Chicago’s man in Vegas: Anthony Spilotro (1938 - 1986)

By Thomas Hunt

Note: This article was originally written in 2006. It was extensively rewritten following revelations in the Family Secrets trial of 2007. It was revised, annotated and reformatted in 2023.

Anthony Spilotro wasn't much to look at. His build certainly wasn't threatening. He stood just five feet, six inches tall and weighed in the neighborhood of 160. His small stature led underworld colleagues to call him "Tony the Ant" and "The Little Guy." His face wasn't intimidating either. He had the look of a businessman. But there was something threatening in his blue eyes. His gaze was confident and detached and perhaps a little bored with the outside world. Behind those eyes, Anthony Spilotro seemed to be committing murder in his mind.

Spilotro's savage tendencies and a string of beatings and killings attributed to him caused him to be revered and feared within the Chicago Outfit. Despite his small physical stature, he rose within the Mafia ranks to become the Outfit's man in Las Vegas, the overlord of Sin City. He held that rank from 1971 until his reckless ambition, his paranoia and his murderous rage combined to bring him down a decade and a half later.

Anthony John Spilotro was born to Pasquale "Patsy" and Antoinette Clesceri Spilotro in Chicago on May 19, 1938. He was the fourth-born of their six sons. [1]

Pasquale was a native of Triggiano, Bari province, in the southern Italian mainland region of Puglia. He crossed the Atlantic in 1914 at the age of fifteen. At the time of his 1925 naturalization, he was living at 1234 West Erie Street in Chicago. In summer of 1929, Pasquale was proprietor of a small restaurant at 479 Ogden Avenue near the intersection with Grand Avenue. His eatery was the site of the August 29, 1929, shooting death of bootlegger Tony Domingo, one of the acts of violence that led to the Mafia's Castellammarese War. [2]

When the 1940 U.S. Census was compiled, Pasquale, his wife Antoinette and four sons - Vincent, Victor, Pasquale Jr. and Anthony - were living in a private home at 2152 North Melvina Avenue. The family would live there for many more years. Eventually, Pasquale's business grew into Patsy's Restaurant, 949 Northwestern Avenue. The family grew to include sons John and Michael. [3]

Young Anthony Spilotro's early experience in the working world reportedly was shining shoes at the busy intersection of West Grand and North Harlem avenues. Childhood friend Frank Cullotta recalled working a shoeshine stand nearby and forming a criminal partnership with The Ant:

"He was on one side of the street, and I was on the other. We argued about staying on each side of our street. As we grew up, we stole together and rode together in 'hot' cars." [4]

Pasquale Spilotro passed away in October of 1955. He was just fifty five. Family members kept the restaurant business going. A few months later, Anthony Spilotro was arrested for the first time. He was fined $10 for stealing a shirt at River Forest, a few miles southwest of the family home. [5]

As a young adult, Anthony Spilotro moved into the rackets. He became a collector for the loan sharking operation of "Mad Sam" DeStefano, a widely hated Chicago mobster who appeared to have a close connection to Outfit leader Paul Ricca. [6] Spilotro's willingness to take apart another human being came in handy. DeStefano had little patience with late payers and was brutal with associates he felt were cheating or betraying him. He became known not just for murdering those thought to have committed some offense but also for torturing and mutilating them. Spilotro seems to have been an active participant.

The butchered bodies of DeStefano loan collectors William "Action" Jackson and Leo Foreman were discovered by authorities during the early 1960s. Their connection to DeStefano was immediately known, but gathering evidence of Mad Sam's involvement in their slayings was an uphill battle.

Spilotro in the same period helped the Chicago Outfit eliminate the leaders of a rival organization, known as the M&M Boys. Spilotro reportedly captured William McCarthy and tortured him into revealing the location of his partner James Miraglia. This was achieved by placing McCarthy's head in a vise and slowly tightening it. According to Cullotta, the vise became so tight that it squeezed one of McCarthy's eyes from its socket. [7]

By the mid-1960s, Spilotro was a married man, a soon-to-be father and a "made" member of the Outfit - Cullotta said he was inducted as a reward for his handling of the M&M Boys - and began to surpass his former boss DeStefano. Spilotro became involved with some of Chicago's gambling ventures. He appears to have spent some time protecting Outfit interests in south Florida (Cuba had recently been closed to Mafiosi because of Fidel Castro's communist revolution there). He returned to Chicago after a few years and the Outfit began grooming him to take over its Las Vegas operations.

At about the same time, Sam DeStefano was convicted of conspiring to commit perjury. A bit later, testimony before an Illinois Crime Commission publicly linked him to the murders of "Action" Jackson and Lee Foreman. DeStefano was called before the commission and was questioned about the murder of nine people known to be associated with him. Mad Sam invoked the Fifth Amendment a total of 370 times during the hearing.

Anthony Spilotro was subpoenaed to appear before the same commission, but he failed to show up. Others involved in Chicago's loan sharking rackets, including brothers Fiore "Fifi" and Frank Buccieri, Joseph "Joe Gags" Gagliano and Arthur Cowan, also ignored subpoenas. This exposed them to contempt charges, but it avoided the sort of public exposure that DeStefano suffered. [8]

Chicagoans in Vegas

Beginning in the later 1940s, organized crime funneled vast amounts of money into secret investments in Las Vegas casinos. Despite the geographical closeness of the Los Angeles ("Mickey Mouse Mafia") Crime Family, the Jack Dragna-commanded unit failed to assert itself in Vegas. Casinos and their illegal "skim" operations - siphoning off casino dollars before they were officially counted and taxed by state and federal governments - were left open to other mob families.

The Chicago Outfit swept in. Beginning about 1948, Chicago bosses used veteran mafioso Johnny Rosselli (Filippo Sacco) to oversee and secure operations in Vegas and elsewhere in the West. The Stardust and the Fremont Hotel were the Chicago Outfit's larger investment properties, but it also had interests in other gambling facilities and businesses.

Crime families from other cities, such as New York, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, also were represented in Las Vegas. Most sought to maximize the return on gambling investments by skimming from the pretaxed cash income of the casinos. The gains of the skimming racket reportedly were enormous and lasted through several decades. According to one estimate, the Chicago Outfit gathered $400,000 a month from the Stardust alone. [9]

The Outfit grew unhappy with Rosselli around the middle of the 1950s and replaced him with enforcer Marshall "Johnny Marshall" Caifano. FBI Agent William Roemer explained the move by suggesting that Rosselli attracted too much negative attention from the newly formed Nevada Gaming Control Board. (Rosselli then set up some rackets on the West Coast and later in Florida before his dismembered remains were found floating in Dumfoundling Bay near North Miami Beach in summer of 1976). [10]

If negative attention from Nevada gambling administrators was the problem, Caifano was no answer. He and ten other men earned mentions in the Gaming Control Board's first-ever List of Excluded Persons, released on March 29, 1960. Some of the others were Chicago Outfit leaders Sam Giancana and Murray Humphreys, Los Angeles mobsters Louis Tom Dragna and Joseph Sica, and Kansas City Mafia bosses Carl James Civella and Nicholas Civella. No one named on the list, which became known as "the Black Book," was permitted into any facility where licensed gambling occurred. Casinos could lose their state gambling licenses if listed individuals were found inside.

Appearing in the Black Book should have made it impossible for Caifano to perform his assigned responsibilities, but through highly visible, Outfit-embarrassing legal maneuvers he continued in the role for another decade. He finally was pulled out in 1971, and bosses turned the job over to Spilotro. [11]

Haunted by his past

Anthony Spilotro relocated to Las Vegas. According to one report, his move west coincided with the funeral of longtime Chicago Outfit enforcer Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio.

The fifty-nine-year-old Alderisio died during a jog around an exercise track in the Marion, Illinois, federal prison on September 25, 1971. At the time of his passing, a local newspaper stated that Alderisio was "the most feared hired assassin in the underworld. Federal authorities estimate he was personally responsible for at least ten gangland executions."

Reporters counted a number of Outfit figures attending the two-night wake on September 26 and 27. These included Anthony Accardo, Paul Ricca, Fiore and Frank Buccieri, Chuck English, Ross Prio and Joseph Gagliano. The Chicago Tribune noted the absence of some mobsters who had been expected to attend. Anthony Spilotro, believed to have been a protege of Alderisio, was on that list. [12]

Once settled in his new community, Spilotro opened a business as a cover for his presence and activities. It was a gift shop, run under the assumed name of Anthony Stuart ("Stuart" was the maiden name of his wife Nancy), inside the Circus Circus gambling and entertainment facility. Financing for the shop reportedly was acquired by siphoning from mob-brokered loans sent by the Teamsters Union Central States Pension Fund to a company in southwestern New Mexico.

