spilotro - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-28T19:57:46Z
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/spilotro
Tony Spilotro and his Hole in the Wall Gang
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/tony-spilotro-and-his-hole-in
2010-11-19T19:27:47.000Z
2010-11-19T19:27:47.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/9875511499?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=373"></div><div><p style="text-align:center;"> </p>
<p>By David Amoruso<br /> First published in the August/September 2007 issue of <a href="http://www.mobcandymag.com/">Mob Candy Magazine</a>.<br /><br /> Anthony Spilotro arrived in Las Vegas in 1971. He was sent by the Chicago La Cosa Nostra Family, which most people call The Outfit, to oversee the mob's skimming operations. Several mob families were skimming money from the casino counting rooms. Huge sums were made through this scam. The mob bosses wanted the skim to proceed without problems. So they sent Tony Spilotro. Spilotro had made a name for himself in Chicago as a vicious murderer who didn't mind torturing his victims. His reputation instilled fear in hardened criminals which made him the perfect man to protect the mob's interests in Las Vegas.<br /> <br /> In Las Vegas <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chicago-soldier-anthony-the">Spilotro</a> quickly took control of the city's underworld. All criminals (drug dealers, pimps, loan-sharks) were ordered to pay Spilotro a street tax. If they wanted to continue doing business they paid, if they didn't pay, they died. Still hungry for more money Spilotro got together a gang of burglars. This gang would break into hotel rooms of rich gamblers, homes, and jewelry stores all over Nevada, California, Utah, and Arizona. The gang was called the Hole in the Wall Gang because of their modus operandi. They would gain entrance to buildings and stores by making a hole in the wall or roof.<br /> <br /> Things went well for a while, but not for long. In 1979 Spilotro was added to the Las Vegas Black Book, an exclusion list which meant he could not set foot in any Las Vegas casino. It didn't deter him from running his illegal operations though. When an associate of Spilotro and his gang was shot by two cops when they pulled him over news of a contract on the lives of the two cops reached the Chicago FBI. The Chicago feds told Las Vegas police who sent a few men to Chicago to talk to the Chicago mob bosses. The cops visited the homes of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chicago-boss-antonino-accardo">Antonino Accardo</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chicago-boss-joseph-joey-doves">Joseph Aiuppa</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chicago-boss-joseph-lombardo">Joseph Lombardo</a>. All three men weren't home so they talked to mob controlled businessman Allen Dorfman and told him about their problem. The cops then got a phone call from a lawyer who said the Chicago bosses would discuss the issue. The lawyer was asked to relay the following message: "If you kill my cops I'll bring forty men back here and kill everything that walks, moves, or crawls around all the houses I visited today. And that is not a threat, but a promise." The Chicago bosses wouldn't allow cops to be murdered, so the contract was lifted (meaning those responsible for the plans would be told to abort.) The bosses didn't like this kind of aggrevation.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">THE LAST HEIST</span><br /> <br /> On the Fourth of July, 1981 the Hole in the Wall Gang was going out to break into Bertha's Gifts & Home Furnishings, at 896 East Sahara. The store also included a jewelry shop. The gang was counting on a party afterwards since the expected loot would be $1 million in cash and jewelry. Operating that night were Frank Cullota, Lawrence Neumann, Wayne Matecki, Leo Guardino, Ernie Davino, Sal Romano, and corrupt cop turned full time criminal Joseph Blasko. The gang used five cars for the heist, one for transporting the guys who would do the actual break in and four to conduct counter-surveillance. These four cars were equippped with two-way radios and police scanners.<br /> <br /> Around 19:00 Cullotta, Neumann, and Romano drove their cars around the neighborhood, looking for anything suspicious. Blasko parked his van across the street from Bertha's Gift & Home Furnishings. At 21:00 Matecki, Guardino and Davino arrived, they stepped out of the vehicle and unloaded tools and equipment, including a ladder. The men gained access to the roof of the store. Once there they plugged in their tools. They were using power and hand tools to penetrate the roof. At 22:40 Guardino had penetrated the roof and dropped through the opening into the store, bringing along his burglary tools which he needed to break into the safe. With Guardino inside the store cops started coming in from all angles. The burglars were surrounded. Outside, Cullotta, Neumann, and Blasko were arrested. Sal Romano was also picked up by police, but for different reasons: he had flipped a few months earlier and told police everything about the planned heist. The remaining six men were charged with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, attempted grand larcency, and possession of burglary tools.