Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness (23 page)

However, Davino made a big mistake when he told Jerry Rossi, Frank’s brother-in-law, about the burglary. Jerry had another guy with him at the time who was an informant. He ran right to Metro and told them all about the score.

Metro raided Frank’s house early on the morning of November 20, 1980. The police kicked the door down while he and Eileen were still in bed. They handcuffed them both, with Eileen in her nightgown and Frank in his shorts. They identified all the stolen furniture. And they found the walkie-talkies Pete had given Frank. A prosecutor named Don Campbell was present during the search; he held the radios up and said, “We’ve got you now. We’ve got you with these radios.”

Frank didn’t understand why such a big deal was being made about finding the radios; the furniture was worth a lot more. He asked Campbell what he was talking about.

Campbell explained. “These radios were stolen in Chicago and you’ve got them here. There’s a federal law concerning the interstate transportation of stolen property, and you broke it.”

Frank and Eileen were taken to jail. The charges against her were dropped and she was released. Frank spent half a day locked up before he bonded out. After he was released, he told Tony that he was sure the cops were looking for those walkie-talkies. He believed they knew he had them before they broke his door in. If they did, the information had to have come from Pete. And his brotherin-law’s friend had provided the probable cause to get the search warrant. As far as he was concerned, the grin he saw on Don Campbell’s face that night was a confirmation of his suspicions. Frank had to admit it had been a good setup.

Possession of the stolen walkie-talkies landed Frank back in the federal system. It didn’t take prosecutors long to present his case to a grand jury. It was a proceeding that produced even more headaches for him.

The feds served Eileen with a subpoena. Although a wife doesn’t have to testify against her husband, Frank hired attorney David Chesnoff to represent her. For himself, he used John Momot, with Oscar Goodman as an advisor. And then the government subpoenaed his 16-year-old stepdaughter. Whether they actually thought Kimberly had information or were simply trying to increase the pressure on Frank is unknown, but Kimberly said she wasn’t going to talk with the grand jury; she had nothing to say. Frank retained Dominic Gentile to represent her. The creative Gentile decided to argue that his client didn’t have to testify due to something he called family privilege. When that news hit the papers, the federal prosecutors were stunned. It was a privilege that didn’t exist. However, the publicity cast the government lawyers in the role of bully, and Kimberly was never called to the stand.

The local case regarding the stolen furniture took a bad turn when the woman whose house was burglarized claimed she’d been threatened. According to her, a man approached her on the street and said she’d better not testify against Frank Cullotta or she’d be killed. The woman identified Jerry Rossi as the person who’d made the threat. The cops arrested Jerry and roughed him up in the process. When they cut him loose, he went right to Frank and told him the story. Frank figured they’d be after him next.

His hunch was right. Metro arrested him in the restaurant and booked him for intimidating a witness. He was taken before a judge who was friendly toward the cops. The judge scolded Frank in the courtroom, wanting to know who he thought he was to intimidate a witness. He revoked Frank’s bond and sent him back to jail.

Moving quickly, Frank’s lawyer arranged for him to go before a different judge a week later. Bail was granted, but it wasn’t cheap. Frank had to post a $100,000 bond. His mounting legal problems were not only starting to drive him crazy, but they were wiping him out financially as well.

To escape the pressure temporarily, Frank took a trip to Chicago. While he was gone, Guardino and Davino continued to pull burglaries. Frank got word that even though he wasn’t in town, the cops had come by his house to arrest him for one of those jobs. He contacted his lawyers in Vegas and asked them to check things out. They got back to him and said the cops were going to arrest him on the new charge, but a judge had promised he’d get a light bail, only $30,000 or so. He went back to Vegas, surrendered, and bonded out. Now he was loaded up with pending cases.

He was handling it, but it was beginning to get to him.

During Frank’s first couple of years in Las Vegas, resentments in his relationship with Tony Spilotro smoldered just below the surface. Tony’s permission to do many of the things he wanted to do, Tony’s cuts of scores in which he’d done nothing to earn the money, and Tony’s rebuffs of his complaints about Pete and Sal Romano—these could be chalked up to differences of opinion or simply being the way things were done. However, as Frank’s legal problems grew, he began to get the first inklings that there might be more serious problems between him and Tony.

