Friends of ours: Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, Nick Calabrese, Frank Calabrese Sr., James Marcello, John "Bananas" DiFronzo, Sam "Wings" Carlisi, Joe Ferriola, John Fecarotta, Jimmy LaPietra, Louis "The Mooch" Eboli, Louis Marino, William "Butch" Petrocelli, Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa
Friends of mine: Michael Spilotro
Stepping into a suburban basement as his brother was wrestled to the floor, mobster Anthony "the Ant" Spilotro realized he had walked into a fatal trap and made a final plea. "He said, 'Can I say a prayer?' " mob turncoat Nicholas Calabrese, testifying Wednesday at the landmark Family Secrets trial, said he overheard the feared Outfit killer say.
The dramatic testimony was the first public account by an insider of one of the most infamous Outfit killings in Chicago history. The Spilotros had run afoul of mob bosses for bringing too much heat on the Outfit's lucrative Las Vegas arm, headed by Anthony Spilotro, Calabrese said. Days later the brothers' bodies, one on top of the other, were discovered buried in an Indiana cornfield.
In two full days on the witness stand, Calabrese has laid out many of the 14 murders that he says he personally took part in. He has implicated his brother, Frank Sr., who is on trial with four others, in many of the murders, but not the Spilotros' killings.
Nicholas Calabrese said he had already tackled Spilotro's brother, Michael, around the legs when he heard Anthony ask to say a prayer.
What happened next?, a prosecutor asked. "I didn't hear anymore," Calabrese said, still looking more like an average senior citizen than a hit man. He spoke calmly, almost in a monotone at times, and occasionally crossed a leg on the witness stand.
Calabrese said as many as 10 others joined in the 1986 fatal beating of the Spilotros, including defendant James Marcello, identified by authorities in recent years as the mob's top boss in Chicago.
In the months before the Spilotros were slain, a team of mob killers, Calabrese among them, had traveled to Las Vegas in hopes of killing the brothers there, Nicholas Calabrese said. The hit men tracked the brothers' movements, following Anthony Spilotro to his lawyer's office, located near the federal building in Las Vegas, and to the cul-de-sac on which his home was located.
At first, the plan was to use explosives or a silencer-equipped Uzi submachine gun, Calabrese said, but those attempts never panned out. Instead, he said, the Spilotro brothers were lured back to Chicago under the ruse that they would be promoted—Michael into the mob's inner circle as a "made" member and Anthony as a "capo" or captain.
Calabrese said he was told by mob hit man John Fecarotta that Anthony Spilotro had been targeted for having an affair with the wife of a Chicago bookmaker. Spilotro was also rumored to be involved in moving drugs with a motorcycle gang, he said.
Calabrese testified he had just returned to Chicago from a mob hit on an informant in Phoenix when he learned he had been tabbed to be part of the team to take out the Spilotros. He immediately told older brother Frank Sr., who has been charged in as many as 13 gangland slayings. "He got upset and said, 'Why didn't they ask me? I wanted to be there,' " Nicholas Calabrese said of his brother.
Calabrese said he was told to wait at a shopping center on 22nd Street, west of Illinois Highway 83 in DuPage County, to be taken to the killing site. With him were Fecarotta and mob boss Jimmy LaPietra, a leader of the 26th Street mob crew that included the two Calabreses as members.
Marcello picked the men up in a "fancy blue van," Calabrese said. It was early in the afternoon on a Saturday, June 14, 1986, he said. Calabrese said the men drove north to a Bensenville subdivision, turning left before reaching Irving Park Road. There were homes and brick walls, he said he remembered, and one with a garage door up. They entered and were greeted by a group of top mob leaders—John "Bananas" DiFronzo, Sam "Wings" Carlisi and Joe Ferriola, he said.
Carlisi commented about Calabrese's tan from his Phoenix foray and made a passing remark about how much money Fecarotta had burned through there. Fecarotta dashed into a bathroom, perhaps fearful the bosses had it in for him, Calabrese said. "He come out, he was pale," Calabrese said. "I figured he thinks this is for him."
But it turned out Fecarotta wasn't yet a marked man. He would be killed three months later after botching the Spilotros' burial.
Joining the others in the basement were mob figures Louis "The Mooch" Eboli and Louis Marino as well as three individuals Calabrese did not recognize. All of them were wearing gloves, he said.
It was only 30 minutes before the Spilotros arrived upstairs.