<br /> <br /> With Spilotro's gang heavily hit by the bust and news of a rat amongst them, things started heating up. On Friday April 30, 1982 Frank Cullotta got some bad news: the Chicago Outfit had approved a contract on his life. The following Monday Cullotta officially became a cooperating witness. Cullotta would testify at several mob trials and even had an appearance as mob hit man in Martin Scorsese's mob epic Casino. Combining the Hole in the Wall gang fiasco, Spilotro's other criminal deeds for which he was indicted, and Spilotro's affair with the wife of casino boss Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, the Chicago bosses made up their mind. They had sent Spilotro to Vegas to keep things quiet, and running smoothly. Instead of doing that Spilotro had made a mess. They decided enough was enough: he had to go. The badly beaten bodies of Tony Spilotro and his brother Michael were found on June 23, 1986 in an Indiana cornfield. Tony the Ant had met his demise.<br /> </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview">Chicago Outfit section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Profile of Chicago Mafia soldier Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/chicago-soldier-anthony-the
2010-11-19T19:14:24.000Z
2010-11-19T19:14:24.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236977072,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /></p>
<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2001<br /><br /> Anthony Spilotro was born on May 19, 1938 in Chicago. Spilotro grew up in a loving family, and seemed to be on track for a decent and honest life. But he decided he wanted something else, and in his sophmore year at Steinmetz Highschool he dropped out and turned to a life of crime. Once out of school he joined forces with other Steinmetz dropouts and engaged in petty crimes, like shoplifting and purse snatching. On January 11, 1955 Spilotro is arrested for the first time, for stealing a shirt. He is fined ten dollars and is put on probation. But after several more arrests Spilotro receives some special attention from the police. By 1960 Spilotro has been arrested thirteen times and he feels he is ready for the next step in his criminal career.<br /> <br /> To get anywhere as a criminal in Chicago you had to be connected to the Outfit, the Chicago Family of La Cosa Nostra. And that's exactly what Spilotro did, he hooked up with Outfit enforcer "Mad" Sam DeStefano. Spilotro starts out as a debt collector for DeStefano but quickly gets involved in bigger crimes. Stay involved with the Mafia long enough and you'll be asked to commit that century old crime: murder. In 1962 Spilotro "makes his bones" in the M&M killings. "Making your bones" means committing a mob ordered murder for the first time. Together with mob hitters DeStefano, Felix Alderisio, and Chuckie Nicoletti, Spilotro tortured criminals Bill McCartney and Jimmy Miraglia. McCartney's head was put in a vice untill his eye popped out. After this gruesome murder Spilotro was considered golden material for the Chicago Outfit. After the M&M murders in 1963 Spilotro became a made guy in the Chicago Outfit and left Mad Sam DeStefano's crew to join Felix Alderisio's crew instead.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236976491,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Now a member of the Chicago Outfit Spilotro got assigned to a bookmaking territory on the North West Side of Chicago. There he controlled a few dozen bookmakers. In 1964 Spilotro was sent to Miami to work with Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who was big in sportsbetting. Rosenthal was sent to Miami to control Chicago Outfit interests there, and Spilotro was there to see to it that things ran smoothly and nobody tried to muscle in on their operations. By 1967 Spilotro was back in Chicago fulltime. In 1971 Spilotro is assigned to Las Vegas where he replaces Marshall Caifano. Spilotro sets himself up in the Circus Circus Casino and conducts his business from the gift shop there. Spilotro operated under the name Anthony Stuart, Stuart was his wife's maiden name. The moment Spilotro arrived in Las Vegas he started taking care of lose ends. There were five murders where the victims were tortured before they were killed, and several casino employees were found buried in the desert.