Mobsters: Coming face-to-face with a hit man

It was a haven for mobsters and corruption beginning in the Strip’s early years through the 1980s. By the time Saturday’s speaker, Frank Cullota, co-author of his autobiography Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness, moved to Las Vegas from Chicago, the Strip was lined with casino/hotels, mostly under the control of the mob. There were a myriad of rackets in the city, and murder was the final payoff for those who didn’t follow the code.

Bugsy Siegel once famously said of Syndicate members, “We only kill each other.” Then he was murdered in 1947.

The Mob Chronicles is a new series of talks featuring real stories from the people who lived them. The subject and design of the show holds a morbid fascination for many, and Las Vegas is a ripe source of personalities and stories. Because there is a certain mystique, a curious romance attached to these things, the general public wants to hear what was behind the glamorized accounts in books and movies.

Those who lived it will tell you that the glitz surrounding such a life had a dark underbelly. The reality could mean being arrested, doing time, even killing lifelong friends or being murdered by them yourself. It was a life that was mostly dangerous, but also had humorous moments.

Frank Cullotta told the audience how he grew up in a life of crime, embarking along the path his father walked when he was only ten. He reeled off the crimes he had committed like a grocery list: 300 burglaries, 50 armed robberies, arson and then the chiller—2 murders and 2 attempted murders. As he spoke in a flat voice, devoid of emotion, it was obvious that to him it was just business.

He said he and Tony “the Ant” Spilotro became boyhood friends in Chicago. After Tony learned who Cullotta’sfather was, an unbreakable bond was created. Apparently Cullotta’s father had once saved Spilotro’s father’s life. Photographs flashed on the screen as he spoke, starting from the time they were boys until Cullotta moved to Las Vegas at Spilotro’s request and became the infamous mobster’s lieutenant. He headed a cartel of swindlers, arsonists and killers known in town as the Hole in the Wall Gang. One of the captions on the screen said it all… Tough guys grow up fast. http://www.examiner.com/x-24363-Las-Vegas-Writing-Examiner~y2010m5d10-Coming-facetoface-with-a-hit-man

Vincent "The Schemer" Drucci

Vincent Drucci also known as "The Schemer" (1898 - April 4, 1927) was a Chicago mobster during Chicago's Prohibition era who served as a lieutenant under Dean O'Banion's North Side Gang and later as gang boss. Drucci was one of the few mobsters to ever be killed by a law enforcement officer.


Drucci received a lavish funeral at Mount Carmel Cemetery, typical of gangland fashion at the time. Drucci's silver casket cost $10,000 and more than $30,000 in flowers adorned the funeral rooms.


The war between the North and South Side gangs would continue until the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day massacre, which effectively destroyed the North Side Gang. Capone and the South Side Gang, to be known as the Chicago Outfit, took over the North Side of Chicago and became the pre-eminent criminal organization in that city. Read More

Joseph "The Builder" Andriacchi, Chicago outfit

Joseph "The Builder" Andriacchi (born October 20, 1932) has been reported by Chicago newspapers to be a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit criminal organization.Chicago Outfit careerIn 1989, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Andriacchi had been elevated to being the second-in-command in the Chicago Outfit. The article identified Andriacchi as having two nicknames: "the Sledgehammer" -- because of his unsubtle ways as a safecracker -- and "the Builder.".

The article also noted that Andriacchi had been imprisoned on burglary charges from 1968 until 1971Andriacchi was one of several reputed mobsters ordered to appear before a federal grand jury after the May 17, 1992 bombing of a car outside the home of a daughter of mob turncoat Leonard Patrick, who was in the process of testifying against several known mobsters.

Andriacchi was identified in a 1995 Chicago Tribune article as being an underboss for day-to-day operations for the Chicago Outfit.
In 1997, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Andriacchi was "at the top of the Outfit's new organizational chart," identifying Andriacchi as a reported longtime lieutenant of Chicago Outfit kingpin John DiFronzo
After the conclusion of the "Family Secrets" trial in Chicago in 2007, which sent multiple high-ranking members of the Chicago Outfit to prison for long sentences, Andriacchi was again identified in Chicago newspapers as being a powerful member of the Chicago Outfit..