"I remember hearing talking and somebody coming in and saying 'hello' to everybody," said Calabrese, exhaling audibly on the stand. "I'm wound up because I'm tense. I'm focusing on what I'm gonna do."
Marcello had no noticeable reaction as courtroom spectators hung on to Calabrese's every word.
First down the stairs was Michael Spilotro, Calabrese said.
"I said, 'How you doing Mike?' because I knew him," Calabrese said. Then Michael took a few steps toward Marino and the others, Calabrese told jurors. "I dove and grabbed his legs," he said. "I noticed right away that Louis the Mooch had a rope around his neck."
It was then, Calabrese said, that he heard Anthony Spilotro behind him, asking for a final moment with God.
Calabrese said he handed DiFronzo a pocket-size .22-caliber revolver taken from Michael Spilotro's body. Michael's Lincoln was moved to a nearby motel, he said.
Calabrese said he wiped up a small spot of blood from where Anthony had fallen and had been beaten. He had nothing to do with disposing of the bodies, he said.
After the killings, Calabrese said he went for a cup of coffee.
The testimony came after Calabrese had described his rise in the Chicago mob—from helping his brother run street gambling to his initiation as a "made" member and sometimes bumbling hit man. He continued to weave a vivid tale of Outfit life, with all its customs and characters on display.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Mitchell Mars walked him through a series of murders, including that of mobster William "Butch" Petrocelli and Hinsdale businessman Michael Cagnoni.
Petrocelli was killed for being "too flamboyant," Calabrese said. In 1980 the mob figure planned a downtown party with hookers on which his bosses frowned.
Calabrese said he, his brother and other crew members decided to use a remote-controlled bomb to kill Cagnoni after finding his movements too unpredictable for more old-fashioned methods.
Cagnoni, a trucking executive, died in June 1981 when a bomb under the seat of his Mercedes-Benz auto was detonated as he drove on a ramp from Ogden Avenue to the Tri-State Tollway (Interstate Highway 294), scattering body parts and metal pieces across the highway. The crew practiced using remote firing devices and blasting caps to determine how close they would need to be to set off the explosives, he said.
Calabrese acknowledged he was the gunman who shot Emil Vaci in Phoenix in 1986. Fecarotta was supposed to be involved, too, he said, but had headed to Las Vegas after becoming skittish.
Calabrese also described for jurors his own "making" ceremony, saying he he was driven to a restaurant on Roosevelt Road and led before a table of Outfit kingpins, including Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa.
Spread out before him were a gun, a knife and a candle, he said. Aiuppa threw a burning religious card onto the palm of his hand, Calabrese said, and had him repeat the same phrase. "If I give up my brothers," he said, "may I burn in hell like this holy picture?"
Thanks to Jeff Coen
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Boss of Los Angeles Mob?
Friends of ours: Peter "Shakes" Milano
A long time reader asked me if I was familiar with the current Boss of the Hollywood mafia since Shakes Milano is in semi-retirement. I have discussed it with a few buddies, with some still clinging to Shakes as the Boss and others believing that not to be the case. I am not a big time follower of L.A., so I thought I would open the question to others? Drop me a line if you have a theory.
A long time reader asked me if I was familiar with the current Boss of the Hollywood mafia since Shakes Milano is in semi-retirement. I have discussed it with a few buddies, with some still clinging to Shakes as the Boss and others believing that not to be the case. I am not a big time follower of L.A., so I thought I would open the question to others? Drop me a line if you have a theory.
The Mad Ones to Hit Tinseltown
Friends of ours: Joey "Crazy Joe" Gallo, Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo, Larry Gallo
The Weinstein Co. has optioned film rights to develop and produce Tom Folsom's nonfiction Mafia book, "The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld," with its Weinstein Books division nabbing North American publication rights.
"Mad Ones," set to hit U.S. bookshelves in 2009, chronicles the lives of the Gallo brothers, three infamous 1960s-era Brooklyn gangsters: Joey "Crazy Joe" Gallo, Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo and Larry Gallo. It traces their attempt to overthrow the local Mafia and Crazy Joe's travels in the Greenwich Village counterculture scene.
The Weinstein Co. also acquired TV and home video rights to the project in the pre-emptive deal.
Folsom's credits include writing and directing documentaries for A&E and Showtime. He co-authored Nicky Barnes' autobiographical mob book, "Mr. Untouchable
: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Heroin's Teflon Don," and was an editor at Rugged Land Books.