<br /> <br /> In September 1972 Spilotro had to come back to Chicago, when he was indicted in the Foreman case. He was indicted along with Mad Sam DeStefano, and his brother Mario DeStefano. Another criminal, named Crimaldi, who was present at the Foreman killing, had flipped and was the star witness. Things looked bad for Spilotro, especially considering Mad Sam's crazy court antics. Spilotro and Mario DeStefano figured that they had a chance of beating the case if they could somehow seperate their case from Mad Sam, and so they decided to take Mad Sam out themselves. In May of 1973 Mario DeStefano and Spilotro set up Mad Sam at his home and murdered him with a shotgun. On May 22, 1973 Mario DeStefano was found guilty and Spilotro was acquitted and went back to Las Vegas. But problems weren't over yet, new indictments were coming. This time Spilotro was indicted together with Joseph Lombardo. Again there was a witness, but that was no problem for Tony and Joey. In September of 1974 they found the witness and blew his head off. Without the witness there was no case and Spilotro and Lombardo were acquitted of all charges. Spilotro went back to Vegas for a final time.<br /> <br /> In Las Vegas he saw to it that the skim from the casinos went as planned and that no other mobsters moved in on their operations. Spilotro worked closely with his old partner Frank Rosenthal who was the boss of the Stardust Casino. But after a few years things started going bad for Spilotro. In 1979 he was added to the Las Vegas black book, an exclusion list which included people that could not set foot in any of the Las Vegas casinos. Spilotro was outraged but it didn't stop him from running his Las Vegas business. Besides the casinos Spilotro also started his own gang named "The Hole In The Wall Gang". This gang was made up out of Spilotro and his brother and their associates. They were called the hole in the wall gang, because when they committed a burglary they would gain entry by making a hole in the wall. This gang was against the Outfit's orders, the Outfit ordered Spilotro to keep quiet, and a gang of thieves wasn't exactly quiet. But the hole in the wall gang wasn't the worst thing Spilotro did. Rumors were floating around that Spilotro was selling drugs and sleeping with the wife of Frank Rosenthal. When word got back to the Outfit bosses, Spilotro's time was up. On June 14, 1986 Spilotro and his brother Michael were summoned to an Outfit meeting. They were beaten with baseball bats, and driven to an Indiana cornfield where they were buried in a shallow grave. And so was the end of one of Las Vegas most notorious mobsters.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview">Chicago Outfit section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Profile of Chicago Mafia soldier "Mad Sam" Destefano
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/chicago-soldier-mad-sam
2010-11-19T19:12:18.000Z
2010-11-19T19:12:18.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236976861,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /></p>
<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2001<br /> <br /> Mad Sam is not that well known to the general public, but his 'student' Tony "The Ant" Spilotro is. Mad Sam taught Tony everything he knew about murder and torture, and Mad Sam knew a lot about that kind of stuff.<br /> <br /> DeStefano grew up in Southern Illinois and moved to Chicago when he was a teenager. He officially began his criminal career in 1927 when at the age of 18 he raped a girl and was convicted of that crime. Later he got convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, bank robbery, extortion, and possession of counterfeit stamps.<br /> <br /> After a while DeStefano became involved with Sam "Momo" Giancana's West Side "42 Gang", a gang which was made up of an assortment of vicious thugs and bootleggers. By the 1960s DeStefano had moved up the ranks, going from petty hoodlum to a major force in Chicago's loan sharking and drug trafficking rackets. Alongh with his brother Mario Anthony, DeStefano succeeded in bringing to Chicago what has become known as "The juice loan": a loansharking operation in which violence is used to force payments from debtors.<br /> <br /> Eventhough most of the "42 Gang" became top mobsters in the Chicago mob DeStefano never climbed the ranks. He was too unstable for any top position in the Chicago Mafia, but they still had use for him though....especially notorious mob bosses Sam "Momo" Giancana and Paul "the Waiter" Ricca had much use for him. DeStefano became known as a stonecold executioner and a peerless loan collector. He was known to collect a variety of instruments of torture in his basement, but his favorite tool was the icepick. DeStefano used ice picks to stab his victims in the throat, testicles and torso, either to squeeze payments out of them or as foreplay to murder.<br /> <br /> Now I've told you about Sam and his tools, I told you he was notorious I think now it's time to tell you some of those stories that made Sam earn the nickname Mad Sam and made him the most deranged, sick, notorious and feared hitman in the history of the Chicago Mafia.