conversations with Lenny Patrick. That’s right. That’s right. And that set dominoes in place that would lead to the fall of the outfit. Even though he tried to take back his cooperation, to say he never cooperated, I’ve heard those tapes that were played in trials that I participated in, so I I know better. Uh, and that’s why they call him Mario flip flop Rainone because he, uh, would cooperate and uncooperate and then cooperate. But he is the one who got Lenny Patrick on the hook. Yeah. [13:00] Interesting, interesting. Let’s just continue on with this Lenny Patrick because we weren’t going to talk about him. That’s a good lead hand to talk about another, really one of the most important informants that year who testified. [13:13] Can you talk about the domino that led to the end? Rainone really, really flipped the domino that kicked over. Go ahead, Paul. Well, Lenny Patrick was the highest, and even to this day, remains the highest ranking member of the outfit to ever turn state’s evidence. The guy was a capo in all but name. He had been in charge of Rogers Park, the gambling. He was essentially the head of the Jewish arm of the mafia, kind of the Meyer Lansky figure of Chicago. And when the Lawndale neighborhood moved north to Rogers Park, he moved with them, and he had his own crew. He reported directly to Gus Alex, who was, of course, at the very top, and Sam Carlisi. And he was dealing with Marcello and Carlesi in a number of different outfit ventures, loan sharking. He personally had been staked by Carlesi with a quarter million in cash to put out on the street. And he was involved in extortions Bombings of theaters All these things directly at the command of Sam Carlisi Who was then the boss of bosses of the Chicago outfit So when Rainone got him on tape They set up what was the beginning of the end for the outfit And I think people need to understand who Gus Alex is also For people outside of Chicago Gus Alex was. [14:40] Basically, I guess you could call him the equivalent of maybe the consigliere in Chicago. When you look at Chicago, the triumvirate in the 70s, once a guy like Paul Ricca died and several major outfit leaders died in the early 70s. [14:58] Tony Accardo decided that the outfit would be led by himself, by Joy Iupa, and the political wing and all of the non-Italians and all of the grift and a lot of aspects would be led by Gus Alex. So he was essentially on the same level as Joey Iupa, and he was responsible for much more for things of greater import than Joey Iupa. I mean, controlling the political arm and all the payoffs and all of that is much, much more than the streets and the murders. So all the politics and all the anything that had to do was definitely fell under gus alex and he was part of a ruling triumvirate he was a non-italian part of a ruling triumvirate with iupa and uh acardo so he was the the leader top of the outfit and he had been for years going back to going back to the 30s and the 40s 40 he had come up under, the Murray the Camel Humphreys and had made those connections he was the most connected guy in the Chicago outfit, so for a guy like Lenny Patrick to be. [16:15] Rollover against is essentially the political leader, national political leader and political leader of Chicago. This was absolutely crippling to the outfit. That was he wiped out the entire political arm of the Chicago outfit. After Lenny Patrick brought down Gus Alex, this became a basically a street crime organization. It was that those political contacts. I mean, I think that’s a fair statement, right, Paul? Those political contacts and judges, I mean, that was all but eliminated with Gus Alex going away. You’re absolutely right, Cam. And he not only took out Gus Alex, but he took out the boss of the Italians, too. That’s right, yeah. Both of them at the same time. He wiped out the outfit, and you put it beautifully by saying it became a street crime organization. You think about the division of labor and it started with IUP and IUP and. [17:19] La Pietra, Jackie Cerone, they had all the gambling, a lot of the sports gambling, but they also had the skim from Las Vegas, and they ran all that stuff, while Gus Alex, along with Lenny Patrick, ran all that politics, and you can’t have a mob organization if you don’t have cover politically. That’s why even in Kansas City, we’re pretty clean here, but we still never had any real mob prosecutions. [17:47] And it certainly had very few, if any, little, if any mob prosecutions at Cook County. And you couldn’t even get convicted of a real crime, murder, assault, or something. It’s just a straight-out crime. You weren’t even trying to do a RICO, I think, on anybody. So it was, you know, they just operated with impunity. Well, you took out that whole gambling side. That was all the money coming in. And then shortly thereafter, you take out the political side, who then turns back and gets the new boss on the gambling side and loan sharking and all that. [18:23] I’ll tell you, by 1990, the outfit’s gone. It really is. It still exists to a degree, but Sam Carlisi was the last traditional old line boss of the outfit. you, that, in my opinion, that ever ruled. After that, it was never the same. Yeah, I think a guy like Gus Alex, you know, like you said, Gary, you had Aiuppa who was dealing with gambling, but I think that’s a lot of, there’s a lot of optics to that, you know, and you’ve got all these cities who have got characters who are not Italian, Gus Alex in Chicago, and, you know, as Paul said, Meyer Lansky, who was New York, and you had Mashie Rockman in Cleveland, and these characters not italians so they know when to step back and let and let the italians talk but that doesn’t mean that they’re not running things it’s just for the optics of city to city where the italians have to see that they’re dealing with italians they don’t walk in the room it doesn’t mean that behind the scenes they’re not pulling the levers they just because of of the uh uh criminal um. [19:34] The the criminal view of of non-italians in that world sort of sort of their own prejudices these guys don’t always walk in the room when they’re dealing with other cities gus alex is is sitting down with anybody in chicago but you go to kansas city you go to new york, you know meyer lansky would leave the room when they were when they were talking you know italian to Italian. And the same thing with Gus Alex or Mace Rockman or any of those other guys who are not Italian. It was just an optics city to city. It doesn’t mean that they weren’t pulling the levers. Is it Yehuda or Jehuda, Cam? Jehuda. I’ve always heard of Jehuda. Yeah, Jehuda. So he kind of dealed with the IRS that year. [20:23] He must have had some. The IRS was really strong working the mob in Chicago. I’ve noticed several references to IRS investigations. We did not have that in Kansas City, and the IRS did a little bit, but they were not as strong as they were up in Chicago. [20:38] Yeah, he met with an agent, Tom Moriarty, who’s been around and worked Chicago for a long time. He was a pretty well-known guy up here. But Bill Jehota worked under Ernest Rocco Infelice, who was a real powerhouse going back a long time. And out in Cicero, and his crew, a lot of these crews had their own little names, and they called the good shit Lollipop. He was a huge gambling enterprise, you know. And they bought a house up in Lake County, which is north of the city. It’s funny, this house they bought was actually the family that had lived in it. The son had murdered the family. It was a murder house before the outfit bought it. and uh they bought it used it as a as a gambling den and and after that moved out they used it for prostitution and they would park cars at a nearby motel that they ran and then then have a uh a, valet service that drove him to this this gambling house and there was also quite a few uh murders that uhJahoda witnessed i’m sure he took no part in it he just happened to be standing outside of the house when they when they these murders were committed there was a uh was it hal smith and um. [21:57] Oh i can’t remember the they killed somebody else in this home and they burnt these were guys who didn’t want to pay his tree tags, and they were gamblers who refused to give in. And he brought down this entire crew. I mean, Rocco and Felice was… There’s a famous picture of the day after the Spolatros were killed. And it was really the upper echelon of the up that you’ve got. You’ve got little Jimmy Marcello. You’ve got the boss, Sam Wings-Carlesi. You’ve got the street boss, Joe Ferriola. And you’ve got Rocco and Felice, who’s right there. These are the four top guys, basically, in the outfit as far as at this time, the Cicero crew had risen to the top. That was the powerhouse crew. And so he was involved in those discussions because he was such a powerhouse out there with Ferriola being the street boss. So he was, it really can’t be thatJahodatestimony that eventually brought down this crew was really, it really crippled that crew for a long time. Well, those people that went down in that trial have only in the last five years come out of prison. Yeah, we’ve actually had been talking to somebody. We’ve had the… [23:13] Opportunity to meet he brought down uh uh robert um to go beat um bellavia and another guy who doesn’t like to be mentioned who runs a pretty successful pizza pizza chain up in lake county and uh these guys went down for a long time the beat was down for 25 years and he just came out. [23:39] So and billJahoda have if you read his testimony it is kind of kind of odd that he was standing outside of the building and just looked in the window and they were committing a murder and he just he he places himself outside of the house witnessing a murder through the window which is convenient when you’re the one testifying against murderers it certainly is yeah. [24:03] So so that was he was involved in the gambling so that makes sense then the irs got him and millions of dollars millions of dollars a month they were bringing and he met uh, i don’t remember paul and you did he he contacted moriarty right or did moriarty reach out to him because he was under investigation i i thought Jahoda was was worried about himself so he reached out to them i can’t remember the details i think you’re right yeah i i think he was worried about his own his own safety gary and he reached out to moriarty and they met up at a hotel just outside the city on the uh up in the northwest and uh they talked about things i actually found the location and on the little map you can find where where they met each other but he they met each other in disgust and they would meet different locations and and jahuda wore a wire and some of those some of those wiretaps are they really make for that. [25:05] That those conversations come right out of the movie just i love what we’re doing out here and i love my job and and you actually where i’m going to make you trunk music i mean you really hear these things that that you see it right in the movies i mean you you can’t write the dialogue that these guys are actually using it’s it’s it’s you know it it comes straight out of a book i mean You’ve got, you’ve got, uh, this is the toughest dialogue you’ll ever hear. Interesting. How’d you buy it? Where’d you find that at? Is that, uh, it’s probably not the audio in probably anywhere. No book or something. Yeah. You can, if you look up, if you look up different, different, you know, you go on newspapers.com or you go in different, uh, I believe, uh, I’ve got, um, uh, mob textbook by, um, Howard Abedinsky. I’ve got a couple of copies of his, of his textbook, organized crime. And he’s got some clips of it. This guy who owns a pizza shop up north is talking about how he loves his job. He loves what he does. And it’s funny to hear he talk about smashing somebody and loving what you do. Really? I’ve heard a few conversations like that back at the station house. [26:25] I don’t care. It’s on both sides. Is that what you’re saying? When you live in that world. Those guys can go either direction. [26:37] Well, let’s talk about ex-Chicago cops. Speaking of cops, let’s talk about, Vince Rizza, his daughter actually appeared on that Chicago Mob Housewives, or they tried to do a show. And Frank Schweiss’ daughter was on it. And Pia Rizza, who has gotten some notoriety as a model or something, I can’t remember. And she really, she was tight. She would not talk about her dad at all. I read an interview of her. She would just talk about her dad at all. But he came in and he testified against Harry Aleman, of all people, and linked him to the murder of this bookie, Anthony Ritlinger. Remember that one? [27:22] Go ahead, Paul. No, that one I’m not very up on, Cam. I’m sorry. So, Ritlinger, I believe he didn’t want to pay his street tax, if I’m right, Gary. Yeah, you’re right. He had been warned. Rattlinger had been warned that he needs to pay, he needs to pay, and he was making a good deal of money. And Ratlinger was he was brought in just the normal course of action with the wild bunch because he was a wild bunch murder I’m a little rusty but here it comes so he was a wild bunch killing, he was brought in he was warned it was the typical Harry Ailerman and if I’m remembering correctly and people correct me if I’m not it was Butch Petruccelli they sat him down. [28:11] Usually it would be Butch and, um, uh, Borsellino who would do the talking, uh, Tony Borsellino, and they would do the talking. And then afterwards, Butch Petruccelli would just sit down and glare. So he was a pretty scary guy. And he had that, uh, uh, Malocchio, the, the evil eye, and he would just glare at people. And that would send the message