Michael Peter Spilotro

Michael Peter "Micky" Spilotro (born September 12, 1944 in Chicago ; † June 14, 1986 ) was an American mobster and associate of the Chicago Outfit . He is the younger brother of the full member of La Cosa Nostra : Anthony Spilotro . Both became known worldwide through the filming of their gruesome death in the US film Casino from 1995.

Life

Early years

Michael was born as one of six children in Chicago, where he also grew up. His parents Pasquale and Antoinette Spilotro emigrated to the United States in 1914 from Triggiano , Province of Bari , Italy .

They opened a restaurant ("Patsy's Restaurant") at the intersection of Grand and Ogden Avenues , in which well-known greats of the Chicago outfit soon became regulars; including Sam Giancana , Jackie Cerone , Gussie Alex and Frank Nitti . The restaurant parking lot has become a meeting place for the city's organized crime . So it was no wonder that Michael and his brothers John, Vincent, Victor and Anthony came into contact with the criminal milieu early on . Only Pasquale Spilotro Jr. became a successful oral surgeon. He and his brothers grew up in a typical two-story wooden house that was only a few blocks away from Frank Rosenthal's house .

Manager

Michael Peter Spilotro was the manager of Hoagie's Pub on the west side of Chicago and initially had nothing to do with his brother's increasing criminal activity. Nevertheless, he was seen repeatedly in the vicinity of bullies in the Chicago outfit in the early 1980s ; especially with his brother who had meanwhile been accepted as a full member of the outfit.

Michael Peter Spilotro was friends with the actors Robert Conrad and his half-brother Larry Manetti . The friendship dates back to 1954, when they met on the Chicago waterfront . This also gave him the short appearance as " Federal Marshal " in the television series Magnum with Tom Selleck in the 12th episode of the 1st season: "Friends in need (Dicker than Blood)" (OT: Thicker than blood), First aired February 1981.

Hole in the wall

Anthony Spilotro was sent to Las Vegas to replace Marshall Joseph Caifano ; formally he took over the gift shop in the Circus Circus . Frank Rosenthal had previously been housed as an unofficial casino manager at the Stardust and the bosses apparently remembered the collaboration between the two in Miami. Spilotro should now take over the protective function for Rosenthal again.

Las Vegas was the only place in the US at the time that allowed gambling and wagering in this form, while remaining banned in other places. The Mafia families had therefore declared Las Vegas an open city, so to speak. H. they wanted to limit themselves to the illegal skimming of the casinos, any further criminal activities were seen as a threat to the lucrative casino business.

Anthony was not directly involved in this "skimming" of the casinos and the normal business activities of a gangster were actually forbidden. In 1979 Anthony was also included in the city's "Black Book", i. H. he was now prohibited from entering the casinos. Instead of leaving the city now, he formed a team of burglars with his brother Michael and Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein, which was soon referred to as "The Hole in the Wall" gang because of its numerous break-ins and the entry method used they penetrated through the lightweight walls instead of through the doors.

In total, the group consisted of eight people and hid their activities behind the facade of "The Gold Rush Ltd.", which was located near the Las Vegas Strip.

From 1983 Michael kept in contact with full member Joseph Lombardo and if his brother had not fallen out of favor because of the circumstances in Las Vegas, the “outfit” would surely have accepted Michael as a full member. But since Michael himself had not reported about his brother's machinations either, the death of both brothers was decided.

The end

On June 14, 1986, the bodies of Michael and Anthony Spilotro were discovered in a corn field near Morocco , Indiana . The background to this was certainly the conviction of Jackie Cerone , Joseph Aiuppa , Carl DeLuna etc. for the financial levy of the casinos in the amount of two million US dollars.

Some potential witnesses had already been eliminated in advance and Anthony Spilotro had obviously been on a death list for a long time, because when Anthony Accardo's house was broken into in January 1977 , the former head and consigliere gave the order to Aiuppa to also eliminate Anthony Spilotro . Even then, Aiuppa had set off an avalanche of brutal murders, as everyone who was somehow connected to the break-in was killed.

The Spilotro murder case

Presumably James “Little Jimmy” Marcello is involved in this murder, which was portrayed in the movie Casino . Michael's two children: Anna and Michelle Spilotro testified about the involvement of their father and his brothers with James Marcello in a lawsuit.

Both in reality and in the film, the brothers were brutally beaten and apparently buried alive in a corn field. In contrast to the film version, however, the police now assume that the actual act did not take place at the place where the body was found.

Another possible perpetrator is Albert Tocco , whose wife Betty announced in an interview with the Sun Times in 1990 that she herself helped Tocco in 1986 to bury the Spilotro brothers Tony and Michael Spilotro in a corn field near Enos (Indiana).

Also frank schweihs has been linked to the murder in connection. From June 2007 he was on trial with James Marcello for various murders, but died on July 23, 2008 without having made a statement at the trial. On September 27, 2007, Marcello was convicted of this murder, but acquitted of the charge of another murder of Nicholas D'Andrea . On February 5, 2009, Judge James Zagel pronounced a life sentence for Marcello .

Movie and movie quotes

• 1995: Portrayed in the film character Dominick Santoro by Philip Suriano , in the film Casino

literature

• William F. Roemer, Jr: The Enforcer: Spilotro, the Chicago mob's man over Las Vegas. Donald I. Fine, New York 1994, ISBN 1556113994 .

Web links

• Michael Spilotro in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Michael Peter "Micky" Spilotro on Find A Grave

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.time.com “Blood Threat”, February 3, 1986
2. ↑ www.findarticles.com "$ 12.5 million bail offer refused" (English)
3. ↑ * " Murders in Chicago: Aged Mafiosi in Court " by Katja Gelinsky in Washington on www.faz.net from June 21, 2007
4. ↑ [1] on www.chicagobreakingnews.com (English)
5. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on blogs.suntimes.com (English)