In his new post, Spilotro was reunited with an old pal. The Outfit had sent gambling racketeer Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal to work at the Stardust a few years earlier. Spilotro and Rosenthal had worked together in Florida in the 1960s. Rosenthal had recently married former showgirl Geraldine "Geri" McGee and was trying to secure a Gaming Control Board license to serve as the Stardust's casino boss. Control Board scrutiny and Spilotro's well known criminal record forced Rosenthal to keep his distance.

"In Vegas, Chicago has what is called a 'Mr. Outside' and what is called a 'Mr. Inside,'" William Roemer explained. The Outside man was supposed to protect the operation from rivals and cheats. "In the seventies, Spilotro was 'Mr. Outside.' If Chicago wanted something done and it took a little persuasion, Spilotro was the man." Inside men worked within casinos to maximize the skim. Roemer noted, "The most important of the Mr. Insides was Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal, who the Outfit put in charge of the Stardust casino."

Rosenthal quickly became "Mr. Inside" for four major casinos acquired with some mob help and some Teamsters funding by the Argent Corporation: Stardust, Fremont, Hacienda and Marina. The official casino license holder was Argent's sole visible owner, Allen Glick. But Glick and Argent were controlled by underworld bosses. The crime families in Chicago, Cleveland and Milwaukee had helped arrange enormous Teamster Pension Fund loans used by Glick in his casino purchases. And the Argent casino operations were controlled by the Outfit's Rosenthal. "Lefty" formally held only the unlicensed title of entertainment director but really ran the enterprise. [13]

Old Chicago crimes began to haunt Spilotro. In 1972, he was indicted for the murder of Leo Foreman. Spilotro was arrested in Las Vegas and would have been held under high bail, but he called on Rosenthal for assistance. Rosenthal vouched for his old friend as a character witness, and helped win Spilotro's release in $10,000 bail - an act that was quietly noted by the Gaming Control Board.

Also indicted for the Foreman murder were Spilotro's old loan shark employer Sam DeStefano and DeStefano's brother Mario. Mad Sam had been in court regularly - he had been convicted of perjury, assault with a deadly weapon, contempt of court and illegal voting - and he generally upset things with his antics. He was known to appear in court in pajamas. Once he rolled in on a wheelchair, claiming poor health. He reportedly addressed one presiding judge through a bullhorn. [14]

(Sam DeStefano typically arranged for privileged treatment while incarcerated. After being sentenced to a three- to five-year term in Stateville Penitentiary following a 1968 perjury conviction, he arranged to have himself transfered to Augustana Hospital, supposedly for urgent blood vessel surgery. No surgery was performed. While at Augustana, DeStefano had access to liquor and expensive meals and was allowed visits from mob associates and women. He reportedly conducted his underworld business through a telephone in his room.) [15]

It was rumored that Sam DeStefano was mentally unbalanced. Even if the rumors were untrue, he was not the sort of man one would wish to have as a codefendant in a murder trial. Spilotro and Mario DeStefano succeeded in separating their trial from Mad Sam's. But the apparently loony loan shark remained a concern for them and for the rest of Chicago's underworld.

Sam DeStefano may have received a warning on April 5, 1973. While he and his wife were out that night, someone entered his home, 1656 North Sayre Street in Galewood, apparently using some sort of pass key at the kitchen door. The intruder disabled a security system and robbed the home of a mink coat, a mink stole and a .30-caliber revolver. The minks were valued at over $800 each. Police were called to investigate but could find no clue to the thief's identity. [16]

"Mad Sam" did not take the opportunity to change his address. On the morning of April 14, 1973, his remains were found on the floor of his garage. Dressed in work clothes, he had been hit by two blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun. One destroyed his left arm. The other ripped through his upper body. Neighbors told police they had seen nothing. The authorities speculated that the murder had been planned for months.

Agent Roemer of the FBI suspected that Anthony Spilotro had taken care of an old problem. The quick and sparsely attended funeral appeared to support the idea that Sam DeStefano had become as hated by his Outfit colleagues as he had always been by his loan clients. Detectives told the press that the list of people who would have wanted to see DeStefano dead was "endless." [17]

Despite the testimony of outlaw-turned-informant Charles Crimaldi, Anthony Spilotro managed to be acquitted of the murder charge. He benefited from an alibi provided by his brother John. However, Mario DeStefano was convicted. [18]

Early in 1974, Spilotro and six other men were charged with defrauding the Central States Teamsters Union pension fund. According to a federal grand jury's twelve-count indictment, Irwin Weiner and Donald DeAngeles, co-owners of American Pail Corporation in Deming, New Mexico, improperly obtained a $1.4 million loan from the pension fund. That loan was arranged after a previous loan of $5 million to the same company had been squandered. Spilotro and Chicago Outfit figure Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo both received shares of the loan money. Spilotro used his portion to open the Anthony Stuart Gift Shop. Also charged were pension fund administrators Allen Dorfman of Illinois, Jack Sheetz of Texas and Albert Matheson of Michigan. The grand jury said those three men knew of the improper financial transaction and did nothing to stop it. [19]

(Dorfman took over the management of the pension fund after Jimmy Hoffa was imprisoned in 1967 for misusing it. At the time of the 1974 indictment, Dorfman had just completed a prison term for taking kickbacks on pension fund loans.) [20]

Spilotro seemed not to be overly concerned by the indictment. In the same year, he and his wife Nancy began construction of a four-bedroom ranch house at 4675 Balfour Drive in the unincorporated township of Paradise. (South of the city of Las Vegas, Paradise includes the international airport and much of the "Las Vegas Strip.") The fraud case went to trial early in 1975. Joseph Lombardo was immediately dropped from the case, apparently due to the recent murder of key witness Daniel R. Seifert. (Lombardo was convicted of the murder many years later, and an informant told the FBI that Spilotro played a part in the hit.) On March 25, federal Judge William J. Bauer directed the acquittal of Spilotro, Sheetz and Matheson. The remaining defendants were acquitted by the jury on April 11. [21]

A top man

Back in Vegas, things seemed to be going well. To supplement his income, Spilotro assembled a number of his former Chicago colleagues, including Cullotta, into a local burglary, loan sharking and extortion gang. He acquired a measure of protection from local law enforcement. His organization, which reportedly went so far as to break through a building wall in order to get around an alarm system, became known as the Hole in the Wall Gang.

Authorities believed Spilotro was fencing stolen property and engaging in the trafficking of narcotics. The Spilotro gang crime spree - unauthorized and disapproved by mob higher-ups who wanted Las Vegas operations to remain inconspicuous - continued while, according to federal agents, the casino skim operation was diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars each month into Outfit hands. [22]

Through his ability to escape prosecution and his apparent success in managing Outfit interests in Las Vegas, "Tony the Ant" Spilotro quickly became a giant in the underworld. At about the time of Sam Giancana's June 19, 1975, assassination at his Oak Park home, the press circulated Spilotro's name as a possible new Outfit boss.

Tony Accardo, the aging semi-retired boss of the Outfit, reportedly had been trying for years to become fully retired. One newspaper reported that Spilotro was "the most dangerous" of Accardo's potential successors: "He was schooled in terror tactics by a master, Alderisio. Spilotro seems to have the best chance to succeed Accardo." [23]

The press speculation may have gone to the Ant's head. According to an informant to the FBI, "Tony has made statements over the past few months that he will eventually be number one in the Outfit and that he will use any means possible to obtain that goal." [24]

Spilotro's independent operations drew critical attention from Jack Cerone, a leading figure in the Chicago Outfit. FBI learned that Cerone, already displeased with the murder of Daniel Seifert, was greatly concerned by Spilotro's expanding rackets territory. According to an informant, Cerone contemplated taking action against Spilotro if he continued to grab for power. [25]

Spilotro did just that. Authorities told the press in spring 1977 that Spilotro had partnered with Paul Schiro in the Phoenix, Arizona, region. He was believed to be competing there with the underworld interests of Joseph Bonanno's organization, transplanted to Tucson from New York. In addition to moving stolen goods across state lines, the Spilotro organization was said to be trafficking narcotics from Mexico into Arizona and on to the Chicago area.

There were even reports that Spilotro was expanding his loan sharking business into areas of southern California. [26]

While Spilotro's ambition and recklessness was offending and worrying his superiors, his paranoia was oppressing his underlings. In the hope of preventing them from turning informant, he terrorized them. Rather than ensuring their loyalty, the tactic prompted several to make deals for the protection of federal agents.

