Frank Cullotta - The Rise and Fall of a ’Casino’ Mobster: The Tony Spilotro Story Through A Hitman’s Eyes

The Rise and Fall of a Casino Mobster

I was assigned to the FBIs Las Vegas field office in August 1980. Upon my arrival I was named co-case agent for the investigation of Tony Spilotros street crimes, which were being run by Tonys lieutenant, Frank Cullotta, and his Hole in the Wall Gang. Frank was Tonys boyhood friend and knew more about Tony and his criminal activities than anyone else. In 1982 Tony and Frank had a falling out and a contract was issued on Franks life, resulting in him rolling and becoming a government witness.

In this book Frank reveals his intimate knowledge of Tony Spilotro and what really went on in Las Vegas. Its a story only Frank could tell.

Dennis Arnoldy, FBI (retired)

Frank Cullotta was a close friend of Tony Spilotro and served as his lieutenant in Las Vegas. In The Rise and Fall Of A Casino Mobster The Tony Spilotro Story Through A Hitmans Eyes , Frank sets the record straight about Tony the man and Tony the mobster. Its an eye-opener.

Frank Calabrese, Junior,

author of Operation Family Secrets

For many years Frank Cullotta was one of Tony Spilotros closest friends and criminal associates. He was the technical consultant on my film, Casino . The Rise and Fall Of A Casino Mobster The Tony Spilotro Story Through A Hitmans Eyes , he provides extraordinary insights into Tonys career and the demise of the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas.

Nick Pileggi, author and screenwriter

I began working as a cop in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in 1976. In 1978 I was promoted to detective and assigned to the Criminal Intelligence Bureau. In the early 1980s my squad worked jointly with the FBI to bring down the Chicago Outfits operations in Sin City. Our primary targets were Tony Spilotro, his street lieutenant Frank Cullotta, and their crew.

In this book, Frank relates the real story of Tony and his reign as Vegass crime kingpin. Its a narrative that only a man with Franks inside knowledge could tell.

Louie DeTiberiis, Las Vegas Metropolitan

Police Department (retired)

For nearly fifty years I made my living as a fixer. I fixed horse races. In 1972 I visited a friend who was incarcerated in the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and he introduced me to another inmate, Frank Cullotta. I was having trouble with my business partner at that time and asked Frank if he could help me out. When he was released Frank introduced me to Tony Spilotro. My problem was resolved, and a relationship developed that was very profitable for all of us.

Frank is the real deal and when it comes to Tony Spilotro, nobody Im aware of was closer to him than Frank.

Larry Rolla

DEDICATION

To my deceased parents, Joseph and Josephine Cullotta; my late sister Jean Cullotta Siers; and my brother, Joseph Cullotta.

FOREWORD

By William Ouseley, FBI (retired)

Author of Mobsters in Our Midst and Open City

Twenty of my twenty-five years as an FBI agent were spent working organized crime cases out of the Kansas City field office. One of those investigations involved the conspiracy between several organized crime organizations, including those in Kansas City and Chicago, to skim money from the Las Vegas casinos.

Nick Civella headed the Kansas City group for over thirty years. Although he was not as well known to the public as bosses from bigger cities, Civella was highly regarded by those other leaders for his criminal abilities and strong political connections. He also had ties to an individual from an organization that would prove to be critical to organized crime gaining hidden control of several Las Vegas casinos. The wily Civella had cultivated and gained influence over Roy Lee Williams, leader of the local Teamster Union. Williams would become director of the unions Central States Pension Fund, which came to be known as the Mobs Bank and supplied the cash for organized crime-controlled casinos to be purchased or built in Vegas. Civellas ability to control Williams made him a critical player in the scheme to loot the casinos.

During the Mobs heyday in Las Vegas, the protocol was to keep a low profilefly below the radar, as they say. Most of the Mob bosses at the time were old school and held the traditional Mafia values of honor, respect, discipline, and loyalty. But they were a fading breed, and a number of young reckless menindifferent to tradition and motivated by unchecked ambition, greed, and egowere coming up through the ranks to replace them. One of those men was Chicagos Tony Spilotro.

In 1971 Spilotro was sent to Las Vegas by his superiors to keep an eye on the Mobs interests there. He was a good choice on one hand because of his well-earned reputation as a ruthless enforcer, who would do whatever it took to eliminate business threats and keep things in Sin City running smoothly.

However, appointing Spilotro to that important position had a downside as well. Once in Vegas and away from his bosses, he treated it as his personal fiefdom, importing a crew of thugs, thieves, arsonists, and killers to set up his own criminal empire. One of his street lieutenants was Frank Cullotta, a man who had been his friend since they were teenagers running wild on the streets of Chicago. Over their decades-long relationship, nobody knew more about Tonys criminal activities than Cullotta.

As time went by and Spilotros organization grew, rather than operating in the shadows, he and his gang wreaked havoc in Vegas. He became very high-profile and a major target for local and federal law enforcement. He was charged in four separate cases investigated by the FBI. Tony Spilotros conduct became an embarrassment to his bosses and brought tremendous heat on him and them. In 1986 he paid the ultimate price for it.

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