The Battle for Las Vegas: The Law vs. The Mob (23 page)

“About those cocktails. Twice, Spilotro sent drinks to my table.

“Once was at a restaurant-bar on Maryland Parkway he favored. A bunch of
Review-Journal
staffers and I stopped by to check it out. I was torn between mortification at being caught sightseeing at a mob hangout and slightly pleased at the delighted reaction from my newspaper pals when Tough Tony sent us a round.

“The second time, I was lunching with an FBI agent.

“Spilotro and the boys came in for lunch, recognized both of us, and sent over two glasses of wine. I gulped mine. The agent didn’t touch his and said he was tempted to show his contempt by pouring the wine on the floor.

“Fortunately, he didn’t, and when I left I walked to Spilotro’s table and thanked him for the wine. After all, he’d been unfailingly courteous to me.”

Cause for Concern

The media coverage Tony Spilotro was receiving wasn’t lost on the Midwest mob bosses. Tony was a suspect in up to 25 murders, and with three high-profile trials pending, his name was likely to appear even more in the newspapers, not less. Some in the underworld even felt that Tony had a penchant for the spotlight and that the attention it drew may have been partly responsible for the Argent fiasco. So, contrary to some upbeat rumors and media reports that he was still in good stead in the Windy City, Spilotro was in trouble not only with the law, but also with the underworld bosses, including Aiuppa’s replacement, Joe Ferriola. The Outfit’s new head wanted to begin his reign by getting his house in order. As a part of that effort, he took a hard look at Tony and found reason to be concerned.

Would Spilotro, with his health issues and the government closing in on him, follow the likes of Fratiano, Cullotta, and Romano into the waiting arms of the authorities? He was certainly a man who literally knew where the bodies were buried. And even if he stayed true to his oath of Omerta, what kind of revelations might come out when the pending cases against him finally made it to the courtroom? If Nick Civella were still alive, he might have asked if Tony was “crazy.”

Ferriola and his associates came to a conclusion: Tony’s negatives now outweighed his value to the Outfit. The new boss decided it was time to tidy up his organization and remove any threat of what Spilotro might say or do.

Murder in the Midwest—The Death of Tony Spilotro

Tony’s 41-year-old brother Michael was also associated with the Outfit. He lived and owned a restaurant on Chicago. In early June 1986, he was contacted by a Ferriola underling and asked to get in touch with Tony and have him come to Chicago for a meeting. The get-together was scheduled for June 14, two days before the start of the second HITWG trial in Las Vegas.

The Spilotro brothers left for their meeting on that day and were never seen alive again. Their battered bodies were found buried in an Indiana cornfield several days later. They’d been beaten senseless and there was some evidence that they may have been put in the ground while they were still breathing.

Tony Spilotro was dead at the age of 48. He had been involved in yet another murder that has so far remained unsolved—only this time it was his own.

A shocked Las Vegas news media informed its readers about the murders of Tony and Michael on Tuesday June 24. The
Review-Journal
ran the story on its front page. According to the Associated Press article, the Spilotro brothers were reported missing June 16 by Michael’s wife, Anne, who said she last saw them June 14 at her suburban Oak Park home. A farmer discovered the two badly beaten bodies in a shallow grave on his Indiana cornfield on Sunday evening. The bodies had been identified as those of Anthony and Michael Spilotro, who had disappeared more than a week earlier.

The article described Michael, age 41, as a restaurant owner and part-time actor, who had been indicted in Chicago on extortion charges stemming from an FBI investigation of organized-crime links to prostitution. Authorities also said that the previous week a car in which the Spilotro brothers were reported last seen was found abandoned near O’Hare International Airport.

An Indiana State Police spokesman said the bodies, clad only in underwear, were buried one on top of the other in a five-foot grave. An examination of the bodies by a forensic pathologist indicated blunt-force injuries, probably caused by hands or feet, resulted in the deaths.

At a news conference in Indianapolis, the pathologist said the injuries “were about the head, neck, the chest, and to some extent, the extremities.” He added that the bodies “had been in the grave for several days—at least a week and possibly longer.” Due to the condition of the bodies, dental and fingerprint records were used to make the identifications.