The Weinstein Co. has optioned film rights to develop and produce Tom Folsom's nonfiction Mafia book, "The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld," with its Weinstein Books division nabbing North American publication rights.
"Mad Ones," set to hit U.S. bookshelves in 2009, chronicles the lives of the Gallo brothers, three infamous 1960s-era Brooklyn gangsters: Joey "Crazy Joe" Gallo, Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo and Larry Gallo. It traces their attempt to overthrow the local Mafia and Crazy Joe's travels in the Greenwich Village counterculture scene.
The Weinstein Co. also acquired TV and home video rights to the project in the pre-emptive deal.
Folsom's credits include writing and directing documentaries for A&E and Showtime. He co-authored Nicky Barnes' autobiographical mob book, "Mr. Untouchable
: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Heroin's Teflon Don," and was an editor at Rugged Land Books.
Bombings and Killings Detailed by Nick Calabrese
Friends of ours: Frank Calabrese Sr., Nicholas Calabrese, James "Little Jimmy" Marcello, Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, Michael "Hambone" Albergo, Ronald Jarrett
Friends of mine: Michael Tadin, Michael "Mickey" Gurgone
When Frank Calabrese Sr. told his brother, Nicholas, that they were going to have to find a place to dig a hole to put a body in, Nicholas Calabrese believed his brother was joking.
When they found the spot, a factory that was being built a few blocks away from White Sox park, with no workers around over the weekend, Nicholas Calabrese figured it was only a test.
"We left and went and got a shovel and one or two bags of lime," Nicholas Calabrese told jurors this afternoon in the Family Secrets mob trial as he described the first of several mob murders he allegedly committed with his brother.
Nicholas Calabrese is the star witness of the trial. He has already pleaded guilty in the case and admitted to killing at least 14 people. He is testifying against his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr., a reputed mob hitman, as well as alleged Chicago mob bosses James "Little Jimmy" Marcello and Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, and two other men in the Family Secrets case.
Nicholas Calabrese described to the jury his first Outfit murder with his brother, which was in August 1970. Nicholas Calabrese figured the hole digging was "a test to see if I had the courage to do something like this, the nerve."
Nicholas Calabrese didn't even know the name of the man to be killed, only that he could testify against his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr., and cause him problems. Nicholas Calabrese had not a clue that the victim was Michael "Hambone" Albergo, a juice loan collector for Calabrese Sr.
Calabrese Sr.'s close friend, the late Ronald Jarrett, knew Albergo and lured him into a four-door Chevy that Jarrett had stolen to be used in the murder. Then Jarrett picked up the Calabrese brothers, who sat in back, while Albergo sat in front.
It was a Sunday, and Jarrett drove out to the factory construction site. Jarrett grabbed one of the victim's arms. Nicholas Calabrese grabbed the other.
"My brother put a rope around his neck and started strangling him," Nicholas Calabrese said, pausing at times during his testimony to collect himself. "Did he kill him?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitchell Mars asked. "Yes," Nicholas Calabrese said.
Later, Frank Calabrese Sr. allegedly cut the dead man's throat just to make sure he was dead, Nicholas Calabrese testified.
After removing the dead man's pants, the victim was thrown in the hole at the construction site. The brothers threw in two bags of lime and started filling the hole. "At this point, I wet my pants I was so scared," Nicholas Calabrese said.
Later on, Frank Calabrese Sr., who was fond of talking in code, told his brother to never mention the murder by name. Always refer to the slaying as "It," Frank Calabrese Sr. allegedly said. "'It' could be anything," Nicholas Calabrese explained.
Earlier on in the trial, Nicholas Calabrese testified that in the 1980s he and his brother took part in bombing Marina Trucking -- owned by Michael Tadin, a longtime supporter of Mayor Daley -- the Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace and a well-known mobster hangout, Horwath's Restaurant in Elmwood Park.
Nicholas Calabrese said he took part in the bombing of Marina Trucking and another trucking company on the South Side in the early to mid 1980s. He bombed the Drury Lane Theatre before it was opened and was with a group of men who planned the bombing of two restaurants, including Horwath's.
Calabrese testified he wasn't told why he was doing the bombings. But he told jurors how the Outfit would use bombings to intimidate and extort business people.
Tadin had no comment when reached this afternoon. Marina Trucking has previously employed men associated with organized crime, including the late Ronald Jarrett, whose name has come up frequently during the Family Secrets trial as an Outfit killer and juice loan collector, and Michael "Mickey" Gurgone, a former Streets and Sanitation worker and convicted burglar. Both men are also from the Bridgeport neighborhood where Marina is based.
