Credibility of Spilotro Trial Witnesses Hit

Defense attorneys for reputed mobster Anthony Spilotro and eight others hammered away at the credibility of prosecution witnesses in closing arguments Wednesday at Spilotro’s federal racketeering trial.

Attorney Richard Wright accused the government of orchestrating testimony of two “career criminals,” Frank Cullotta and Salvatore Romano, in an effort to convict Spilotro and the eight other defendants charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines and racketeering.

The government, in closing arguments Tuesday, defended the use of Cullotta and Romano in their 15-year effort to convict Spilotro.

Cullotta was a lieutenant in the gang that carried out the crimes, and he later turned government informant to escape life in prison. He served 22 months in prison for the crimes. Romano, who also has a long criminal record, infiltrated the group for the FBI.

“When you have government witnesses like Mr. Romano and Mr. Cullotta, the government believes them because they want to believe them. It is necessary to believe them,” Wright said, pointing out discrepancies in testimony the two men gave in the 10-week trial.

“Mr. Cullotta commits four murders and he’s out there in the community,” Wright shouted. “They call that justice, to let these people loose?”

In his closing argument, prosecutor Stan Parry spent more than three hours trying to tie the defendants to a string of 15 crimes committed over a 19-month period from January, 1980, to August, 1981.

“These are men who believe they are above the laws of our society,” Parry said. “They believe they are untouchable.”

The government portrayed Spilotro as the leader of the burglary gang.

“The boss, Tony Spilotro, controls the organization,” Parry told jurors. “He’s the one who told the others, ‘You have my permission to commit burglaries in my community but you have to pay me a fee.’ ”

Prosecutors allege Spilotro is the Las Vegas overseer for Chicago crime interests. Although the government has been trying to convict him on a variety of charges for 15 years, his only felony conviction was for lying on a loan application--a crime for which he was fined $1.