Lawmen speculated that it was likely the killers didn’t anticipate the bodies would be found so quickly, if at all.

The grave was about five miles from a farm owned by mobster Joseph Aiuppa, who was convicted in March on racketeering charges of skimming from a Las Vegas casino. Law-enforcement sources said there was no way to know if there was any connection between Aiuppa and the murders.

The news from Indiana wasn’t totally unexpected in Las Vegas law-enforcement circles. In fact, some lawmen were surprised it hadn’t happened earlier. Gene Smith expressed his feelings this way. “The department had been receiving intelligence that Tony’s days were numbered. He’d been falling out of favor with the bosses for quite a while, because he wouldn’t give up his street rackets and keep a low profile. But he was real tight with Joe Lombardo and that probably extended his life. When Lombardo and the others went to prison on the Strawman convictions, Tony lost his protection. He wasn’t liked or trusted by the new regime and that sealed his fate. It was just a matter of when.

“As for Michael, the word was that he was running a protection racket without the approval of the Outfit and not cutting them in on the profits. There was also the possibility that if they only hit Tony, Michael might want revenge. The best solution for the boys in Chicago was to get rid of both of them at the same time.”

Kent Clifford believes Tony himself, and law-enforcement’s efforts against him, led to the murders. “Tony’s ego and his ambitions caused most of his problems with the mob. By us [Metro] and the FBI keeping him in the news, he became too much of a liability. Either the law was going to put him away or the mob would take care of him. For Spilotro, those were the only two possible outcomes.”

John McCarthy had foreseen the ending years earlier. “I predicted in 1981 that would occur. I couldn’t believe that Tony’s superiors would continue to tolerate his arrogance and in-your-face method of dealing with local authority. I felt that any day Tony would get whacked for attracting so much attention to the Outfit’s activities. The only surprising thing about his violent end is that it took so long.”

Ned Day conveyed his thoughts regarding Tony Spilotro’s murder on June 25 in a
Review-Journal
column titled, “In Death, Sinister Tough Tony Spilotro Was Trivial.” His conclusion was that after death, Tony became totally irrelevant.

“So tough little Tony Spilotro, the swaggering Las Vegas rackets boss, finally accepted the Chicago mob’s version of an early retirement incentive program, clad in his underwear, his bloody head bashed in.

“This man, after all, had been as strong as they come on the streets, a hard-nosed thief; a ruthless extortionist; a steely-eyed killer who, cops say, took pride in murdering his victims in the most gruesome fashion possible.

“It seems somehow odd and anti-climatic that Tony Spilotro should rank in death as merely another bit of supporting evidence for a bunch of time-worn clichés—power corrupts; crime doesn’t pay; live by the sword, die by the sword; you reap what you sow.

“For more than a decade in Las Vegas, when Tony Spilotro glared, men’s knees buckled (they called it the ‘death stare’), when Spilotro leered, women swooned.

“That’s why it seems so odd that his mangled corpse now should appear so trivial, just another manifestation of old clichés, just another mobster dumped dead in an Indiana cornfield, or a trash compactor, or a car trunk—you’ve heard the story before.

“Now that he’s gone, it’s as if he never were.”

A few days after this column appeared, Day’s car was fire-bombed in the parking lot of his apartment building. Was that incident related to Day’s less-than-flattering remarks about Tony Spilotro?

“There’s absolutely no question that Ned was being sent a message. No question at all,” Bob Stoldal said.

Mistaken Identity?

It’s impossible to say how many people mourned Tony Spilotro’s death, but to Vincent Spilotro, the news of his father’s death was devastating; it was news that he didn’t want to believe, and for a while he didn’t. He convinced himself that due to the condition of the bodies when they were found, their identification had been bungled. In his mind, Tony wasn’t dead at all. But eventually, even Vincent accepted the reality of the situation. His loving father, the man he adored, was gone forever.

No one was charged in the killing of the Spilotro brothers for nearly two decades, and Oscar Goodman doesn’t believe there was a sincere effort at that time to solve the murders. He cites the fact that authorities didn’t bother to interview him, a man with intimate knowledge of Tony Spilotro.

