If any of you voted in the poll, I want to thank you for this honor!

Dennis Griffin

The book Cullotta told me who killed my father 27 years ago, November 20, 2008
By Paul Scharff (McHenry, IL United States)

I have never written a review for a book before, but I never had a book IMPACT my life like this one. From the book Cullotta, I discovered who killed my father and his barmaid 27 years ago.

My name is Paul and I am the eldest son of Ronald Scharff. My father and Patricia Freeman were killed in Lakemoor, Illinois in 1981 by Larry Neumann. Neumann was one of Frank Cullotta’s Hole in the Wall Gang members that my father had the great misfortune of knowing; my father’s case in still officially unsolved.

Since reading the book, I have been working to get my father’s case closed with a considerable amount of help from Frank Cullotta himself and his co-author, Dennis Griffin. My family and I are deeply grateful for their help. Frank Cullotta has been the only one in the past 27 years that has tried to bring my family and the Freeman’s any kind of closure.

Please read this book to learn more about Larry Neumann and his ability to commit multiple murders. Your opinion on this man will help get this case closed. Visit my Facebook Group “McHenry County 1981″ to follow my continuing efforts to get closure in the Ronald Scharff and Patricia Freeman case.

Copy and Paste the link below into your browser to Visit my Facebook group “McHenry County 1981″

http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/group.php?gid=33678349794

Dennis Griffin’s new book, Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness, tells readers exactly what the book is about. Simply put, it takes readers inside the life of Frank Cullotta. Unite this tell all title with the mug shot on the cover, and I expected the book to be void of humor. It wasn’t. In fact, Mr. Griffin allowed Frank Cullotta’s colorful personality to shine throughout with astonishing candidness.

In the book’s forward, Nicholas Pileggi says an actual murder committed by Mr. Cullotta in 1979 was recreated for the movie, Casino, starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, and Joe Pesci. Also, Mr. Cullotta was hired as a technical advisor during the production. Knowing Joe Pesci’s character was based on the real-life mob-enforcer Anthony “Tony” Spilotro is the perfect opening for the book. Tony and Frank Cullotta were childhood friends and he plays a huge roll in Mr. Cullotta’s life.

Mr. Griffin’s easy, entertaining writing style will interest readers who aren’t true crime buffs as well. By the end of the book, I had greater comprehension regarding the mob; and my question about how much of The Sopranos was fictionalized had been answered.
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This book also gives readers raw insight into Frank Cullotta’s father, his childhood, early beginnings into crime, his success as a full-blown criminal, his time in prison, him trying to go straight, the set up at Bertha’s, witness protection and the end of Tony Spilotro and his brother, Michael. .

Mr. Griffin spent over 20 years in investigations and law enforcement in New York State, retiring in 1995 as Director of Investigations for the New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center. Shortly after retirement, he began to write his first novel, The Morgue, which is a fictionalize story of Mr. Griffin’s real life investigation of a Medical Examiner’s office in upstate New York by the New York State Department of Health.
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I enjoyed Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness so much, I plan to order The Morgue as well. (http://www.j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com)