<br /> <br /> Sam DeStefano lived in a nice far west side suburb of Chicago with his wife and three children, he looked everything like the normal family man. But that's because people couldn't look in his basement, if they had looked there they probably wouldn't live to tell the story. Sam DeStefano's basement was where Sam turned into Mad Sam and tortured and killed his victims. Sam's basement was soundproof and had all the torture tools a hitman needs. One of DeStefano's victims was Artie Adler, a local restaurant owner who had been late on juice payments. One week Adler couldn't pay and was brought to Sam's basement. Sam went to work with the ice pick and Adler had a heart attack. The body was dumped into a sewer near North Sayre and Harlem on the far west side and there it stayed, in the frozen winter waters of the sewer until the spring thaw. The Department of Sanitation got a call in the spring about a backed up sewer and that's when Adlers perfectly preserved corpse was discorved.<br /> <br /> Not all of Sam's victims went out of the basement dead, some like Peter Cappelletti, were just humiliated and tortured. One time, Cappelletti tried to run off with $25.000,00 he owed Sam. Cappelletti was caught and brought to Mario DeStefano's restaurant Cicero. The poor guy was stripped naked and handcuffed to a boiling radiator. Tied to the radiator Cappelletti was beaten and tortured by Sam for 3 full days. On the night of the 3rd day DeStefano phoned the guys family and invited them all to a luxurious dinner at the restaurant in the man's honor. That Saturday, the whole family (of Cappelletti) turned up at Mario's place and were given a multi course Italian dinner. The guest of honor was not there at the table but Sam assured the family that he would be joining them soon. Once the meal was finished, the naked and severely burned man was brought in front of his family and thrown at the feet of his mother. According which story you believe the outcome is the same, Cappelletti got urinated on, either by his family who were forced by Sam, or by Sam himself but like I said the outcome was the same. Sam let Cappelletti live, after Cappelletti promised to make things right, and made him an example to others who thought they could steal from him.<br /> <br /> When Sam Giancana ordered the hit of DeStefano's younger brother Michael, Sam carried out the hit with no second thoughts. When questioned about the 1955 murder, DeStefano refused to answer any questions, instead he was giggling uncontrollably. When investigators tried repeating their questions DeStefano only laughed harder. Perhaps more strangely, Michael DeStefano was a drug addict, a fact that seemed to pain the remorseless hit man to no end. After completing the murder with Mario Anthony DeStefano's assistance, Sam DeStefano took great pains to cleanse his brother's corpse in order to remove any traces of the drugs before abandoning the body in the trunk of a car.<br /> <br /> Tony SpilotroAnd then there was the hit of Leo Foreman. Leo Foreman led a dubble life being a legit real estate agent on the one hand and a mob juice loan collector on the other. Foreman collected juice for DeStefano, one day in November 1963, DeStefano paid a visit to Foreman's real estate offices and Sam started an argument. The quarrel ended with Foreman throwing Sam out. Foreman was later lured to the Cicero home of Sam's brother Mario by Tony Spilotro and Chuckie Crimaldi. Foreman went because he was told that Sam wanted to kiss and make up for the ealier argument. Once in the house Leo Foreman was coaxed into the basement where he was grabbed and tied up by Spilotro (picture on the left), Mario DeStefano and Crimaldi. The 3 then proceeded to beat up Foreman, soften him up a bit before Sam would get there. Foreman was beaten with a hammer on his knees and beaten about the head, ribs and crotch. Sam applied his normal technique with his icq pick stabbing Leo 20 times. They tortured him in a certain way so that it would hurt but not kill Foreman. When Foreman had been sufficiently wounded, a pajama-clad DeStefano glided from a nearby bedroom, laughing at the wounded man. According to Crimaldi, who later turned government witness, DeStefano screamed and giggled as he admonished Foreman, saying, "I told you I'd get you. Greed got you killed!". Foreman pleaded for his life as DeStefano shot him repeatedly in the buttocks. DeStefano and his crew watched Foreman bleed and whimper for awhile before torturing him to death with a butcher knife. Far from letting a death spoil their party, DeStefano and the boys then took turns excising chunks of flesh from Foreman's arms.<br /> <br /> Eventually the madness of Mad Sam that was of such good use for the Outfit became too mad and fell out of favor. When Sam DeStefano was called to testify in court, he would often demand to speak through a bullhorn. He often acted as his own attorney, and his courtroom antics included appearing in pajamas, arriving on a stretcher, and longwinded rants in which he would attempt to discredit investigators by accusing them of colluding with Joseph Stalin. In 1972, the FBI turned Chuckie Crimaldi. Tony Spilotro and the DeStefano brothers Mario and Sam were indicted for the murder of Leo Forman on the evidence given by Crimaldi. The three of them were incarcerated pending the trial which was set for May 1973. At the pre-trial, Sam DeStefano made a circus of the proceedings, acting as his own attorney. Sam began to alienate the judge and jury. Making the trial such a high profile media event was an obvious mistake. It would be very hard to influence the judge and jury with bribes or other forms of corruption if the trial was front page news. So, Mario and Spilotro devised a plan to keep Sam quiet - for good.