Mig -- From the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) description of Casino is this little tidbit about the real-life "head in the vise" story...

Quote:
The "head in a vice" scene is taken from an anecdote in the book "Casino" unrelated to the main story, describing mob enforcer Tony Spilotro's interrogation of a low-level gangster named Billy McCarthy, who had committed the unauthorized murder on the Scalvo Brothers, a pair of high-ranking mobsters within Spilotro's crime organization. Trying to get McCarthy to give up the identity of the man who helped him kill the Scalvos, Spilotro first beat McCarthy, then stabbed him in the testicles with an icepick, before finally shoving his head in a vice and crunching it to five inches wide; McCarthy didn't give up the name of his partner, Jimmy Miraglia, until Spilotro tightened the vice in such a way that one of Billy's eyes popped out. Amazingly, McCarthy survived the head-crushing long enough for Spilotro to kill him by dousing him in lighter fluid and setting him ablaze. Spilotro would remark later in life, "Billy McCarthy was the toughest guy I ever met." (Jimmy Miraglia was subsequently shot dead and put in the trunk of his own car along with Billy's corpse).
This allegedly took place in the basement of Mad Sam DeStefano's house. There is a lot of suspect information in this description of the events. The Scalvo brothers, whose murders started all this, were characterized as "high ranking mobsters within Spilotro's crime organization." Nobody I know remembers the Scalvo brothers being "high ranking mobsters." And saying it was "Spilotro's crime organization" implies that he was a boss which couldn't have been further from the truth at that point in time.

I distinctly remember the "head in the vise" story circulating around the neighborhood in the sixties when I was a kid! Kind of an object lesson in why NOT to get involved with "those people."

tony b.

"Kid, these are my f**kin' work clothes."
"You look good in them golf shoes. You should buy 'em"