Mobster Frank Cullotta on his criminal past: ‘It never wakes me up’

The man was Frank.

Five years ago, I attended a photo shoot with Frank Cullotta at the Mob Museum. It was for a magazine cover story. Cullotta loved being the focus of attention.

“I get a spread?” he said that day while posing among the museum’s displays. “I’ve never had a spread.”

Cullotta died late Wednesday night at age 81. As I wrote back in 2015, Cullotta was the reformed associate of the Chicago Outfit who referred to himself as a former “gangster, burglar, murderer, extortionist, arsonist.”

He admitted to the 1979 killing of con man Sherwin “Jerry” Lisner in Las Vegas. Cullotta acted on the order of Tony Spilotro for the crime, which was re-enacted in the Vegas film classic “Casino.” Cullotta was a consultant on the picture.

At the time, Cullotta was leading tours of famous Vegas mob locations: five-hour bus rides around town that cost $180 and included a champagne toast and pizza dinner. The tour included a stop at the site of the “Hole in the Wall Gang’s” botched Bertha’s Household Products robbery on July 4, 1981, which led to Cullotta’s arrest.

The bus also pulled into Piero’s Italian restaurant, also featured in “Casino.”

I asked Cullotta what it felt like to be the rare tour guide who had also carried out a murder.

“Honestly, it never wakes me up,” Cullotta said. “If you do think about it, it’ll put you in the (expletive) nuthouse. When I do these tours, then everything pops up into my head; people want to know if it bothers me. Of course. But if I thought about it 24 hours a day, I’d wind up in my car with a gun in my mouth.”

Cullotta compared the experience to a serviceman obeying an order. “I hate to use the military as a comparison, but that’s how it felt. I was carrying out an order.”

He went on, “People are fascinated by me, and I understand that, but there’s a big difference in me today than there used to be. I mean, I used to be surrounded by celebrities, showgirls, politicians, a lot of money, people wanting to attach themselves to you. But it came at a price. I lost my freedom.”

Cullotta referred to that period in the past tense. His own epitaph was, “I’m clean today.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats! podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.