Nicholas Calabrese also described to jurors how his brother, Frank Sr., once lost track of $400,000 to $500,000 of his own money in the 1980s. Frank Calabrese Sr. had about $1.6 million in cash in several safety deposit boxes in banks throughout the Chicago area but forgot about one of them, Nicholas Calabrese testified. Frank Calabrese Sr. once had a late-night meeting with Nicholas Calabrese where Frank Calabrese Sr. told him, "There's a lot of money missing."
"I says, 'What's that got to do with me?'" Nicholas Calabrese testified. Nicholas Calabrese reminded his brother that Frank Sr. had two safety deposit boxes at one of the banks.
Thanks to Steve Warmbir
Friends of mine: Michael Tadin, Michael "Mickey" Gurgone
When Frank Calabrese Sr. told his brother, Nicholas, that they were going to have to find a place to dig a hole to put a body in, Nicholas Calabrese believed his brother was joking.
When they found the spot, a factory that was being built a few blocks away from White Sox park, with no workers around over the weekend, Nicholas Calabrese figured it was only a test.
"We left and went and got a shovel and one or two bags of lime," Nicholas Calabrese told jurors this afternoon in the Family Secrets mob trial as he described the first of several mob murders he allegedly committed with his brother.
Nicholas Calabrese is the star witness of the trial. He has already pleaded guilty in the case and admitted to killing at least 14 people. He is testifying against his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr., a reputed mob hitman, as well as alleged Chicago mob bosses James "Little Jimmy" Marcello and Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, and two other men in the Family Secrets case.
Nicholas Calabrese described to the jury his first Outfit murder with his brother, which was in August 1970. Nicholas Calabrese figured the hole digging was "a test to see if I had the courage to do something like this, the nerve."
Nicholas Calabrese didn't even know the name of the man to be killed, only that he could testify against his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr., and cause him problems. Nicholas Calabrese had not a clue that the victim was Michael "Hambone" Albergo, a juice loan collector for Calabrese Sr.
Calabrese Sr.'s close friend, the late Ronald Jarrett, knew Albergo and lured him into a four-door Chevy that Jarrett had stolen to be used in the murder. Then Jarrett picked up the Calabrese brothers, who sat in back, while Albergo sat in front.
It was a Sunday, and Jarrett drove out to the factory construction site. Jarrett grabbed one of the victim's arms. Nicholas Calabrese grabbed the other.
"My brother put a rope around his neck and started strangling him," Nicholas Calabrese said, pausing at times during his testimony to collect himself. "Did he kill him?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitchell Mars asked. "Yes," Nicholas Calabrese said.
Later, Frank Calabrese Sr. allegedly cut the dead man's throat just to make sure he was dead, Nicholas Calabrese testified.
After removing the dead man's pants, the victim was thrown in the hole at the construction site. The brothers threw in two bags of lime and started filling the hole. "At this point, I wet my pants I was so scared," Nicholas Calabrese said.
Later on, Frank Calabrese Sr., who was fond of talking in code, told his brother to never mention the murder by name. Always refer to the slaying as "It," Frank Calabrese Sr. allegedly said. "'It' could be anything," Nicholas Calabrese explained.
Earlier on in the trial, Nicholas Calabrese testified that in the 1980s he and his brother took part in bombing Marina Trucking -- owned by Michael Tadin, a longtime supporter of Mayor Daley -- the Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace and a well-known mobster hangout, Horwath's Restaurant in Elmwood Park.
Nicholas Calabrese said he took part in the bombing of Marina Trucking and another trucking company on the South Side in the early to mid 1980s. He bombed the Drury Lane Theatre before it was opened and was with a group of men who planned the bombing of two restaurants, including Horwath's.
Calabrese testified he wasn't told why he was doing the bombings. But he told jurors how the Outfit would use bombings to intimidate and extort business people.
Tadin had no comment when reached this afternoon. Marina Trucking has previously employed men associated with organized crime, including the late Ronald Jarrett, whose name has come up frequently during the Family Secrets trial as an Outfit killer and juice loan collector, and Michael "Mickey" Gurgone, a former Streets and Sanitation worker and convicted burglar. Both men are also from the Bridgeport neighborhood where Marina is based.
