2021. 8. 20. 19:18ㆍ카테고리 없음
By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.
Frank Cullotta, once one of the most feared men in Las Vegas, passed away on Thursday. He was 81. As the right-hand of Anthony Spilotro, the mobster who oversaw the Chicago Mafia’s interests in Sin City, Cullotta’s life was a rollercoaster ride filled with heists, beatings, and mob murders.
This time his subject and co-author is Frank Cullotta, who was the right-hand man and #1 crime partner of Anthony “the Little Guy” Spilotro a/k/a “Tough Tony” (played by Joe Pesci in the film Casino – Cullotta was played by the incendiary Frank Vincent, who sadly passed away several years ago). Full Cast & Crew: Casino (1995) Cast (168) Robert De Niro. Sam 'Ace' Rothstein Sharon Stone. Hitman (uncredited) Peter Paul Eastman. Frank Cullotta, a veteran mobster who later became a Las Vegas attraction for his in-depth knowledge of organized crime’s history in Sin City, has died. He was 81 and passed from complications. Frank Cullotta, a former mobster turned government witness who had a cameo role in the 1995 movie “Casino” and later was a Las Vegas mob museum tour guide, has died.
According to Geoff Schumacher, vice president of exhibits and programs of The Mob Museum in Las Vegas, Cullotta (photo above, far right) was suffering from several medical issues, including COVID-19. At 81, it doesn’t take much to push a person into the other world.
Mean streets of Chicago
Though a man like Cullotta never had much trouble pushing men decades younger to the other world either. Growing up on the streets of Chicago, he showed he had no problem with violence. His willingness to scrap earned him the friendship of Anthony Spilotro, who would go on to become a powerhouse in the city’s Mafia family known as The Outfit.
- READ:The two sides of infamous Chicago Outfit mobster Tony Spilotro
The pair mixed business with pleasure as both men continued carving their own path in the underworld. After Spilotro (right) was sent to Las Vegas to oversee the Outfit’s casino interests there in 1971, he invited Cullotta in 1978 to join him and run the street rackets for him.
Hole in the Wall gang
Spilotro and Cullotta assembled a crew comprised of burglars, thieves, and killers that became known as The Hole in the Wall gang, because of its modus operandi of drilling holes to enter homes and businesses. According to Cullotta, the crew was responsible for around 250 burglaries between 1978 and 1981.
- WATCH: Mafia hitman Frank Cullotta on movie 'Casino', Tony Spilotro, Killing Informants, Cooperating with FBI
During that time things began spiraling out of control. Spilotro’s power had gotten to his head and he began making mistakes that had large consequences. Like sleeping with the wife of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, the man who managed casino operations for the Outfit.
The police and other agencies were also breathing down Spilotro’s neck. At one point, authorities managed to place an informant inside the Hole in the Wall gang. He tipped them off of a planned heist at Bertha’s home and furnishings store. All the men involved, including Cullotta, were arrested near or on the spot as the break-in took place.
Fall guy
It is all part of doing business. But this time something had changed, Cullotta (right) later recalled. Spilotro knew he was in trouble with the bosses back in Chicago and he needed a fall guy. Cullotta was to be it. And he would pay for that role with his life.
- READ:The Facts Behind Movie Classic Casino
As is custom when the feds find out there is a threat on a person’s life, they make a visit to the intended target with information about the threat without revealing the source or the individual or group that aims to attack. Cullotta let it sink in and began to see he had no other options but to cooperate.
“Take care of your dirty laundry”
Once he made a deal with the FBI to become a government witness against Spilotro and his old crew, the feds let him listen to some wiretaps they made of Spilotro talking on the phone with his capo, Joseph “Joey the Clown” Lombardo.
Spilotro: “I’m telling you, Joey, this fuckin’ Frankie is a goddamn maniac. I can’t control him any longer, and he’s gonna get all of us locked the fuck up.”
Lombardo: “I get what you’re saying. Take care of your dirty laundry. Understand?”
