Patrick Spilotro, brother of Chicago Outfit mobsters Tony and Michael Spilotro, dies

CHICAGO (WLS) -- One of Chicago's most notable names has died. Patrick Spilotro, who was known as Dr. Pat and the "Stand-up Spilotro," died at age 85 at the end of April, his family said.

Patrick was the older brother to a pair of Chicago mobsters who met a merciless death in an Indiana cornfield decades ago.

He died a natural death on April 25, 2022, having fulfilled a mission of justice for his brothers purely from Dr. Pat's sense of mercy.

His brother Tony was a vicious Outfit killer and capo of the Chicago mob outpost in Las Vegas. His other brother Michael was a crime syndicate soldier. Their brutal deaths became the screenplay for the movie "Casino."

On June 22, 1986, gangster Tony "Ant" Spilotro and his hoodlum brother Michael were found buried in their shorts in an Indiana cornfield. It's still considered one of the most the most infamous crime scenes in Chicago's rich mob history.

The Spilotros had rubbed Outfit bosses the wrong way; and rubbed out themselves.

The mob mayhem that followed also changed the life of the law-abiding Spilotro brother Patrick; who made it his life's mission to find out who was actually behind the Outfit murders of his brothers.

Dr. Patrick Spilotro was a successful north suburban dentist when he had mob boss Joey "The Clown" Lombardo as one of his patients. Lombardo made a stunning admission while in the chair.

"He, at this occasion said that, basically when you have orders, you gotta follow them. If you don't follow orders, you're next," said T. Markus Funk.

Funk, who talked to the I-Team on Tuesday, was one of the Chicago federal prosecutors in 2007 when Pat Spilotro testified against Outfit bosses during the landmark Family Secrets mob murder case.

"He had promised his mom that he was going to find and bring the justice to people who killed the brothers, and he made it a personal mission. He was haunted by it throughout his whole life," Funk said.

John Binder, mob historian and the author of "The Chicago Outfit," said what Patrick Spilotro did was dangerous and gutsy, essentially going on a crusade to solve the murders of his two brothers.

"When Patrick Spilotro did that, there was a line there somewhere and he probably didn't even know exactly where it was. But he was definitely treading along that line somewhere and it could have cost him in life," said Binder.

Funk said the dentist brother made a name for himself standing up for his family and standing up to the Mob.

"Dr. Pat graduated from Loyola in the dentistry program in the early 60s, went to Libya as a colonel in the U.S. Army and was sort of the golden child of the family," He said. "He pursued a righteous and straight-and-narrow career, and then ultimately became famous because of the conduct of his brothers and his own involvement in trying to make sure that their murderers were brought to justice."

Spilotro's family death notice says he lived with "a sense of right."

A wake is set for Friday; the funeral on Saturday. Spilotro will be buried at Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in Hillside where his brothers Tony and Michael rest in peace.