Nicholas Calabrese also described to jurors how his brother, Frank Sr., once lost track of $400,000 to $500,000 of his own money in the 1980s. Frank Calabrese Sr. had about $1.6 million in cash in several safety deposit boxes in banks throughout the Chicago area but forgot about one of them, Nicholas Calabrese testified. Frank Calabrese Sr. once had a late-night meeting with Nicholas Calabrese where Frank Calabrese Sr. told him, "There's a lot of money missing."
"I says, 'What's that got to do with me?'" Nicholas Calabrese testified. Nicholas Calabrese reminded his brother that Frank Sr. had two safety deposit boxes at one of the banks.
Thanks to Steve Warmbir
The Stench of Mob Money
Friends of ours: Nicholas Calabrese
Admitted mobster Nicholas Calabrese says he was desperate to find hiding places for his gambling and extortion money. So he says he stuffed as much as $250,000 into a metal box and buried it at Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
Calabrese testified today at the trial of 5 alleged members of the Chicago mob, and he told of the mess he found when he dug up the money six months later.
Calabrese says the cash was mildewed and stinky. He says they tried to use cologne on it but that just made the odor worse.
Calabrese says the mobsters eventually got rid of the smelly money by lending it to customers of their loan-sharking business at rates of 5% a week.
Admitted mobster Nicholas Calabrese says he was desperate to find hiding places for his gambling and extortion money. So he says he stuffed as much as $250,000 into a metal box and buried it at Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
Calabrese testified today at the trial of 5 alleged members of the Chicago mob, and he told of the mess he found when he dug up the money six months later.
Calabrese says the cash was mildewed and stinky. He says they tried to use cologne on it but that just made the odor worse.
Calabrese says the mobsters eventually got rid of the smelly money by lending it to customers of their loan-sharking business at rates of 5% a week.
Mob Brother Vs. Mob Brother
Friends of ours: Nicholas Calabrese, Frank Calabrese Sr., Paul "the Indian" Schiro, James Marcello, John Fecarotta, John "Johnny Apes" Monteleone, Jimmy LaPietra, Joey "the Clown" Lombardo, Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa, Jackie Cerone, William "Butch" Petrocelli, Michael Talarico, Angelo LaPietra, Richard "Richie the Rat" Mara
The man whose testimony is expected to lift the shadow on some of the Chicago Outfit's most notorious murders over the last three decades looked harmless enough. Nicholas Calabrese took the witness stand Monday wearing a gray sweatsuit and rounded eyeglasses. With his white hair neatly parted, he looked more like a doughy banker in his pajamas than a "made" member of the mob who has admitted to taking part in 14 gangland killings.
As one of the highest-ranking turncoats in Chicago's inglorious mob history, the testimony of Calabrese, 64, promises to be the pivotal moment of the Family Secrets trial, providing first-hand accounts of the Outfit's secret induction ceremony and a long list of hits. He is expected to spend several weeks testifying against his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr., and four co-defendants.
For Frank Calabrese Sr., the testimony represents a second nightmare come true. Last week his son, Frank Jr., testified against him as federal prosecutors played a series of undercover tapes that the son had secretly recorded of private prison conversations with his father. But Nicholas Calabrese's testimony could be far more damaging. He also secretly recorded his brother and has more intimate knowledge of his brother's alleged wrongdoing as the two worked side-by-side for the mob as reputed made members.
As his testimony was about to begin late Monday afternoon, Nicholas Calabrese stared ahead at a darkened computer screen placed on the witness stand. His brother sat just yards away. Assistant U.S. Atty. Mitchell Mars asked whether Nicholas Calabrese was familiar with an organization known as the Outfit, and whether he was a member.
"Yes, I was," Calabrese said.
Mars asked whether Calabrese had committed a murder with reputed mob boss James Marcello, one of the defendants on trial, as well as a murder in Phoenix with co-defendant Paul "the Indian" Schiro and yet another murder with his brother.
"Yes," was the answer each time, in a matter-of-fact tone.
With that, Frank Calabrese Sr., who during an earlier break Monday leaned back in his chair and appeared to take a catnap, pitched forward at the defense table and straightened his glasses.
Some of the murders were to make an example of someone, Nicholas Calabrese said. Others were to protect the Outfit from anyone who might talk to authorities.
As part of his deal for cooperating, Nicholas Calabrese said, he understands that he won't be prosecuted for any of the 14 homicides as long as he testifies truthfully. In addition, the government will recommend something less than the life in prison he could have faced if he had been convicted of even one murder. Ultimately, U.S. District Judge James Zagel, who is presiding over the trial, will impose his sentence. "When I'm on the stand, I can't lie," Calabrese told jurors, most of whom took notes throughout his first hour of testimony, which came as the trial was ending for the day.