Exposure

The friendship with Spilotro had taken a toll on Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. Rosenthal once maintained a close relationship with Gaming Control Board Chairman Phil Hannifin, but after Spilotro's loan fraud case resolved, Hannifin seemed to pull away.

A January 1976 hearing before the state Gaming Commission on Rosenthal's application for a casino "key employee" executive license went badly. Rosenthal's own suspected and proven transgressions were recounted. These included charges of bribery and of attempting to fix sporting events. Anthony Spilotro's crimes and his relationship with Rosenthal also were discussed. Rosenthal responded angrily. At the conclusion of the hearing the commission voted unanimously to deny Rosenthal's application. The Outfit's "Mr. Inside" looked to be out, but he would fight the decision through the courts. [27]

Months later, financial abuses by the Argent-owned casinos were documented. In June, Stardust was found to be falsely reporting jackpot winners in order to lower reported revenues. In July, the Gaming Control Board announced that it found counting room scales, used to weigh-count coins taken from casino slot machines, had been rigged to generate false figures. The board estimated that $7 million a year in untaxed income had escaped official notice through the use of the altered scales. According to the board, the counting of slot machine earnings was arranged by George Vandermark, hired by Rosenthal in 1974 and since relocated to Mexico. [28]

The underworld's carefully hidden rackets in Vegas were coming to light.

The FBI was closely watching Spilotro and associates in the period and used electronic surveillance to listen in on conversations. The Bureau soon secured the assistance of underworld sources of information. Aladena "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno got caught up in a 1978 Cleveland murder case and, concerned that he may have been marked for death by his underworld colleagues, he became a government witness. Fratianno had strong connections to the crime families of Cleveland, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He had been a regular visitor to Las Vegas, where he met Chicago crime figures, including Outfit representatives Johnny Rosselli and Spilotro. [29]

By 1978, Spilotro's old friend "Lefty" Rosenthal, whose court challenges to the denial of his casino license had failed (he tried to cling to some role in the casinos through positions like food and beverage director and entertainment director), also was secretly helping investigators. His decision to cooperate may have grown out of his resentment toward Spilotro over the casino license disapproval. But there may have been a more deeply personal motivation: Spilotro and Rosenthal's wife Geri were having an affair.

As a confidential informant under the codename "Achilles," Rosenthal passed along second-hand data acquired in conversations with underworld figures. FBI learned from "Achilles" about a number of gangland murders, including the May 1975 murder of Edward Buccieri outside the Caesar's Palace casino in Las Vegas. Buccieri, who worked as a floor supervisor in the casino, was found shot to death in his car. "Achilles" told agents that Buccieri was murdered by Anthony Spilotro and his aides Joey Hansen and Paul Schiro after Buccieri made threats against Allen Glick. [30]

In summer of 1978, federal agents executed search warrants for homes, business and vehicles across the Las Vegas area and in Chicago. The warrants were obtained as part of an ongoing investigation by the Las Vegas Organized Crime Strike Force. One target of the agents was Gold Rush Ltd., 228 West Sahara Street, a jewelry store owned by Anthony Spilotro and operated by his brother John and partner Herbert Blitzstein. The store was considered a front for Spilotro's fencing of stolen goods, and the FBI had earlier tapped its telephones. Another warrant was executed at Allen Glick's executive offices. [31]

The Nevada Gaming Commission at that time announced that it was gathering information on Spilotro and considering placing him in the Black Book. The commission's decision was reached December 2, 1978, and Spilotro's description, address, business and 1974 mugshot were inserted into the List of Excluded Persons.

The Gaming Commission effectively had banished both "Mr. Inside" and "Mr. Outside" from Las Vegas casinos. The mob tried to recover from the setback by persuading Allen Glick to sell off Argent's casino holdings. Carl Angelo "Tuffy" DeLuna of the Kansas City Crime Family delivered the underworld instruction to Glick. Apparently, it was hoped that the financial misbehaviors at the casinos would be linked with Argent's management, and the departure of Argent would mean restoration of business as usual. In 1979, the Gaming Commission also made demands of Glick. The commission ordered that Argent pay a $500,000 fine for its slot machine skimming operations and that it sell off his gambling enterprises by the end of 1980. Glick did as instructed. He unloaded his casino properties to Trans-Sterling Corporation and slipped away. [32]

Details of an eighteen-month federal investigation were revealed by a Las Vegas federal judge in May 1979. They suggested that Anthony Spilotro was engaged in illegal sports betting and loan sharking and had influence over the Stardust and Fremont casinos, including over personnel decisions. [33]

Getting personal

The relationship between Spilotro and Geri Rosenthal was widely known by early 1980. Geri was seen wearing a new mink coat and diamond ring and readily admitted they had been provided by Spilotro, who she referred to as her "sponsor." Though the relationship was sure to be frowned upon by Outfit bosses, Spilotro "openly flaunted" it. Kent Clifford, then chief of police in Las Vegas, said Spilotro was showing off his power: "...Spilotro's ego got in the way. I'm sure Spilotro felt, 'I can do it, and nobody can do anything about it. She's my girlfriend, my moll.'"

A loud confrontation occurred September 8, 1980, at the large Rosenthal home, positioned near the fourteenth hole of an exclusive country club golf course.

Behind the wheel of her Mercedes, Geri pulled into the driveway at about nine o'clock in the morning. Her car smashed into the rear of Lefty's parked Cadillac. (Anthony Spilotro's wife Nancy also drove up to the address at about the same time.) When Geri tried to enter the home, she found the door locked, and she flew into a rage.

Frank Rosenthal and their two children were inside, security and police officers were gathering outside, as Geri screamed, "I'm going to the FBI!" Rosenthal emerged from the house. Geri drew a pistol and aimed it at him. Nancy Spilotro charged Geri and wrestled her to the ground while police pulled the weapon from her. Lefty told police his wife was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

Geri convinced police officers to keep her husband away from her. She then had them escort her car as she drove to a bank. The officers accompanied her as she emptied a safe deposit box of at least $150,000 in cash and about a million dollars' worth of jewelry. Then she climbed back into her Mercedes and sped away in the direction of California. [34]

A short time later, Frank Rosenthal sued the Metropolitan Police Department for their role in helping Geri loot the safe deposit box. Rosenthal also filed for divorce. The marriage was terminated in January 1981, with Rosenthal being awarded custody of the children and Geri getting $5,000 a month in alimony. [35]

Busted

A number of devastating indictments were returned by grand juries during the early 1980s. These targeted Spilotro, his underlings, his underworld higher-ups and others who participated in their rackets. The immediate result was the abrupt end of the lucrative skim operation. The ultimate result was the end of Anthony Spilotro.

In mid-July 1981, a nine-count indictment was unsealed against Anthony Spilotro, his brother John and their partner Herbert Blitzstein. They were accused of dealing in stolen gems and jewelry through their Gold Rush Ltd. shop and of running an illegal betting operation there. A former police detective, Joseph Blasko, was charged with providing protection for the illegal ventures. [36]

A special grand jury in Kansas City on November 5, 1981, returned a seventeen-count indictment charging eleven defendants with participating in an interstate operation to skim revenues of the Tropicana casino in Las Vegas. This was considered the completion of Phase I of "Operation Strawman." Initially set in motion to combat a planned gangland killing, it was refocused on gambling when an FBI wiretap overheard Kansas City mob bosses in skim-related discussions. The defendants included Kansas City Mafia boss Nick Civella, his brother Carl "Cork" Civella and top lieutenant "Tuffy" DeLuna. (Nick Civella died, three defendants pleaded guilty and one was severed from the case before trial of the remaining six began in 1983.) [37]

Anthony Spilotro's longtime friend and partner in crime Frank Cullotta found himself in a tough situation. He and two other men were indicted in fall 1981 for their activities in the Hole in the Wall Gang burglary ring. This gave Cullotta a couple of things to worry about. Conviction could carry a long prison sentence. But, if Spilotro felt concerned that Cullotta might cooperate with investigators, the Ant might decide that Cullotta needed to be killed. Spilotro had once assigned Cullotta to murder Sherwin "Jerry" Lisner, who was believed to be cooperating with authorities. And Cullotta recalled an earlier plan to poison to death an entire seventeen-person grand jury in order to claim the life of an informant testifying before the panel. To protect himself, Cullotta sided with law enforcement and provided information about Spilotro's rackets and related violence. [38]

