How does the movie CASINO relate to the book MURDER IN MCHENRY PART 2

The movie CASINO was filled with fictitious characters that were based on actual people. The two main characters of the movie Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci, where based on Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and Tony Spilotro. Frank Rosenthal was said to be “The greatest living expert on sports gambling” by Sports Illustrated. He is credited with bringing sports betting to Las Vegas casinos in the ’70s. The reality was he was the Chicago Outfit’s man to oversee the Outfit’s interests in four casinos in Las Vegas. Tony Spilotro on the other hand was sent by the Chicago Outfit to Las Vegas to be their enforcer. Robert DeNiro’s character was named Sam “Ace” Rothstein.

Sam Rothstein was based on Frank Rosenthal or “Lefty.” Lefty was originally from Chicago Illinois. He later became connected to the Outfit because of his superior sports betting abilities. His sports betting abilities also got the attention of the law. He got busted in Chicago trying to rig some basketball games. The law might not have of appreciated him but the Outfit did. They sent him to oversee the “skim”.

The “skim” was an elaborate way of taking money out of the casino before it was accounted for. Meyer Lansky, from the New York crime family, is credited for starting the “skim.” This skim would begin where the money was weighed in the casino. In a casino there so much money that a casino had to weigh it to get a real-time estimate of how much money they brought in. The scales in the casino were rigged. They would underreport what was actually taken in and skim right off the top. At every level of the casino where the money would be taking in, there would be another method to skim right more money off the top again. The outfit certainly took in tens of millions and possibly 100 million plus each year. That is what the upper echelon of the Outfit had at stake. That is the reason why they sent their top enforcer, Tony Spilotro, to protect the skim.

Tony Spilotro and his family were all from Chicago. At a young age he got connected to the Outfit. At the age of 18 he started to do some work for a bookie named Sam DeStefano or “Mad Sam.” In short, Mad Sam was one of the most sadistic Associates in the Outfit’s history. And Tony learned all the tricks of the trade from him. The Outfit sent Tony to watch over Lefty and to get things in Vegas in line. He was to watch over the skim by making sure that nobody stole from the casinos. Not the dealers, nor the public. Other duties included, making sure that the bookies, drug dealers, and pimps kicked up to the Outfit. The word even went out to the different mob families throughout the country not to play around in Las Vegas.

In order for Tony to get control over Las Vegas, he was going to need a crew. That’s when he asked Frank Cullotta to come out to Vegas. When Frank arrived in Vegas he started to put his crew together. Most of them came from Chicago. They were later dubbed the Hole the Wall Gang. They were called the Hole in the Wall Gang because they would break in the buildings by punching a hole through the wall or through the roof. They did that so they could bypass the buildings the alarm system. Back then they didn’t have motion detectors so alarm companies would provide security around the doors and the windows of the building. The members of the Hole in the Wall Gang were Wayne Matecki, Leo Guardino, Ernie Davino, Joseph Blasko, and the murderer of my father Larry Neumann.

It was Lefty’s job to run the casinos and make sure they were making plenty of money for the La Costra Nostra across the country. That included families from New York, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Chicago and others. It was Tony’s job to make sure that Lefty had no problems and to make sure that the streets were kicking up to the Outfit. Frank and his crew carried out the orders for the Outfit through Tony.

So just about everything you see in the movie CASINO, really happened. The scene where Joe Pesci’s character, Nicky Santoro, placed a man’s head in a vice and squeezed until he talked is true. It was in reference to an incident were Billy McCarthy and Jimmy Miraglia wound up killing Ronnie and Phil Scalvo. What happened a few nights previously, is Billy got into a fight with them. This was an act of revenge. The problem was they were associates of the Chicago Outfit and their father was good friend with Tony Accardo the Outfit’s boss. At the time, Billy and Jimmy worked with Frank. They actually use the guns out of Frank’s garage to kill them. Frank may have been with him that night if he wasn’t out on a date with a girl. When the bodies were found, Tony found Frank. Tony told

Frank the Outfit thinks that he was with Billy and Jimmy the night the Scalvo brothers were killed. Frank told Tony that he wasn’t, but Tony said it didn’t matter. However, Tony can take care this for Frank, if Frank would help him. He told Frank that he was going to have to help him get the brothers. Frank did and Spilotro was able grab Billy. They tortured Billy for three days, and he would not say who was with them when he killed the Scalvo brothers. That’s when Tony put his head in a vice and turned the vice so tight that his eyeball actually popped out of his head. And only then did Billy give up Jimmy’s name.

In the movie where Joe Pesci’s character, Nicky Santoro and his brother Dominic were shown beaten with bats and buried in a cornfield, most of that was true. In real life it was Tony and Michael Spilotro who flew back to Chicago on the orders of the Outfit. They sense this could be trouble but they were told that Tony was going to become a Capo and Michael was going to be Made. They were taken out to a house in Bensenville, Illinois. They were walked downstairs into a basement. There were a bunch of men that Tony and Michael recognized. The men were there waiting for the Spilotro brothers to arrive. When Michael went to shake the hands of one the men, he noticed that they all were wearing surgical gloves. That’s when the brothers knew it was going to be there last day on earth. Tony asked if he had time to say a prayer and he did. Then all the men in the basement started to beat the brothers to death with their bare fists and kicks. They were later taken out and buried in an Indiana cornfield as portrayed in the movie.

This video is from the National Geographic Channel. A couple of my friends are in this documentary, Frank Cullotta and Dennis Arnoldy. This show goes over the true story about Las Vegas, the mob, and the skim. Frank Rosenthal who has since passed away is also in this show. My father’s killer Larry Neumann is also shown. Please take a look at this video clip, it is excellent and does not have any commercials.

How does the movie CASINO relates to the book MURDER IN MCHENRY PART 1