Calabrese did not look in his brother's direction as he answered questions. Frank Calabrese Sr. chuckled with a hand to his mouth at some points. At other times, he leaned over and looked animated as he whispered to his lawyer.
Nicholas Calabrese, pausing to clear his throat and sip from a cup, said his association with the mob dated to 1969. He began cooperating in 2002, he said, after being confronted with DNA evidence on a bloody glove that linked him to the 1986 killing of mob hit-man John Fecarotta.
Calabrese said he was joined in that murder by his brother and reputed mob figure John "Johnny Apes" Monteleone after Jimmy LaPietra, the reputed crew "capo" or captain at the time, gave his approval. Federal prosecutors have told jurors the Chicago mob is a decades-old criminal enterprise that protected itself with murder when necessary.
Calabrese said he worked for his brother in the mob's 26th Street, or Chinatown, crew. There were other crews as well , he said, including Rush Street, Melrose Park, Chicago Heights and Grand Avenue, which he said was led by co-defendant Joey "the Clown" Lombardo.
At the top of the Outfit hierarchy in the 1970s was the boss, Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa, and the underboss, Jackie Cerone, known as "One and Two," Calabrese said.
Every murder had to be cleared by higher-ups, he said, and disputes were settled in "sit-downs" with bosses. For example, he said his brother once had a dispute with mobster William "Butch" Petrocelli and Aiuppa himself had to become involved.
"He said, 'If you guys can't straighten it out, I'll straighten it out,'" said Calabrese, quoting Auippa. Asked by Mars what that meant, Calabrese answered, "They'd probably both get killed" if they didn't take care of the dispute themselves. At one point in the 1970s, a sports-gambling operation pulled in $500,000 to $750,000 a year for his brother, said Nicholas Calabrese, who told jurors that he did the paperwork for the crew. Some of the profits were passed up to LaPietra, he said.
Even as the trial was ending for the day, Nicholas Calabrese avoided looking at his brother. He stood facing the jury box as jurors left the courtroom, his back to the defendants until court security led him away. Frank Calabrese continued to laugh, shaking hands with his attorney, as he walked out to a lockup by the courtroom. He remains in custody..
In earlier testimony Monday, a 55-year-old Bridgeport native with swept-back, salt-and-pepper hair, testifying with immunity from prosecution, told jurors he formerly ran surveillances for the Outfit.
Michael Talarico, admitting he still works as a bookie, recalled how he once left a dead rat, a rope strung around its neck, at the office of someone who apparently ran afoul of his uncle, reputed mob boss Angelo LaPietra.
He said he left the rat on instructions from LaPietra. "He never gave me a reason," Talarico said. Assistant U.S. Atty. Markus Funk asked whether Talarico had gotten the rat at a pet store. "Yeah, I believe so," Talarico said.
LaPietra put him in business with the Calabrese brothers, Talarico said, and he made payments for running his gambling operation and also gave out juice loans on their behalf.
On cross-examination, he said Nicholas Calabrese once cut off the head of a puppy and placed it on someone's car, a gesture that also went unexplained.
Also testifying Monday was Richard "Richie the Rat" Mara, who told jurors he was an agent for jockeys as well as a Teamster at McCormick Place before pulling off burglaries and armed robberies for Frank Calabrese's crew.
He said he once saw Frank Calabrese Sr. "beat the [expletive]" out of someone making unauthorized juice loans.
Thanks to Jeff Coen
The man whose testimony is expected to lift the shadow on some of the Chicago Outfit's most notorious murders over the last three decades looked harmless enough. Nicholas Calabrese took the witness stand Monday wearing a gray sweatsuit and rounded eyeglasses. With his white hair neatly parted, he looked more like a doughy banker in his pajamas than a "made" member of the mob who has admitted to taking part in 14 gangland killings.
As one of the highest-ranking turncoats in Chicago's inglorious mob history, the testimony of Calabrese, 64, promises to be the pivotal moment of the Family Secrets trial, providing first-hand accounts of the Outfit's secret induction ceremony and a long list of hits. He is expected to spend several weeks testifying against his brother, Frank Calabrese Sr., and four co-defendants.
