The reputed mob hit man sat at a courtroom table Monday in Chicago looking more corporate than killer, in glasses and a blue suit wrapped around his beefy frame, as federal prosecutors presented their case against him that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
Anthony Calabrese, 47, is a suspect but not charged in the last known mob hit in the Chicago area in 2001 and the attempted murder of a Naperville woman in 1997. But on Monday, he faced charges that he orchestrated three brutal armed robberies of businesses in the suburbs. If convicted, he faces more than 50 years in prison, and authorities hope to use that leverage to persuade Calabrese to confess to who hired him for the murder and attempted murder.
His attorney Steven Hunter said Calabrese was the victim of drug-using criminals making up stories about him to save their hides.
"My client rubbed elbows with some pretty tough customers, and he's a pretty tough customer himself, but that doesn't mean he's guilty of these crimes," Hunter told jurors.
The first witness in the case, a 78-year-old woman, described how she was led at gunpoint with her son to the back of his Morton Grove leather goods store in 2001.
The mother, Molly Nudell, and her son were bound with duct tape and told to lay face down on the cement floor. They feared they would be killed.
"We were saying goodbye to each other," Nudell said.
The men didn't wear masks, but Nudell couldn't identify Calabrese as one of the intruders. But one man who pleaded guilty to the robbery said Calabrese called the shots.
Sean Smith said he had qualms about the robbery, even vomiting beforehand, and asked to beg off.
"You're going to go in or you're getting f----- up," Smith recalled Calabrese telling him.
Calabrese's attorney, Hunter, noted Smith attributed the threat to another crew member in his grand jury testimony.
Thanks to Steve Warmbir
Get the latest breaking current news and explore our Historic Archive of articles focusing on The Mafia, Organized Crime, The Mob and Mobsters, Gangs and Gangsters, Political Corruption, True Crime, and the Legal System at TheChicagoSyndicate.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Best of the Month!
- Former Crooked Cop with Ties to the Mob is Accused of Running a Sex Party Room at an Adult Bookstore
- Growing Up the Son of Tony Spilotro
- Mob Hit on Rudy Giuilani Discussed
- Anthony Doyle, Former Chicago Cop in the Family Secrets Mob Trial, Pleads for Release from Jail
- Chicago Mob Infamous Locations Map
- Profile: Harry Aleman
- Mobsters at the Apalachin Mob Meeting
- 10 Reputed Mobsters with the Gambino Crime Family among 16 Arrested on Racketeering Charges in Mafia Crackdown
- Hoboken Genovese Gang Not Seen Much Any More
- Mafia Links of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
No comments:
Post a Comment