The Vegas Mob Tour was created for anyone interested in the history of Las Vegas and the old mob association here. The tour guide is none other than Frank Cullotta. Cullotta, a former real-life mobster, became a cooperating government witness, testifying against his former associates after Las Vegas key player Tony Spilotro tried to kill him over Cullotta’s knowledge of Spilotro’s affair with the mob associate, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal’s wife, Geri.
As the tour begins, Cullotta smiles and waves at the passengers. Maybe it’s not what you’d call a big smile, that wouldn’t fit his style. Now in his seventies, Cullotta is a man who has lived an incredibly interesting life. As we pull off the curb, Cullotta begins to talk greedily as if his time as a mobster was yesterday. There’s something about the way the story begins, with hints and glimpses of what lies beyond. This inevitably hooks the audience with him.
Former mobster Tony Spilotro kept in touch with Cullotta after Spilotro moved to Las Vegas, often calling to ask Cullotta to come here. Cullotta always rejected Spilotro, but when Spilotro called in 1979 and asked, “Frankie, I have a lot to do and I need you here urgently.” Frank Cullotta was ready to leave Chicago and accepted the offer, replying, “I’m on my way.”
Once in Las Vegas, Cullotta acted as Tony Spilotro’s enforcer, running Spilotro’s robbery, extortion, murder branch, and casino robbery. Cullotta and Spilotro’s friendship goes back to their old neighborhood when they were kids growing up in Chicago.
It’s an understatement to say that Cullotta has been through some rough patches and come out the other side. He served time in a federal institution before being paroled into the Witness Protection Program and tells tour bus passengers that he received immunity or the statute of limitations expired long ago for his crimes.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Chicago mob’s presence in Las Vegas siphoned large amounts of cash from various local casinos. It was this era that the 1995 movie Casino, shot in Las Vegas, describes. In the film, actress Sharon Stone played Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal’s wife, Geri, Robert De Niro played “Lefty” Rosenthal, and Joe Pesci played Tony Spilotro.
Frank Cullotta was able to bring the kind of detail to the film that only someone who had lived it could bring to capture the real mood and details. When he got out of the Witness Protection Program, Cullotta was hired by director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Nick Pileggi as a technical consultant during the production of Casino, and Cullotta also starred in the film. Cullotta remains friends with some of the film’s crew.
During the tour, Cullotta welcomes questions and is candid in his answers about mob jobs, locations, and mob members. When asked how many times he had been married, Cullotta answered three times. When pressed to explain, he responded with a twinkle in his eye: “In my first marriage we were too young. My second wife divorced me when I went to jail and my third wife divorced me when I didn’t go to jail.” jail”.
The Vegas Mob Tour and Frank Cullotta invite you to become a part of mob history by taking tour attendees to see many of the places in Las Vegas that were once front page news. Frank Cullotta will pose with you for photos in front of the house used in the movie Casino as Frank and Geri Rosenthal’s.
Cullotta’s tour performance ends with a pizza party where he again poses for photos and signs books for those interested in purchasing books on his life such as “Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness.” Explore Vegas Now Tours markets the Vegas Mob Tour.