Recent enforcement actions left many underworld figures unhappy. A bit of their anger apparently was directed at Frank Rosenthal in the autumn of 1982. Lefty's 1981 Cadillac Eldorado exploded around him in a parking lot at 620 East Sahara Avenue. A bomb had been placed under the vehicle's trunk. The car's design directed the force of the explosion away from the driver's seat, saving Rosenthal's life. He managed to scramble from the car, with some burns and rib injuries, before the gasoline tank erupted. His ex-wife Geri died the following month in Los Angeles of an accidental drug overdose. [39]

Finding evidence of continued financial abuses at the former Argent casinos, near the end of 1982, the Nevada Gaming Commission forced Trans-Sterling to sell the Stardust, Fremont and Sundance hotel-casinos and pay a $3 million fine. [40]

Cullotta's cooperation aided in the early 1983 Illinois indictment of Anthony Spilotro for the 1962 Chicago murders of Miraglia and McCarthy (M&M). A police helicopter and a military jet transported Spilotro from Las Vegas back to Chicago for arraignment. A press report at the time calculated that Spilotro by then had been "arrested, questioned or listed as a suspect in at least 25 murders." (Spilotro was acquitted the following year.) In September, Spilotro was named in two indictments returned in Las Vegas. One charged him with causing the death of Jerry Lisner in October 1979. The other, a burglary-racketeering indictment, charged Spilotro, his brother Michael and sixteen others of involvement in the Hole in the Wall burglary ring, said to be responsible for 200 burglaries over an eighteen-month period. [41]

At about the same time, a federal grand jury returned a massive indictment against racketeers from several cities involved in casino skimming. Kept under seal while Milwaukee crime boss Frank Balistrieri was on trial for illegal betting, it was unveiled with an October 11 press conference. Fifteen defendants were charged with using interstate travel and communication to manipulate and steal millions from the Argent-controlled casinos between 1974 and 1980. The defendants were: Joseph Aiuppa, John Cerone, Joseph Lombardo, Anthony Chiavola Sr., Anthony Chiavola Jr. and Angelo LaPietra of Chicago; Carl Civella, Carl DeLuna and Peter Tamburello of Kansas City; Frank Balistrieri, Joseph Balistrieri and John Balistrieri of Milwaukee; Milton Rockman of Cleveland; Anthony Spilotro and Carl Thomas of Las Vegas. Separate tax evasion indictments were returned against Civella, DeLuna and Tamburello.

Aiuppa and Cerone were described as the boss and underboss of the Chicago Outfit. Civella and DeLuna, top men in the Kansas City Crime Family, had recently been convicted in the Tropicana skimming case and were awaiting their sentences. (Tamburello was acquitted in that case.) Frank Balestrieri led the Milwaukee Crime Family. Joseph and John Balestrieri were his sons. Anthony Spilotro was described as the overseer of Chicago Outfit interests in Las Vegas. Carl Thomas was said to hold a similar role for the Kansas City mob. [42]

New leadership

The casino cases soon deprived the involved crime families of their leaders. Civella, then in his seventies, and DeLuna began thirty-year prison sentences for the Tropicana skimming shortly after being indicted in the Argent skimming case. In April 1984, Civella pleaded guilty to conspiring in the Argent matter as well. Trial began on the Argent case in September 1985 and stretched into 1986. Spilotro was severed from that trial, as he was recovering from an August 26, 1985, double-heart bypass surgery performed in Houston.

Frank Balistrieri, sixty seven and already serving thirteen years on other matters, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and racketeering in the Argent case on New Year's Eve 1985. He was sentenced to ten years. [43]

Chicago Outfit bosses Joseph Aiuppa and John Cerone, along with three other codefendants, were convicted January 21, 1986, of skimming $2 million from the proceeds of Vegas casinos. The seventy-eight-year-old Aiuppa and seventy-two-year-old Cerone were each sentenced in March to twenty eight and a half years in prison. [44]

Jury selection was already under way for the Spilotro burglary-racketeering trial in Las Vegas when the Ant's superiors were convicted. By then, the eighteen initial defendants in the Hole in the Wall case had been trimmed by prosecutor decisions and guilty pleas to an even dozen. While the Outfit bosses awaited their sentencing, they likely paid some attention to the proceedings in Vegas. In mid-February, 1986, Cullotta took the witness stand, In addition to describing the rackets and violent tendencies of Spilotro, he noted that Spilotro demanded that underlings not let Outfit leaders know that he was getting a share of the gang's loot.

"He told me... when I first arrived in Las Vegas that no one was to know that he was getting a cut because he didn't want any problems with the people back in Chicago," Cullotta testified.

This communicated that Spilotro was fully aware that bosses disapproved of the street crimes engaged in by the Hole in the Wall Gang. [45]

As the prosecution completed its case, a number of defendants were dismissed due to lack of evidence. These included Michael Spilotro. The case was given to the sequestered jury on March 27. Days of deliberations followed. Jurors had reached only a partial verdict when a mistrial - reportedly due to juror discussions of a bribe offer - was declared on April 7. After days of closed-door discussions among the attorneys and trial judge, Anthony Spilotro brought the news out to family members and the press: "There has been a mistrial. The lawyers are meeting with the judge. We get to do it all over again."

The retrial was set for June 16. Anthony Spilotro would not live long enough to "do it all over again." [46]

Outfit leadership changed during Spilotro's burglary-racketeering trial. With bosses Joseph Aiuppa and John Cerone each sentenced to twenty eight and a half years in prison for their role in the skim operation (and Joseph Lombardo imprisoned on a separate matter), new bosses were quickly installed. Joseph Ferriola was elevated to the top spot in the organization. Under Ferriola were Vincent Solano and Ernest Rocco Infelice. [47]

Anthony Spilotro's new superiors summoned him to Chicago in early June 1986. He arrived in the Windy City about June 6, just before the body of Emil Vaci was discovered in a drainage ditch in the Arizona desert. Vaci had been part of the Las Vegas slot machine skimming operation, and rumors said he skimmed a bit of the profits for himself before becoming a government informant. [48]

An Outfit meeting was arranged for Saturday afternoon, June 14. On the thirteenth, Michael Spilotro received two telephone calls instructing him to attend the meeting with his brother Anthony. Michael was a non-member mob associate, who worked with Anthony in the rackets. Lately, Michael, teaming with another brother Victor, reportedly had been extorting money from prostitution-related enterprises in the Chicago area. The duo allegedly identified themselves as Outfit members while threatening violence and demanding money for permission to continue operation. This behavior resulted in a federal extortion indictment against both brothers.

There was some suggestion that the meeting could be an induction ceremony to formally welcome Michael into the Outfit. Some believe that Anthony Spilotro also was promised an underworld promotion at the same event. Michael was apparently concerned by the meeting and confided in some close to him that he feared he would not return from it.

Together, brothers Anthony and Michael Spilotro left Michael's Oak Park home, 1102 South Maple Avenue, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, June 14, 1986. Michael's wife Anne saw them drive away in the 1986 Lincoln auto that was registered in her name. They told her they planned to be back in time to watch Michael's son play in a late afternoon Little League game. But they didn't come back at all. [49]

Gangland grave

On Monday, June 16, the Lincoln was found parked at a motel in Schiller Park, Illinois, close to O'Hare Airport. Its doors were locked. The vehicle contained no evidence of any struggle. Authorities believed the Spilotro brothers met someone there and left in another vehicle. That same day, Anne officially reported her husband missing. [50]

When Anthony Spilotro did not report in Las Vegas federal court as scheduled, an arrest warrant was issued for him. There was widespread discussion over whether the Spilotros had fled or had been killed.

The disappearance of the brothers earned mention in a June 19 column by Mike Royko. Discussing how best to increase Chicago tourism, Royko jokingly suggested that the city embrace its criminal past and call attention to gangland violence with tours and reenactments. Though Chicago had much else to offer, he noted that the outside world would always link the community with shootouts and massacres:

Before writing this, I looked at the national news wires to see what the biggest Chicago news story was today... The big story was the disappearance of mobster Tony Spilotro, who runs the Chicago gang's interest in Las Vegas, and his brother Mike, both of whom are now presumed to be resting peacefully in the trunk of a car. [51]

Just a few days after Royko's column appeared in the newspapers, the Spilotros appeared in an Indiana cornfield. On June 22, farmer Michael Kinz was working in his fields at Enos, Indiana, about sixty five miles south of Chicago, just east of the Illinois-Indiana state line. Amid the young corn plants, he found an area of disturbed earth. Thinking that some poacher had used a quick burial to cover up an out-of-season kill, he called the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife. Biologist Dick Hudson responded and began digging up the location. A few feet down, he struck something that appeared to be human and called in the sheriff's department.

