Hole in the Wall Gang on the 4th of July 1981, Bertha’s and Karma
The Hole In The Wall Gang being arrested on July 4th, 1981 for robbing Bertha’s. From left to right, Larry Neumann, Frank Cullotta, Joe Blasko, Leo Guardino, Ernie Davino, and Wayne Matecki
It is the week of the 4th of July, a time that we get together with family and friends for cookouts, fireworks and other 4th of July activities. This day also has meaning to myself and in relation to the book MURDER IN MCHENRY. My father, Ron Scharff and Patricia Freeman were killed on June 1st, 1981. We did not find out until 27 years later that it was Hole in the Wall Gang member Larry Neumann that killed my father and Pat. Fortunately, karma does not have to wait for justice to strike because karma was unleashed just a month later on July 4th, 1981.
It was late June or early July in Las Vegas, Nevada. Frank Cullotta and the Hole in the Wall Gang members, Ernie Davino, Leo Guardino, Joe Blasko, and Larry Neumann were planning a hit on Bertha’s Gifts and Home Furnishings on 896 E Sahara Ave, Las Vegas. It was an exclusive resale shop for the finer connoisseur of home furnishings and jewelry. This was going to be at least a million dollar score for the Hole in the Wall Gang with a nice kick up to Tony Spilotro and the Chicago Outfit. This was not going to be easy, not even for the Hole in the Wall Gang.
The Hole in the Wall Gang got their name from the media, reporting on burglaries in Las Vegas were the perpetrators gained access by busting a hole in a buildings wall or through the roof. They did this to avoid being detected by alarm systems. Back then alarms were wired around windows and doors, and it was very rare that an expensive motion detectors are used. The newspapers reported on these robberies and called them the Hole in the Wall Gang. However in the case of Bertha’s, they did have the expensive motion detectors. Frank has gone into Bertha’s a couple of times to case the joint out. He had determine the way to get into Bertha’s was to go through the roof, land on top of the safe and drill through it.
Frank was going over his plan with Tony Spilotro. Tony wanted Frank to take Sal Romano on the Bertha’s heist. Frank knows Sal and he didn’t like him, he always felt that there was something wrong about him. Frank told Tony that he didn’t want to take Sal Romano. Tony assured Frank that Sal is a good guy and that he should take him along anyway. He told Frank if Sal Romano gives him any problems at all, have “Lurch” deal with him. Lurch was the nickname of my father’s killer, Larry Neumann, because of his size.
Frank got together with the rest of the Hole the Wall Gang for the final preparation and planning on the Bertha’s break-in. They knew with all the cutting and drilling needed to get through the roof and into the safe there was going to be a lot of noise. They decided that if they were going to break into Bertha’s on the Fourth of July and use the sound of the fireworks as a distraction and diversion from their cutting and drilling.
On the 4th of July 1981, the plan goes into play. Joe Blasko was in a commercial van across the Street from Bertha’s. He had a clear view of Bertha’s and he was listening to police scanners. Frank Cullotta and Larry Neumann were running counter surveillance, by listening to the police scanners and looking for any law enforcement in the area. While Frank was listening to the scanners, he noticed that there wasn’t as much chatter as usual by law enforcement. At around 9 PM Sal Romano pulls up in the back of Bertha’s with Leo Guardino, Ernie Davino, and ladders and other equipment to pull off the heist. Sal is supposed to move the station wagon but he never did. Frank got on the radio with him and asked him what was the problem. Sal said he was having problems getting the station wagon started. Frank ordered Larry Neumann to move in and figure out the problem. Frank pulled in on a frantic Larry Neumann. Larry was screaming and yelling at Frank that Sal Romano was nowhere to be found. It is at this point that Frank realizes the truth about Sal Romano, he was a mole for the FBI.
It was all too late. The FBI and the Las Vegas Metro Police were hidden all over the area. They knew every step that the Hole in the Wall Gang was going to take. In fact, while Frank was running counter surveillance he pulled up to the side of a vehicle, that if he would a look at the passenger side just seconds earlier he would a scene who was at that stoplight. It was the top cop for Las Vegas Metro, Gene Smith. Frank knew Gene Smith all too well and like all mobsters, they feared him. Gene was riding around with an FBI agent in preparation of the Bertha’s sting.
Dennis Arnoldy at the time was the lead arresting FBI agent on top of the roof of Bertha’s. They were hidden there hours earlier. He and his team waited up on the rooftop to catch them in the act. They didn’t want to catch the Hole in the Wall Gang just attempting a crime, they wanted to catch them committing a crime. As soon as Leo Guardino and Ernie Davino had penetrated the roof and were going to start working on penetrating the safe, the arrest order was given over the radio. Dennis Arnoldy and the other arresting agents moved from hiding behind air-conditioning units to shotguns at the ready and arrested Ernie and Leo. Other vehicle units moved in and arrested Joe Blasko, Frank Cullotta, and Larry Neumann.
This was the unraveling of the Hole in the Wall Gang and the beginning of the end of the mob’s control of the Las Vegas Skim, as portrayed in the movie CASINO. Shortly thereafter this event Tony Spilotro would put a hit out on Frank. This is when Frank turned government witness. Frank told the authorities about the murder of Robert Brown, the jeweler that Larry Neumann had killed. Larry would then spend the rest of his life in prison until his death in January of 2007.
In interesting note, the lead arresting FBI agent, Dennis Arnoldy, became Frank’s debriefer. They spent years working with each other. putting Chicago Outfit members and associates behind bars. They became the best of friends. A relationship that lasts over 30 years and till this day. You can see this story and Frank and Dennis his relationship play out on the TV screen. The National Geographic show, Locked Up Abroad has dedicated an episode in telling the story of what happened on the 4th of July, 1981 in Las Vegas Nevada at Bertha’s.
I mentioned at the very beginning of this article that the 4th of July has a personal meaning to me. It’s my father’s birthday. Ever since my father’s death, on the 4th of July I always look up to the sky and say to myself, some of these fireworks are for you dad.
In 2009 I was in Las Vegas doing a radio show with Frank. We got done with the show and decided that we were going to get something to eat and have breakfast. Frank’s not a superstitious guy, nor am I, but I said to Frank, Larry brought some bad juju with you guys on the night of Bertha’s. Frank said, how’s that? I told him that that was my father’s birthday. The expression on Frank’s face was priceless. Neither of us are superstitious but the both of us knew that are just some things in this world that you don’t mess with.
The moral of the story; don’t mess with Karma!!
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