Custom dictated that at the minimum, Tony, as the boss, put up Frank’s bond money. And helping out with attorney’s fees was also a common practice. But Tony was only taking; he wasn’t contributing anything. Frank’s crew was donating for these expenses, but not the Ant.

Frank never said anything about it, but the other guys noticed. Ernie Davino mentioned it to Frank one day. “How come Tony doesn’t kick in any money for your bonds and lawyers?”

Although Frank wasn’t satisfied with Tony’s performance, he was still loyal to him. “If I were you, I’d mind my own business. You’re damn lucky you can steal in Las Vegas.”

“I know other guys stealing here that aren’t kicking back to Tony. Why do we have to pay a guy who never does anything for us?”

Frank knew how to shut Davino up. “Do you want me to take your beef to Tony?”

“No, don’t do that. Just think about what I said.”

“Look, Ernie, I know where you’re coming from. But you’re better off to forget it.”

After Ernie Davino complained to Frank about Tony, he began to make himself scarce. Frank couldn’t reach him by phone and he stopped coming around the regular haunts. Frank assumed that Davino thought the heat was getting too intense and wanted to distance himself.

Tony, getting increasingly paranoid as the law’s attention started to affect him, saw it differently. He suspected that Davino had become a police informant.

Frank found that hard to believe. After all, the cops had tailed Ernie and even bugged his car.

About a week after Davino dropped out of sight, Tony contacted Frank. “Have you seen anything of Ernie?”

“No, he still hasn’t been around.”

That seemed to convince Tony that Davino was a rat. “He’s our fuckin’ problem. He’s talking to the cops.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. He’s no good; take him out.”

Frank didn’t know whether or not Ernie was a snitch. But he had been making himself scarce lately, which could be a sign that he had something to hide. And Tony seemed confident that Ernie was an informant. Maybe it was better to be safe than sorry. He said, “Jesus, Tony, Ernie’s avoiding me; I won’t be able to get near him.”

“Leo and Ernie are pretty tight. Have Leo set it up for you.”

Frank talked with Guardino that night. Guardino didn’t believe Davino was an informant and didn’t want any part in setting up the hit. Frank respected his wishes and said he’d get somebody else to take care of Davino. He picked Larry Neumann.

Frank approached Neumann about doing the killing. “I’ll be glad to do it; I never liked that asshole anyway. How do you want him killed?”

“It’s your job and your call.”

“Okay. I think I’ll cut him into little pieces and throw him in Lake Mead.”

Frank cringed. It was Lurch’s hit and he was entitled to dispose of the body as he thought best. But to Frank, killing was one thing, while the kind of butchery Neumann had in mind was another. He didn’t want to be personally involved in a slaughter. “Like I said, that’s up to you. If you need some help, Jimmy Patrazzo is in town. Take him with you.”

Neumann came up with a plan to call Ernie to go with him and Patrazzo to check out a score; when they got him to a vacant house, they’d kill him. But in order to dispose of Ernie’s body, or whatever was left of it, Neumann needed a boat. He asked Frank to line one up for him. Frank said he’d see what he could do.

It turned out that Neumann wasn’t able to make contact with Davino. Frank reported to Tony that the target was playing hard to get. Tony said, “I’ll get in touch with the cocksucker. If I can get him to my house, I know I can make him feel comfortable and he’ll start coming around again.” Tony’s plan worked. He lured Davino out and Ernie started making himself available.

When Frank saw Davino at the Upper Crust, he asked why he’d been avoiding him. “I figured you were pissed off at me over that furniture score. I know it’s caused you a lot of grief,” Davino said.

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault; don’t worry about it. I’ve missed you. Start coming around more often.”

Frank told Neumann that Davino was starting to relax and he could probably get to him now. Neumann called his prey and made arrangements to meet a week later to check on the fictitious burglary. But before that meeting took place, Tony called off the hit. He said, “I found out Ernie’s not the culprit. Pass on it.”

