Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness (19 page)

Tony had been black-balled from the casinos; he couldn’t step foot into one without risking arrest. Acting in his stead, Frank took over the responsibility of getting new arrivals from Chicago jobs in the Outfit-controlled joints. He didn’t take care of just anybody from Chicago, though. They had to either be Outfit guys or their friends or relatives. He told them which dealer school to go to and when they finished their training, he sent them downtown to the Fremont to apply. Working through the casino manager, Frank’s referrals were hired and dealt at the Fremont until they became proficient, then many of them transferred to the Stardust on the Las Vegas Strip. Neither Frank nor Tony charged for this assistance; it was done strictly as favors.

In addition to connected guys moving to Vegas, many of them went there for vacation. In those cases Frank got them comped into the Stardust through the casino manager. These wiseguys did a lot of gambling and most of the time would drop $20,000 or so during their stay, so the casino wasn’t really giving up anything. The visitors were well taken care of and went back to Chicago feeling like big shots.
Two of the Outfit-controlled casinos at that time were the Stardust on the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont in Glitter Gulch downtown, and Frank’s connection to Tony Spilotro earned him a great deal of clout in both. He could get anything he wanted in either place, but he preferred to hang out at the Stardust. When he married Eileen, they had their reception there in one of the ballrooms. Everything was comped. Frank didn’t ask for it; Lou Salerno, the casino manager, did it on his own.

However, Frank did have one rather awkward moment at the Stardust. The problem arose because of a burglar from Chicago named Joey whom Frank was associating with. Although Joey’s brother was a made man with the Outfit, Tony didn’t care for him, so Frank never brought him around the Upper Crust or My Place. The only thing about Joey that Frank didn’t like was that he sold drugs.

In addition to stealing and distributing narcotics, Joey was a gambler. One day he, Frank, and Ernie Davino were shooting craps at the Stardust and lost $26,000.They left there and went to the Thunderbird. Joey and Frank each drew a $5,000 marker and the three men headed for the crap tables. Davino was a notoriously unlucky gambler, so he was the designated shooter, making minimum pass line bets. Joey and Frank, playing against him on the don’t pass, won $21,000. Then they went next door to the Sahara and won some more. They got all their money back.

The experience prompted the pair to come up with a scheme involving markers that they used in several casinos. The way it worked was that Joey and Frank got some of their friends in Chicago to open bank accounts showing balances of $10,000 or $20,000. Using the friends’ names, Frank and Joey got lines of credit at the casinos and drew markers in the amount of the bank accounts in Chicago. As soon as their casino credit was approved, they notified the guys in Chicago, who closed their accounts, taking their money out of risk. Working four casinos at a time gave them each at least $40,000 of casino money to play with. If Frank and Joey won, they won big, because they didn’t have a dime invested. If they lost, the casinos got stiffed. They didn’t dare hit Outfit joints like the Stardust, Fremont, and Hacienda. It was a good scam, but it had a fairly short life.

But then Joey put Frank in an embarrassing situation by cheating at the Stardust. It wasn’t really the fact that he cheated; it was that he got caught by Stardust management. Because it was known that Frank and Joey were pretty close, Cullotta was asked to straighten things out. And with the Stardust being Outfit-connected, Frank had no choice but to tell Tony about it. The Ant wanted everyone brought in and questioned. But Joey got scared and ran off to Chicago. Then one of the Stardust pit bosses admitted to Frank that he was in on the cheat with Joey and another guy.

The players were now all identified. The next question was what Spilotro would do about it. Other people had suffered grievously for lesser offenses. But because of his brother’s status in the Outfit, Joey got a pass; his co-cheat was warned and banned from Outfit properties. Frank arranged for the pit boss to be fired, but got him another job at a nickel-and-dime joint. In the world of Tony Spilotro and the Outfit where transgressions often proved fatal, this was a mild rebuke. Not everyone who ran afoul of Tony was so lucky.

Although the Stardust was one of Frank’s favorite hangouts, he got to Las Vegas too late to experience Lefty Rosenthal’s management style. Lefty had lost his lengthy battle with the Nevada gaming regulators and had been replaced as casino boss by Al Sachs of Detroit. But Rosenthal was still in town and maintained some clout with the Chicago bosses and Frank learned quickly that the relationship between Lefty and Tony had deteriorated to a dangerous point.

