Editing Michael Spilotro (section)

==Bit-part Hollywood career==
Michael was friends with actor [[Robert Conrad]] and, through Conrad, also became close friends with Robert's fellow [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] actor [[Larry Manetti]] (one of the supporting stars of ''[[Magnum P.I.]]'') and his wife Nancy DeCarl. In a 2008 interview, Conrad described Michael Spilotro as his "best friend".

Michael first met Robert Conrad in May 1954, when Robert was only 19 years old.  At the time, Conrad had eloped with a lawyer's daughter and lied about his age to gain employment as a [[longshoreman]] on the Chicago waterfront. He was later fired in December of that year for handing out a petition to have his [[union steward]] fired. The two remained close and Michael later appeared as a stick-up man in Conrad's TV series ''[[The Duke (TV miniseries)|The Duke]]'' in 1979.  On the [[Internet Movie Database]] (IMDb) website, Michael is labeled as a dramatic actor. Through Conrad, he became close with actors [[Patrick Wayne]], [[Dennis Hopper]] and [[Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)|Nick Adams]]. He later was featured in ''Will: The Autobiography of [[G. Gordon Liddy]]'', released in 1982, and with [[Tom Selleck]] in the first season of the TV series [[Magnum, P.I.]], in the episode 12 entitled "Thicker Than Blood", as an armed [[United States Marshals Service|federal marshal]].<ref>[http://gangstersinc.ning.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=0tklyckr9xzax "Michael Spilotro – Magnum P.I. Credit"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907130350/http://gangstersinc.ning.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=0tklyckr9xzax |date=2014-09-07 }}  ''Gangsters, Inc''</ref><ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0639754/  "Magnum P.I. – Thicker than blood"] ''IMDB''</ref>

After temporarily moving to [[Las Vegas]] shortly before his death, in order to tend to his indictment in the months-long Hole in the Wall Gang trial, Michael allegedly helped run a local jewelry store called The Goldrush Ltd, with Anthony and his other brother John, who worked as a bookmaker. Michael soon became involved in [[bookmaking]], drug dealing, [[prostitution]], robbery, and [[extortion]]. Through his relationship with Larry Manetti he had connections in the [[Plaza Hotel & Casino]], when it was under the ownership of the [[Barrick Gaming Corporation]]. Lifelong friend and fellow actor Larry Manetti told reporters from the [[Chicago Tribune]] during the Family Trial, "I didn't know Michael was a gangster. I knew him as a guy I grew up with in the neighborhood. Michael wanted to be on TV, that's all. Who wouldn't?... He wasn't trying to be a movie star or an actor, he was having fun." Manetti commented to reporters about Michael's acting ability stating, "He was OK as an actor, he wasn't so stiff."{{Citation needed|reason=Quotes not referenced|date=July 2023}} Robert Conrad attended funerals of the Spilotro family, and made no effort to hide his appearances from the press there. There was no attempt on the part of either Robert Conrad or Larry Manetti to attend the funerals of Anthony or Michael.{{clarify|reason=Previous sentence contradicts this one; did Conrad and/or Manetti attend Spilotro family funerals, or didn't they?|date=July 2023}}. He didn't appear publicly with either brother, even when they were alive.{{clarify|reason=Who didn't, Conrad or Manetti?|date=July 2023}} Conrad attempted to keep his association ''[[sub rosa]]'' also. When he encountered a bus load of tourists when Anthony Spilotro's Monte Carlo automobile collided with it, he quickly left before attention could be drawn.{{Citation needed|reason=Entire paragraph has no references cited|date=July 2023}}