and Rattlinger didn’t, didn’t listen. He was making too much money, he’s not going to pay any damn Degos, that kind of line. And so he, of course, fell victim to these guys. And I believe he may have been trunk music. I think I remember this one, Matt, but I can’t remember. Yeah, I got this one. He went to a restaurant. That’s right. That’s right. And he had already, his daughter lived with him. I’m not sure about the wife, but he had warned his family to take all kinds of extra cautious. He knew something was coming. And it was, you know, after reading that thing, it’s, It’s kind of like, well, we talked about Spilotro taking off their jewelry. Ken Eto did this similar kind of a thing and told his wife he may not be coming back. [29:22] I tell you, another guy that did the same thing was Sonny Black. That’s right. It came out about Joe Pistone, the Donnie Brasco story. He did the same thing. He went to a sit-down or a meeting, and he took off his jewelry, I believe left his billfold, when he went to the meeting. this. Ken Eto was the same way. Ken Eto, I think, thought he could talk his way out. I think all of them thought they could talk their way out of it. So Rettlinger went out by himself and sat in a prominent place in this local restaurant that was really well known up there in the north side. It’s north of downtown Chicago, and I can’t remember the name of it. [30:02] And he just sat there and pretty soon a car pulls up and two guys run in kind of like a Richard Cain kind of a deal and just start popping. And that was a Harry Aleman deal. That’s right. He did, I believe. There’s an old guy who married the girlfriend of Felix Adlericio, I believe. He and this woman are sitting out in front of their brownstone, and Aleman and some other dude pull out and get out when guys walk up to him and shoot him and kill him. [30:31] And so that was – Yeah, that was Petrocelli and Aleman walked up, And he had been, he had been dating, uh, uh, Aldericio’s, Alderico’s girlfriend. Now that’s the famous hit from beyond the grave. Because we’re going to go on the old Samuel’s just sitting in the lawn chair thinking he’d got it made. That’s right. You know, Gary, you and I did the show on the outfit, uh, a long time ago. No, I’m sorry. On the wild bunch, a long time ago. So a lot of those, and they did so much work back in the day. A lot of those run together, but yeah, you’re now, uh, now that you’re right, writing her was he was eating in a restaurant. I’m, Uh, I can’t remember the name. It may have been, been Luna’s, but he was, went out in public. He thought he’d be safe. And like you said, a lot of these guys have a six cents because they come up on the street and they know these things. And, uh, like a guy like Sammy and Reno knew it was coming. He was dodging them for a long time, but they, they know that their time is coming. Eventually they just, they stay ahead of it for a while and figure they can fight their way out or talk their way out. And yeah, they, he was blown away right in public. Like it was similar to the, I remember it being similar to the, to the Richard Cain murder. And this was in, it was right around the same time. It was, it was in the mid seventies, 75, 74, 75, 76. It might’ve been 75 that writing or happened right, right in the middle of the restaurant. [31:58] I’ve been a lot cheaper to pay the street tax, I reckon. You know, and it wasn’t, I don’t recall that they’re asking for so much, but once these murder started happening yeah i think it was it wasn’t like it was half or 75 i think they just wanted it was you know it might have been a quarter it might have just been a flat fee across the board but once that street tax was was instituted i mean we’ve talked about this before gary that was when the wild bunch was out there that was that was they really didn’t play around When Ferriola told these guys, get everybody in line, [32:31] they really cracked down and they weren’t playing at all. You pay or you die. And guys like Alem and Patrick Shelley, whether it was right in public or whatever, in the outfit in the 70s, Paul, you know this from Richard Cain and several others. They just write in public would just blow you away. and writing her was just was almost textbook just like the Richard Cain it was it was right in the right in the restaurant yeah I’ll tell you I’ll tell. [33:05] I was conflating him with Hal Smith. Okay. I’ll tell you something about those mob hits. When they kill somebody in public like that in a public way, more than likely it’s because whoever the victim is has been alerted, and they can’t get anybody to get close to them. They will already try to send somebody around to get them isolated, and when they can’t get them isolated, then they want them bad enough. They’ll just lay, as Frank Calabrese, I heard him say once, well, lay on them. And I thought, oh, that’s interesting. Well, lay on them. I read that somewhere else. They use that term when you’re following somebody and you’re trying to set them up, or yet they lay on them. Calabrese even said, you know, you’re like, get an empty refrigerator box and hide inside of it. I mean, it’s just like the kind of stuff we used to do at the intelligence unit to run surveillances on people. And so they’ll lay on them for a while until they can get you somewhat isolated. And if they can’t, then they’ll just take you out in public. It might be to send a message, but I don’t think so because it’s so risky to get somebody in public. You can have a young, all-fitty cop in there that you didn’t even notice, and he comes out blazing. And, you know, it’s just not worth it. Even if you take him out, he’s probably got to get you. [34:21] So it’s kind of a last resort. A desperation. Yeah, it’s desperation because they can’t get you isolated. [34:28] You look at some of these public murderers, guys like Richard Cain or Ridinger, like you said, who was on the watch. Sam Annarino, who was right on Cicero. [34:39] A guy like Chris Carty, who was years later. I mean, these are guys who would have been smart enough and street smart enough to be on the watch, to watch their step, to know what was going on. With the exception of a guy like Michael Cagnoni, who just happened to be difficult to get, and he probably might have had an idea that something was happening, but I think just he was a family guy, and so it was hard to isolate. They blew him up on the interstate, but I think that in general, that’s a good point, Gary. These guys, if they just run up and blow away, it’s just a last resort. That’s an excellent point. I have always been in that camp of, oh, that must be sending a message. But you, with your experience, I think you’re exactly right. One thing, guys, I think we’re mixing up Sambo Cesario with Sam Annarino. I was thinking when they – yeah, you’re right, Paul. I was thinking, though, when they blew away Sam Annarino in the parking lot with his family, though, they had been trying to get him for several months. And they finally just went after him in the parking lot, called in a robbery, and blew him away in the furniture store parking lot. That was what I meant. Yeah, Gary was referring to Sambo earlier. I just meant they had been trying to get Sam Annarino for a long time, and when they couldn’t, they just got him in the parking lot. [36:08] Well, interesting. You know, no matter how much terror these guys strike in the heart of their underlings, in the end, they still will turn once in a while. And I think people don’t really not turn because they’re afraid of getting killed so much if they don’t turn because they don’t want to have their family suffering the disgrace of them being a rat or a snitch. I think that’s more important to be a man and go out like a man in this subculture and believe me I’ve lived in a subculture where being a man and being a tough guy is more important than anything else, I think that’s the most important thing that keeps people from coming in you’re like a wimp you’re a puss, you can’t take it, can’t handle it you know what I mean you can’t handle five years I could do five years standing on my head or a tray like the dude told me so uh you know but even even with all that and still there’s a certain percentage that will end up coming in sure and usually there are people that either don’t care about their family like lenny patrick yeah or that don’t have close family so that they don’t have it so much of that pressure that you’re talking about gary because you make a really valid point that that that cultural value is so strong yeah yeah it’s it’s. [37:36] In a lot of these small towns, you see in Detroit where they’re all family tied in and everything, you don’t see informants. I think they’ve had one. Kansas City, as you said, Gary, you don’t see. But then you look at a place like Rochester where they’re all just lower tier mob guys. Everybody was informing on everybody because they really weren’t as upper echelon sort of mob guys. So I think that, like you said, once you get that culture seeped in, you’ve got those families and all, there’s a lot of factors. But if it’s a deep-rooted mob town, you really don’t see a lot of real informants. [38:11] So, guys, now we’ve got one that I did a show on. I did a couple of shows on him. I talked to the FBI agent who brought him in and dealt with him for quite a while. Ken Tokiojo Eto. He survived a murder attempt. When that didn’t happen for him with the outfit, what happened after that? [38:32] I believe his attempted assassins got killed themselves. So tell me a little bit about Tokyo Joe Eto. There’s a photograph I have from the late 50s, early 60s And it shows Joe Ferriola And a couple of other heavyweights Hanging around with a young Ken Eto, And a lot of people didn’t know who Ken Eto was But he ran the Japanese game, Gambling, Bolita And lots of money Poured into the outfit through Tokyo Joe As they called him And there was a rumor that perhaps Tokyo Joe was going to turn under a little bit of pressure. And so Jasper Campisi put three slugs in the back of his head. [39:22] Miraculously, he survived three slugs at point blank range. And if he wasn’t going to turn state’s evidence before, he certainly had a powerful incentive to do so now. He seems to insist As I’ve heard that he was not His intention was not It’s hard to say at this point But he says he had no intention Of flipping and that he’s not sure What the evidence was against him But he was not going to flip until, It was Yeah. [39:55] I’m drawing a blank, Paul. Who was it that sent? It wasn’t the saint. It was Vincent Solano. He was kind of Vincent Solano, who was a union guy and a made guy up there. He kind of had which one. [40:11] He was a capo. And which crew was it? Do you remember? He was on the north side. North side crew. North side crew. And actually, Ken went to Vince Solano and had a talk with him. Said you know what i can do this he was looking at a tray i had a dude tell me what’s that pressure and tried to get him to talk and he said uh he said what am i gonna get out of this a tray he said man i can do a tray standing on my head and i threw him right then that’s right gotta talk to me so uh and that’s all he had to do but solano for some reason uh who knows what was in his head because uh ken Eto had made him a lot of money a lot of money and he was a tough little dude he had he had survived he had been put in the uh concentration camps if you will during the internment camps yeah internment camps and then came as a young man up chicago and been around for a long time by the time this all came down he’d been with him for a long time and made him a lot of money and all kinds of different gambling operations but particularly the bolita. [41:13] So uh it just didn’t make sense i heard one thing that these guys in chicago got the idea Yeah, to keep the noise down, they were loading their own rounds with lighter loads of powder. I don’t know. They had like a hit car up there. The guys in Chicago were pretty sophisticated or tried to be. And so they used these lighter loads. And when it went into his head, it just didn’t penetrate his skull. I remember I was at the hospital once, and there was a young guy who had gotten shot in the head. And they said that the bullet was not a good bullet because it went in under his skin and then went under his scalp, along his skull, and then lodged up on his forehead. [41:56] Wow. And so Eto was kind of the same way. Those bullets were probably lodged up underneath his scalp. He pulled himself to a neighboring, I believe it was a pharmacy that was right there, a corner store. And then that guy went to help him. I think he had to dial a call of 911 or whatever. 