For Frank Calabrese Sr., the testimony represents a second nightmare come true. Last week his son, Frank Jr., testified against him as federal prosecutors played a series of undercover tapes that the son had secretly recorded of private prison conversations with his father. But Nicholas Calabrese's testimony could be far more damaging. He also secretly recorded his brother and has more intimate knowledge of his brother's alleged wrongdoing as the two worked side-by-side for the mob as reputed made members.
As his testimony was about to begin late Monday afternoon, Nicholas Calabrese stared ahead at a darkened computer screen placed on the witness stand. His brother sat just yards away. Assistant U.S. Atty. Mitchell Mars asked whether Nicholas Calabrese was familiar with an organization known as the Outfit, and whether he was a member.
"Yes, I was," Calabrese said.
Mars asked whether Calabrese had committed a murder with reputed mob boss James Marcello, one of the defendants on trial, as well as a murder in Phoenix with co-defendant Paul "the Indian" Schiro and yet another murder with his brother.
"Yes," was the answer each time, in a matter-of-fact tone.
With that, Frank Calabrese Sr., who during an earlier break Monday leaned back in his chair and appeared to take a catnap, pitched forward at the defense table and straightened his glasses.
Some of the murders were to make an example of someone, Nicholas Calabrese said. Others were to protect the Outfit from anyone who might talk to authorities.
As part of his deal for cooperating, Nicholas Calabrese said, he understands that he won't be prosecuted for any of the 14 homicides as long as he testifies truthfully. In addition, the government will recommend something less than the life in prison he could have faced if he had been convicted of even one murder. Ultimately, U.S. District Judge James Zagel, who is presiding over the trial, will impose his sentence. "When I'm on the stand, I can't lie," Calabrese told jurors, most of whom took notes throughout his first hour of testimony, which came as the trial was ending for the day.
Calabrese did not look in his brother's direction as he answered questions. Frank Calabrese Sr. chuckled with a hand to his mouth at some points. At other times, he leaned over and looked animated as he whispered to his lawyer.
Nicholas Calabrese, pausing to clear his throat and sip from a cup, said his association with the mob dated to 1969. He began cooperating in 2002, he said, after being confronted with DNA evidence on a bloody glove that linked him to the 1986 killing of mob hit-man John Fecarotta.
Calabrese said he was joined in that murder by his brother and reputed mob figure John "Johnny Apes" Monteleone after Jimmy LaPietra, the reputed crew "capo" or captain at the time, gave his approval. Federal prosecutors have told jurors the Chicago mob is a decades-old criminal enterprise that protected itself with murder when necessary.
Calabrese said he worked for his brother in the mob's 26th Street, or Chinatown, crew. There were other crews as well , he said, including Rush Street, Melrose Park, Chicago Heights and Grand Avenue, which he said was led by co-defendant Joey "the Clown" Lombardo.
At the top of the Outfit hierarchy in the 1970s was the boss, Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa, and the underboss, Jackie Cerone, known as "One and Two," Calabrese said.
Every murder had to be cleared by higher-ups, he said, and disputes were settled in "sit-downs" with bosses. For example, he said his brother once had a dispute with mobster William "Butch" Petrocelli and Aiuppa himself had to become involved.
"He said, 'If you guys can't straighten it out, I'll straighten it out,'" said Calabrese, quoting Auippa. Asked by Mars what that meant, Calabrese answered, "They'd probably both get killed" if they didn't take care of the dispute themselves. At one point in the 1970s, a sports-gambling operation pulled in $500,000 to $750,000 a year for his brother, said Nicholas Calabrese, who told jurors that he did the paperwork for the crew. Some of the profits were passed up to LaPietra, he said.
Even as the trial was ending for the day, Nicholas Calabrese avoided looking at his brother. He stood facing the jury box as jurors left the courtroom, his back to the defendants until court security led him away. Frank Calabrese continued to laugh, shaking hands with his attorney, as he walked out to a lockup by the courtroom. He remains in custody..
In earlier testimony Monday, a 55-year-old Bridgeport native with swept-back, salt-and-pepper hair, testifying with immunity from prosecution, told jurors he formerly ran surveillances for the Outfit.
Michael Talarico, admitting he still works as a bookie, recalled how he once left a dead rat, a rope strung around its neck, at the office of someone who apparently ran afoul of his uncle, reputed mob boss Angelo LaPietra.
He said he left the rat on instructions from LaPietra. "He never gave me a reason," Talarico said. Assistant U.S. Atty. Markus Funk asked whether Talarico had gotten the rat at a pet store. "Yeah, I believe so," Talarico said.