Spilotro: “I understand.”
If Cullotta had any doubts about whether the FBI had been honest with him, they were buried somewhere in the desert now. He testified against Spilotro in court, but the case ended in a mistrial. He didn’t get a second shot at his former friend and boss, because Spilotro was himself killed by the Outfit just before his retrial was scheduled to begin.
By the end of the 1980s, the Mafia’s control over Las Vegas was all but gone. They were kicked out of the casinos and pushed on to the streets. Afterwards, Cullotta disappeared into the witness protection program, but reemerged in Las Vegas where he began giving mob tours through the city. He authored several books about his life of crime, featured in mob documentaries and attended many public events with a focus on the mob and Vegas.
Scorsese’s Casino
His best-known role, however, was as a hitman in director Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic Casino in 1995. The film told the story of Spilotro, now named Nicky Santoro and played by Joe Pesci, and “Lefty” Rosenthal, now called Sam “Ace” Rothstein and played by Robert De Niro.
Cullotta had confessed to two gangland slayings and now got to show off his skills on the silver screen. A weird case of a real hitman faking his actions on camera. Just another day in the rollercoaster ride that was the life of Frank Cullotta.
Also read:
- The lucrative and violent years of Las Vegas mobster Tony Spilotro’s infamous Hole in the Wall gang
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Frank Cullotta Dies
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Copyright © Gangsters Inc.
Cullotta in 2012 | |
| Born | December 14, 1938 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Died | August 20, 2020 (aged 81) |
| Occupation | Mobster, tour guide, writer |
| Allegiance | Chicago Outfit |
| Conviction(s) | Burglary (1968) |
| Criminal penalty | Eight years' imprisonment (1968) Eight years' imprisonment (1982) |
Frank John Cullotta (December 14, 1938 – August 20, 2020) was an American mobster for the Chicago Outfit and a member of the Hole in the Wall Gang burglary ring in Las Vegas with friend and mobster Tony Spilotro. After his arrest in 1982, he became a government witness and entered the witness protection program. Cullotta later became an author and a tour guide. He died on August 20, 2020, from complications related to COVID-19.
Early years[edit]
Cullotta was born on December 14, 1938, in Chicago, Illinois to Josephine Montedore and Joseph Raymond Cullotta.[1][2] Cullotta's father was also a criminal, although not connected with the Chicago Outfit.[2] Cullotta dropped out of Steinmetz High School in the ninth grade, and started a criminal career together with boyhood friend Tony Spilotro, engaging in theft, burglary, and murder.[2][1]
In 1962, Cullotta killed William McCarthy and James Miraglia, murders he later admitted, who were found dead in the trunk of a car on May 14, 1962.[3] McCarthy's head had been placed in a vise and his throat slashed, while Miraglia was strangled.[3]
In 1968, Cullotta was convicted of burglary and sentenced to eight years in prison.[2] In 1972, he was paroled by the state, but was transferred to Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute to serve the federal portion of his sentence.[2] After six months, he was transferred to a halfway house, ultimately being released in 1974.[2][1]
Hole in the Wall Gang[edit]
In early 1979, Cullotta moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to join Spilotro, who had already been there since 1971,[4] and his group of experienced thieves, safecrackers, and killers.[2] The crew became known in the media as the Hole in the Wall Gang because of its penchant for gaining entry to homes and buildings by drilling through the exterior walls and ceilings of the locations they burgled.[citation needed]
On October 10, 1979, Cullotta killed his former friend and grand jury witness Sherwin 'Jerry' Lisner in Las Vegas, who was suspected of informing on a money exchange scam he was working on with Cullotta. When he became a witness, Cullotta admitted he had killed Lisner, on orders from Tony Spilotro.[2][5]
