Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness [Paperback]

Dennis N. Griffin (Author), Frank Cullotta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 16, 2007

From burglary to armed robbery and murder, infamous bad guy Frank Cullotta not only did it all, in Cullotta he admits to it -- and in graphic detail. This no-holds-barred biography chronicles the life of a career criminal who started out as a thug on the streets of Chicago and became a trusted lieutenant in Tony Spilotro's gang of organized lawbreakers in Las Vegas. Cullotta's was a world of high-profile heists, street muscle, and information -- lots of it -- about many of the FBI's most wanted. In the end, that information was his ticket out of crime, as he turned government witness and became one of a handful of mob insiders to enter the Witness Protection Program.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mystery and nonfiction writer Griffin covered the Vegas reign of kingpin Tony the Ant Spilotro in The Battle for Las Vegas: The Law vs. the Mob. Digging deeper into mob history, he now focuses on Spilotro's lifelong pal, career criminal Cullotta, who appeared in Martin Scorsese's 1995 film, Casino, recreating an actual murder he committed in 1979. Spilotro and Cullotta met in Chicago as teenage troublemakers, and early chapters detail the violent escapades of Cullotta's youth before he escalated to major crimes. Spilotro rose in the ranks of the mob and became the Chicago Outfit's man in Las Vegas, and Cullotta eventually joined him, running a robbery and murder crew. Together, Spilotro and Cullotta extorted illegal bookmakers and drug dealers throughout Vegas. But in the early 1980s, Cullotta became a government witness, bringing down the house. In addition to poring through newspaper archives, Griffin interviewed various sheriffs, attorneys, agents and detectives, while primarily relying on information from retired FBI agent Arnoldy and what Pileggi calls the phenomenal memory of Cullotta himself. Griffin's flat, unemotional yet potent writing makes the bloodletting, murders and mayhem chilling and unnerving throughout. 30 b&w photos. (July 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

It soon becomes apparent when reading Griffin's biography that the author has presented a particular non-biased view of the mobster. Cullotta is a name that would strike fear into the hearts of most illegal bookmakers and small-time criminals in both Las Vegas and Chicago, but Griffin attempts to steer clear of such glamorisation...for those who can stomach it, Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness is a must. Few crime authors have such intimate access to key figures such as Cullotta, so savour Griffin's book while you can: Other than meeting the man himself, there's really no other way to gain such intimate knowledge of one of Vegas' most dangerous and interesting criminals. --Casino Online, UK

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Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Huntington Press (July 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929712455
• ISBN-13: 978-0929712451
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.8 x 5.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Denny Griffin began writing in 1996, following a 20-year career in investigations and law enforcement in New York State. He currently has seven fiction and three non-fiction books published. His non-fictions are about Las Vegas police and organized crime history.

In 2007 Denny began hosting his own Internet radio show on Blog Talk Radio. You can hear his broadcasts live or listen to archived shows at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dennisngriffin.

For additional information please visit http://www.dennisngriffin.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The book Cullotta told me who killed my father 27 years ago November 20, 2008

By Paul Scharff

Format:Paperback

I have never written a review for a book before, but I never had a book IMPACT my life like this one. From the book Cullotta, I discovered who killed my father and his barmaid 27 years ago.

My name is Paul and I am the eldest son of Ronald Scharff. My father and Patricia Freeman were killed in Lakemoor, Illinois in 1981 by Larry Neumann. Neumann was one of Frank Cullotta's Hole in the Wall Gang members that my father had the great misfortune of knowing; my father's case in still officially unsolved.

Since reading the book, I have been working to get my father's case closed with a considerable amount of help from Frank Cullotta himself and his co-author, Dennis Griffin. My family and I are deeply grateful for their help. Frank Cullotta has been the only one in the past 27 years that has tried to bring my family and the Freeman's any kind of closure.

Please read this book to learn more about Larry Neumann and his ability to commit multiple murders. Your opinion on this man will help get this case closed. Visit my Facebook Group "McHenry County 1981" to follow my continuing efforts to get closure in the Ronald Scharff and Patricia Freeman case.

Copy and Paste the link below into your browser to Visit my Facebook group "McHenry County 1981"

[...]

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Reading this book puts you in the confession booth of Frank Cullotta September 8, 2007

By Joe Huggins

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Cullotta has to be one of the most prolific criminals in the annals of both Las Vegas and Chicago organized crime. You'll feel like Father Confessor reading this book, where he purges his soul in what has to be the longest string of end-to-end confessions in the history of (dis)organized crime. In this book he joins forces with retired policeman-turned-writer, Dennis Griffin, who dutifully recounts each score and every hit with the cold accuracy of a Seargant Joe Friday writing his police reports. Griffin's style is perfect for this kind of book. There are no high-flown metaphors, "just the facts, ma'am."

While I had second thoughts about paying honest dollars to an admitted life-time thief and killer, I didn't mind giving a few bucks to Griffin, and maybe we can keep Cullotta off the streets with a few royalties from his life story.

Here a career cop has managed to write a good book with the unusual help of his natural enemy, a career criminal and big-time mobster. As for Cullotta, he has managed to somehow outlive most of his enemies, while coming clean with the G, getting witness protection, reduced sentences and now dubious celebrity. He even re-enacted one of his most infamous hits in Scorcese's "Casino" while he was in the witness protection program. Who says crime doesn't pay?

This is one career criminal who seems to have nine lives and then some. He gives the details on each caper in this joint effort that was released simultaneously with the Family Secrets mob trial in Chicago, in which all defendants were convicted on all counts.

Cullotta gives a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the dysfunctional family of crime figures during the mob's heyday in Chicago and Vegas.... All the usual suspects are in the book, but seen up close and personal from the perspective of one of their own...the only one that got away. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Spilotro's Right Hand Man April 6, 2010

By John M. Bitowt Jr.

Format:Paperback

"Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness" was a great read. If you have any interest in organized crime/La Cosa Nostra/Mafia, then this book is for you. Especially, if you happen to be from the Windy City, Chicago, since Cullotta was an Outfit associate and a good friend of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, this book tells his tale! In my humble opinion, this book was very well written and contains new, previously unpublished information about Spilotro and the Chicago Outfit! So even if you are not from Chicago and just a true crime buff, the story of Frank Cullotta makes for a very interesting book. Since I personally try to obtain/read everything out there on organized crime, especially anything concerning the Chicago Outfit or one of it's associates/members, this was a great find and turned out to be a very good book.
Fast paced, a page turner that one will find very easy to read and be able to enjoy!!!

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Bathroom reading May 16, 2010

By A guy from brooklyn

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Being a fan of Goodfellas, Casino, and not not missing any of the mafia documentaries on cable (not to mention being from Brooklyn), I was pretty excited to get my hands on this one. Unfortunately this book is one huge disappointment. It's written at a six grade level, there's no attempt to engage the reader, and its just plain boring. There's, maybe, 35-40 pages of real content. Meh.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars disappointing January 28, 2013

By Jim Roche

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was hoping for some insight into the mind and life of a criminal. This was a narrative of continuous random crimes told more or less through the insight of Cullotta to a journalist who didn't want to disappoint him by saying anything that might make him look like the wretched murderer and crook that he was. I would much more have enjoyed some solid historical crime research and journalism instead of this collection of gruesome tales. This capitalizes on Scorssese's Casino but lacks the punch and pace of that work. These guys were bums and I don't like biographical collaboration books about them that are written under the premise. Yeah, I'll tell ya my story but don't make me look too bad. I couldn't help it. I have to think about all the innocent people he crossed, killed and robbed and wonder what their families and loved ones would think when they read this stuff.