By The Beachwood Outfit Affairs Desk
Nicely timed to the approaching Family Secrets trial, former Tony Spilotro associate Frank Cullotta has spilled his story to Las Vegas author Dennis N. Griffin in a new memoir, Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness.
The book is a raw retelling of Cullotta’s life of crime that takes us inside Tony Spilotro’s Hole in the Wall Gang and another view of many of the events memorialized in Casino, in which Cullotta was renamed Frankie Marino, played by Frank Vincent.
Cullotta, who spoke to author Nicholas Pileggi for the Casino book that preceded the movie, was a technical adviser on the film and re-created on celluloid the bumbling murder of Jerry Lisner, who simply refused to die no matter how many bullets Cullotta put in his head, and instead had to be chased through his Las Vegas home, endure an attempted strangling, and eventually thrown into a swimming pool where he sank to the bottom.
Pileggi writes the forward for Cullotta, opening with the sentence: “Frank Cullotta is the real thing.”
He goes on to write: “He and Spilotro had been boyhood pals back in Chicago and it was Spilotro who convinced Cullotta to migrate west to felony paradise. Cullotta had run the robbery, extortion, and murder departments for Spilotro’s Vegas mob.”
Cullotta was a hardened criminal and a cold-blooded killer. He eventually turned state’s witness after suspecting that Spilotro, who had for a period near the end when things were falling apart put a contract on Cullotta’s head, had been set him up to take the fall when the FBI was closing in.
Here are the highlights of Cullotta.
* * *
How does one become a gangster? Sometimes it just runs in the family.
“[Frank’s father] Joe Cullotta exhibted a businesslike demeanor to all, including his family. He also had a violent temper . . .
“Joe Cullotta, age 38, was killed when the car he was driving crashed during a high-speed police chase when Frank was about nine years old. In addition to his own memories, as Frank grew up relatives and associates of his father told him story after story of Joe’s exploits and expertise as a criminal. The elder Cullotta was considered by friend and foe to have been the best wheel man in Chicago. He was also highly dangerous, capable of mayhem and murder.”
* * *
“Frank started shining shoes up and down Grand Avenue. One day he noticed a kid about his age, though much shorter, shining shoes on the opposite side of the street. The competitors glared at each other for several seconds.
“The stranger hollered, ‘What the fuck are you lookin’ at?’
“Frank replied, ‘I’m looking at you. What about it?’
“Like a pair of Wild West gunfighters ready to do battle, the boys walked toward each other. Stopping a few feet apart in the middle of the street, they put down their shoeboxes.
“The stranger said, ‘This is my fuckin’ territory and I don’t want you on this street. Understand?’
“‘I don’t see your name on any street signs and I’m not leaving.'”
The stranger was Tony Spilotro. But instead of fighting at a pre-arranged time the next day, Spilotro learned that Cullotta’s father had helped his father out of a jam once. The boys became fast friends.
* * *
Sound familiar?
“The new place was a trade school for boys who couldn’t handle a normal academic environment. Frank liked working with his hands and was actually doing well in shop. But the principal, Mr. Jones, was a real tough guy. He was always on the kids about haircuts and wearing their pants too low.”
* * *
“His mother always told him that he should be a good boy, because wearing glasses made him stand out in a crowd and people would remember him if he acted up. With that warning in mind, when Frank went to rob the tavern that night, he didn’t wear his specs. He never considered that the bar might not be adequately lit.
“Frank and Crazy Bob charged into the tavern. Bob yelled, ‘Everybody put your hands up and behave!’ For emphasis, he let loose with a blast from his sawed-off shotgun. The pellets shattered several of the whiskey bottles behind the bar, creating a shower of broken glass and booze. Having everyone’s attention, Bob ordered them to the floor.
“Frank was positioned by the door to prevent anyone from running out. He watched as the bartender and patrons obeyed Bob’s instruction and went to the floor, but one obstinate man just stood there. Frank yelled for him to get down, but he didn’t budge.
“‘What’s the problem?’ Bob wanted to know.
Frank started toward the stubborn patron as he answered. ‘This bastard won’t do what he’s told. But he’s going down now, one way or another.’
“A few steps closer now, Frank realized the guy who wouldn’t follow his orders wasn’t a person at all; it was actually a coat rack. With hats and coats on it through his bad eyes, it had looked like a person. Embarrassed, he hit the coat rack and knocked it over. As the robbers ran out of the building with their loot, the sound of Crazy Bob’s laughter was ringing in Frank’s ears.”
* * *
Talk about sounding familiar. Here’s a tale of Cullotta in a Chicago police lock-up.