<br /> <br /> Mario and Tony went to Sam telling him that they had located the safe house where Chuckie Crimaldi was being held by the authorities. Sam was ecstatic. What fun he would have exacting revenge on Crimaldi the stool pigeon. Mario and Tony told Sam that the guards covering Crimaldi had been bribed to turn their backs that Saturday and the three of them could whack Chuckie there and then. It was all set. Saturday came around and Sam was out in his garage at his home. Mario came up the driveway followed closely by Tony Spilotro. As the three got to within a few feet of each other, Mario stepped aside and Spilotro pulled out a double barreled shot gun he had been hiding. Spilotro fired both barrels in quick succession, the first shot removed Mad Sam's arm and the second hit him with full force in the chest. Sam was dead before he hit the ground. On April 14th, 1973 "Mad Sam" was no longer but his skills were past on to Tony "The Ant" Spilotro (who was acquitted in the Foreman murder trial) who would use it whenever he needed to.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview">Chicago Outfit section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
The Message: Don’t Fuck With Antonino Accardo
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-message-dont-fuck-with
2010-11-10T18:00:00.000Z
2010-11-10T18:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p>By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on March 13, 2010<br /> Originally written for Mob Candy Magazine<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236977882,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />It was 1951. The Italian-American Mafia, known as La Cosa Nostra, was doing great. Throughout the United States the mob held sway. From the East coast all the way to the West coast, and everything in between was controlled by twenty-some mob families.<br /> <br /> But not all families were equal. The five New York families and the Chicago family, known as The Outfit, held the most power. But where the five New York families had to compete for criminal talent, and fight over territory, Chicago had no such problems.<br /> <br /> Well, there were some problems. During the days of Al Capone there was some competition, but they were dealt with in violent fashion. And by the 1940s, the "Capone mob" controlled Chicago.<br /> <br /> By the late 1940s the "Capone mob" was called The Outfit, and was run by Antonino "Joe Batters" Accardo (photo right). He had acquired his nickname during his days as an enforcer for Al Capone. Accardo had smashed the skulls of two men with a baseball bat, an act that impressed his superiors, Capone allegedly said: "This boy is a real Joe Batters."<br /> <br /> Accardo would turn out to be a much sharper boss than the man who made him a member at age twenty. One reporter wrote: "Accardo has more brains for breakfast than Al Capone ever had all day." He ran a tight ship. Under his leadership The Outfit forbode its members to deal drugs, and unlike in other cities, the rule was enforced. Several drug dealers turned up dead, sending a clear message to others looking to make a quick buck. Accardo didn't need the money the drugs provided, he had enough. Matter of fact, in 1951 he had just bought his dream house.<br /> <br /> The Accardo family had for years lived in a modest ranch house at 1431 Ashland Avenue in the Chicago suburb of River Forest. The house did not attract any attention, which was a good thing, but at some point Accardo must've asked himself why he didn't enjoy his hard earned millions. What's the use of risking your life, when you can't enjoy the wealth that comes with it?<br /> <br /> And so he bought a twenty-two room mansion at 915 Franklin Avenue for $125,000. The house was built by a millionaire manufacturer in 1930 for $500.000. Needless to say, Accardo bought the house for a very nice price.<br /> <br /> The house included high vaulted rooms, an indoor pool, a gun and trophy room, a pipe organ, a walk in safe, wood spiral staircases, carriage and guest houses on the backyard half acre. It was surrounded by a seven-foot-high wrought iron fence and two electrically controlled gates. After moving in, Accardo added a $10,000 black onyx bathtub and an indoor, two-lane bowling alley. He had the plumbing refitted with gold fixtures and added a massive barbecue pit to the backyard. For the Outfit leader the house was a way of showing Chicago he was top dog, and had the wealth to prove it.<br /> <br /> By the late 1970s he had stepped back, letting others do the work and take the heat. But he was still available for advice. By all accounts he still was the most powerful mobster in Chicago, and thus a good man to have as a friend.