LaPietra put him in business with the Calabrese brothers, Talarico said, and he made payments for running his gambling operation and also gave out juice loans on their behalf.
On cross-examination, he said Nicholas Calabrese once cut off the head of a puppy and placed it on someone's car, a gesture that also went unexplained.
Also testifying Monday was Richard "Richie the Rat" Mara, who told jurors he was an agent for jockeys as well as a Teamster at McCormick Place before pulling off burglaries and armed robberies for Frank Calabrese's crew.
He said he once saw Frank Calabrese Sr. "beat the [expletive]" out of someone making unauthorized juice loans.
Thanks to Jeff Coen
Mob Hitman on Witness Stand
Friends of ours: Nick Calabrese, Frank Calabrese Sr., John Fecarotta, James "Litte Jimmy" Marcello
An admitted hitman for the Chicago mob is being let off the hook for several gangland murders in exchange for his testimony in the Operation Family Secrets trial. Nick Calabrese, the former hitman and now star witness in the case, began his testimony Monday.
Outfit killer Nick Calabrese says he and his brother Frank Senior killed mob enforcer John Fecarotta back in 1986. Fecarotta, a hitman himself, had botched a gangland assignment and was given the ultimate demotion.
Homicide detectives found a bloody glove near Fecarotta's corpse. It wasn't until new DNA technology, in 2002, that investigators matched the bloody glove to Nick Calabrese. Faced with that evidence, Nick Calabrese violated his outfit oath of allegiance and betrayed his own brother, Frank Senior, working undercover against La Cosa Nostra, the organization in which they both were blood-made members.
Monday, for the first time, brother Nick was on the witness stand testifying against brother Frank. "We're not expecting to see anything other than what he's gonna tell us. We don't know what he's gonna tell us," said Joe Lopez, Frank Calabrese Senior's lawyer.
Nick's first hour of testimony implicated his brother in murders, juice loan rackets and outfit decision making. Said Nick Calabrese: "If you got an order to go kill somebody, you'd have to do it." He also testified that committed mob murders with defendant James "Little Jimmy" Marcello and is expected to provide details when retaking the stand Tuesday.
In exchange for his testimony, Nick Calabrese will not be prosecuted in state court for the Fecarotta murder or any other killings. Nick is off the hook. According to letters introduced Monday in court from state's attorneys in Cook, DuPage and Will counties, all have agreed not to prosecute Nick Calabrese.
He is still eligible for life in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering in Operation Family Secrets, but federal authorities will recommend a sentence far less than that for Nick Calabrese. That made this a deal Calabrese was unable to refuse.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
An admitted hitman for the Chicago mob is being let off the hook for several gangland murders in exchange for his testimony in the Operation Family Secrets trial. Nick Calabrese, the former hitman and now star witness in the case, began his testimony Monday.
Outfit killer Nick Calabrese says he and his brother Frank Senior killed mob enforcer John Fecarotta back in 1986. Fecarotta, a hitman himself, had botched a gangland assignment and was given the ultimate demotion.
Homicide detectives found a bloody glove near Fecarotta's corpse. It wasn't until new DNA technology, in 2002, that investigators matched the bloody glove to Nick Calabrese. Faced with that evidence, Nick Calabrese violated his outfit oath of allegiance and betrayed his own brother, Frank Senior, working undercover against La Cosa Nostra, the organization in which they both were blood-made members.
Monday, for the first time, brother Nick was on the witness stand testifying against brother Frank. "We're not expecting to see anything other than what he's gonna tell us. We don't know what he's gonna tell us," said Joe Lopez, Frank Calabrese Senior's lawyer.
Nick's first hour of testimony implicated his brother in murders, juice loan rackets and outfit decision making. Said Nick Calabrese: "If you got an order to go kill somebody, you'd have to do it." He also testified that committed mob murders with defendant James "Little Jimmy" Marcello and is expected to provide details when retaking the stand Tuesday.
In exchange for his testimony, Nick Calabrese will not be prosecuted in state court for the Fecarotta murder or any other killings. Nick is off the hook. According to letters introduced Monday in court from state's attorneys in Cook, DuPage and Will counties, all have agreed not to prosecute Nick Calabrese.
He is still eligible for life in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering in Operation Family Secrets, but federal authorities will recommend a sentence far less than that for Nick Calabrese. That made this a deal Calabrese was unable to refuse.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
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