Frank Calabrese Held in Solitary Confinement

An attorney for a reputed Chicago mobster says his client is being held in isolation as he awaits sentencing on federal charges.

Attorney Joseph Lopez says he's been trying to visit Frank Calabrese (KAL'-uh-brees) at the Metropolitan Correctional Center since last week. Lopez says he got a letter from the U.S. Attorney's office saying Calabrese had been put in isolation.

Randall Samborn, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, said he could not comment on the situation late Tuesday.

Media reports say the FBI can now listen in on Calabrese's conversations with family members and attorneys and that his cell is being bugged.

Calabrese is among those convicted in September 2007 of taking part in a vast crime network.

Thanks to WBBM 780

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Judge Finds the Feds Forum Shopped the Junior Gotti Trial and Orders it Moved to New York

A Florida judge ordered the latest prosecution of John A. "Junior" Gotti returned to Manhattan, finding that the government left the "unmistakeable and disquieting impression" it had shopped for a trial location where it might finally win.

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday said Tuesday that an indictment brought against Gotti in Tampa features the same racketeering conspiracy charge that had failed to result in a conviction after three trials in Manhattan.

He said Gotti's notoriety, his apparently acknowledged role in organized crime before he announced he had left the life behind and the frustration prosecutors feel after repeated losses "contribute to the temptation to extend to Florida the 'quest' to convict Gotti."

Merryday added that the U.S. attorney in Florida "oddly" chose to charge a crime of RICO conspiracy that allegedly occurred largely outside that state.

"In this context, the charging decision of the United States, apparently unaccountable on neutral principles, creates the unmistakeable and disquieting impression of 'forum shopping,'" the judge said.

Gotti was charged last year with crimes involving three gangland slayings. He has denied wrongdoing.

A spokesman for federal prosecutors in Florida did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment. Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for prosecutors in New York, said her office had no comment.

Charles Carnesi, Gotti's New York lawyer, said the tone of the ruling made it seem the judge believed the decision to prosecute in Florida "was just a strategic move to try to deprive him of his ability to put forth his defense."

He said he would probably seek bail in Florida so Gotti could return to New York out of custody. "I'm looking forward to having him home for Christmas," Carnesi said.

Three juries in Manhattan have deadlocked on charges against Gotti. His lawyers asserted in his defense that he had quit the Gambino family by July 1999, protecting him from charges because the statute of limitations — five years for racketeering charges — would have expired.

Prosecutors have said Gotti assumed control of the powerful Gambino family after his father's 1992 conviction on racketeering and murder charges. His father died in prison in 2002.

Thanks to Larry Neumeister

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Sentencing of Mob Handyman, Thomas Johnson, Kicks Off Chicago Outfit Sentencing Season

'Tis the season to be sentenced for the Chicago Outfit.

By the time the New Year rings in, more than a half dozen hoodlums will have guaranteed reservations at the Holiday Pen.

Mob handyman Thomas Johnson on Tuesday became the first of several Operation Family Secrets defendant to be sentenced this month. Johnson, of Willow Springs, was handed a 30-month prison term and three years of supervision after pleading guilty to his role as an Outfit handyman. U.S. District Judge James Zagel also fined Johnson $7500. He will surrender on March 3, 2009 to begin serving his sentence.

"It is undisputed that Johnson for over seven years engaged in illegal conduct for and with Outfit associate Michael Marcello and his (Michael Marcello's) brother, Outfit boss James Marcello," stated federal prosecutors in sentencing reports. "Johnson's full-time employer was Cicero-based 'M&M Amusements,' which was a large-scale illegal gambling business operating for the financial benefit of the Chicago Outfit."

In Johnson's plea agreement, he admitted rigging video poker machines so that they could be used for actual wagering. "Johnson and others did so by installing a 'knock-off' button or switch which enabled the bar owner to keep track of winning and losing plays. Johnson and his co- conspirators then placed these illegally-altered machines at dozens of bars, restaurants, and clubs throughout Chicagoland" stated prosecutors.

Johnson's talents were not limited to tinkering on machines. He was also a skilled bookkeeper, according to federal investigators. "He created two sets of written documents during the weekly accountings held with the proprietors where the gambling machines were located. Johnson would record the true amount of income retrieved from the machines, and split this figure with the proprietors as agreed. On 'settle-up day,' Johnson also created another set of written records ("collection reports") which falsely recorded a lower amount of income generated by the machines, namely 50% of the actual income generated" authorities said.

Johnson's pleaded guilty of conducting an illegal gambling business and tax fraud. Government agents estimated that he cheated the IRS out of nearly $1.69 million.

Attorneys portrayed Johnson, 53, as little more than a mob stooge, who was a "minor participant, if not a minimal participant. In a court filing, they said Johnson's "involvement was limited to participating in a non-violent illegal gambling operation. Furthermore, within the gambling operation, Mr. Johnson was a low level employee. Mr. Johnson regularly visited business owners participating in the gambling operation to collect proceeds and collection reports from the machines. In return, Mr. Johnson was paid $2,400.00 per month."

The Family Secrets defendants who were convicted at trial will be up for sentencing next week, including former Chicago Police Department officer Anthony Doyle and Paul "The Indian" Schiro, both on Dec. 10

The namesake of the USA vs. Frank Calabrese case as it is officially known, Frank "The Breeze" Calabrese, will be sentenced on Dec. 11 in the Dirksen Building courthouse.

He will be followed by Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo on Dec. 15 and James "Little Jimmy" Marcello on Dec. 17.

The key witness in the landmark case, one-time Outfit assassin Nick Calabrese, will be sentenced on Jan. 26, 2009. Nick Calabrese, who has admitted his role in more than a dozen gangland hits, turned government witness and fingered his brother Frank in the mob plots.

Thanks to Chuck Goudie and Barb Markoff

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