When Frank arrived in Las Vegas, Tony told him to keep away from Rosenthal, but Lefty used to hang out at some of the same spots the gangsters did, so they were often in the same place at the same time. Lefty was one of the most arrogant men Frank had ever met. The oddsmaker acted like he thought he was God. He had an entourage of guys and women following him around like he was an emperor. The attention Rosenthal received got under Tony’s skin big time.

One night Tony and Frank were in the Jubilation having a few drinks. Lefty walked in with six showgirls and a couple of his male stooges. Lefty looked in their direction, but didn’t acknowledge them. Tony said, “Look at that Jew cocksucker. You’d think he’d at least wave at me, or wink, or something. He don’t do shit. Look at him; who the fuck does he think he is, this guy? Believe me, Frankie, he’s got me so fucking mad that if he didn’t have the juice he’s got, I’d have corked him a long time ago.”

Frank never fully understood the rift between Tony and Lefty until he found out Tony had been having an affair with Geri Rosenthal. It was a fact that seemed to be known by everyone but him. Even the local cops and the FBI were aware of it. But Frank didn’t find out until the day Geri stopped at the Upper Crust looking for Tony.

She seemed upset and said, “Where’s Tony? I’ve got to talk to him right away.”

Frank told her a semi-lie. “He’s not here right now. I can try to find him for you if you’d like.”

“Please. It’s very important.”

Frank went next door to the My Place, where Tony was hanging out. “Geri Rosenthal’s in the restaurant looking for you.”

“What the fuck does she want?”

“I don’t know. She only said it’s real important that she talk with you.”

Ernie Davino was also in the bar. Tony told him to move Geri’s car behind the restaurant. Tony then went to get Geri and brought her back to the lounge. Half an hour later she left.

Afterward Tony came into the Upper Crust shaking his head. He said to Frank, “Boy, have I fucked up. I’ve been banging this broad and I shouldn’t have. You know how it is; the dick gets hard and the mind goes soft. I have no respect for that Jew and that made it a little easier. But now they’re arguing and she admitted she already told him about us. If this ever gets back to Chicago, I’ll have nothing but headaches.”

As Frank listened to Tony’s admission, he smelled trouble. He wasn’t surprised about the affair; he knew that Tony lacked control when it came to women. But he was concerned about how the Outfit would react if they heard about it.

It didn’t take him long to find out.

Every so often Frank went back to Chicago to deliver the money Tony was sending the bosses. On one trip after finding out about Lefty’s wife, he made a delivery to Joe Ferriola, one of the big shots. Ferriola had a question for him. “Frankie, you’ve gotta level with me. Is the little guy fucking the Jew’s wife?”

“No way. I know Tony and Lefty ain’t gettin’ along, but as far as I know Tony’s not fucking Lefty’s old lady,” Frank said quickly and with a straight face.

“I believe you, Frankie. You know we’ve got a lot of money riding out there and we can’t have some cunt fucking everything up just because some guy gets a hard-on. If that happens, a lot of people will be mad, including me.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Frank assured him. “Tony’s not doin’ anything wrong.”

That night Frank was in a restaurant with Larry Neumann, who was in Chicago on other business, and Wayne Matecki. Outfit underboss Jackie Cerone happened to be in the same place. He came over to their table to talk. “How’s Tony doing out there?” he asked.

“He’s doing a good job; everything’s fine,” Frank answered.

“I’m glad to hear that. Give him a message from me. Tell him not to fuck up and to keep his nose clean,” Cerone said, then walked away.

Larry Neumann wasn’t impressed with Cerone or his message to Tony. “That bastard,” he fumed. “Do you realize how easy it would be to take him out? We could take out this whole fucking joint.”

“Take it easy, Larry. That’s not going to happen,” Frank said. He made it a point never to talk down to the volatile Neumann. Each recognized the other man’s capacity for violence, and they treated one another with respect.

When Frank got back to Vegas, he told Tony what Ferriola asked him. Concerned, Tony asked, “What did you tell him?”