<br /> <br /> Harry Levinson was one of those men who could call Antonino Accardo a friend. Levinson had a successful jewelry store on North Clark Street. When he went to work one morning he found his store in a mess. He had been robbed of over $1 million in jewelry. He called 911 straight away. When the cops arrived they told Levinson that the thieves had done a superb job, leaving no traces. But they would do their best in finding them. Of course this didn't sound reassuring to Levinson. He knew he wouldn't get his jewelry back even if the burglars were caught. So he decided to call his friend Joe Batters.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:left;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236977072,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Levinson explained his problem to Accardo, who told him not to worry. A call was made to Las Vegas where The Outfit's Anthony Spilotro (photo left) protected the mob's casino skimming operations. Spilotro had been a burglar and knew the Chicago scene. He was asked if he knew who could've pulled off such a heist. Spilotro knew just the man, and pointed them to John Mendell. Shortly thereafter the entire loot was returned to Levinson.<br /> <br /> In January of 1978 Accardo and his wife Clarice went to their condo in Indian Wells, to enjoy the sun, entrusting their house to long time friend Michael Volpe. But their holiday would be short lived. On January 9 they received a call from Volpe who told them someone had broken into their home. Nothing had been stolen but the house had been ransacked. This burglary was a personal insult to Accardo, no doubt about it. Someone was mocking him and it didn’t take long for Accardo to find out which burglars might have an issue with him. The thing is, Accardo wasn't the type of guy you made fun of, and the burglars would find out...very soon.<br /> <br /> Las Vegas enforcer Anthony Spilotro was called back to Chicago to oversee this piece of business. On January 20 police found the body of Bernie Ryan. His throat had been slashed from ear to ear and he had been shot four times. Ryan was a known burglar, and when police discovered his body he had a police scanner on him, which is used by a lot of burglars to monitor police activity. Then, a known associate of Ryan was found dead. Steven Garcia's throat had also been slashed from ear to ear, but instead of being shot, Garcia had multiple stab wounds.<br /> <br /> The next to turn up dead were Vincent Moretti and Donald Swanson. Moretti had been badly tortured, presumably because he was Italian and was expected to know better than break into the home of the boss. Moretti had been castrated and disemboweled. His face had been burned off with an acetylene torch. And he and Swanson also had their throats slashed. On February 20 police discovered the body of John Mendell, the man who could defeat most burglar alarms and who was believed to be the mastermind behind the burglary had also been tortured before his throat had been slashed.<br /> <br /> It seemed as if the group of burglars who were responsible for the grave insult had all been dealt with, but Accardo wasn't finished. John McDonald was found on April 14, his throat slashed and he was shot in the head and neck. On April 26 Bobby Hertogs was found with his throat cut and his body riddled with bullet holes. Hetogs was the final member of the crew of burglars who could have been or were involved in the burglary of Accardo's home. But the bodies kept dropping.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236981060,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />In September of 1978 a federal grand jury held hearings regarding this situation. Accardo was called to testify, but he took the fifth and revealed nothing. Then Michael Volpe, the man responsible for watching the house, was called to testify. He spent a lot of time before the grand jury. Too much time. On October 5 his family reported him missing, and he hasn't been seen since.<br /> <br /> The heat on Accardo intensified after that when the FBI searched his house and found $275,000, with some money bundles wrapped in bank wrappers from the Valley Bank in Las Vegas. Accardo must've been worried. He had to eliminate two more men, men who could tie him to the killings of the burglars. In 1979 two Chicago Outfit mobsters were murdered. John Borsellino and Gerry Carusiello had taken care of the burglars and had now themselves been taken care of. No more ties to Accardo. The $275,000 seized in the raid on Accardo's home was later returned to him. He never did any jail time in connection to these killings. Interestingly he never spent a night in jail in his entire life. He died of heart failure at Chicago’s St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital on May 27, 1992 at age 86. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview">Chicago Outfit section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>