Tony "The Ant" Spilotro was born in Chicago on May 19, 1938. The son of a restaurant owner, Spilotro had 5 brothers. At an early age he joined a gang and took part with them in petty crimes and thefts. He was finally caught for the first time at the age of 17 for stealing a t-shirt and was fined $10 and given probation. Over the next 5 years Spilotro would be arrested at least a dozen more times.


Tony built a reputation as one of Chicago's top jewel thiefs . Through his friend Vincent "the Saint" Inserro, he was intorduced to other wiseguys like Joseph Aiuppa, Jimmy "the Turk" Torrello, Joseph Lombardo and William Daddano, Sr., all mobsters who eventually moved up in the syndicate and gained more power. He was mentored by "Mad" Sam DeStefano, and later on by Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio and Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti.

Tony finally became a "made member" of the Chicago Mafia family when he was given a contract to murder two individuals: Bill McCartney and Jimmy Miraglia. It is said that Spilotro put McCartney's head in a vice and tightened it until his eye popped out, giving him huge notoriety in the underworld.

Tony Spilotro was given a bookmaking operation and was very successful in running it. He was eventually sent to Miami to protect one of the mob's most brilliant oddsmakers, Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal.

In 1967 Spilotro went back to Chicago. He would remain in Chicago for more four years. Then in 1971, Tony was sent to Las Vegas, again to keep an eye on Frank Rosenthal.

Spilotro set up a headquarters in the gift shop at the Circus Circus casino, and from there he took care of business which included torturing and murdering at least five people, a few of which were found in the desert.

However Las Vegas was open territory for all families from around the country to do business in. It was agreed by the families that there should never be any murders, thefts, or serious crimes that would bring unneeded attention to the syndicate and their casino businesses. But Spilotro had different ideas, and he was becoming a loose cannon who was bringing too much attention to Las Vegas.

In 1972, Anthony was indicted in a murder case along with Mario DeStefano and his brother Mad Sam DeStefano. Mario and Anthony decided to murder Mad Sam with a shotgun to make sure the trial went smoothly for them. However, Mario was still found guilty, but Anthony was acquitted and returned to Vegas.

Finally free of court cases, Spilotro was able to make sure the casino's skim operation was running smoothly and that no scam operations were run by other mobsters. Spilotro was reunited with his pal Frank Rosenthal and worked with him on protecting the Stardust and other interests.

While Rosenthal was the "inside" man, the person responsible for actually running the casino, Spilotro was the "outside" man. His primary task was to make sure all the many casino employees and other personel involved in the "skim" stayed in line.

Spilotro continued committing robberies and violent crimes in Nevada, abused drugs, and even began having an affair with Lefty Rosenthal's wife Geri. The unneeded attention that he brought proved to be a little too much. He was finally blacklisted and put in what is known as "The Black Book" which meant that he could no longer step foot inside a casino ever again.

Instead of taking a low profile and letting things cool off, Spilotro started a gang called "The Hole in the Wall" Gang that was notorious for making holes in walls to steal jewelry from stores. Things seemed to be going very well for him and he was gaining power.

Word got back to the Chicago bosses that Spilotro was committing more and more of these jewlery heists in Las Vegas, and that he continued to abuse drugs.

Enough was enough. Las Vegas was a place for the mob to make money, and they did not want any problems with the the authorities. So Tony Spilotro, along with his brother, were called to a meeting back in Chicago.

Spilotro and his brother were pistol-whipped, beaten and strangled to death in the basement of a mobster's home. Their bodies were brought to a desolate cornfield in Indiana, where they were buried, in a pre dug hole.


Don Cardi

Isn't Joe Pesci's character Nicky Santoro in Casino based on him??

Yes he was.


Don Cardi

I guess it pays to read huh?

You'd think that he got his nickname, "the Ant," because it's the first syllable of "Anthony." But,if memory serves, an FBI agent quoted by Nicholas Pileggi in his book, "Casino," claimed that he named him "the Ant" as in "pissant." :rolleyes:

In his book The Enforcer Bill Roemer takes credit for giving Tony Spilotro his nickname when Roemer referred to Spilotro as a "little piss-ant."

The Enforcer along with Pileggi's book, Casino, are both good reads about Tony Spilotro.

Also, it's Billy McCarthy (not McCartney) who, along with Jimmy Miraglia, Spilotro tortured and killed in his first assignment. The "contract" wasn't really his. It was originally work for Chuck Nicolletti and Phil Alderisio...but they were suddently pre-occupied with a police matter and the job fell to Spilotro. It's because he was on Mad Sam DeStefano's crew, McCarthy and Miraglia owed money to DeStefano, and DeStefano knew the neighborhood and their hangouts better than anyone else. So with Chucky and Philly busy, Mad Sam called on the new kid to handle the business.

tony b.

I think more to the story was that Roemer told Sun-Times reporter Sandy Smith and then Smith, not being able to print "piss-ant" in the paper, just shortened it to "The Ant". (FYI - Sandy Smith passed away in December of last year)

Is the movie Casino accurate to the size of the Ant. Joe Pesci is a short guy, is that one of the reasons he was cast for the part? If I called someone an ANT it would be because he was a short guy. Is that why they called him the ANT???

A stupid question I know.


DS

No. He was given the name PISS ANT by a writer, however the editors of the paper would not allow the writer to use that term, so the writer shortened it to ANT.

If you look at a picture of the real Spilotro and Pesci's "Casino" character, there is a very close resemblance.




Don Cardi

Is it true that he puts some guys head in a vice and kept turning it till that guys eye popped out? Cold hearted bastard.

Hey, everyone has at least one vice. Mine is I smoke too much.

This is true. Mine is getting on a certain web site late at night and reading about other people's vice's

Oh, so you must be the vice-president, then.

Mig -- From the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) description of Casino is this little tidbit about the real-life "head in the vise" story...

This allegedly took place in the basement of Mad Sam DeStefano's house. There is a lot of suspect information in this description of the events. The Scalvo brothers, whose murders started all this, were characterized as "high ranking mobsters within Spilotro's crime organization." Nobody I know remembers the Scalvo brothers being "high ranking mobsters." And saying it was "Spilotro's crime organization" implies that he was a boss which couldn't have been further from the truth at that point in time.

I distinctly remember the "head in the vise" story circulating around the neighborhood in the sixties when I was a kid! Kind of an object lesson in why NOT to get involved with "those people."

tony b.

Geez how could he give up that name with all that pain he was in? I wouldn't be able to talk. He went a bit over board dont ya think?

PS. Thanks Tony for the info

Aaah....He doesn't look so tough to me.

Like to see him try and put my head in a vice. :rolleyes:

Just reviving some bios so that some of the new people who are interested in Oragnized Crime can read them.

State troopers standing by Anthony Spilotro and brother Michael Spilotro, of "Casino" fames corn feild grave 1986.

Source Page

Another source

any one else have more crime scene photos of this?

Remember reading they were buried in a shallow grave. That don't look too shallow or like it's in a cornfield.

If you read the articles which are quoted as sources for this image, you will noticed that the articles state the shallow grave was "excavated" by police, prob dug deeper looking for evidence or more bodies.

Also note that the "shallow" grave was not in a corn field but on the edge of a corn field.

You're right! Thanks for correcting my silly ass.

Ron

No worries....not here to correct people just here to share the facts.