On July 4, 1981, the Hole in the Wall Gang robbed Bertha's Gifts & Home Furnishings on East Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas. The robbery was a bust, as much of the gang was arrested, including Cullotta, Joe Blasko, Leo Guardino, Ernest Davino, Lawrence Neumann, and Wayne Matecki—each charged with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, attempted grand larceny, and possession of burglary tools.[2]
In 1982, Cullotta was imprisoned again, and was approached by the FBI with a wiretap of Spilotro talking with someone about 'having to clean our dirty laundry', which Cullotta took as an insinuated contract on his life.[3] Due to this, in July 1982, Cullotta finalized an agreement with the prosecutors.[2]
In September 1983, Spilotro was indicted for conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the Lisner murder, and released on $100,000 bail.[6] At a trial in October 1983, Cullotta admitted that he was involved in over 300 crimes, including four murders, perjury, robberies and burglaries.[6] He also testified that Spilotro, his boss in Las Vegas, ordered him to make a telephone call that lured one of the 1962 murder victims, William McCarthy, to a fast food restaurant.[6] Spilotro was acquitted later that year.[7]
Frank Cullotta Net Worth
Cullotta was given immunity for his previously uncharged crimes, but was sentenced to 10 years in prison, reduced to eight years after an outburst from Cullotta.[2] He served two years at Metropolitan Correctional Center, San Diego, until he was paroled to the witness protection program in 1984, and placed on two years' probation.[2] He spent two years under an assumed name in the program, moving around from time to time, including in Texas; Estes Park, Colorado; Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi; and Mobile, Alabama.[5][8]
Life after crime[edit]
Cullotta provided information for Nicholas Pileggi's 1995 book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas, which Martin Scorsese adapted into the 1995 film Casino.[8][9] Cullotta inspired the character Frank Marino (played by Frank Vincent),[10] served as a technical advisor for the film,[5] and also played an on-screen role as a hitman.[8][1]
Cullotta co-authored two books with Dennis N. Griffin, Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, Government Witness (also with Dennis Arnoldy, 2007), and The Rise and Fall of a 'Casino' Mobster: The Tony Spilotro Story Through a Hitman's Eyes (2017), and was involved in the making of several documentaries. Cullotta worked as a tour guide and a speaker for The Mob Museum in Las Vegas.[5]
In January 2020, Cullotta started a YouTube channel called 'Coffee with Cullotta'.[1]
Death[edit]
On August 20, 2020, Cullotta died at the age of 81 in a Las Vegas hospital from complications related to COVID-19 and other medical issues, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[11][1] His death was also announced on his YouTube channel, 'Coffee with Cullotta'.[12]
References[edit]
- ^ abcdef'Frank Cullotta, Mobster Turned Memoirist and YouTuber, Dies at 81'. nytimes.com. August 24, 2020. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020.
- ^ abcdefghijklDennis N. Griffin; Frank Cullotta; Dennis Arnoldy (2007). Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness. Huntington Press In. ISBN9780929712451.
- ^ abc'A judge refused Wednesday to dismiss murder charges against...' upi.com. October 26, 1983.
- ^Nicholas Pileggi (1995). Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. Simon & Schuster. ISBN9781504041621.
- ^ abcd'Old mobster is at peace with his past'. lasvegassun.com. November 23, 2015.
- ^ abc'Indicted in murder, Spilotro free on bond'. upi.com. September 15, 1983.
- ^'Spilotro Killings Not Typical of Mob's Pattern'. latimes.com. June 25, 1986.
- ^ abcTanner, Adam. 'How An Infamous Mafia Hitman Rebuilt His Identity From Scratch'. Forbes. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
- ^Nicholas Pileggi; Martin Scorsese (1996). Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. Faber & Faber. ISBN9780571179923.
- ^'Casino (1995)'. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
- ^'Ex-mobster Frank Cullotta, crony of Tony Spilotro, dies in Las Vegas'. reviewjournal.com. August 20, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
- ^'Former Chicago and Las Vegas mobster Frank Cullotta has died'. ktnv.com. August 20, 2020.
Frank Cullotta Casino
External links[edit]
Casino Cast Frank Cullotta