Chicago's Man in Vegas

Anthony Spilotro (1938-1986)

The End

Columnist Mike Royko joked at the time about using Chicago's rich underworld history as a lure to tourists.

"Before writing this," said a mid-June Royko column, "I looked at the national news wires to see what the biggest Chicago news story was today... The big story was the disappearance of mobster Tony Spilotro, who runs the Chicago gang's interests in Las Vegas, and his brother Mike, both of whom are now presumed to be resting peacefully in the trunk of a car."

By the time Royko's column reached the hands of readers, state police had already discovered the bodies of Anthony and Michael Spilotro in shallow graves in a cornfield on the outskirts of Enos, Indiana. The two men had been stripped to their underwear. They had obviously been beaten about their heads and upper bodies.

The bodies were identified through the use of dental records supplied by a third Spilotro brother, who was a dentist.

When the official cause of death came back as asphyxiation, the media jumped to the incorrect conclusion that the brothers had been buried while still alive.

The time and date of death was fixed at about 9 p.m. on June 14. No one had seen or heard from either Spilotro after 4 p.m. on June 14, 1986, when they were observed leaving Michael's Oak Park home. An FBI report indicated that the brothers were heading out to a meeting with Outfit higher-ups. Both had received telephoned orders on the 13th to attend the meeting. Michael had been contacted at his restaurant, named Hoagie's.

Anthony Spilotro's car was later found in the parking lot of a motel at Schiller Park.

Investigation

Indiana State Police, the FBI and the Violent Crime Apprehension Program cooperated on a murder investigation that lasted for nearly two decades.

Informant Frank Culotta, who began cooperating after his longtime friend Anthony Spilotro began plotting against his life, told authorities that Michael's activities were to blame for the two deaths. Michael had stepped on too many toes and had to be eliminated. Outfit bosses decided that Anthony could not be left alive to avenge his brother.

Federal agents attempted for a while to acquire information from a Chicago bigshot named Albert "Caesar" Tocco, who was believed to be one of a half dozen men who beat and killed the Spilotro brothers. Tocco was sentenced to 200 years in prison after his wife testified against him in the late 1980s. For additional leverage, agents tried to have Tocco convicted of a capital crime which would carry a death penalty. They apparently were unsuccessful, and Tocco died at the age of 77 in an Indiana prison on Sept. 21, 2005.

Recently, informant Nick Calabrese has been able to clear up much of the mystery surrounding the Spilotro murders. According to Calabrese, Anthony Spilotro had to pay the price for the loss of Vegas income and for his crew members who had been cooperating with the law.

Calabrese stated that the Spilotros were lured to the basement of a Bensenville home with the story that Michael was about to be inducted into the Outfit. Once there, the two brothers were beaten with fists, feet and gun butts and then strangled to death. The bodies were dumped in previously dug holes in the Indiana cornfield.

With Calabrese's help, the FBI arrested eleven men in April of 2005, charging them with involvement in 18 murders, including those of the Spilotros.

The author relied on newspaper archives and sources cited in the Bibliography web page for information contained in this article.