June 18, 2007
By Pamela Mortimer
The long-awaited
trial against reputed top mob bosses from Chicago is set to begin on Tuesday
and is expected to last four months.
The FBI sting
known as “Operation Family Secrets” is the focus of a federal trial surrounding
defendants who are allegedly tied to “The Outfit”, Chicago’s organized crime
family. Reportedly, the eight defendants who are named in the indictments are
high-ranking soldiers in the famous crime family. Most notable are James Marcello, Frank Calabrese, Sr. and
Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo. They are accused of involvement in eighteen unsolved murders dating back to
1970. One defendant, Frank
"The German" Schweihs, has been dismissed from the trial for health
reasons. A retired Chicago police officer, Anthony Doyle, is also on the list.
All have pleaded not
guilty.
A federal marshal
has also been charged with leaking information to the crime family regarding a
star witness’ whereabouts.
Nicholas Calabrese,
the star witness who claims to have forty years of inside knowledge of the
Outfit, was the person responsible for the indictment of Marcello and his own
brother, Frank Calabrese, Sr. He is expected to testify.
In May, Nicholas
Calabrese admitted that he was involved in fourteen murders including that of
Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, the Outfit’s Las Vegas protégé. Spilotro,
who was beaten to death in 1986 along with his brother, was the inspiration for
Joe Pesci’s character in the movie "Casino".
The house of cards
kept on falling. Michael Marcello, younger brother of defendant James, admitted
to officials on Thursday that he paid Nicholas Calabrese $4,000 a month to keep
his mouth shut about the family’s illegal activities. Michael Marcello was found
guilty of racketeering, conducting illegal gambling, obstruction of justice,
and hiding profits from federal tax collectors.
Maybe he should have
taken a page out of Al Capone’s book when it came to the IRS.
Speaking of Capone…
Tony Accardo, Capone’s successor, will surely be given special mention at the
trial for ordering the murders of six men who made a foolish attempt to rob his
basement vault. Accardo, who was dubbed “Joe Batters” by Capone for his apt use
of a baseball bat, was the reputed boss of the Chicago Outfit until shortly
before his death in 1992. Although Accardo was the head of the family much
longer than the legendary Capone, he was all but unknown to the public. He was
admired for his preference to stay behind the scenes, letting flashier mobsters
like Sam Giancana take the spotlight.
Both James
Marcello and Frank Calabrese Sr. were previously convicted of racketeering more
than a decade ago. However, prosecutors maintain that there are new conspiracy
charges even though some of the same criminal acts were part of the previous
indictments. Since someone can’t be charged twice for the same crime, the
defense is ready to call “foul” if the prosecution doesn’t have a whole new
game plan.
Gus Russo, author of
"The Outfit", a book regarding the Chicago mobsters, stated that the
federal Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act has been helped prosecutors to make significant
progress in the courts. (Just ask Tony Soprano.)
"But,
regretfully, greed is such a part of our culture that you're always going to
have a criminal element and it will organize," stated Russo. "This
will hurt the mob but it won't end it."