911 was in place then. He had to call for help for himself from a phone booth. You know, he saved his own life by being smart and playing dead. Yeah, that’s right. And you look at Chicago, it’s a city of neighborhoods, and you’ve got the Mexican town, and you’ve got the different towns, and you’ve got Chinatown where there’s so much money and so much gambling. And while Haneda was Japanese and there’s obviously division between Japanese and Chinese, it would be much easier for him to go in and then some of these outfit guys and because of different things going on back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. But he could go into neighborhoods and represent the outfit in ways in different communities that the outfit wouldn’t go into or a lot of these made guys. [43:12] And that gave him entry into a lot of communities. In the Asian community, there’s a lot of gambling that he was able to tap into. He was smart enough to see that as a route that maybe the Italian guys didn’t, just like Lenny Patrick, who we’ve talked about in other episodes, had that access into the Jewish communities and other Jewish gangsters. There’s a lot of gambling there. If you can get somebody who has an in to different communities, that’s really a way to go and that’s part of why he made so much money. A game like BolEto wouldn’t normally be and that’s huge in the Hispanic communities and huge with Asians also. You know in kansas city that’s interesting that you should point that out camp we had a um large vietnamese community moved in after the the boat peoples when it started and they moved in through the same church uh. [44:09] Sacred Heart Church and Don Bosco Center that the Italians moved in, the Sicilians moved into back in the turn of the century, the same neighborhoods. And Italians are getting successful and they’re moving out the suburbs and the Vietnamese are moving in and creating the Vietnamese restaurants and Vietnamese shops. And they brought, they have a love for gambling. Like you said, they have huge love for gambling. They don’t drink so much or do so many drugs, but they do love to gamble, it seemed to me like. [44:36] And so they had their own book. he was called the king a guy a friend of mine told me a story uh there’s a mob book he got on the periphery that neighborhood’s got a joint and he he was running a sports book and he had a lot of action going in and out of his joint so this one vietnamese guy had a big debt owed to the king so he goes down and talks to this guy’s name was Larry Strada, he ends up getting killed by some other uh mobsters in a deal they thought he was going to testify but i just needed to hear are there, this young, middle-aged Vietnamese guy goes down to the Caddyshack, Larry Strada’s bar. And he starts telling him about the king. He said, man, he said, the king, you take all your business. He said, he got all business down here. He take all your business. He said, you know, you need to do something about the king. He said, you know, we’re close to the river here. And then he made a motion across his throat like he was cutting his throat. So he was trying to get out of his gambling debt to convince this Italian, La Cosa Nostra bookie to go back and kill me yeah king piano. [45:42] You know i’ve heard a lot of stories and some of them are true some are not that one had to ring a truth to it it had a definite ring of truth that that got to do that playing them against each other yeah you bet and you know another thing about tokyo joe and you know he could testify But Ben Solano had Campizé and Gattuso killed right away. Found them in the trunk of their car, I think. Maybe at the airport, even. [46:09] Chicago trunk music, but they have some saying like that. And so Solano knew that they could testify against him, and they didn’t want to go down for attempted murder, more than likely, and he just didn’t take a chance. So he had them killed, and I can’t remember if he went down behind this or not. But another thing Tokyo Joe was able to do, I mean, he certainly could expose all the inner workings of what he knew about to the FBI, which gives you a lot of tips on where to go, who to work on, and maybe where to throw up microphones or some wiretaps. But he also traveled around he came to Kansas City during the skimming trial because they’re working on the Chicago hierarchy. So they just fly him into town. They show him that picture, the last separate picture where everybody’s in the picture. And they say, now, who’s that? Oh, that’s Aiuppa. Okay, then who’s that? Oh, that’s Vince Solano. Yeah, he reports to Aiuppa. You know, and who’s that guy? I can’t remember the other people at all. So the nation said that Joe is up hard. Oh, yeah, he reports to this guy. So to show the organization of the mob in Chicago and that it is an organization that gives orders to have other people carry it to make the RICO case, that he was a storyteller for that. And he didn’t know anything about the skim at all. But he was a storyteller on getting the mob name and the organization in front of a jury. That’s huge, as you know, Paul. [47:35] Absolutely. We had a similar arrangement during the Carlesi trial about how [47:40] the Carlesi crew operated and who was who, and to tell the story. Yeah. You have to make it a story. Let’s take a look at Betty Toco, which, uh, this is pretty interesting. There was a, um, I’m not sure. Albert Toco was your husband. Remind me what his position was at the outfit at that time. So Al Toco was, there’s sort of a division on who was the leadership of, who was the central leader of Chicago Heights. There’s Dominic Tuts Palermo and Al Toco, who was really a powerhouse in Chicago Heights. And Tuts Palermo was definitely highly connected and across the pond too, also in Italy. But uh Toco was involved in the in the chop shop wars really really heavily involved and he had a lot of connections in chicago too he was involved with lombardo and a lot of these chop shops throughout chicago he had a lot of partnerships and so this was a 30 million dollar a year racket stolen cars chop shops international car rings uh car rings throughout stolen car rings throughout the country. Toco was responsible for burying the Spolatro brothers. It was very sectioned off. Each crew had a part in their murder. And then Chicago Heights was responsible for the burial. [49:02] And they were down in Enos, Indiana. They got kind of turned around a little bit. They were down a farm road. They were burying them in a freshly tilled field. And the road where they’re on, there’s a little side road that you would drive down. There’s very little down there. I’ve, I’ve seen it, but a car happened to come down middle of night and they were in a, there’s a, there were a couple of feet off of a wooded area and they see this car coming down and they sort of all panicked and before they had a chance to cover the area or really do anything, it just looked like a freshly dug, it really just looked like freshly dug mound. And so they all fled and three of Toco’s guys went one way and he went the other. They had the car in both radios. [49:46] He’s wandering around barefoot, and he calls his wife finally. She shows up, and he’s screaming and yelling. And he runs to Florida, and he’s waiting for permission to come back from Joe Ferriola. He’s worried he’s going to get killed because they find the Spallachos immediately because the farmer sees his field all messed up, freshly tilled ground, and it looks really suspicious, like somebody had been poaching deer and burying the carcass. Uh but Toco was a tyrant to his wife he was he was horrible to her he was he was when you think of what a mob guy was that was Toco you know tipping the guy who mows his lawn the kid who mows his lawn hundred bucks and wandered around town everybody knows him but he’d come home and unlike a lot of these guys he was he was a real you know a real. [50:36] Real bastard to his wife you know and for years she put up with this sort of abuse and finally after this this happened and it was in the news and all he finally pushed her too far and she began informing on him and and he was arrested later on he was in his jail cell talking about all the murders he had committed and and this and that about his wife and uh his his uh uh A cellmate repeated everything that he said to try and lessen his sentence. So really, Toco got buried by his big mouth and his terrible behavior. He initially fled to Greece before he was arrested, and they extradited him back from Greece. So this is, I mean, Toco is like deep in mob behavior. [51:22] I mean, fleeing the country and all. I mean, it doesn’t get much more mafia than Al Toco. I hesitate to use that word with Chicago, but that was, Al Toco was running deep. and that Betty Tocco’s testimony eventually led to the trial of Al Tocco. And that was really a blow to the Chicago Heights crew that nowadays, I mean, they continued on and had a few rackets, but after the eventual trial that stemmed from that, it really wasn’t, there’s not much activity now. I’m in that area and there’s just, there’s really nothing here. [51:59] Interesting. Now, so Tony and Michael Spilotro had been lured to somebody’s house on the promise that Michael was going to be made. It’s my understanding. I believe that’s what Frank Collada had reported. And some other people, not part of the Chicago Heights crew, killed him. How did that go down? And how did they pass off the body? You guys, is there anything out there about that? Wasn’t that the family secrets trial, maybe? It was. And, of course, it’s been popularly portrayed in the movie Casino. And it’s surprisingly accurate Except for the fact That where they were beaten But what happened was Little Jimmy Marcello called them. [52:41] And said Sam, meaning Sam Carlisi, the boss, wanted to see them. And they knew that that was ominous because of what was going on beyond the scope of this show. But they took off the jewelry. They left. They told their wives, if we’re not back by 930, it’s not good. They really did not suspect that it was to make Michael. That’s what Collada said. You’re absolutely right about that, Gary. But I don’t think that’s correct at all. They knew that it was bad. And they went. He took a pistol, which was against the rules. They hit him a pistol. Tony hit a pistol on his brother, which you do not do when you go to see the boss. And they were picked up by, by Marcello and taken to a house. I, uh, was it Bensonville? Yeah. Up in Bensonville. Uh, in, in the basement, they walked down the stairs and all of a sudden they looked into the eyes of Carlici and, uh, DeFranzo and everybody, the whole, all the couples were there to spread the, the, uh, liability around and they were beaten to death with, with fists and feet, uh, in, in that basement and then transported to that burial ground, which coincidentally was just maybe a couple hundred yards away from Joey Aupa’s farm. [54:00] Right. So I guess that they must have had, uh, Toco standing by, because I don’t believe he was in that basement. I like that. He must have had him standing by to go grab the bodies and take them out. Really interesting. He should have had the old Doug before he got there. You know, that’s what they always say. First you dig the hole then you go do the murder right and i don’t think he had it done before he got there yeah i don’t i really that’s a good that’s a good point gary i really don’t know and nobody’s ever come forward to say what the status of the hole was beforehand uh you know it was a deep it was a deep it was it was a pretty deep hole uh but they may have had a dug ahead of Tom, but, but, uh, cause they knew the location and it’s pretty obscure location. So they had clearly been there before. And, and, you know, everybody knew that that was, I, I hope was, I got it right. Farm. And, uh, So they may have had it dug, and they just did a shoddy job covering it up. [55:05] But I also haven’t heard the specific details about how they handed it off to Toco. I don’t recall seeing that in Calabrese’s testimony. Yeah, it was Nick Calabrese that testified about that. It brought up the light. He named the killer. So he may not have gone that far, probably having Toco and having his wife testify that he did do this. that she picked him up out there. It was just a piece of the entire prosecution on the spot, which it really never was a trial or anything on that. I don’t believe. Another odd thing is he, I believe he ranted and raved the entire car ride back. And from where he was, you would run up with, It’s now turns into Indianapolis. So it’s a good car ride from where they were to Chicago Heights. I believe he ranted and raved about the guys and his crew and the burial and everything, the entire car ride, which was not something most guys would do in front of their wives. But I really, especially when he treated like that. Right. And complained about how long it took her to get there and everything. So she was able to verify a lot of what Calabrese was saying from the final end of it. Interesting. A friend of mine was in the penitentiary, and he said, there’s a guy in there who called himself a verifier. He said, what do you mean? He said, I’m a professional verifier. What he was, he was an informant. That’s what he was, but he called himself a verifier. [56:33] A girl would come to him and say, well, I heard this, this, and this. Is that true or not? He’d say, well, that’s true. That’s not true. [56:40] I guess that’s a more preferable term. Yeah, she was a verifier. Well, that was great. I really appreciate having that on there and Paul. And I really, I still miss Cam. Every time I get ready to do a Chicago show, I think, oh, I want to get Cam or Rochester. [56:58] We did one about Rochester. We did one about Utica. I did several other shows about other families. And he was a good guy and a real great researcher and a real expert on the outfit and other mafia families. So rest in peace, Cam and Paul. I hope to talk to you again one of these days. Guys, don’t forget, I got stuff to sell out there. Just go to my website or just search on my name for Amazon. I can rent my movies about the skim in Las Vegas, about the big mob war between the Savella brothers and the Spiro brothers in Kansas City. Then one about the great 1946 ballot theft in which the mob… Rigged election, helped Harry Truman rig an election. It’s a little harder to find than mine. You need to put ballot theft and Gary Jenkins. I think you’ll find it then. The other two, Gangland Wire and Brothers Against Brothers, Sabella Spiro, were a little bit easier to find. Had to put it up a different way because Amazon changed the rules, but I got them up there. So thanks a lot, guys.