However, records show that the FBI did do a lengthy investigation in an attempt to identify and prosecute the killers. In a redacted report dated May 19, 1993, the FBI summarized the results of their investigation as follows:

“For information of the Bureau, in June of 1986, Anthony Spilotro, a known Chicago LCN (La Cosa Nostra) member and his brother, Michael Spilotro, a known LCN associate and suspected LCN member, were murdered and buried in an Indiana cornfield located at the outskirts of Enos, Indiana. Autopsies conducted showed that both Spilotros were beaten. The cause of death was listed for each as asphyxia, due to blunt forced trauma about the head, neck and chest. The bodies of the Spilotros were positively identified through dental records supplied by Patrick Spilotro, DDS, and brother of the two deceased.

“As in most gangland slayings, cooperation with law enforcement officials by associates and members of the Chicago LCN is virtually non-existent. Several cooperating witnesses and sources were developed in this matter and have provided the following information concerning the time and period just prior to the Spilotros disappearance and subsequent murders and events that followed the murders.

“Approximately 10 days before the murders, Anthony Spilotro arrived in Chicago, Illinois, with a female companion identified as (redacted), of (redacted), currently residing in (redacted). Information from (redacted) indicates that a meeting was scheduled between Anthony Spilotro and (redacted) on the date the Spilotros were last seen alive, June 14, 1986. On June 13, 1986, Michael Spilotro received two important phone calls from (redacted). After the second of these calls, Michael Spilotro was heard telling (redacted) that he had a meeting the next day. It is known from interviews conducted with (redacted) that (redacted) contacted Michael Spilotro at Hoagie’s Restaurant during the evening of June 13, 1986. Hoagie’s Restaurant was owned by Michael Spilotro. During the same evening, Michael Spilotro informed (redacted) that he had a meeting the next day with (redacted). Michael Spilotro said that if he didn’t come back from that meeting, ‘It’s no good.’

“On June 14, 1986, Anthony and Michael Spilotro departed Michael’s residence at approximately 4:00 p.m. and were never seen alive again. Prior to leaving the residence both Spilotros removed all valuables and identifying papers from their persons.

“It is speculated that the brothers met with associates they trusted implicitly and proceeded to the meeting place. Upon arrival at the meeting the Spilotros were beaten and strangled.

“Comments by (redacted) as well as (redacted) and confidential informants seem to indicate the following information regarding the murder of the Spilotro brothers:

“(redacted) and (redacted) participated in the murder of the Spilotro brothers.

“The Spilotro brothers may have been picked up at a motel in Schiller Park on the afternoon of June 14, 1986, by (redacted) and possibly (redacted). The last sighting of the brothers by witnesses was in the bar of the motel at approximately 3:00 p.m. Tony Spilotro’s vehicle was later recovered at the motel parking lot. Because of the close relationship of (redacted) and Tony Spilotro, it is believed that the brothers may have voluntarily entered (redacted).

“It is believed that the six subjects beat the Spilotro brothers to death at a location believed to be near the burial site, located in Enos, Indiana. At least part of the reason for the killings was to get money from Tony Spilotro.

“Redacted paragraph.

“Redacted paragraph.

“Albert Tocco is currently serving a 200-year sentence on a conviction out of the Northern District of Illinois (NDI). An attempt was made to indict Tocco by a Newton County, Indiana, grand jury to enable the state prosecution of Tocco in a Newton County Superior Court, located in Kentland, Indiana. An Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) from the NDI was to be cross-designated to handle the state prosecution of Tocco. The purpose behind the state prosecution of Tocco was to enable Tocco to receive a death penalty sentence, should he be convicted at the state level. It was hoped that this possibility for the death sentence would convince Tocco to cooperate in the Spilotro murder investigation. However, to date, there has been an inability to make arrangements for the payment of the anticipated high cost of this prosecution to be covered by federal funds.

“On November 2, 1992, Gary Shapiro, Criminal Chief, United States Attorney’s Office, Chicago, Illinois, and David Capp, United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Indiana, Dyer, Indiana, advised that they are both in agreement that at that time, there was no viable prosecution in either the Northern District of Indiana or Newton County, Indiana.