"Reputed mobsters not charged in the Family Secrets case who are still powerful in the Outfit include John "No Nose" DiFronzo, Joe "The Builder" Andriacchi, Al Tornabene, Frank "Tootsie Babe" Caruso, Marco D'Amico and Michael Sarno, law enforcement sources said," the Chicago Sun-Times wrote on September 11, 2007. On September 30, 2007, the Chicago Tribune reported that law enforcement sources indicated that Andriacchi controls Chicago's north side and north suburbs, and that he leads the Elmwood Park crew.

Louis Capone Murder Inc

Louis Capone (left)

Louis Capone (1896 – March 4, 1944) was a New York organized crime figure who became a hitman for the notorious Murder Inc. Louis Capone was not related to the boss of the Chicago Outfit, Al Capone.Murder, Inc., was a network of Jewish and Italian-American hoodlums from Brooklyn, New York, who performed murder contracts for crime families in New York and other cities from during the 1930s. Murder, Inc., was directed by Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia.In 1936, Buchalter was trying to silence potential witnesses against himself and Murder, Inc and ordered the murder of Joseph Rosen. In 1941, Capone, Buchalter, and Emanuel Weiss were all convicted of murdering Rosen and were sentenced to death. On March 4, 1944, Louis Capone was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. He was immediately followed by Weiss and Buchalter.Capone was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, New York City.

Mario Rainone linked to rash of residential crimes

Mobster Mario Rainone has crossed both sides of the law enough times, it is a wonder his legs aren't permanently tangled.

After a spasmodic career as both a criminal and a government witness, Mr. Rainone, 54, is once again sitting in jail. This time Rainone is in the Lake County lock-up on one count of residential burglary and on an outstanding retail theft warrant from South Barrington.
For years, the beefy hoodlum was considered a prime "go-to" guy for the Chicago Outfit's Rainone thanks Chuck Goudie
In the 1980's, when Mob bosses needed a job handled quickly and efficiently, Rainone was often enlisted

He was especially adept at collecting unpaid debts, whether as a result of Mob juice loans or illegal gambling debts.

Among the legends of Mario Rainone is the time he informed a shakedown target that his family would pay if he didn't. The old man asked Rainone exactly what he meant. Rainone told the elderly extortion victim that if the debt wasn't handed over, he would kill his children and plant their heads in his front yard. The man settled up.

Rainone quit Organized Crime in late 1989, when he was deployed to murder a wayward mobster. As he prepared to take up a position for the hit, Rainone realized that he was actually the intended target. Rather than waiting to be whacked, Rainone escaped to his truck and sped away. He went straight to the FBI in Chicago and spilled his story. Agents convinced him that he could only help himself by wearing a wire and working undercover against his one-time Mob bosses.

Rainone got a couple of wise-guys on tape but his cooperation was short-lived. He stopped helping the FBI in November, 1989 when a his mother's front stoop was blown up.
The message-bombing freaked Rainone, who felt it was better that he spend a stretch in prison rather than his mother end up in pieces on her porch.

So he gave up witness protection and in 1992 pleaded guilty to extortion and racketeering. He was sentenced to nearly 18 years and released in 2006.
Rainone, last known to reside in Bloomingdale, was arrested on Friday by Lincolnshire police and charged with the Feb 12 burglary of a home in the Trafalgar square subdivision. Also charged as an accomplice was Vincent T. Forliano, 39, of Addison.

Both men are being held on $500,000 bond. Rainone is schedule to appear in Lake County Court Tuesday at 9am. Forliano is due in court on Friday at 9am. The duo has been under investigation by several northwest suburban police departments in connection with a string of home invasions.

Other than the alleged burglary business, the connect between Rainone and Forliano is not known. Mobwatchers say if the accused break-in artists were not paying a kick-back to the Outfit, known as "tribute" or "street-tax," Rainone could once again find himself on short hit-list.