A five-foot-deep grave was excavated. The bodies of the Spilotro brothers, wearing only underwear, were discovered deposited on top of each other in the grave. The two men had been severely beaten.

Authorities suspected they had located the missing Spilotros. The bodies were taken for autopsies. Another Spilotro brother, dentis Patrick Spilotro, was called in to provide dental charts and identify the remains. He confirmed that the bodies were Anthony and Michael Spilotro. [52]

Certificates of death certified by Dr. David S. Dennis of Kentland, Indiana, placed the time of death at eleven o'clock on the night of June 14. The causes of death for both men included asphyxia and blunt force trauma to head, neck and chest. [53]

The mention of asphyxia caused some confusion. Many reported incorrectly that the Spilotro brothers were still alive when buried and then suffocated underground. The matter was only settled years later.

Chicago's Catholic Archdiocese refused public funeral services for Anthony and Michael Spilotro on June 24. Michael's parish priest, the Rev. John Fearon disagreed with the decision with regard to Michael and told the press, "I'm not too pleased. Michael was an active, contributing member. The whole neighborhood was crazy about him... We feel a person is innocent until proven guilty. Michael had never been convicted of anything."

A wake for the brothers was held Thursday, June 26, at the Salerno Galewood Chapel on Chicago's North Harlem Avenue. It was attended by Outfit figures Joe Ferriola, Ernest Rocco Infelice and Louis Marino. After a private non-denominational service, the brothers were interred in a family plot at Queen of Heaven cemetery in Hillside, Illinois. [54]

Secrets revealed

Indiana State Police, FBI agents and the Bureau's Violent Crime Apprehension Program cooperated on the investigation of the Spilotro brothers' double-murder that lasted for nearly two decades.

Frank Cullotta gave authorities his opinion, that Michael's activities were to blame for the two deaths. He felt Michael had stepped on too many toes in the Chicago area and had to be eliminated. According to Cullotta, the Outfit bosses could not act against Michael and leave Anthony alive to avenge his brother. The theory was interesting, but Cullotta had been out of touch with the Outfit for a significant time.

Former FBI Agent William Roemer expressed the belief that Anthony Spilotro's mismanagement and generation of negative publicity had led to the killings:

Spilotro wasn't doing his job in Las Vegas. He maintained too high a profile there. Mobsters flourish in darkness. Spilotro, facing three major trials, was obviously not following that dictum. He was under the glare of the harshest spotlight.

Detective Gene Smith agreed with Roemer's assessment of Anthony Spilotro: "He'd been falling out of favor with the bosses for quite a while, because he wouldn't give up his street rackets and keep a low profile." [55]

In mid-September of 1986, another gangland killing occurred in Chicago, but authorities were initially unable to fit it with the Spilotro murders. John Fecarotta, believed to be a lieutenant of Angelo LaPietra, reportedly was put on the spot by three colleagues who fatally shot him outside a bingo parlor at 6050 West Belmont Avenue. Police thought that Fecarotta, wearing gloves and carrying an unloaded handgun, had been convinced that he was going to be a participant in a gangland hit rather than the target of one. He had been a suspect in two other killings. [56]

Federal agents attempted to acquire information from Chicago racketeer Albert "Caesar" Tocco, who was thought to be one of a half dozen men involved in beating the Spilotro brothers to death. Tocco was sentenced to 200 years in prison after his wife testified against him in the late 1980s. (She said Tocco admitted to helping dispose of the Spilotros' bodies and lived in fear of an Outfit punishment after the bodies were discovered.) Prosecutors attempted to have Tocco convicted of a capital crime which would carry a death penalty - agents believed that possibility gave them additional leverage for turning Tocco into an informant. The effort was unsuccessful. Tocco died at the age of seventy seven in an Indiana prison on Sept. 21, 2005, never revealing what he knew of the Spilotros' deaths. [57]

By then, investigators had acquired other sources of information. Frank Calabrese Sr. and Frank Calabrese Jr. were both in prison in 1998, when the younger Calabrese sent word to the FBI that he was willing to help the Bureau gather evidence against his father. Calabrese Jr. wore a listening device during conversations with his father. The evidence obtained helped prosecutors build a case against Calabrese Sr. and his brother Nicholas W. Calabrese for the 1986 murder of Fecarotta. Nicholas Calabrese, too, decided to cooperate, and investigators began assembling the "Family Secrets" case, which targeted the organized criminal activity - including eighteen unsolved murders - of the Chicago Outfit. [58]

Fourteen defendants were initially named when a federal grand jury returned a forty-three-page indictment in April 2005. Deaths, guilty pleas and ill health reduced the list of defendants to five - Frank Calabrese Sr., James Marcello, Joseph Lombardo, Paul Schiro and Anthony Doyle - by the time trial opened in June 2007. [59]

Conspicuous in his absence from the trial was Outfit leader John "No-Nose" DiFronzo. Though not charged, DiFronzo was mentioned in the prosecution's opening statement on June 21, and his name came up in testimony. [60]

Nicholas Calabrese testified June 19 about the murders of Anthony and Michael Spilotro. He stated that the brothers were killed because they brought too much law enforcement attention on Chicago rackets in Las Vegas. He also learned that Anthony Spilotro was condemned for having an affair with Lefty Rosenthal's wife and for cooperating with a motorcyle gang in the trafficking of narcotics.

Outfit bosses first hoped to take care of the Spilotros in Las Vegas. Nicholas Calabrese recalled that he was sent to Vegas as part of a "hit team" that included John Fecarotta and Frank Schweihs. When that proved unworkable, a new plan was set in motion.

In June 1986, Nicholas had just returned from the Phoenix area, where he eliminated Emil Vaci, when he was called to participate in the special meeting planned for the Spilotros. According to his testimony, he, John Fecarotta and Jimmy LaPietra assembled at a DuPage County shopping center on June 14. They were picked up in a blue van driven by James Marcello. They traveled north to Bensenville and into a subdivision. At a private home, they were greeted by some top Outfit leaders, including Ferriola, DiFronzo, Infelice and Sam "Wings" Carlisi. Inside the house, they waited in the basement with Louis Eboli, Louis Marino and three other men, while James Marcello went to get the Spilotro brothers.

About a half hour later, Nicholas Calabrese heard the brothers being welcomed at the door and starting down the stairs to the basement. Michael Spilotro was first to the basement. Nicholas knew him, and greeted him. When Michael moved a few steps away toward Marino, Nicholas lunged at him and grabbed his legs.

Seeing his brother fall, Anthony Spilotro apparently understood what was about to happen. Nicholas Calabrese testified that he heard Anthony ask if he could say a prayer. The response to the request was a brutal beating that caused both brothers to choke to death on their own internal bleeding. Calabrese recalled pulling a .22 caliber handgun from Michael Spilotro's pocket and handing it to John DiFronzo. [61]

Fecarotta reportedly was placed in charge of disposing of the Spilotros' bodies. His murder likely was a consequence of the bodies turning up in the Indiana cornfield. [62]

Conclusion

Though some details of Nicholas Calabrese's testimony were disputed by others, it appears his story was accepted by the Family Secrets jurors. The five defendants were all convicted September 10, 2007, of racketeering and other charges. Three of the defendants, Frank Calabrese Sr., Joseph Lombardo and James Marcello, also were convicted September 27 in a related proceeding for racketeering murders.

Calabrese was convicted of taking seven lives, those of Fecarotta, William and Charlotte Dauber, Michael Cagnoni, Michael Albergo, Richard Ortiz and Arthur Morawski. Lombardo was convicted of the murder of Daniel Seifert. Marcello was specifically convicted of participating in the killings of Anthony and Michael Spilotro.

Marcello, Lombardo and Frank Calabrese Sr. were sentenced to life in prison. Paul Schiro received a sentence of twenty years. Anthony Doyle was sentenced to a dozen years.

As Marcello was sentenced in February 2009 to spend the rest of his days in prison, his defense attorney continued to plead his client's innocence: "Mr. Marcello has denied his involvement in the Spilotro brothers' murder... That's all he can do." Patrick Spilotro addressed the court before sentencing, saying the mobsters who "denied my brothers a prayer... deserve no mercy."