In this episode of Gangland Wire, retired Kansas City Intelligence detective Gary Jenkins sits down with veteran Chicago journalist Chuck Goudie, whose decades of reporting have made him one of Chicago's most respected voices on organized crime. A fan of the show asked for more Chicago stories—and this conversation delivers. We dive into the legacy of the Spilotro family, sparked by the recent passing of John Spilotro, brother of the infamous Las Vegas mob figure Tony Spilotro. Chuck shares his reflections on how the Outfit has evolved, from its heyday of dominance in gambling, loansharking, and union racketeering to its much smaller—yet still persistent—presence today. Together, we revisit the Outfit's historic ties to the Teamsters, the Strawman trials, and the legendary names like Anthony Accardo who shaped Chicago's mob identity. Chuck solves a mystery and provides the name of the man who killed Sam Giancana. Chuck also offers personal insights into how mob families navigated the push and pull of blood ties, with some members rising into notoriety while others tried to lead straight lives under the shadow of organized crime. Our conversation shifts to Chuck's recent investigative work on the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, exploring the long-standing theories and mob connections that keep the story alive decades later. This episode blends history, reflection, and storytelling—offering both an inside look at Chicago's Outfit and a reminder of why these stories still captivate us today. 1:02 The Legacy of John Drummond 4:11 Current Status of the Outfit 7:28 The Last of the Spilotro Family 10:02 Family Dynamics of the Spilotros 13:18 Frank Calabrese's Las Vegas Fame 13:25 Giancana's Murder Investigation and who did it 18:18 Surveillance in the Giancana Case 22:03 The Straw Man Trials 25:40 Ken Eto's Gangland Story 27:52 Investigating Jimmy Hoffa's Disappearance 31:03 Closing Thoughts with Chuck Goudie Subscribe to Gangland Wire wherever you get your podcasts, and join us each week as we uncover the stories buried beneath the headlines—and the bodies. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app. 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" To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here.  To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here Transcript [0:00] Well, hey, welcome all you wiretappers out there. Good to be back here in the [0:02] studio of Gangland Wire. This is Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective here in Kansas City. And, you know, guys, I have, I was talking with a fan not too long ago from Chicago, I think on the, maybe the Facebook group, and he said, you need to do more Chicago stories. And I had to admit, I hadn't done that many Chicago stories. I got caught up in New York a lot, It seemed like, and anyhow, we're back to Chicago and another guy's mentioned to another guy and we were talking and, and somebody said, I don't remember who, maybe that original fan said you need to get Chuck Goudie on there. He's been doing a lot of reporting on the outfit over the years. And I didn't really know who Chuck was. So I started searching. He did a recent story about the death of the last spilotro brother, John spilotro. So I thought, man, this is, this is it. This is what I got to do. So welcome, Chuck Goudie from Chicago. Well, it's quite an introduction. Some might call it a eulogy, but thankfully that's not what he does. [1:02] Really? Now, I think I told you earlier, you know, last time I interviewed a Chicago newsman, it was John Bulldog Drummond. Bulldog Drummond, I tell you what, he was the dean of Chicago newsmen, television newsmen, when it came to reporting on the mob. There's no doubt about it.