Frank was happy about the reprieve, but Neumann was another story. When Frank told him the killing had been called off, he became angry. “I’ve got everything ready and I’ve already put five hundred bucks into it. Fuck Tony; Ernie’s an asshole and I’m going to kill him anyway.”

Frank had a long talk with Lurch and calmed him down. When he finished, he felt that Davino was safe. Of course, he’d felt the same way after he talked to Neumann about not killing the guy in Chicago who had the altercation with Neumann’s ex-wife. When dealing with Lurch Neumann, there were no guarantees.

This time Lurch followed Frank’s instructions. Ernie Davino lived to steal another day.

• • •

While Frank welcomed the news that Tony had withdrawn the contract on Ernie Davino, he was still in financial trouble due to his ever-increasing legal expenses. He needed money and he needed it soon. With Tony’s continuing silence on the subject, Frank had to make a big score. And it was his father-in-law who came through.

Nick Rossi told Frank he had a tip on a job that could be worth $100,000 or more. It involved a book joint called the Rose Bowl, located on the Strip near the Aladdin. According to Rossi’s information, a woman from the Rose Bowl made a money run from there to the owner’s house in Chateau Vegas when the action for the day reached the six-figure mark. That meant that the heavy betting during football season was the best time for a robbery. As it happened, it was the tail end of the gridiron season. It was an opportunity Frank couldn’t let pass.

He quickly put together a crew and plan. Jimmy Patrazzo was still in Vegas and with his clean face, he was the best candidate to grab the moneybag. Frank, Neumann, and Davino would each drive a work car. Rossi wanted his son Jerry used in some capacity, such as calling from the outside pay phone to let the robbers know when the money was ready to leave the bookie joint.

The robbery went down. Jerry called when the money was going out the door; Jimmy Patrazzo stuck a gun in the faces of the courier and a man who was walking her to her car. After taking the money, he ran through the parking lots and Davino picked him up on the Strip. Frank pulled up in back of them, while Neumann used his car to block off traffic in the Rose Bowl parking lot. It was a perfect score.

The money was taken to Nick Rossi’s house for the split. The take was a little less than what had been hoped for, about $60,000. Nick got his ten percent and his son was given $1,500 for making the phone call. That night Patrazzo blew half of his cut gambling. Frank got him on a plane to Chicago the next day before he ended up completely broke.

Frank’s share of the proceeds from that robbery was $10,000. It helped, but was nowhere near enough to offset what he had going out. He needed more scores and he needed them fast.

Two weeks after the Rose Bowl job, Tony gave Frank an assignment. He said he’d received a call from a man named Paul, a Chicago thief and hit man. Paul was living in Scottsdale, Arizona, and had a big score lined up. The problem was that he wasn’t exactly sure how to pull it off and asked for assistance. Tony, always ready to lend a hand if it meant a good payday, dispatched Frank and Larry Neumann to help out.

When they got to Scottsdale, Paul told them he and his crew were going to take down a jewelry-store owner, an Arab who had a big walk-in vault in his home. According to what he’d learned, the vault couldn’t be peeled, drilled, or burned open; the Arab would have to open it up himself. That meant a home invasion, which was why Paul wanted Frank and Neumann there.

When the robbers arrived at the Arab’s house, no one was home. They gained entry by making a hole in the wall, just like in Vegas. After waiting for two hours, the victims came back. The invaders, wearing hoods, took control of the couple at gunpoint. The wife was tied up and her husband opened the safe. There were no problems. Frank and Neumann went straight back to Vegas with all the merchandise. The next day they took everything to the Gold Rush. It was a good score, about $75,000.

Frank began to feel like the police pressure on him was easing up a bit. He believed that with so many cases going against him, the cops thought he was washed up. Though they backed off a little, the heat was by no means off. He decided to play it safe and not do too much in Vegas, but he needed money and had to stay active. That meant spending more time on the road. He and his crew pulled more robberies in Arizona, mostly in Scottsdale, then moved on to Palm Springs and Los Angeles. They always brought the cash or merchandise back to Vegas to dispose of.