Frank teased his friend. “I told him you’ve been banging the broad.” Both men laughed.

Then Frank turned serious. After delivering Cerone’s message he said, “I’ll tell you something. If those guys in Chicago ever find out I lied to them, they’ll dig two graves in the desert. One for you and one for me.”

While Tony Spilotro and Frank Cullotta were running the street rackets in Las Vegas, two law-enforcement agencies were gearing up to take them down.

The task of catching the lawbreakers fell primarily on the shoulders of the FBI and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, commonly referred to as Metro. Each agency had its own investigative responsibilities and both had recently suffered from scandal. Some FBI agents had been on the dole, taking complimentary meals and shows from the casinos they were supposed to be keeping an eye on. And Metro detectives had been caught passing information to the mobsters. But by the time Frank Cullotta got to Sin City, the law-enforcement ship was being righted.

The Spilotro gang counted a number of skilled and tough criminals among its members. These were men capable of doing whatever it took to protect their interests and expand their illegal enterprises. But even though they had to play by different rules, the lawmen who opposed them were no slouches when it came to dedication and toughness.

The feds were interested in Las Vegas organized crime from two perspectives: the skimming of money from casinos, and street crimes that violated federal laws. Several FBI offices across the country were involved in the skim investigations. The street crimes were more of an effort by the local office.

Starting in the late 1970s, the Las Vegas FBI office underwent a major reorganization as a result of allegations of improper or unethical practices. One of the first new agents to arrive in Vegas was Emmett Michaels in 1977. He was appointed supervisor of the Surveillance Squad, a part of the Special Operations Group. His unit was responsible for conducting surveillance, including the installation and monitoring of authorized wiretaps and electronic eavesdropping equipment. Early on, Michaels found the working relationship between the FBI and its local counterparts to be unproductive. This lack of trust was obvious on a night in 1978 when Michaels and a team of agents bugged Spilotro’s Gold Rush store.

About 10 agents were involved. Because Metro had a reputation for being corrupt, the FBI didn’t tell them they were planning to place bugs in Spilotro’s store and tap the phones. Michaels and three other agents were up on the telephone poles when the store’s alarm system activated. A Metro car showed up and the officer got out to investigate. The four G-men dangled from those poles, holding their breath and hoping the cop didn’t look up. He didn’t; he left a few minutes later without detecting any of the agents. Had Metro caught them in the act, Michaels believed the incident would have been embarrassing at best. At worst, word may have gotten back to Spilotro.

In 1979, Charlie Parsons came on the scene as the supervisor of the Organized Crime Squad. He was subsequently transferred to the Los Angeles field office and became the special agent in charge (SAC) of that office.

Two more major players were assigned to Las Vegas in 1980: Dennis Arnoldy in August and Lynn Ferrin in September. Arnoldy was made co-case agent for the Spilotro investigations. When his partner transferred to other duties, he became the sole case agent. Ferrin was named the case agent for the investigations that addressed the mob’s casino-skimming operations.

Also in 1980, Joseph Yablonsky was transferred to Las Vegas from Cincinnati as the new Special Agent in Charge. Yablonsky had a proven track record of developing cases against organized-crime figures and was handpicked for the Sin City assignment by FBI Director William Webster. During his three-year term, Yablonsky oversaw an operation consisting of 140 employees, 82 of whom were special agents and five were supervisors, and a $5 million annual budget.

The mission of these men and their colleagues was to remove the influence and corruption of organized crime from the streets and casinos of Las Vegas. To help meet those goals, the lawmen received some additional assistance from the government.

The Organized Crime Strike Force of the Department of Justice—a program established by Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the early 1960s for the sole purpose of fighting organized crime—provided resident Special Attorneys to coordinate investigative efforts between federal agencies, obtain necessary warrants, evaluate evidence, and prosecute cases in the courts. The unit had a maximum of three attorneys assigned to Las Vegas at any one time.

Stanley Hunterton was one of those lawyers. Hunterton grew up in New York and after completing law school in 1975, he joined the Strike Force. Initially assigned to the Detroit office, in 1978 he was sent to Las Vegas. He, too, noticed that the relationship between the FBI and the local police was strained when he first arrived in Las Vegas.