Wednesday, July 18, 2007

"Casino" movie murders recalled in mob trial

When the Spilotro brothers, Tony and Michael, disappeared in 1986, it was a major news story in Chicago. Tony Spilotro was the model for the Joe Pesci character in the film Casino.

When the bodies were found a few weeks later, buried in a Newton County, Indiana cornfield, the belief was that the brothers were forced to dig their own graves, and were then brutally murdered--which is pretty much how it the killings were portrayed in the film.

But in fact, the brothers were killed in a suburban basement near O'Hare Airport, as government witness Nick Calabrese testified earlier today:

I heard voices. I'm wound up. I'm tense. I'm focusing on what I'm gonna do, Calabrese said, describing the hit. Michael came down the stairs. I Said 'how you doin' Mike?’ I knew him. It happened so fast. I grabbed his legs. Mooch (Eboli) had a rope around (Michael)'s neck strangling him. (Tony) said 'can I say a prayer?' I didn't hear any more. There was a spot of blood where Tony had been. I tried to clean it up.

Tony Spilotro was the head of the Outfit's lucrative Las Vegas operations, but like the fictional character Nicky Santoro played by Pesci, his flamboyant and violent ways wearied the bosses back in Chicago.

Related post:

Brother vs. brother in Chicago mob trial

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