On April 25, both Spilotro brothers were indicted by a Chicago federal grand jury on multiple counts that included attempted extortion and racketeering. On top of it all, Tony Spilotro was scheduled to go on trial again in Las Vegas in late June.

His attorney, Oscar Goodman, now the mayor of Las Vegas, said recently he is confident he could have gotten Spilotro off on all charges. However the Chicago Outfit, which knows a thing or two about computing odds, wasn't willing to bet that The Ant was lucky enough, or Goodman talented enough, to win four consecutive criminal trials.

Aiuppa, who headed to prison in the spring of 1986, due largely to testimony from Spilotro's people, evidently had seen and heard enough.

"I don't care how you do it. Get him. I want him out," Aiuppa reportedly ordered.

A hit team that included Nick Calabrese-now a top government informant currently testifying against his mob colleagues-was sent out to Vegas to kill Tony Spilotro using explosives and automatic weapons. After that plan was aborted, a scheme was hatched to lure the brothers to a meeting in a Bensenville house with the promise of a mob promotion for Tony and having Michael become a "made" member of the Outfit.

As they drove away from Tony's south Oak Park townhouse around 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 14 in Michael's Lincoln Continental, the brothers may have realized they'd run afoul of mob superiors.

According to an FBI document, Michael Spilotro told another person that if he didn't come back from the Bensonville meeting, "It was no good." His wife, Ann confirmed that in court last week, saying, "He said if he wasn't back by 9 o'clock, it was no good."

Michael Spilotro's daughter, Michelle, told the court her father told her he loved her "at least 10 times before leaving June 14." Both men reportedly removed all of their valuables and personal identification before leaving the house.

Sure enough, instead of promotions, Calabrese testified, he and around 10 other outfit killers, including James LaPietra, John Fecarotta, John DiFronzo, Sam Carlisi, Louie "The Mooch" Eboli, James Marcello, Louis Marino, Joseph Ferriola, and Ernest "Rocky" Infelice were waiting as the two brothers entered the basement.

Unlike in the movie Casino, in which Anthony Spilotro, played by Joe Pesci, is beaten with a baseball bat, there was no forensic evidence that the men had been buried alive, or beaten with bats.

Calabrese said he tackled Michael Spilotro and held his legs while another mobster strangled him with a rope. He said he heard Tony Spilotro ask his executioners, "Can I say a prayer?" There was no reply.

The brothers' corpses were driven to a cornfield on the outskirts of Enos, Ind. by Fecarotta and others for burial. On June 23, their grave was found by a farmer. Investigators found the viciously beaten bodies-bruised from head to ankle-under five feet of earth.

Forensic pathologist Dr. John Pless testified last month that autopsies of the Spilotros, in which he took part, determined that multiple blunt trauma injuries to the head, neck and chest-most likely the result of punches and kicks, not bats-caused the brothers' deaths. The Spilotros, Pless added, died partly as a result of their lungs and airways being so full of blood, they couldn't breathe.