In April 2009, Frank Calabrese Sr., Lombardo, Marcello and Paul Schiro were ordered to pay $4.3 million in restitution to the families of fourteen murder victims, in addition to nearly $20 million in fines. [63]

The featured prosecution witness in the Family Secrets trial, Nicholas Calabrese was the window through which law enforcement, courts and public learned of the final moments of the Spilotros' lives and other secrets of the Chicago Outfit. Said to be the first ever member of the Outfit to testify against his superiors, Nicholas Calabrese received a lenient sentence for his own crimes, which included multiple gangland murders. He was sentenced in March 2009 to twelve years and four months in prison. Subtracting time already served and accounting for a federal requirement that 85 percent of a sentence must be served, the penalty was expected to extend the prison stay of the sixty-seven-year-old mobster by just four years. [64]

John DiFronzo succeeded to Outfit leadership following the March 1989 death of Joe Ferriola. He somehow avoided getting caught up in the Family Secrets case, and continued as a top Outfit figure through the sentencing of his former colleagues. Soon after that, he began suffering with Alzheimer's disease. He died in May 2018 at the age of eighty nine. [65]

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See also

• Outfit boss DiFronzo fought the law, and the law lost"
• Mafia leader successions: Chicago Mob (Outfit) leaders
• Rat Trap: "'Lefty' Rosenthal was high-level FBI source"

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Notes

1 Anthony John Spilotro, 356-28-2097, Social Security Applications and Claims Index, June 1986; Anthony J. Spilotro Coroner's Certificate of Death, state no. 86-031135, Indiana State Board of Health, June 14, 1986.

2 Pasquale Spilotro World War II Draft Registration Card, serial no. T398, order no. T10315, Local Board no. 52, Chicago, Illinois, Feb. 16, 1942; Pasquale Spilotro, 355-18-3319, Social Security Applications and Claims Index, Nov. 23, 1954; Pasquale Spilotro, Illinois Federal Naturalization Records, S-143, May 22, 1925; Cawley, Janet, "Spilotro a 'nice boy' who grew up tough," Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1983, p. 1; "Gunmen fire into cafe from auto; diner is killed," Chicago Daily Tribune, Aug. 30, 1929, p. 4; Critchley, David, "'Buster from Chicago' revealed to be Sebastiano Domingo," Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement, January 2012, p. 41. Tony Domingo's brother Sebastiano "Buster" Domingo soon moved to New York. He joined a rebellion against boss of bosses Giuseppe Masseria and became a leading gunman for Masseria rival Salvatore Maranzano.

3 United States Census of 1940, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago, Ward 34, Enumeration District 103-2247; Pasquale Spilotro World War II Draft Registration Card, serial no. T398, order no. T10315, Local Board no. 52, Chicago, Illinois, Feb. 16, 1942; United States Census of 1950, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago, Enumeration District 103-3350.

4 Cawley, Janet, "Spilotro a 'nice boy' who grew up tough," Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1983, p. 1.

5 Pasquale Spilotro, 355-18-3319, Social Security Applications and Claims Index, Nov. 23, 1954; "Death notices," Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 18, 1954, p. 66; Cawley, Janet, "Spilotro a 'nice boy' who grew up tough," Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1983, p. 1.

6 Roemer, William F. Jr., Roemer: Man Against the Mob, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1989, p. 63.

7 "3 convicted in hijacking appliances," Chicago Tribune, Jan. 31, 1963, part 3, p. 17; "Body found in car trunk," Chicago Tribune, Aug. 12, 1961, p. 1; Roemer, William F. Jr., Roemer: Man Against the Mob, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1989, p. 68; O'Brien, John, "De Stefano charged in 1963 killing," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 1, 1972, p. 4; Cawley, Janet, "Spilotro a 'nice boy' who grew up tough," Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1983, p. 1.

8 "Mobsters 'hit' Sam De Stefano," Bloomington IL Sunday Pantagraph, April 15, 1973, p. 1; "Juice mob ordered deaths of gangsters, ex-attorney says," Kokomo IN Morning Times, Jan. 14, 1966, p. 1; Wiedrich, Robert, "Bare juice mob killings," Chicago Tribune, Jan. 14, 1966, p. 1; "15 reluctant witnesses face court hearing," Belleville IL News-Democrat, Jan. 21, 1966, p. 1

9 Schumacher, Geoff, "Tony Spilotro's last act," Nevada Public Radio, knpr.org, May 23, 2016; Roemer, William F. Jr., Roemer: Man Against the Mob, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1989, pp. 41-42. Rosselli's term as Las Vegas overseer probably began in 1948 after he was paroled from prison, where he served three years of a ten-year sentence for extorting the movie industry.

10 Hertel, Howard, and Dial Torgerson, "Friars witness balks on name, told to talk," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 26, 1967, p. 14; Harris, Kathyrn, "Johnny Roselli: There are missing lines from the last big scene in the play of his life," St. Petersburg FL Times, Aug. 25, 1976, p. D1.

11 "Gaming Control Board," Nevada State Library, Archives & Public Records, nsla.nv.gov, June 12, 2012; "Knowing Vegas: What's the story behind Nevada's Black Book?" Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 7, 2014; Banning, Doresa, "The original Black Book," Gambling-History, gambling-history.com, Dec. 28, 2019; Roemer, William F. Jr., Roemer: Man Against the Mob, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1989, pp. 41-42, 135; Schumacher, Geoff, "Tony Spilotro's last act," Nevada Public Radio, knpr.org, May 23, 2016;

12 Hoyt, Clark, "Is this the best prison in the U.S.?" Miami Herald, Nov. 7, 1971, p. CW-1; O'Brien, John, "De Stefano charged in 1963 killing," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 1, 1972, p. 4; Nolte, Robert, "Few attend wake for Alderisio," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 27, 1971, p. 1A-16; O'Brien, John, "Who's who of hoods at Alderisio's wake," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 28, 1971, p. 43; O'Brien, John, "De Stefano charged in 1963 killing," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 1, 1972, p. 4; "Death notices," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 27, 1971, p. 1A-16.

13 Roemer, William F. Jr., Roemer: Man Against the Mob, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1989, p. 135; Goodman, Michael J., :How an 'Ant' won the West," Kansas City Star, Feb. 20, 1983, p. 1; Seven indicted in $1.4 million fraud," Pontiac IL Daily Leader, Feb. 20, 1974, p.12; Goodman, Michael J., "Love triangle lights a fuse in Las Vegas," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 1983, p. 1; Goodman, Michael J., "Licensing board puts casinos' 'real boss' out of a job," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 1983, p. 3; Morrison, Jane Ann, "Mob loosens grip on Vegas, experts say," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, Sept. 25, 1989, p. 1. Allen Glick became an investor in the Hacienda in 1973. In August 1973, the Stardust and Fremont were purchased by his Argent Corporation from then-owner Recrion Corporation, using $100 million in loans from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. Glick recognized Rosenthal as de facto casino boss apparently as part of the purchase deal.

14 O'Brien, John, "De Stefano charged in 1963 killing," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 1, 1972, p. 4.; Anderson, Jack, "Murder and the money lenders," Parade, Sept. 27, 1964, p. 6; Goodman, Michael J., "Love triangle lights a fuse in Las Vegas," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 1983, p. 1.

15 "U.S. marshal turns down request for guard on Giancana," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 4, 1965, p. 3; "Crime doesn't pay -- any more," Cincinnati Post, Sept. 12, 1968, p. 13; Wiedrich, Bob, "Judge, lawyers on hit list," Chicago Tribune, July 3, 1975, p. 1.

16 "Police blotter," Chicago News-Journal-World, April 11, 1973, p. 8; "Residents describe life as DeStefano's neighbor," Chicago News-Journal-World, April 18, 1973, p. 1.

17 "Mobster found shot to death," Syracuse NY Herald-American, April 15, 1973, p. 1; "Mobsters 'hit' Sam De Stefano," Bloomington IL Sunday Pantagraph, April 15, 1973, p. 1; Roemer, William F. Jr., Roemer: Man Against the Mob, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1989, pp. 69-70; Mullen, William, "Few attend rites for De Stefano," Chicago Tribune, April 17, 1973, p. 1A-13; "Residents describe life as DeStefano's neighbor," Chicago News-Journal-World, April 18, 1973, p. 1.

18 Sneed, Michael, "DeStefano found guilty of murder," Chicago Tribune, June 27, 1973, p. 3.

19 "Seven indicted in $1.4 million fraud," Pontiac IL Daily Leader, Feb. 20, 1974, p.12.

20 Cook, J., "Invisible enterprise, Part 4 - The most abused, misused pension fund in America," Forbes, Nov. 10, 1980, included in National Criminal Justice Reference Service Virtual Library, U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, ojp.gov.