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.

In this episode, Gary takes a deep dive into the ruthless life of Mad Sam DeStefano, one of the most brutal enforcers in organized crime history. A notorious loan shark tied to the Chicago Outfit, DeStefano's reputation for violence and torture made him a feared figure—even among his fellow mobsters. Born in 1909 in Illinois, DeStefano's criminal career began early, leading him from street gangs to the infamous 42 Gang and eventually into the Outfit ranks. His path to power was paved with violence, intimidation, and a sadistic pleasure in collecting debts through extreme methods. From his days as a political fixer to his reign as a feared loan shark, we uncover the chilling techniques he used to maintain control, including stories of his soundproof torture chamber and psychological manipulation of victims. We also explore his relationship with Tony Spilotro, the mentee who would eventually play a role in his demise. As DeStefano's erratic behavior and grotesque acts pushed him further into instability, his allies turned into enemies, sealing his fate in a brutal execution. Join me as we revisit the twisted legacy of Mad Sam DeStefano, a man who thrived on fear but ultimately fell victim to the same violent world he helped create. 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" To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here.  To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast. Donate to the podcast. Click here! Transcript [0:03]Introduction to Mad Sam DeStefano [0:00]Well, hey, all you wiretappers, welcome back to the studio of Gangland Wire. I have an old show that I did like seven or eight years ago, a long time ago, and I haven't retouched this guy since. So I went back in and looked at it and did some new stuff and re-edited it. So I have the story of Mad Sam DeStefano, who was a Chicago outfit loan shark collector. I'll tell you what, wait till you hear this guy's story. A lot of you may have heard of him. He's pretty well known, been pretty well reported on. But this guy is, he is what we call affectionately a piece of work. So settle back and listen to the story of the life of the most brutal loan shark collector and loan shark that probably ever was that I know about. He liked to torture. This guy is Sam, Mad Sam DeStefano. And I'd heard of Mad Sam. Of course, all you guys up in Chicago know about Mad Sam. He was kind of the guy that taught Tony Spilotro all the tricks of the trade on being a gangster. He was one of the first guys that Spilotro was given, was sent to his crew or Spilotro joined his crew. But Mad Sam, we'll tell you a little bit about the history of Mad Sam. Mad Sam was born in 1909. [1:21]And he would go on to become a big-time loan shark and a political fixer and a sociopathic killer for the Chicago outfit. I heard of, there's a guy a lot of you all know, a Chicago, former Chicago-based FBI agent named William F. Romer Jr. He wrote several books on the mob that a lot of people cuss and discuss and argue about whether he was telling the truth or making stuff up. But regardless what you think of Bill Romer, he did know Chicago Outfit better than anybody. And he considered DeStefano to be the worst torture murderer in the history of the United States. He said that this guy was a mentally unstable and sadistic person that was used by the Outfit as an enforcer and a juice loan collector. Sam, Mad Sam, was born in Streeter, Illinois. [2:09]His father was a laborer named Sam DeStefano Sr. His mother's named Rosalie. Both of them had been born in Italy and immigrated to the United State...

