Customer Reviews

Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness (True Crime)

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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"

http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/group.php?gid=33678349794

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.

"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!!!

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.

True crime is fascinating. It has been the background of countless newspaper headlines, books, TV series and movies.

Over the years, there has been a gradual trend toward more truth in "true crime" literature and more realism in the visual depictions of crime figures. Joe Pesci's brilliant portrayal in Casino is far more penetrating and revealing than were those of Edward G. Robinson. The popular series, Sapranos, is far more realistic than the old Untouchables program.

I'm not sure why others are so intrigued by crime and criminals, but I wonder most what motivates criminals and how they justify and rationalize the bizarre acts they commit. Beyond all the drama and entertainment, I wonder what makes gangsters tick.

That's why I found Dennis Griffin's CULLOTTA so fascinating. It is a compelling look into the mind and motives of a classic criminal. He approaches this subject with the discipline of a seasoned reporter, objectively telling both sides of the story in plain English. He doesn't add anything for dramatic effect. He doesn't embellish. He doesn't extrapolate. He doesn't try to impress you with his prose. Like the old TV crime show, Dragnet, his motto seems to be "just the facts, ma'am." (Griffin's background, by the way, is not as a reporter, but as a police detective. Nevertheless, his journalistic approach puts most modern "reporters" to shame. He has written a series of books about Las Vegas and the famous mob figures of the 1970s and 1980s. Each one is better than the previous.)

His latest work, CULLOTTA, is a natural progression of more truth in true crime that began with Mario Puzzo's prize winning book, The Godfather.

While The Godfather was a fictional account based upon real characters, CULLOTTA is a concrete account of a real crime figure. It is the most realistic account of organized crime I've read to date. No small part of that credit goes to the co-author and subject of the book, Frank Cullotta. Though a career criminal in every sense of the word, this mobster, turned government witness, seems to display a candid honesty that has endeared him to the enforcement officials who hounded him and the writers who tell the stories.

As it says in the first line of the foreword, written by Nicholas Pillegi, who wrote the screenplay for the movie Casino, "Frank Cullotta is the real thing."

So is Denny Griffin. That's why he has become my favorite true crime writer.

As a retired cop from the Cook- Will County metro area who has personally spoken to a couple of characters in this book ( Billy Dauber & Albert Tocco ) and being a Sicilian, I had a personal interest in this book on the "Outfit"; Cullotta and Griffin did a good job of telling it like it was and not filled with B.S. When Dauber ended up crashing into the Baker's tree after losing control from being whacked- it explained how wrong he was in saying "they'll never get me". Even remote car starters won't work when there's "work" to be done and Cullotta did good "work". If you want the real skinny on da "life" around Chi-town, read it.

Enjoyed the book; however, I had to stop myself a few times when I felt sorry for the fella. He really got off light for the crimes he committed and seems to think the life was cool. I don't see any repentance here. That said, it was hard to put down and a lot of inside information.

This very interesting story about the Spilotro crews activities in Vegas was very accurate and quite interesting. Frank Cullotta pulled no punches and was straightforward.

Bought the book, and went to the booksigning in Las Vegas. Listened to the the co- authors,Denny Griffin and Frank Cullotta explain the rise and fall of the criminal empire in Las Vegas. Fascinating story and well written in Frank Cullotta's own voice. Frank looks like the grandfather living next door. He has a great sense of humor when speaking to the public, but told the reporters and the audience members that questioned him the facts about what really happened - and they're all in the book. Order the book and take an eye-opening peek at the criminal empire the Chicago mob ran in old time Las Vegas.

From his first book to his latest Dennis Griffin's writing talent is unbelievable. His research of each subject is so excellent and I have found that if you read page 1 of each novel you CANNOT put it down until the last period.
Dennis is destined to be one of our most popular novelists and sitting up there with the best.