CRIME WIRE TAKES ON A NEW ANGLE INTO THE TRUE FAMILY LIFE OF THE MAFIA

You can hear Crime Wire Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Please visit our Crime Wire Website.

Together we can make a difference.

LISTEN LIVE: CLICK HERE

The family is a haven in a heartless world.  ~Attributed to Christopher Lasch

CRIME WIRE is pleased to welcome Luellen Smiley and Carl Manno to our show. Luellen is the daughter of Allen Smiley, Bugsy Siegel’sbest friend and business partner. Allen was sitting next to Bugsy when the mobster was shot and killed on June 20, 1947 in the Beverly Hills mansion of his girlfriend Virginia Hill. Luellen was raised among the elite of organized crime. She spent her adolescence in the, mysterious, and privileged circle of her father’s associates and friends in Los Angeles, where he was under the arm of Johnny Roselli.

Carl Manno is the grandson of Salvatore “Sam” Giancana who was the boss of the Chicago outfit from 1957 to 1966. Born in Chicago, Illinois on May 24, 1908 to Sicilian immigrant parents, Sam Giancana started out as a wheelman for Al Capone and worked his way to the top of Chicago’s illegal gambling operations. He had many ties with politicians, including the Kennedys, and was called to testify regarding Mafia involvement in a CIA plot to assassinate Castro. Giancana himself was killed before giving testimony.

Johnny Roselli was Sam’s number-two man.

Please join us as Luellen and Carl share their memories of their real family lives. They take your calls (646-478-0982) or answer your questions through our chat room.

You can catch the show beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern at

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/insidelenz/2012/10/31/crime-wire

Related articles

• Crime Wire: Talking to the MOB! (crimewire.blogspot.com)
• Homes where notorious mobsters hid out (bottomline.nbcnews.com)
• Crime Wire: Holding My Hand Through Hell on Tour! (imaginepublicity.com)
• Crime Wire: Psychic Investigator Judi James (dennisngriffin.com)

Crime Wire: Talking to the MOB!

You can hear Crime Wire Investigates Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Please visit our Crime Wire Website.

Together we can make a difference.

LISTEN LIVE:http://www.blogtalkradio.com/insidelenz

It's a Mob takeover on Crime Wire!

Join host, Dennis Griffin, and a couple of his friends and former mobsters for an hour of discussion about their life of crime within the Mob.

 Andrew DiDonato began his criminal career in Brooklyn in 1979 at the age of 14. In 1982 he became an associate of the Nicky Corozzo crew of the Gambino family and for the next 15 years his crimes ranged from larceny and robbery to credit card fraud, bank robbery and attempted murder. In 1997 he was on the lam from law enforcement and under a death sentence from his own crew and another organized crime family. The law
caught him first and he eventually became a cooperating government witness. DiDonato is the subject of the popular book, Surviving the Mob by Crime Wire host, Dennis Griffin.

After a lengthy criminal career in the Windy City with the Chicago Outfit, Frank Cullotta joined his boyhood friend and feared enforcer Tony Spilotro in Las Vegas. In 1982 Spilotro and Frank had a falling out and
the Outfit authorized a contract on Frank. Facing life behind bars or death at the hands of Outfit killers, Frank flipped and became a government witness.

In the 1995 hit movie Casino, actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro. Frank served as a technical consultant to the film and played a hit man in several murder scenes. His “Frankie” character was played by Frank Vincent.

The complete story of Frank Cullotta can be found in the book by Dennis Griffin, Cullotta.

Related articles

• Dennis Griffin Invited to Grand Opening of The Mob Museum Las Vegas (crimewire.blogspot.com)
• The "Mob Museum" and Gotti's Wheels (lasvegasnewsandreviews.com)
• Crime Wire Looks at the Life of Henry Hill the "Goodfella" (crimewire.blogspot.com)
• Jack Garcia Warns The Mafia Groupies (bitterqueen.typepad.com)

Mob Talk with Denny Griffin

Wednesday, November 16 at 9pm ETListen LIVE: http://blogtalkradio.com/crimewire  

Join famous Las Vegas True Crime and Mob Author, Denny Griffin, along with his special guests, discussing all things MOB!

The popular 1995 movie Casino was a fictionalized account of the Las Vegas era of Chicago Outfit enforcer Tony Spilotro and Outfit associate Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal. One of the scenarios addressed in the film is the skimming of money from the casinos and into the pockets of several Midwest crime bosses. The skim was real, not a creation of Hollywood.

On tonight’s show co-hosts Andrew DiDonato and Denny Griffin will talk with retired FBI agent Lynn Ferrin. Lynn was the Las Vegas case agent for the skim investigations called Operation Strawman. Lynn will tell us the real story about how the skim was run, by whom, and how the feds brought it down. He’ll also comment on the movie and how law enforcement was portrayed in the film. If you’re a Mob buff, a Las Vegas or Casino fan, you won’t want to miss this show.

www.imaginepublicity.com

MOB TALK RADIO with Dennis Griffin Welcomes Ex-Mobster, Frank Cullotta

MOB TALK on Crime Wire Radio

On Wednesday, October 12, 9pm ET, co-hosts Andrew DiDonato and Denny Griffin will welcome former Chicago and Las Vegas mobsterFrank Cullotta to MOB TALK on Crime Wire Radio.

Listen LIVE….click here

Frank Cullotta was born in Chicago in 1938. He began his decades-long criminal career as a teenager, graduating from petty theft to burglary, armed robbery, arson and murder. While growing up he met another young tough on the streets of the Windy City: Tony Spilotro. The two boys became friends and criminal allies.

As they grew older Frank preferred to operate independent of the Mob. But Tony went on to become a made man and feared enforcer of the Chicago Outfit. And in 1971 the Outfit bosses sent him to Las Vegas to keep an eye on their casino interests.

Returning to Chicago after being released from prison in 1974, Frank was invited to join Tony in Sin City. It was an offer he initially declined. But by 1979 Frank was under intense pressure from law enforcement in Chicago and agreed to join Tony in Vegas. His role was to watch Tony’s back and apply muscle as necessary. To accomplish that, Frank formed and ran a crew of burglars, robbers, arsonists, and killers that became known as the Hole in the Wall Gang.

However, Frank and Tony had a falling out in 1982; and at Tony’s request the Chicago bosses approved a contract to have Frank killed. Facing either life in prison for his myriad crimes or death at the hands of Outfit hit men, Frank rolled and became a government witness. His subsequent testimony resulted in the convictions of several of his former associates. He was preparing to testify against Tony Spilotro in June 1986, but Spilotro himself was murdered by the Outfit just prior to the trial getting underway.

In 1995 Frank was contacted by screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi regarding the Martin Scorsese film Casino.  He was hired as a technical consultant to the movie in which actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Tony Spilotro; and Frank Vincent played “Frankie,” a character based on Cullotta. In the film Frank appeared in several scenes as a killer, including one that was a fictionalized version of a murder he actually committed in Las Vegas in 1979.

Today, armed with a new government issued identity, Frank is out of the federal Witness Protection Program. He currently appears in organized crime documentaries and occasionally makes public appearances. In 2007 he wrote his biography titled CULLOTTA – The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness. 

MOB TALK co-hosts, Andrew DiDonato and Dennis Griffin

Listeners can interact with the hosts and guest through the show’s chat room or by telephone call in.

Mob Talk is presented by BEAR Media Consultants, LLC

You’ll be able to hear the show at Crime Wire Radio beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern.

www.imaginepublicity.com