Tony "The Ant" Spilotro worked for the Chicago mob in Las Vegas and was the inspiration for Joe Pesci's character in the 1995 film Casino.
Spilotro headed the Chicago mob's operations in Las Vegas for many years, and although he faced charges such as burglary and murder, he was never convicted. However, in 1986, Spilotro ran afoul of his bosses in Chicago and after being summoned to the Windy City, disappeared on June 14, 1986. Eight days later, the bodies of Tony Spilotro and his younger brother, Michael Spilotro, were found buried in an Indiana cornfield. They had been beaten and police said that at the time they were buried, they were still alive.1
After several Chicago mob members were indicted in 2005 on a variety of charges, including the murder of the Spilotro brothers, convicted loan shark Frank Calabrese testified that the elder Spilotro had been targeted because he had slept with the wife of another mob member.2 On September 10, 2007, five reputed gangsters were found guilty of racketeering and conspiracy, including the murder of Spilotro in 1986.1
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