“This time Frank’s failure to answer resulted in another crack in the head with the phone book. That was followed by a punch in the chest, knocking both him and the chair over backwards. Looking up at [CPD robbery commander Frank] Pape, Frank said, ‘I haven’t done anything wrong and don’t even know why I’m here.’
“Pape said to [Det. Tom] Durso, ‘Get the cattle prods in here. I’m going to make this son of a bitch talk.’
“A few minutes later, the cattle prods were applied near Frank’s testicles. The same questions were asked over and over: Tell us about the robbery. Who was with you? Where’s the money?
“Each time, the prisoner answered that he didn’t know what his interrogators were talking about. Every denial was followed by a zap with the cattle prods. Screaming in agony, Frank told the cops what he thought about them, generating additional pain. But through it all he didn’t talk. He didn’t admit to anything.
“After a while, Pape left the room. On his way out he said to Durso, ‘Throw this bastard out the window. Say he tried to escape.’
“Hanging out the window by his ankles, Frank prayed he wouldn’t be dropped. Durso fired more questions at him as he hung upside down, but Frank kept his mouth shut. Eventually, he was pulled back inside where Frank Pape was waiting. He said, ‘Was your father Joe Cullotta?’
“‘Yes.’
“Are you trying to be the man he was? You aren’t going to make it. You’ll never be the man he was.’
“Finally, Frank was turned loose.”
* * *
“Someone must have talked, though. Sausage Fingers was killed in his car right in front of his house and Crazy Bob disappeared.
“One day as Tony [Spilotro] and Frank were riding down the Eisenhower Expressway, Tony pointed at the pillars under an overpass. He said, ‘Did you know that Crazy Bob is the foundation for one of them?’
“Frank didn’t want to believe it. ‘You gotta be kidding.’
“Tony laughed. ‘No, I’m not. Crazy Bob is holding up the fucking overpass.'”
* * *
This incident was re-created in Casino.
“Frank concealed the murder weapon in his waistband. When they arrived, Frank told [his partner Wayne] Matecki to wait in the car while he went to the door and rang the bell. [Jerry] Lisner responded and let him in. They stood in the hallway for a few seconds making small talk. Then Frank used a ruse to get Lisner away from the door. ‘What was that?’ Frank said suddenly.
“‘What was what?’
“‘I heard a noise.’ Frank pointed down the hallway. ‘I thought you were alone.’
“‘Nobody’s here but me. Come on, let’s take a look.’
“Frank followed his victim into the living room. The hit man couldn’t wear gloves without looking suspicious to Lisner, so he was very careful not to touch anything that could retain his fingerprints.
“‘See, nobody’s here but you and me,’ Lisner announced.
“‘Maybe the noise came from the outside,’ Frank suggested.
“Lisner led the way toward the rear of the house to check the backyard. As they passed the dining room Frank pulled his gun. He fired two rounds into the back of Lisner’s head from point-blank range. And then the situation became surreal. Instead of going down, Lisner turned around and said, ‘What the . . . Why?’ Then he started to run through the house toward the garage.
“Frank caught up with him and emptied the rest of the bullets into his head. Lisner fell, but he was still alive, still moving. Frank had trouble believing what was happening. He got on top of the wounded man and held him down. Out of ammunition, his eyes searched for an alternate weapon. He saw a knife on a counter next to the door leading to the garage and made a grab for it; it was just out of his reach. Next he spotted an electric water cooler that was within his grasp. He ripped the cord out of the cooler to strangle his victim with, but when he wrapped it around Lisner’s neck, the cord broke.
“Getting frustrated, Frank got up and dragged Lisner into the den. The man was still conscious and aware of what was going on. ‘My wife knows you’re here! She’s going to know you did this!’ he screamed at Frank.
“By that time, Matecki had become concerned and came into the house; he was carrying an extra magazine of ammo with him. Frank reloaded his pistol and put pillows from a couch over Lisner’s head to muffle the gunshots. Frank then emptied the pistol into Lisner’s head again. It had taken ten rounds, but Lisner was finally dead. The killers dragged him outside to the pool and dumped him in. The body floated for a few seconds, then sank to the bottom.”
* * *
“Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal [played by Robert DeNiro in Casino] lives in Florida and is still involved with the world of sports betting. He has a sports-related Web site at www.frankrosenthal.com.”
* * *
Frank Cullotta’s concluding words.
“[T]oday you’ve got the white-collar criminals. They don’t use guns, but they’ll empty your pockets and bank accounts and put you in the soup line without batting an eye. Maybe some day they’ll all be gone – the mob, the gangs, and the scam artists. And then the world will truly be a better place.”
Posted on June 15, 2007