21 Goldsborough, Bob, "Elite Street: Nancy Hughes buys $12M mansion," Chicago Tribune, March 10, 2019, Section 7, p. 6; Phillips, Richard, "Trial begins for 6 accused of bilking Teamsters," Chicago Tribune, Feb. 6, 1975, Section 2, p. 13; Ward, Francis, "Seven on trial on charges of defrauding Teamsters pension fund of $4.1 million," Los Angeles Times, Jan. 27, 1975, p. 4; "Irwin Sidney Weiner," FBI report, file no. 87-126535-73, NARA no. 124-90087-10146, May 12, 1975, p. Cover-M; Chicago, "Irwin S. Weiner et al," FBI Teletype, file no. 87-126535-45, NARA no. 124-90087-10114, Oct. 29, 1974; "3 of 6 acquitted in pension fraud trial," Chicago Tribune, March 27, 1975, Section 2, p. 10; "3 acquitted in Teamster fund case," Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1975, p. 13.

22 Roemer, William F. Jr., Roemer: Man Against the Mob, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1989, p. 139; Schumacher, Geoff, "Tony Spilotro's last act," Nevada Public Radio, knpr.org, May 23, 2016; Dwyer, Bill, "Details of Spilotro murders revealed in mob trial," Oak Park IL Wednesday Journal, Aug. 14, 2007; Chicago, "Anthony John Spilotro," FBI teletype to Director, Anthony Spilotro Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts file no. 183-1919, Section 1, Aug. 10, 1978; Director FBI, teletype to FBI Las Vegas, file no. 12-4802-1, Feb. 2, 1983; Las Vegas FBI office, "...Narcotics matter," FBI teletype to director, file no. 12-4802-10, Nov. 10, 1983.

23 Petacque, Art, and Hugh Hough, "Crime boss captive of system he helped create," Omaha NE World-Herald, Sept. 24, 1975, p. 35; O'Brien, John, "Mob generation hap endangers Tony Accardo and his pals," Chicago Tribune, May 1, 1977, p. 6; "Leader Accardo is prisoner of Chicago mob," Daily Illini, Sept. 12, 1975, p. 26; Coates, James, "Wiretaps aid mob fight: Kelly," Chicago Tribune, Oct. 3, 1975, p. 6.

24 "Irwin Sidney Weiner," FBI report, file no. 870126535-73, NARA no. 124-90087-10146, May 12, 1975, p. Cover-M.

25 "Irwin Sidney Weiner," FBI report, file no. 870126535-73, NARA no. 124-90087-10146, May 12, 1975, p. Cover-Q.

26 "Tucsonan Bonanno is mob's western kingpin," Arizona Daily Star, March 27, 1977, p. 1; "Mob reaches outside Arizona," Kansas City Star, March 27, 1977, p. B6; "Phoenix mob thrives in disjointed way," Kansas City Star, March 29, 1977, p. 6; Goodman, Michael J., :How an 'Ant' won the West," Kansas City Star, Feb. 20, 1983, p. 1.

27 Oddsmaker loses bid for Las Vegas license," Reno Gazette-Journal, Jan. 23, 1976, p. 2, and Nevada Evening Gazette, Jan. 23, 1976, p. 2; Goodman, Michael J., "Licensing board puts casinos' 'real boss' out of a job," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 1983, p. 3.

28 Delugach, Al, "Casino scandal hits Vegas," Bloomington IL Pantagraph, July 1, 1976, p. 47; Morrison, Jane Ann, "Mob loosens grip on Vegas, experts say," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, Sept. 25, 1989, p. 1; Goodman, Michael J., "Licensing board puts casinos' 'real boss' out of a job," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 1983, p. 3.

29 "FBI Nevada raid launches organized crime probe," Albuquerque NM Journal, June 22, 1978, p. 3; Koch, Ed, and Mary Manning, "Mob ties," Las Vegas Sun, May 15, 2008; Lawrence, Lowell S., "Aladeno T. Fratianno," FBI report, file no. 92.3899-157, NARA no. 124-90056-10002, Sept. 15, 1976, pp. 3-4.

30 Valin, Edmond, "'Lefty' Rosenthal was high-level FBI source into activities of Chicago Outfit," The American Mafia: Rat Trap, mafiahistory.us, August 2018; "Casino boss killed," Palm Springs CA Desert Sun, May 13, 1975, p. 2; SAC Miami, "Roskil," FBI memorandum to Director, file no. 72-2382-687X, NARA no. 124-10356-10302, Feb. 27, 1979, p. 5; Koch, Ed, and Mary Manning, "Mob ties," Las Vegas Sun, May 15, 2008.

31 "FBI Nevada raid launches organized crime probe," Albuquerque NM Journal, June 22, 1978, p. 3; Ryan, Cy, "Nevada probes Spilotro for gaming 'Blackbook," Las Vegas Sun, June 26, 1978; "Casinos may bar suspected mobster," Arizona Republic, June 26, 1978, p. 4; "Mob boss eyed on Vegas skimming," Press of Atlantic City NJ, Feb. 3, 1979, p. 32.

32 Turner, Wallace, "Reputed organized crime heads named in casino skimming case," New York Times, Oct. 12, 1983, p. 1; Koch, Ed, and Mary Manning, "Mob ties," Las Vegas Sun, May 15, 2008.

33 Ryan, Cy, "Nevada probes Spilotro for gaming 'Blackbook," Las Vegas Sun, June 26, 1978; "Spilotro ran sports bet, loan empire: affidavit," Chicago Tribune, May 17, 1979, p. 6.

34 Goodman, Michael J., "Love triangle lights a fuse in Las Vegas," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 1983, p. 1; Roemer, William F. Jr., The Enforcer: Spilotro - The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas, New York: Donald I Fine, 1994, p. 234-235.

35 Goodman, Michael J., "Love triangle lights a fuse in Las Vegas," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 1983, p. 1; "Gambler sues police," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, Oct. 10, 1980, p. 21; Roemer, William F. Jr., The Enforcer: Spilotro - The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas, New York: Donald I Fine, 1994, p. 236.

36 Arnold, Patrick, "Spilotro charged with racketeering," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, July 15, 1981, p. 1.

37 Turner, Wallace, "Reputed organized crime heads named in casino skimming case," New York Times, Oct. 12, 1983, p. 1; "11 indicted in Tropicana casino skimming," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, Nov. 5, 1981, p. 3; "Agosto tells court how he skimmed Tropicana profits," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, June 10, 1983, p. 6; "Feds share tape of mob 'summit,'" Reno NV Gazette-Journal, June 20, 1983, p. 3.

38 "2 Chicagoans indicted in Vegas burglary quiz," Chicago Tribune, Oct. 17, 1981, p. 4; "Agent says Spilotro ordered gangster 'hit,'" Reno NV Gazette-Journal, May 25, 1982, p. 1; Miller, Ken, "Indictments rake organized crime in Vegas," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, Sept. 15, 1983, p. 1; Koziol, Ronald, "Mob leader planned to kill jury," Moline IL Sunday Dispatch, Jan. 23, 1983, p. 12; Schumacher, Geoff, "Tony Spilotro's last act," Nevada Public Radio, knpr.org, May 23, 2016; Roemer, William F. Jr., The Enforcer: Spilotro - The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas, New York: Donald I Fine, 1994, p. 240..

39 Goodman, Michael J., "Love triangle lights a fuse in Las Vegas," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 1983, p. 1; Manning, Mary, "Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal dies at age 79," Las Vegas Sun, Oct. 14, 2008; Roemer, William F. Jr., The Enforcer: Spilotro - The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas, New York: Donald I Fine, 1994, pp. 252-253.

40 "Authorities allege $3 million skimmed," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, April 5, 1983, p. 21; "Stardust cases reopened," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, July 8, 1983, p. 1; Bible, Paul A., "The Stardust Skim," Nevada Gaming Lawyer, Sept. 2016.

41 Cawley, Janet, "Spilotro a 'nice boy' who grew up tough," Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1983, p. 1; Miller, Ken, "Indictments rake organized crime in Vegas," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, Sept. 15, 1983, p. 1.

42 Turner, Wallace, "Reputed organized crime heads named in casino skimming case," New York Times, Oct. 12, 1983, p. 1; "An FBI tip that a mob figure was marked...," UPI Archives, upi.com, Oct. 16, 1983; Roemer, William F. Jr., The Enforcer: Spilotro - The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas, New York: Donald I Fine, 1994, p. 287.

43 Henderson, Joe, "Carl Civella pleads guilty to two more federal charges," Kansas City Star, April 16, 1984, p. 1; Koziol, Ronald, "Spilotro held out on mob, ex-aide says," Chicago Tribune, Feb. 13, 1986, p. 16; "Mob boss given 10-year jail term," Wausau WI Daily Herald, Jan. 1, 1986, p. 10.