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.

Send us a Text Message.Mike sits down with Lee Elgin from Elgin Fine Jewelry and Vincent Spilotro from Arezzo Jewelers for a Retailer Roundtable to talk about how the trade shows were this year, as well as how they are prepping their stores for the holidays.We dive into how the surging price of gold effects their business, their strategy for attending shows, and if they find it to be "worth it" to hop on jewelry trends. Visit their websites: https://www.elginsfj.com/https://www.arezzojewelers.com/Learn more about our sponsor Tailored Rings: tailoredrings.com Send feedback or learn more about the podcast: punchmark.com/loupe Learn about Punchmark's website platform: punchmark.com Inquire about sponsoring In the Loupe and showcase your business on our next episode: podcast@punchmark.com

In the first half, Billy Walters shared his life story as one of the highest rollers, biggest spenders, and most dangerous sports gamblers. When he first moved to Las Vegas in the early 1980s, a lot of gambling was connected with organized crime and associated with various controversies, and now, all these years later, sports gambling is legal in the majority of the states, he pointed out. Walters explained how during the 1980s, he purchased a roulette wheel to take apart and study. He then used a program to analyze the activity of various roulette wheels, and confirmed potential biases and identified wheels with favorable odds for players. Using his knowledge, he won $3.8 million in a couple of days playing the roulette wheel at one of Steve Wynn's casinos in 1986.Walters also described teaming up with a computer whiz named Mike Kent who developed the first computer software program using algorithms and data analysis to handicap sports betting. In order to break even on betting sports, you have to bet on 52.3% of winners, and Walters was winning 58% of the time, he revealed. Eventually, his success attracted the Mob, and Tony Spilotro (the main character in the movie "Casino" is based on him) tried to shake him down and get a cut of his profits. Walters and his wife promptly left town and only returned to Vegas after Spilotro had been murdered. After being profiled on a "60 Minutes" episode, in which he was critical of investing in the stock market and some specific companies, he was arrested on charges of insider trading and eventually served 31 months in prison.-----------------In the latter half, lawyer and anthropologist Petra Molnar discussed migration and human rights. She detailed how technology is being deployed by governments on the world's most vulnerable people and how borders are now big business. Molnar highlighted the need to prioritize human rights and dignity in the face of increasingly heightened conversations around immigration and border security. The issue of migration has turned into a complicated political hot potato, used to rile up the electorate, she noted, and yet those who seek political asylum have an international right to do so-- a legal underpinning that the US has agreed to.One of the reasons people are forced to flee their home countries is because of actions of the West, including imperialism and warmongering, she asserted. The increasing use of surveillance and technology at the borders doesn't stop people from coming but forces them into more dangerous terrain and leads to more deaths, such as in the Sonoran desert in Arizona, she said. The global "border industrial complex" will spend around $68-70 billion in the coming years, she cited, and has become an arena for experimentation, such as using AI lie detectors and military-grade robot dogs. Molnar cautioned that such technologies, which start with border issues, may eventually be used on the citizenry in general. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/georgenoory/message

Psycho's and Sociopath's Anthony Spilotro

Special Attorney Stan Hunterton starts by rolling back time through his description of what Las Vegas was during the mob era of the 70s. This will set the scene for helping the audience understand the mob's presence in the community at a time that was very glamorous for our town. We will flash forward to today where Oscar talks about his homage to Spilotro in his downtown restaurant. This has been met with some controversy from outsiders but Oscar fiercely maintains there is nothing controversial about it and it instead represents history. Part of that history was a telephone soliciting in 1981 in which 67 federal agents snuck into Nellis Airforce for a raid in which LAPD officer Mike Powell was the only undercover operative. Mike will recap that case and describe his encounter with Spilotro. We will then hear from Oscar about the 1986 case and how he got involved in defending Spilotro. We will dive deeper into Spilotro's death and find out what Oscar thinks happened in the days between Spilotro going missing and then his body being found.  

