Journalist Jeff German had a lot of run-ins with mob figures
Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from the book “The Last Story: The Murder of an Investigative Journalist in Las Vegas,” by Las Vegas Review-Journal Investigations Editor Arthur Kane. The murder trial of Robert Telles, who is accused of killing Review-Journal reporter Jeff German in September 2022, is scheduled to begin Monday.
In the 1980s, the Mob ran Las Vegas. Jeff German, at the time working for the Las Vegas Sun, had jumped into covering organized crime.
In Sin City, Anthony “The Ant” Spilotro was a top enforcer for the Chicago Outfit. He ran a crew known as the Hole in the Wall Gang for their tactic of breaking through exterior walls and ceilings to burglarize the homes of wealthy residents and local businesses. He also ran loan-sharking, extortion, and protection rackets. And he planned and carried out murders.
Joe Pesci’s character in Martin Scorsese’s 1995 film “Casino” was based largely on Spilotro. Covering characters like Spilotro attracted German from Milwaukee to Las Vegas. He wanted to write about crime and corruption in Sin City.
And he often did anything it took to get the story—even if it risked angering some very, very dangerous people.
On Christmas Eve 1983, German was with friend and fellow reporter Scott Zamost as they drove past My Place Lounge. Stuck in a well-worn strip mall at 4110 S. Maryland Parkway, the place was a known Mob hangout. My Place was next door to Upper Crust Pizzeria, which was partly owned by Spilotro associate and Mob hit man, Frank Cullotta.
German and Zamost spotted a bunch of cars in the lot, which was unusual for the evening before Christmas. The dogged journalists decided to stop by for a drink in case there was a story to be found.
Zamost and German became friends after taking jobs at the Las Vegas Sun at about the same time in 1978. German was covering organized crime and Zamost gaming, so, at the time, there was a very strong nexus between their respective beats.
They became friends, hanging out at TGI Fridays and grabbing lunches at downtown casino buffets that then cost three or four dollars.
Zamost and German also shared apartments to save money on rent, moving from a two bedroom at Lake Tropicana Apartments on Harmon Avenue to Park Terrace on Swenson Street. The two also bonded by their deep love of newspaper reporting that drove them day and night to search the city for scoops.
That Saturday before Christmas, the reporters hoped Spilotro was at the bar and thought maybe they could get an exclusive interview with the mobster. He had been indicted three months earlier, so anything he said could be newsworthy.
Spilotro never talked to reporters, but German and Zamost hoped for a Christmas miracle.
Walking into My Place, they saw Spilotro in back holding court with actor Robert Conrad, who starred in “The Wild, Wild West” and had roles in the popular “Adam-12” and “Mission: Impossible” television shows.
The young reporters grabbed a table and asked the waitress to send the crew some drinks—on them. She talked to the mobster and returned with bad news.
“You don’t send Mr. Spilotro drinks,” she admonished. “He buys you drinks first.”
The reporters waited for what seemed like an hour, debating whether they should just leave. But sure enough, Spilotro sent some drinks their way and even joined the journalists at their table for a few minutes, engaging in small talk.
German half-joked about Spilotro doing an interview. Spilotro turned to Zamost, suggesting that maybe he should do the interview.
German tried to be funny and charming, but the breakthrough, exclusive interview wasn’t going to happen—Christmas or not.
It wasn’t always pleasant to run into the gangster, especially when he was drinking, or when German wrote a negative story about the Mob enforcer.
One night, German and Las Vegas Sun cartoonist Mike Smith were out to dinner with dates when Spilotro spotted German. Clearly drunk, the diminutive mobster started screaming threats and obscenities at German as his crew held him back.
“I’m going to kill you!” he yelled as German and Smith directed their dates out of the bar. “I’m going to kill you.”
The FBI had recently convinced Frank Cullotta to cooperate with their investigation after he was arrested for a botched Hole in the Wall burglary of a furniture store. Cullotta also feared that Spilotro put out a hit on him.
Using Cullotta’s cooperation, Spilotro faced charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in a murder.
Despite the indictment, Spilotro, that Christmas Eve that German and Zamost stumbled upon him, didn’t seem to have a care in the world.
He wished German and Zamost a merry Christmas and walked to the bar to greet other patrons.
Within three years, Spilotro and his brother would be beaten to death and buried in a cornfield after his bosses tired of his antics and worried that he might rat on them.
Such was life in Las Vegas in the early 1980s.
The book was published by WildBlue Press (wildbluepress.com) in April. wbp.bz/laststory