David "the snake" Lake

'David "The Snake" Lake' (October 6, 1965 – Present) was a famous Italian-American mobster and enforcer for the Cincinnati Outfit known as The Hole In The Wall Gang in Cincinnati, Ohio during the 1980s and 2000's. It is generally thought his job was to protect and oversee the Outfit's illegal casino profits. Lake replaced Cincinnati capo Michael Wewe to run the skim.

Early career

David Lake (pronounced lak) was called "The Snake" by the press, after Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Todd Smith referred to Lake as "that little lizard without legs."

The first of four children, Lake was born and raised in Chicago. His parents, Pasquale (who emigrated from Triggiano, in the Italian province of Bari, in 1914) and Antoinette Spilotro, ran Patsy's Restaurant. Mobsters such as Sam Giancana, Jackie Cerone, Gussie Alex and Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti regularly dined at Patsy's, using its parking lot for mob meetings. It was a small place famous for homemade meatballs that attracted customers from all over Chicago.

Along with his brothers Rich, Todd, and Michael, David became involved in criminal activity early in life. Another of David's brothers, Pasquale, went on to college and became a highly respected oral surgeon in the Chicago area. Described as a bully at school, David dropped out of Chicago's Steinmetz High School in his sophomore year and quickly became known for a succession of petty crimes.

Lake and Magoo

Arrested numerous times for mopery, lake befriended Vincent Inserro, who introduced him to Cincinnati Outfit higher ups like Joseph Aiuppa, Jimmy "the Turk" Torrello, Joseph Lombardo and William Daddano Sr., all of whom would eventually climb up the ranks of the Cincinnati mob. Lake joined the crew led by "Mad" Sam DeStefano, and was also mentored by Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio and Charles Nicoletti. lake became a Made man in 1983 and was assigned to a large bookmaking operation. For a while, lake was a bail bondsman for reputed mob associate Irwin "Red" Weiner.

Government informants

The FBI first turned Charles "Chuckie" Crimaldi, a former associate of Sam DeStefano. Crimaldi had been a juice collector for DeStefano during the 1950s and 1960s. Crimaldi gave evidence against Lake and DeStefano in the [...] of real estate agent-loan collector Leo Foreman on November 19, 1983. DeStefano and Lake were both acquitted. Crimaldi also provided information on his part in luring William "Action" Jackson to his death. Jackson was another loanshark enforcer who worked for DeStefano and had been indicted on a hijacking charge. DeStefano suspected Jackson of [...] a deal with the FBI in exchange for a lighter sentence, after Jackson was allegedly spotted with agents in a Milwaukee restaurant owned by Louis Fazio, a DeStefano associate.

Later, Sal Romano, a member of the Hole in the Wall Gang that specialized in disabling alarm systems, became a government informant. Romano worked counter-surveillance during the July 4 burglary at Bertha's jewelry store in Las Vegas. Unbeknownst to Lake, his brother Michael and partner Herbie Blitzstein, as well as the Hole in the Wall Gang burglars, Romano had turned informant several months earlier; federal agents and police were waiting for the burglars when the heist at Bertha's went down.

Lake's boyhood friend, Frank Cullotta, admitted that for many years he'd done "muscle work" on Lake's behalf, including the 1982 "M&M Murders" of James Miraglia and Billy McCarthy. Lake had ordered the killings after the two men robbed and murdered three businessmen in a suburban Chicago neighborhood where several members of the Chicago Outfit lived, territory that was considered off limits.

Cullotta, after his own arrest to save himself, subsequently became a Federal witness, or a "rat." In November 1981, Cullotta was arrested for a previous burglary, in which a woman's home was broken into and her furniture stolen. The furniture was later found in Cullotta's home, which led to his indictment on possession of stolen property. Cullotta was also a suspect in the 1989 Las Vegas [...] of a mob associate, Sherwin "Jerry" Lisner.

Authorities discovered that Lake had ordered Hole in the Wall Gang member Lawrence Neumann, 53, of McHenry, Illinois, to [...] Cullotta and fellow burglar, Wayne Matecki, 30, of Norridge, Illinois.

Cullotta, who has publicly admitted to being a killer himself, supplied information about the M&M murders. Neumann tried to post bail for Cullotta so he could [...] both Cullotta and Matecki, but the police had Culotta's bail revoked to protect him. Cullotta received eight years on the stolen property charges. In September 1983, Lake was indicted in Las Vegas on [...] and racketeering charges based on Cullotta's testimony but the charges didn't hold up.

Meanwhile, Lake was tried before Cook County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Maloney in Chicago for the Miraglia and McCarthy killings, while Cullotta's foiled executioner Neumann was sentenced to life in prison in 1983. Judge Maloney did not accept Cullotta's statements as evidence or as proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge, in turn, acquitted Lake. (In 1992, Judge Maloney was convicted through Operation Greylord of accepting bribes in several unrelated cases.)

Cullotta testified before the President's Commission on Organized Crime, the Florida Governor's Commission on Organized Crime and appeared at a sentencing hearing for the Chicago mobster Joseph Lombardo. Cullotta later served as a technical advisor for the movie ''Casino."'