Dennis Griffin (“Denny Griffin”)

Dennis began his career as a private investigator with Pinkerton’s Inc., working mostly undercover assignments, which ultimately led to a position as the Director of Investigations with the New York State Dept. of Health laboratory division. There were stops along the way as a Sr. Child Support Investigator and deputy sheriff in Madison County, New York, in between.

In 1996, when Dennis was supposed to be retired, but decided to tell the story of what he learned while investigating the operation of a medical examiner’s office. It was an eye-opening experience and he felt compelled to share it with others. Dennis eventually authored a fictionalized account called, The Morgue. However,  readers didn’t believe anything in the book could actually happen, but they liked the story and his style; rough edges and all. Six more mystery/thriller fictions followed.

In January 2002, his  writing career was at a crossroads. Would he continue the uphill struggle for recognition in a genre with a number of well established authors? Or was it time to find another hobby? The question was answered at a writers’ conference when a lady suggested Dennis try his  hand at police-related non-fiction. That was the turning point. He began writing Policing Las Vegas, the history of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2004. Policing was released in April 2005.

Writing that book opened his eyes to some interesting things about Las Vegas and the mob that he wanted to explore; leading to his second non-fiction book, The Battle for Las Vegas, the story of the Vegas reign of Chicago mob enforcer Tony Spilotro. In the movie Casino, actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro. The Battle for Las Vegas was released on July 1, 2006.

In writing that book, Dennis relied heavily on resources such as retired FBI agents and police detectives from that era, and through his conversations with career criminal and former Spilotro lieutenant Frank Cullotta. Those conversations led to a third Vegas-based non-fiction, CULLOTTA – The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness, released nationally in July 2007.

Since that time, Dennis has written several books on the true stories of the Las Vegas mob and the era in which they reigned.

His latest book chronicles the true story of Andrew DiDonato, a former member of the Gambino crime family, Surviving the Mob, is available at all online book sellers, and local book stores.

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