Jun 07 2007

Days of Wine and Mobsters

by Megan Edwards
Frank CullottaDennis Griffin and Frank Cullotta

Las Vegas is in love with its mobsters. Even though anyone who has ever read the slightest tidbit of Las Vegas history knows that Bugsy Siegel didn’t found the place, he gets the credit. And not only that, he gets the glory and romance. The most commonly repeated cliché in Vegasland is, “Things were so much better when the mob ran this place.”

I can’t deny that Italianate dudes in pinstriped suits with bulges in certain places hold allure. They’re like scary movie stars, creepily glamorous celebrities you’re proud to say you’ve met. Anyone who has ever bumped into a role model for Tony Soprano dines out on the experience for years. Which means I now have dinner conversation to last me a decade, because last night, I rubbed shoulders with Frank Cullotta. I even got his autograph.

CullottaCullotta, by Dennis
Griffin and Frank
Cullotta

The occasion was a reception and book signing at the Nevada State Museum, where over 200 people gathered to meet Cullotta, buy his book, and listen to a panel discussion. Actually, Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness, is a joint effort. Local writer Dennis Griffin shares authorship with Cullotta, and FBI agent Dennis Arnoldy contributed to the project as well. Joining those three on the panel last night were journalist Jane Ann Morrison, author A.D. Hopkins, and television newsman Robert Stoldal. Everyone on the panel was in Las Vegas during Frank Culotta’s heyday as thug-in-charge of the burglary and mayhem coterie that came to be called the “Hole in the Wall Gang.” The name was not the result of any romantic connection with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It was applied because the gang’s preferred method of entering a victim’s house was by breaking a hole in the wall.

As I waited for my turn to turn my copy of Cullotta into an eBay-worthy item, four men in double-breasted pinstripe suits and Al Capone hats lined up behind the authors. They stood there unsmiling, and at first, I thought they were real Mafiosi. Soon, however, word rippled down the line that they were only actors from a company that provides mob-themed tours around Las Vegas.

The security dude at the end of the table was no actor, though. He had a blond brush cut and a big gun. While I was standing near him to take a picture of the authors, I overheard a man tell him about a guy with a suspicious bulge. I couldn’t help looking around after that. Frank Cullotta, after all, is not an actor. He’s a genuine old killer who’s still in the Witness Protection Program. There are plenty of people who would like to see Cullotta silenced, even after all this time. He’s set to testify against his former cohorts again later this year.

The panel discussion touched on issues and events covered in the book, including a murder Cullotta committed that he later reenacted for Martin Scorsese during the filming of Casino. When asked whether he thinks Las Vegas was a better place during the “mob era,” Cullotta said, “Yes.” The mob took care of people, he said. The casinos were friendlier. Ah, the good old days, when Frank Cullotta was breaking down walls, trashing houses, and “whacking” people.

The security dude stood at the front of the auditorium the whole time, scanning the crowd. But no one ever yelled, “Gun!” and the crowd dispersed without incident. As I drove home, I thought again about the pervasive nostalgia for the “good old Mob days.” I think it’s selective memory at its best. I think it’s really a longing for the time Las Vegas was small, and you could drive a hundred miles an hour on Boulder Highway. I can’t believe anyone genuinely wants to see the “Hole in the Wall Gang” back in action, even though mobsters are undeniably charismatic in their own sinister way. Personally, I’d rather read the book.

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