TONY SPILOTRO
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Tony Spilotro was never a Mafia Boss, however he was running his own territory for the Chicago outfit. Spilotro ran Las Vegas at a time when the Outfit was earning millions of dollars a week due to the skim from the Casino's they ran in the sin city capital of the world that was Las Vegas. The Movie Casino starring Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci based the character Nicky Santaro (Pesci) on Tony Spilotro. Before Spilotro was sent to Las Vegas to run some of the most lucrative Mob operations in mob history he would hone his criminal skills in Chicago as part of the Chicago Outfit. Anthony Spilotro was recruited by Mad Sam DeStefano a Capo in the Chicago mob. Sam DeStefano was a cold stone killer who took pleasure in torturing as well as killing his enemies. During the time Spilotro worked for DeStefano he was listed on the FBI top jewel thief program as a top notch jewel thief, Spilotro had a liking for expensive jewelery. Running loan-shark and gambling operations was also part of Tony Spilotro's day to day jobs as a member of the Chicago Outfit.
Thanks to the success of his early criminal innovations Spilotro's name began to spread throughout the Mob. Spilotro left Mad Sam DeStefano and worked with Philly Alderisio, almost immediately Tony Spilotro became a made guy in the Chicago Mob. During the mid-sixties there were a spate of gangland murders, many of which Spilotro was suspected of being involved, allowing his reputation to grow further within the Chicago Mob. In 1971 things started to move fast in Spilotro's career. Joey Aiuppa the new Chicago boss under the guidance of Tony Accardo the most influential, successful and respected boss in the history of the Outfit, decided that Tony Spilotro be sent to Las Vegas as the Outfit's enforcer.
Tony's remit was to 'take care' of any problems that stood in the path of the Outfit money making machine that was Las Vegas sending it's huge share of the Casino profit to the boys in Chicago. The Las Vegas territory was one of high importance to the Outfit. The Outfit owned some of the biggest casino's in the city...The Stardust, The Tropicana and The Dunes, they also had a foot in The Riviera and The Desert. These hotel casino's were all being skimmed skillfully and carefully, providing the Outfit with vast sums of cash. In Spilotro the boys in Chicago knew they had a guy capable of watching over their interests diligently and even more important, more than capable of taking out anyone stupid enough to attempt to rock the boat.
Helping Tony Spilotro was Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal, the boss of The Stardust hotel-casino, The Stardust was the flagship casino of the Outfits Las Vegas hotel-casino's. Frank Rosenthal was a financial whiz-kid, he also knew gambling inside out, the mechanics of the gambling operations. Lefty's job was to make sure the skim the mob took from the Las Vegas casino's was as big as possible. Everything went well for Spilotro until 1979 when he was included in the Las Vegas 'Black Book'. His inclusion in the book was the start of the decline for Spilotro. Tony as well as running things for the mob in Vegas was involved in a few other criminal enterprises of his own. He had set up what was to become known as the Hole-in-the-wall gang. The gang of jewel thief's known for breaking into jewelers shops by knocking a hole in the shop wall to gain entry and steal the jewelry. Tony used The Goldrush jewelery shop owned by him and run by his brother Michael to resell the stolen jewelry.
By the early 1980's rumors were flying around that Spilotro was now dealing drugs, he was also having an affair with Lefty Rosenthal's wife. The Outfit were not pleased with the news they were hearing concerning Spilotro's activities. The Outfit always like to keep as low a profile as possible, avoiding anything that could attract heat from the Feds. The Strawman cases allegedly brought an end to the Mobs power and influence in Las Vegas, the money making machine days of the Las Vegas hotels were fast coming to an end for the Chicago Outfit. The Chicago higher hierarchy were seething that this huge money making cow had oozed it's last dime for the mob. Looking for someone on whom to vent their anger, Tony Spilotro was a prime candidate. Spilotro's failure to keep a low profile while over-seeing the Mobs interests in Vegas was all the reason the Mob needed to take Tony Spilotro out.
On June the 16th 1986 Tony Spilotro was driven to the village of St. Ann in Indiana for a meeting with Sam Carlisi, one of Joe Ferriola's top guys for a strategy session, or at least that's what Tony was told. Instead he was driven to a spot where he was taken from the car and beaten almost dead by a bunch of guys, his brother Michael was given similar treatment, both were then bundled into a ditch, covered with earth and buried while still alive. Spilotro had made the mistake of letting the power he had enjoyed in Las Vegas as the Mobs overseer and enforcer go to his head. He saw himself as being indispensable, indestructible even. When the Mob lose money someone always pays. Spilotro if anyone, should have known this.