He might have been short in stature but a fearful man you didn't want to mess around with. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Today on Crime & Entertainment we have a crazy tale of cold-blooded murder of Danny Seifert committed by the Chicago Outfit. On September 27, 1974, Chicago businessman Daniel Seifert was brutally gunned down in front of his four-year-old son Joey and young wife, Emma Seifert. Gunmen were Tony "The Ant" Spilotro & Frank 'The German" Schweihs. Some would call him a victim, but others would say he had it coming. At the time, Seifert was a former partner with some of the top people in the Chicago Mob. He has been directly linked to top Mob bosses such as Joe Lombardo Sam Giancana, bail-bondsman / Mob financier Irwin Weiner, and Tony Spilotro. Danny, himself was a street-smart and ambitious young man, he followed in his father's example in his efforts to provide a good, comfortable life for his wife and children. Soon, however, his path leads him toward the dark heart of the Mob. His career choices eventually bring him to a point where he must choose between loyalty to the Mob and probable prison time, or coming clean to the FBI, testifying against Mob leaders and risking retaliation to himself and his family. He chooses the latter, which ultimately leads to his murder and decades of living in fear for his widow, Emma, and their children. His son Joey who was just 4 years old at the time sits down with Crime ^ Entertainment to recount the tragic events of that day and detail the facts that he came to find out years later about his father's murder.  So, strap in for this crazy show here on Crime & Entertainment.Links to Crime & EntertainmentLike us on Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/crimeandente...Follow us on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/crimenenter...Listen on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4T67Bs5...Listen on Apple Music - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...Listen on Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/crime-e...Listen on Google Podcast -

16 - Earthquake Killer: Herbert Mullin and Mobster Anthony “the Ant” Spilotro Earthquake Killer: Herbert Mullin - Herbert Mullin was born in Salinas, California on April 18, 1947, and was raised in the Santa Cruz region by his father who was strict but not abusive. Mullin's father was a World War II hero who worked as a furniture salesman. He would tell Mullin's war stories and teach him how to use a gun. Mullin's grew up very social, and was said to have had many friends in school. He was popular, had a girlfriend and even played varsity football. But life would take a turn for Mullin's after graduating from high school in 1965. Mullin's close friend Dean Richardson was killed in a car accident. This would start a series of odd behavior for him and his dark murder spree. Mobster Anthony “the Ant” Spilotro - Born in Chicago, IL in 1938 Spilotro at a young age was already partaking in criminal activity. Being 1 of 6 children his parents owned a restaurant that was frequented by mobsters such as Sam Giancana, Jackie "The Lackey" Cerone, and Gus Alex. As a teenager Spilotro would drop out of high school and begin to engage in theft, burglary, and other petty crimes. By the time he was 21 he had already been arrested 13 times and he would catch the eye of mob enforcer Sam “Mad Dog” DeStefano. The vicious killings won Spilotro a reputation with area mobsters and earned him high recognition. FOLLOW US AT: facebook.com/thedarksidediariespodcast instagram.com/tdsd.podcast Produced by The Wild 1 Media. Check out our other podcasts-https://anchor.fm/ttmygh https://crypto101.sounder.fm https://anchor.fm/morning-joe-rant-show

The Chicago Mafia was sick of the Spilotro brothers ruining their skim in the Las Vegas Casinos. Something had to be done about them, mob style. Follow your host John Curran as he takes you through the Spilotro brothers crime spree in Las Vegas that eventually had them called home to Chicago. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/this-day-in-the-mob/support

Oscar Goodman was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. After completing high school, Goodman went on to receive his J.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. This eventually prompted a move to the Land of Milk & Honey - Las Vegas, Nevada. During his career as a defense attorney, he represented some of the top members accused of leading organized crime such as: Meyer Lansky, Nicky Scarfo, Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein, Phil Leonetti, former Stardust Casino boss Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, and Jamiel "Jimmy" Chagra, a 1970s drug trafficker who was acquitted of ordering the murder of Federal Judge John H. Wood, Jr. One of his notorious clients was reputed Chicago mobster Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro, who was known to have a short and violent temper. In the semi-factual 1995 movie Casino, the character of Nicky Santoro was based on Spilotro, and was portrayed by actor Joe Pesci. Goodman had a cameo appearance in the film as himself, where he was depicted defending “Ace Rothstein,” a character closely based on Lefty Rosenthal, and played by Robert De Niro. Eventually on June 8, 1999, Goodman was elected mayor of Las Vegas after he received 63.76% of the votes, while his opponent, then-Las Vegas City Councilman Arnie Adamsen, received 36.24% of the votes. In 2003, Goodman was re-elected for a second term, and defeated five opponents after he received 85.72% of the votes. On April 3, 2007, he was re-elected to a third and final term, with 83.69% of the votes when he once again defeated five opponents. Despite having been called Las Vegas' “most popular mayor,” the city has term limit laws that restrict mayors to a maximum of three terms. In 2011, Carolyn Goodman, wife of Oscar, was elected to succeed her husband as mayor after she earned 60% of the votes. Please listen in as we take you on a journey from Mob Lawyer to Las Vegas mayor here on Crime & Entertainment.Grab Oscar's book here:https://www.amazon.com/Being-Oscar-Lawyer-Mayor-Vegas-ebook/dp/B00C8X1CAY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=8FGHLE6WXORS&keywords=oscar+goodman&qid=1654447619&s=books&sprefix=oscar+goodman%2Cstripbooks%2C83&sr=1-1

Topic starts at (0:17:37) mark: Update on PFA Hat development.... (0:31:42): Druff takes 4th Pfizer shot -- did he have another bad reaction?.... (0:53:30): Doug Polk starts controversy after criticizing overweight woman on Sports Illustrated cover.... (1:54:20): 2000s/2010s poker pro and 2+2 Todd Terry passes away at 48 from nasty neurological disease.... (2:24:51): Update: Scammer Dan Bekavac finally makes players whole from Midway Poker Tour, following good run in poker.... (2:44:15): Poker author, columnist, and old school figure Bob Ciaffone passes away at 81.... (3:02:21): Druffytime Theater: Druff's transformation into a +EV gambler in the year 2000.... (3:43:49): Update: Photographer Danny Maxwell accuses Brett Butz of PokerPaint of stealing his work yet again.... (4:04:31): "Christopher Bitchell" calls back in.... (4:10:35): MGM Grand Las Vegas $20k Guarantee Tournament is only paying $19,700.... (4:25:57): Alex Harry Jones accused of scamming players in Europe.... (5:09:07): Update: Leading theory in "Lake Mead barrel" murder connects to notorious mob hitman Tony "The Ant" Spilotro.... (5:39:38): Japanese man chunks off entire town's COVID relief money while gambling.... (5:46:21): Is monkeypox the new concern for 2022?

Topic starts at (0:17:37) mark: Update on PFA Hat development.... (0:31:42): Druff takes 4th Pfizer shot -- did he have another bad reaction?.... (0:53:30): Doug Polk starts controversy after criticizing overweight woman on Sports Illustrated cover.... (1:54:20): 2000s/2010s poker pro and 2+2 Todd Terry passes away at 48 from nasty neurological disease.... (2:24:51): Update: Scammer Dan Bekavac finally makes players whole from Midway Poker Tour, following good run in poker.... (2:44:15): Poker author, columnist, and old school figure Bob Ciaffone passes away at 81.... (3:02:21): Druffytime Theater: Druff's transformation into a +EV gambler in the year 2000.... (3:43:49): Update: Photographer Danny Maxwell accuses Brett Butz of PokerPaint of stealing his work yet again.... (4:04:31): "Christopher Bitchell" calls back in.... (4:10:35): MGM Grand Las Vegas $20k Guarantee Tournament is only paying $19,700.... (4:25:57): Alex Harry Jones accused of scamming players in Europe.... (5:09:07): Update: Leading theory in "Lake Mead barrel" murder connects to notorious mob hitman Tony "The Ant" Spilotro.... (5:39:38): Japanese man chunks off entire town's COVID relief money while gambling.... (5:46:21): Is monkeypox the new concern for 2022?

We're back with highlights from another talk by former Las Vegas Mayor, famous attorney and steakhouse namesake Oscar Goodman. Oscar reads from a logbook of Metro Police officers who were following him in the 1970s, and has some 'kind' words for a local politician seated at his table. But the centerpiece of this story involves Tony 'The Ant' Spilotro and a 'friend' he brought into Oscar's law office one day. You will be fascinated! 

