Michael Spilotro

Michael Peter Spilotro was born in Chicago on September 12, 1944 to parents Pasquale and Antoinette. He had five brothers, Vincent, Victor, Pasquale Jr, Tony, and John. Michael was the youngest of the six sons. His father owned a restaurant in Chicago where all the brothers were required to help out. However, most of the brothers preferred to hang with the wrong crowd, the petty thieves and hoodlums. In the following years Michael's brother Tony became involved in gambling, collecting and other criminal activity with people affiliated with organized crime. In later years his brother Tony became a "made" member of the Chicago La Cosa Nostra otherwise known as The Outfit and was sent to Las Vegas to oversee and control the mobs business there within the casinos. Michael was brought into the mob's activities by his brother as well as activities of Tony's that were forbidden by the Chicago Outfit. On June 13, 1986, Tony was called back to Chicago from Las Vegas to attend a "meeting" with some of the top brass of the mob. Michael who shuttled to and from Las Vegas but kept his main residence in Chicago, was also required to attend this supposed meeting. On June 14, 1986, Michael and his brother Tony met with some of their people and were driven to what they originally thought was another members home in Indiana but instead were driven to an Indiana cornfield and beaten to a pulp with "bats, fists and feet" as the news reports stated when their bodies were found on June 23, 1986 in a shallow grave in the cornfield. Michael had been introduced to acting by his friend Robert Conrad whom he had met while managing a bar on the West side of Chicago. The movie Casino is the true story, with the real names changed, of his brother Tonys (portrayed by Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro) and everyone around him including Michael (portrayed by Philip Suriano as Dominick Santoro) and basically the entire Chicago Outfits rise and fall from power and control in Las Vegas. The final scene is a reenactment of the two brothers' final moments here on earth.