44 "5 convicted of skimming casino profits," Decatur IL Herald and Review, Jan. 22, 1986, p. 8; "28 1/2-year prison term for mob figure," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, March 26, 1986, p. C3; "Chicago mob chieftain gets 28 1/2 year prison term for Vegas skim," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, March 28, 1986, p. 28.

45 "Selecting jury to try Spilotro no easy job," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, Jan. 27, 1986, p. 19; Koziol, Ronald, "Spilotro held out on mob, ex-aide says," Chicago Tribune, Feb. 13, 1986, p. 16.

46 Borders, Myram, "Vegas gang trial goes to jury," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, March 28, 1986, p. C1; Borders, Myram, "Spilotro: mistrial declared," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, A[ro; 9. 1986, p. 1; "Mistrial in mob case," Mid-Illinois Journal Gazette, April 9, 1986, p. 9; Roemer, William F. Jr., The Enforcer: Spilotro - The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas, New York: Donald I Fine, 1994, p. 307.

47 Roemer, William F. Jr., Roemer: Man Against the Mob, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1989, p. 141; "28 1/2-year prison term for mob figure," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, March 26, 1986, p. C3; "Chicago mob chieftain gets 28 1/2 year prison term for Vegas skim," Reno NV Gazette-Journal, March 28, 1986, p. 28; O'Brien, John, and Ronald Koziol, "New generation of mob leaders rises in Chicago," Chicago Tribune, March 30, 1986, p. 1.

48 SAC Chicago, "Anthony Spilotro," FBI Airtel to Director, file no. 281A-CG-88436-1, p. 2; Roemer, William F. Jr., The Enforcer: Spilotro - The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas, New York: Donald I Fine, 1994, p. 307.

49 "9 indicted in on-going mob probe," Urbana IL Daily Illini, April 25, 1986, p. 2; Terry, Don, "Spilotro brothers indicted in Safebet," Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1986, section 2, p. 3; SAC Chicago, "Anthony Spilotro," FBI Airtel to Director, file no. 281A-CG-88436-1, p. 2; O'Connor, Matt, "Agent recounts Spilotro murders tale," Chicago Tribune, April 30, 2005; "Did reputed mob brothers run or were they killed?" Elyria OH Chronicle-Telegram, June 19, 1986, p. B-2; Kass, John, "Outfit's faithful reader has many a puzzle to ponder," Chicago Tribune, Feb. 5, 2009, p. 2.

50 "Did reputed mob brothers run or were they killed?" Elyria OH Chronicle-Telegram, June 19, 1986, p. B-2.

51 "Did reputed mob brothers run or were they killed?" Elyria OH Chronicle-Telegram, June 19, 1986, p. B-2; Royko, Mike, "Tourists don't come to stare at the fish," Bloomington IL Pantagraph, June 19, 1986, p. 4.

52 Schumacher, Geoff, "Tony Spilotro's last act," Nevada Public Radio, knpr.org, May 23, 2016; Koziol, Ronald, and Edward Baumann, "Spilotros found beaten to death," Chicago Tribune, June 25, 1986.

53 Koziol, Ronald, and John O'Brien, "Spilotros may have had drinks with killers," Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1986; Koziol, Ronald, and Edward Baumann, "Spilotros found beaten to death," Chicago Tribune, June 25, 1986; Anthony J. Spilotro Coroner's Certificate of Death, state no. 86-031135, Indiana State Board of Health, June 14, 1986; Michael P. Spilotro Coroner's Certificate of Death, state no. 86-031136, Indiana State Board of Health, June 14, 1986.

54 "Gangster brothers died of asphyxiation," Rock Island IL Argus, June 26, 1986, p. 6; Dwyer, Bill, "Details of Spilotro murders revealed in mob trial," Oak Park IL Wednesday Journal, Aug. 14, 2007; Anthony J. Spilotro Coroner's Certificate of Death, state no. 86-031135, Indiana State Board of Health, June 14, 1986; Michael P. Spilotro Coroner's Certificate of Death, state no. 86-031136, Indiana State Board of Health, June 14, 1986.

55 Schumacher, Geoff, "Tony Spilotro's last act," Nevada Public Radio, knpr.org, May 23, 2016.

56 Koziol, Ronald, and John O'Brien, "Mob breakthrough," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 17, 1986, section 2, p. 3; "Gunmen kill suspected crime figure," Belleville IL News-Democrat, Sept. 17, 1986, p. 16; O'Brien, John, and Ronald Koziol, "Police say mobster trusted his killer," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 21, 1986, section 3, p. 8.

57 Roemer, William F. Jr., The Enforcer: Spilotro - The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas, New York: Donald I Fine, 1994, pp. 324-325; "Mobster whose wife testified against him," Miami Herald, Sept. 27, 2005, p. 76.

58 O'Connor, Matt, and Todd Lighty, "U.S. drops hammer on who's who of mob," Chicago Tribune, April 26, 2005, p. 1; "Family Secrets of the murderous kind," FBI, archives.fbi.gov, Oct. 1, 2007; "Deputy marshal charged with aiding mob," MobNews, mob-news.blogspot.com, Jan. 13, 2007; Goudie, Chuck, and Ann Pistone, "New fed docs show larger Family Secrets plan," abc7chicago.com, April 13, 2009, accessed May 29, 2018; Goldsborough, Bob, "Reputed Chicago Outfit boss John DiFronzo dies at 89," Chicago Tribune, May 30, 2018. Documents suggest that the Family Secrets investigation began as an effort to acquire evidence against John DiFronzo and Alphonse Tornabene. Neither were defendants in the Family Secrets case.

59 "Family Secrets of the murderous kind," FBI, archives.fbi.gov, Oct. 1, 2007; "Chicago 'Secrets' trial opens," MobNews, mob-news.blogspot.com, June 19, 2007.

60 Coen, Jeff, "A plea for a prayer before mob slayings," Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2007, p. 1; "Opening statements at 'Secrets' trial," MobNews, mob-news.blogspot.com, June 21, 2007; Goldsborough, Bob, "Reputed Chicago Outfit boss John DiFronzo dies at 89," Chicago Tribune, May 30, 2018.

61 Coen, Jeff, "A plea for a prayer before mob slayings," Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2007, p. 1; Dwyer, Bill, "Details of Spilotro murders revealed in mob trial," Oak Park IL Wednesday Journal, Aug. 14, 2007; "Secrets: Nick Calabrese concludes testimony," MobNews, mob-news.blogspot.com, July 24, 2007.

62 Dwyer, Bill, "Details of Spilotro murders revealed in mob trial," Oak Park IL Wednesday Journal, Aug. 14, 2007; Smith, Gerry, "25 years after notorious hit, mob has quieter presence," Chicago Tribune, June 21, 2011, p. 6.

63 Coen, Jeff, "Targeting the words of killer," Chicago Tribune, Aug. 29, 2007, p. 7; "Family Secrets of the murderous kind," FBI, archives.fbi.gov, Oct. 1, 2007; Coen, Jeff, "5 guilty in Outfit trial," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 11, 2007, p. 1; Coen, Jeff, Liam Ford and Michael Higgins, "10 murders laid at feet of 3 in mob," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 28, 2007, p. 1; Coen, Jeff, "Mob case's 1st sentence: 20 years," Chicago Tribune, Jan. 27, 209, p. 10; Coen, Jeff, "2nd Family Secrets defendant sentenced," Chicago Tribune, Jan. 29, 2009, p. 12; Coen, Jeff, "Another mob boss imprisoned for life," Chicago Tribune, Feb. 3, 2009, p. 11; Coen, Jeff, "Mobster gets life term," Chicago Tribune, Feb. 6, 2009, p. 16; "Outfit's Marcello sentenced to life in prison," MobNews, mob-news.blogspot.com, Feb. 6, 2009; "Restitution ordered in Outfit case," Chicago Tribune, April 7, 2009, p. 10.

64 Coen, Jeff, "He killed 14 people. He got 12 years," Chicago Tribune, March 27, 2009, p. 1.

65 Luft, Kerry, and Jacquelyn Heard, "Joseph Ferriola, Chicago mob figure, dies at 61," Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1989, p. 1; O'Brien, John, and Gary Marx, "Mob may shrug off boss' death," Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1989, p. 1; "Reputed mob bosses on trial," Woodstock IL Northwest Herald, Jan. 28, 1992, p. 7; Goldsborough, Bob, "Reputed Chicago Outfit boss John DiFronzo dies at 89," Chicago Tribune, May 30, 2018; "DiFronzo, Frank," Chicago Tribune, April 8, 2003, p. B12.