Back in the Social Club Paul and Cam and I talk about the murder of the Spilotro Brothers and what possibly led up to it as well as what happened after. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/joeyssocialclub/support

Former Outfit Chuckie Miceli talks about his experiences in the Chicago underworld. Notably, he claims Joey Lombardo was not responsible of the murder of Danny Seifert. Miceli also claims to have thwarted a murder attempt on John Gotti's daughter!!!

Former Outfit Chuckie Miceli talks about his experiences in the Chicago underworld. Notably, he claims Joey Lombardo was not responsible of the murder of Danny Seifert. Miceli also claims to have thwarted a murder attempt on John Gotti's daughter!!!

The week's episode examines the legacy of former Chicago Mafia boss John "No Nose" DiFronzo. For example, was he involved in the brutal murders of the Spilotro brothers (as depicted in the film Casino)? The episode also address rumors DiFronzo was a confidential informant.

The week's episode examines the legacy of former Chicago Mafia boss John "No Nose" DiFronzo. For example, was he involved in the brutal murders of the Spilotro brothers (as depicted in the film Casino)? The episode also address rumors DiFronzo was a confidential informant.

Jak vás vaše příjmení dokáže poznamenat? A proč se z vás může kvůli němu stát vrah, přezdívaný “Black Panther”? A přidáváme příběh mafiánského synka, kterému sláva přerostla přes hlavu.

In 1995, George Knapp revisited and updated the original 1987 'Mob on the Run' documentary made by Ned Day and Bob Stoldal for KLAS-TV Channel 8 in Las Vegas, NV.You can also watch this documentary on the Mystery Wire YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/TYYKOC35sHU

Un tè nel Giardino: ospite di questa diretta andata in onda su Instagram è Mery Spilotro, artigiana green di Verdepumo. Abbiamo parlato di mindfulness nel lavoro artigiano, di consapevolezza nelle scelte sostenibili e di diplomazia vegan! Trovi Mery e le sue creazioni qui: https://www.verdepumo.com/Se vuoi fare i primi passi nella mindfulness iscriviti al corso gratuito https://elisaromeo.it/mindful-week/

Ian talks with writer/director/producer/actor Nicholas Celozzi about two Chicago-centric films that are heading into production.The Class stars Anthony Michael Hall and centers on a group of diverse high school kids forced to spend a Saturday together, in which they learn to break down the social barriers that divide them. No, it's not a Breakfast Club remake, and in the first half of this conversation, Celozzi talks about the real-world influences that compelled him to tell this story; how he channeled the voice of a generation that's different from his own; and what got him back into the director's chair.Celozzi also wrote The Legitimate Wiseguy, an autobiographical drama that previous KtS Podcast guest George Gallo (Vanquish, Bad Boys) will direct this fall. The film will star Harvey Keitel, Emile Hirsch, and Ruby Rose, and will tell the story of Celozzi's relationship with mentor and Mafia heavy Anthony Spilotro (a version of whom was famously portrayed by Joe Pesci in Casino).The filmmaker opens up about the real-life Spilotro; his rowdy days in 1980s Hollywood; and casting Harvey Keitel as his father--a famous Illinois car salesman whose TV commercials were a staple of Ian's youth!Show Links:Read Variety's article about the upcoming production of The Class.Read The Hollywood Reporter's article announcing The Legitimate Wiseguy. Watch Ian's interview with The Legitimate Wiseguy director George Gallo (for his previous film, Vanquish).Subscribe to, like, and comment on the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel!

Vegas Mobster Tony Spilotro gets himself into some trouble. Chrissy gives two updates about past podcasts. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/two-seas/support

Clark County Metro Sheriff Joseph Lombardo shares tales of growing up in Las Vegas, graduating from UNLV, joining the force and rising through the ranks until he was elected Sheriff in 2014. He spent much of his early career patrolling the streets of downtown, so he's a first-hand witness to the dramatic changes in the past decades. And he tells the story of his only encounter with Tony 'The Ant' Spilotro -- which was quickly followed by an encounter with law enforcement!    Hosts: Jonathan Jossel, Lisa Melmed  

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+

"You don’t buy Mr. Spilotro drinks. He buys you drinks."In 1971, Tony Spilotro moves from Chicago to Las Vegas to look after the mob's interests, alongside a longtime oddsmaker named Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. A few years later, a mob-connected holding company, the Argent Corporation, begins buying up casinos using loans from the Teamsters Union Central States Pension Fund.For more information on this episode, visit www.reviewjournal.com/mobbedup. To learn about The Mob Museum, visit www.themobmuseum.org.

American former superstar soccer goalkeeper, Ian Feuer, sits with host Kurt Caceres, to discuss playing the iconic role of The Predator, in Aliens vs. Predator.  Growing up in Las Vegas to a musician father who played with Elvis Presley, Paul Anka and Diana Ross, whilst his mother was a showgirl for names like Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and the Rat Pack.  His sister was married to film legend, Mickey Rourke, while Ian got his start playing soccer through gangster Anthony Spilotro, who the true story of the film Casino was based.  Ian is a legend in the futbol world as the first ever American goalkeeper to play in the premiere England leagues.  He got his start in Europe at age 16, traveling alone, knocking from door to door until someone gave him a shot.  This is Ian's inspirational and mind blowing true story.

You did not want to owe money to these guys if you had any sense at all.WARNING: Contains mature subject matter and descriptions of violence.

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.

Episode 84: Circus Circus – Las Vegas, NV Noelle walks us through the hauntings of Circus Circus – Las Vegas, NV 1. Opened on October 16, 1968 on the Las Vegas Strip. (It’s the largest permanent big top in the world!) 2. Hunter S Thompson wrote about Circus Circus. (1970s classic “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”) 3. Mafia Man, Tony Spilotro opens a gift shop at Circus Circus. (In 1974, the Los Angeles Times reported that in the three years Spilotro had been in Las Vegas, more gangland-style murders had been committed there than in the past 25 years combined!) 4. Also, in 1974, Spilotro was one of six men indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago in connection with defrauding the Central States Teamsters Pension Fund of $1.4 million. (Among the defendants was Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo!) 5. Ghost stuff! (Rooms 123, 203, 230, and 576! The kitchen – where three murders took place! AND. MORE.) Sweet Dreams. XoxoZzzzzz.

Tony Spilotro had gotten away with murder for a long time - too long. The Las Vegas PD was finally ready to turn around their corrupt ways and work hand in hand with the FBI to bring the man down. And suddenly, as one by one his allies turned on him, Spilotro became expendable. Our sponsors for this episode are Neflix's Original Show [Ozark](https://www.netflix.com/title/80117552) and [Framebridge](https://www.framebridge.com/)(PROMO: MAFIA). Mafia's theme is "Spellbound Hell" by [Damiano Baldoni](http://damianobaldoni.altervista.org/index.php/en/). Music in this episode is "Misery" by Damiano Baldoni; "Junction" and "Universe in Hands" by [Kai Engel](http://www.kai-engel.com/); "Like an Empty Sky" by [Daniel Birch and Ben Pegley](http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Daniel_Birch__Ben_Pegley); "Gates", "Wastelands", and "Fog" by [Sergey Cheremisinov](https://www.s-cheremisinov.com/); "I Knew a Guy" and "Night on the Docks" by [Kevin MacLeod](http://incompetech.com). Sound Effects from [freesound.org](https://freesound.org/home/) by [Nkzdra](https://freesound.org/people/Nkzdra/sounds/347959/). Additional sound effects from [freesfx.co.uk](https://www.freesfx.co.uk/). Licensed under [Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

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.

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.

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.