Cosa Nostra News

Tony Spilotro was sent by the Chicago Outfit to oversee their interests in Las Vegas, and was the inspiration for the Joe Pesci character in Martin Scorsese's Casino . Caifano Spilotro protected the Outfit's money, aka the skim (illegal casino profits "skimmed” off the top). Because the Outfit 's interests in Las Vegas predate Spilotro, before Tony the Ant, another mobster terrified people on the fabled Las Vegas strip (as well as in Chicago and elsewhere). Marshall Caifano was sent to Las Vegas to purchase land but also looked out for the Outfit's interests, which included the Riviera casino then run by Gus Greenbaum, formerly of the Flamingo. Caifano was a suspect in numerous unsolved murders, typically involving Outfit associates. He was also suspected of committing the notorious, grizzly murder of Estelle Carey, a beautiful young cocktail waitress. One of the perceived motives for the killing is that she was "made an example of" to keep he...

Chicago during Prohibition was as lawless and violent as the Wild West. The underworld was fighting its own civil war between north and south. Only the North Siders were the Irish-Americans represented by Bugs Moran. Fighting them were the South Siders, the Italian syndicate led by Al Capone . So to speak. Johnny Torrio, the sly fox.... The war reached its climax on February 14, 1929, St. Valentine’s Day, when a devious trap was set for Moran.

Frankie Yale Yes, the John Gotti movie is the big news of the day , which is why I bring you the following.... (but seriously I hope to have some interesting news later today / tonight about the film. What I'd previously heard included some scenes will be shot in New York (Queens and Manhattan) and that the film is focused on Gotti Senior -- it's called The Life and Death of John Gotti, note. Some newspapers have incorrectly reported that filming has begun. It hasn't. While John Travolta and real-life wife Kelly Preston were slated to play Gotti Senior and his real-life wife, Victoria, there's no word regarding rest of cast.) The following arrives here courtesy of Tony Sokol, who wrote this story originally as part of a package of Boardwalk Empire-related stories for Den of Geek ... Tony also writes for The Chiseler , KpopStarz.com , and hypnocloud.com . His stories also can be seen on Altvariety, Coed.com , Daily Offbeat, Dark Media Press, Wicked Mystic and ...

"Nevada owes a debt of gratitude to Frank Schreck," a Las Vegas Sun editorial recently noted . Schreck was named this year's International Association of Gaming Advisors honoree and in recognition gave quite a speech. It included a head-turning revelation about a major Mafia figure notorious for his stint working in the  Stardust hotel and casino  (among other places), which once occupied a prime slot on the fabled Las Vegas strip. Geri, on Lefty's left, looks like Sharon Stone.   Schreck, considered a premier gaming attorney in Nevada and elsewhere, recounted his personal take on Las Vegas history, including the enduring legacy of oddball billionaire Howard Hughes . Schreck's rise commenced in 1971 when then-governor Mike O’Callaghan’s appointed the then-27-year-old lawyer to the Nevada Gaming Commission, setting a record. Schreck remains the youngest commissioner ever appointed to that regulatory body, which was charged with policing whether someone could...

The Outfit's Little Caesar, Joseph DiVarco  Friends of Ours  has posted a lengthy and revealing profile, hot off freshly available FBI documents , of  Joseph "Little Caesar" DiVarco, a member of Chicago's Outfit charged with heading gambling, vice and nightlife on Chicago's Near North Side from the mid-1940s to the mid-1980s. He was a huge earner, the story notes, basing this on recently released FBI documents. "For example, an informant told the FBI in 1971 that "money . . . is no problem for DI VARCO inasmuch as he made big money in the past and saved much of it," and then another informant told the FBI a year later that "DI VARCO has money and is constantly looking for a way to make more money."

Robert Panozzo, 54, Paul Koroluk, 55, Panozzo's son, Robert Panozzo, Jr., 22, Maher Abuhabsah, 33, and Koroluk's wife, Maria Koroluk, 53. Members of a drug-dealing street crew tied to Chicago’s Outfit got their product by posing as police officers to gain access to Mexican Cartel stash houses, which the mobsters then pilfered for drugs. According to the Chicago Tribune , the Mafia crew consisted of four men who are part of the Panozzo-Koroluk Street Crew. The men were known to utilize violent methods, once slicing off the ear of a reported cartel member who lied to them during one robbery. The Outfit-tied crew members were arrested Thursday after investigators set up a sting operation in Chicago’s Hegewisch neighborhood. Robert Panozzo, 54, Paul Koroluk, 55, and Maher Abuhabsah, 33, and Panozzo’s 22-year-old son, Robert Panozzo, Jr., were held without bail in Cook County bond court Saturday.

Reenactment of the killing of seven men on Al Capone's orders. Cosa Nostra News is pleased to present the following story by author  Chriss Lyon , who wrote the true crime book "A Killing in Capone's Playground." Everyone has heard of the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre , the 1929 slaughter of seven associates of the North Side Irish gang led by Bugs Moran during the Prohibition Era . Not many are aware of the events that followed, however, which exposed small town America to the inner workings of big city brutality.

Larry Neumann: Despite mountains of evidence, was never Charged for a double homicide he committed when someone "disrespected" his ex-wife. He was a member of Frank Cullotta's crew in Las Vegas, the Hole in the Wall Gang. June 2, 1981. Morning. An apartment located behind the P.M. Pub drinking establishment in Lakemoor, Ill. (If a reader recalls another apartment located behind a bar , it wouldn't be inappropriate.) Two people are found dead in the living room. One of the dead had been the owner of the P.M., 37-year-old Ronald Scharff; the other was barmaid Patricia Freeman. The previous evening was actually her first night working at the pub. As noted on the website Murder in McHenry , Lakemoor, situated about 50 miles northwest of Chicago, was then a community that had served as home to around 800 souls.

R Frank Cullotta, 1970s? Sky Valley Chronicle Washington State News : "So what's Frank Cullotta doing these days in his golden years? At the age of 75 he's running five-hour bus tours in Las Vegas to the former murder scenes and other crime haunts he inhabited during his mobster years in Vegas. Back then Cullotta says his crew "controlled Las Vegas" on behalf of the Chicago mob . Now he says he wants to show visitors the reality of life as a mobster." Cullotta gave the BBC Radio 5 show an interview about his new job that you can listen to here . Gotta say, I wasn't impressed with the broadcaster; his questions, for the most part, were repetitive. Seems like he wasn't listening to Cullotta, just asking fabricated questions.

Frank Cullotta I am interviewing a former Outfit guy at an undisclosed location at an undisclosed time and day... Well, not really -- I am interviewing him, just don't know when exactly. By phone... Got my list of questions for Frank Cullotta, but if any of you Mafia enthusiasts have a question you'd like me to ask Tony Spilotro 's former pal, who killed people on The Ant's orders (until Frank flipped and then the Ant tried to get him whacked), leave it in the comments. Serious questions only; others will be, you got it, deleted.... Here's some background on the guy: Frank Cullotta, the Hitman Turned Vegas Tour Guide - The Daily Beast : Retired Chicago mobster Frank Cullotta comes from a family of wheelmen. Making a clean getaway is in his blood.